Rainout Won’t Cost Valenzuela His Turn

The Dodgers were rained out again Tuesday night, but at least this time Fernando Valenzuela preserved his spot in the pitching rotation. The game with the New York Mets will be made up on Thursday, an open date, and Valenzuela, who was already skipped once on this trip, will pitch tonight.

Because of those two rainouts, two of three on this trip, the struggling Valenzuela will have had 12 days’ rest between starts. However, rest probably is not all that Valenzuela needs. Rather, he needs a little something more on his fastball, which has been limping along in the 80-m.p.h. range.

Valenzuela, who was sidelined a year ago with a sore shoulder, remains the lone blemish on the Dodgers’ league-leading pitching staff, a staff he used to anchor.

He hasn’t won in his last 15 starts, going back to June of 1988. He is 0-3 this year with a 4.91 earned-run average.