L.A. Dodgers' J.P. Howell's Wife Calls for Divorce

The wife of L.A. Dodgers pitcher J.P. Howell is calling for a changeup -- filing divorce docs after 7 years of marriage ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Howell -- who's in the middle of a 2-year $11 million contract -- married former sports reporter/author Heather Hennessy Howell back in 2009. They were college sweethearts at USC.

But the love story's over ... Heather filed docs in L.A. County Superior Court citing irreconcilable differences.

Seems things soured recently ... they posed for a coupley pic together just last month.

Heather lists the date of separation as Monday, August 8th ... the same day she filed the docs.

She's also asking for spousal support and wants to drop "Howell" from her name ASAP.

The couple has no kids together.