BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Griffin Hurt While Helping Worker

Typical of his hard-luck season, Alfredo Griffin could survive a bad back and a sore thumb but could not overcome the damage done when he tried to help a man hired to shampoo his rug.

“I can’t believe this . . . what can I say?” Griffin said Friday afternoon, shortly before the Dodgers put him on the disabled list because of a severe cut to the nail on the big toe of his right foot.

It took club officials about five seconds to pick up the phone and recall Jose Offerman from triple-A Albuquerque. Many expected Offerman to be recalled early in the season, but few expected it to happen like this.

Griffin said that earlier Friday, a man who was shampooing his rug had stacked two couches, and was trying to move the couches.

“So I gave him a hand,” Griffin said. “I grabbed one end of the couches and then . . . it dropped on my toe.”

Doctors said the toe, which was heavily bandaged, would force Griffin out of the lineup for at least five games. He is also suffering from a sprained right thumb.

Orel Hershiser will move up two levels for his second minor-league rehabilitation start by pitching for triple-A Albuquerque in Phoenix on Monday.

Hershiser said he wasn’t trying to find better hitters, just more major league-type conditions. After throwing 44 pitches Wednesday for Class-A Bakersfield, he probably will try to throw between 50-70 pitches. He said he needs to feel comfortable throwing 90 pitches before returning to the big leagues.

Hershiser is tentatively scheduled to return to Bakersfield next Saturday night against Salinas for his third rehabilitation start.

Brett Butler increased his hitting streak to 15 games, longest in the National League this season, with a first-inning single over second base. The longest streak in Butler’s career is 19 games, accomplished in 1987 with the Cleveland Indians. . . . Kal Daniels missed his fourth start of the year Friday with flu. . . . Hershiser showed his appreciation to his Bakersfield teammates Wednesday by buying a postgame meal for the team.