Dodger Notebook : Castillo’s Job Security Suffers Another Setback

Bobby Castillo will be watching with more than the usual interest when Alejandro Pena takes the mound here Sunday for the first time in a regularly scheduled exhibition game.

Castillo’s chances of remaining with the Dodgers are directly related to Pena’s comeback from shoulder surgery. Pena, who worked three scoreless innings of a B game Wednesday against Houston, is scheduled to follow Orel Hershiser to the mound Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds.

Pena aside, Castillo didn’t help himself Friday when he walked three batters, including Glenn Hubbard with the bases loaded, to force in the winning run in the Dodgers’ 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Atlanta Braves at West Palm Beach.

Castillo has appeared in five games this spring. In six innings, he has allowed seven hits, walked four and given up five earned runs for an earned-run average of 7.50. After a 2-2 record and 5.43 ERA last season, those numbers aren’t conducive to job security.

The Dodgers will carry 10 pitchers this season: Fernando Valenzuela, Hershiser, Jerry Reuss, Bob Welch and Rick Honeycutt are the starters. Ken Howell, Tom Niedenfuer, Ed Vande Berg and Carlos Diaz are the relievers. The last spot will go to either Pena or Castillo.

With Vice President Al Campanis having said that the Dodgers will carry only 24 players this season, the last spot on the roster appears to be a tossup between Dave Anderson and Bob Bailor.

Anderson didn’t hurt himself Friday by filling in for Mariano Duncan at short and lining an opposite-field, RBI single in the eighth to tie the score, 4-4.

And Campanis has told reporters that he is actively shopping around Bailor since several teams, among them the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays, expressed interest in the 34-year-old infielder.

Anderson is hitting .250 in 11 games and appears to be over the back problems that led to his displacement as Dodger shortstop last season.

Bailor has played in just four games this spring. Earlier this week, he missed two games with the flu, then flew to Los Angeles to be with his wife, Jamie, for the birth of their first child, Robert Jr.

Dodger Notes

Mariano Duncan, who bruised his right shin Thursday, did not make the trip to West Palm Beach. . . . Steve Sax had not struck out in 45 spring at-bats until reliever Bruce Sutter of the Braves got him Friday. Sutter, coming back slowly from shoulder surgery, worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning. . . . Sax, who had a triple and scored a run Friday, has hit in nine straight games and is batting .418. . . . The Dodgers made two roster cuts, sending outright to Albuquerque the contracts of catcher Gilberto Reyes and outfielder Mike Ramsey. . . . Hall of Famer Lou Brock is scheduled to arrive here on March 31 to conduct three days of base-stealing instruction.