Dodgers hopeful, but still no word on whether Andre Ethier can start

Wednesday came and went, and the Dodgers apparently still don’t know if Andre Ethier will be able to play center in the National League Championship Series.

Manager Don Mattingly said they expect Ethier to be able to do more in the next round and that Wednesday’s workout at Dodger Stadium would give them a better indication of how much they could expect from Ethier.

Yet when Ethier was done hitting and tracking balls down in center -- without apparent difficulty -- he said nothing had really changed about his status.

Ethier was in one of his smiling, yes-or-no response modes.

“It feels good,” Ethier said.

Good enough to play center?

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “We’re testing it today, and we’ll see how it feels at tomorrow’s workout.”

When reporters expressed some frustration at his curt responses, Ethier said:

“There are no different answers from two days ago, guys. I don’t know what you guys are looking for. We tried it out today and will try it out again tomorrow. If it feels good, then we’ll be in a better spot than we are right now and we’ll make a decision when it comes Friday.”

It was explained to Ethier that his manager said Wednesday would be a key workout to determine how much the Dodgers could expect from him in the NLCS.

“We did everything we wanted to do,” he said. “I still have to sleep tonight to figure how it responds tomorrow.”

Skip Schumaker started all four division series games against Atlanta. The Cardinals have all right-handed starters, so the left-handed hitting Ethier would be a nice addition to the lineup.

Ethier hasn’t started a game since suffering the injury Sept. 13.