BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Martinez’s Start Is Pushed Back a Day

Ramon Martinez, whose bruised right biceps is still causing him pain, will be pushed back one day in the starting rotation.

The Dodgers will replace Martinez on Monday in Chicago with Orel Hershiser, who will be starting with the usual four days’ rest.

Martinez tentatively is scheduled to pitch Tuesday in Chicago.

“My muscle still feels like it has a ball in there. It’s still sore,” said Martinez, who was struck in the arm with a line drive by the San Diego Padres’ Jack Howell Tuesday.

Martinez threw off a mound for about five minutes Saturday and said he could not cut loose. When he takes the mound next, he will be hoping to break out of a slump during which he has allowed 19 runs in his last 22 2/3 innings.

“He will be fine. He could be fine by Monday night, but we don’t want to take any chances,” trainer Bill Buhler said.

Hershiser said there would be no problems changing his schedule because he usually pitches on four days’ rest.

Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, will be visiting triple-A Albuquerque this week, partly to make final evaluations on the players he will bring up when the rosters expand.

“Several players will be coming up Sept. 1,” Claire confirmed Saturday from his Los Angeles-area home. “We are not bringing up players to look at them. We are bringing up players who we think can help us win the pennant.”

The leading candidates for recall are catcher Carlos Hernandez, first baseman Eric Karros, pitchers Dennis Cook (double-A San Antonio) and John Wetteland and perhaps outfielder Tom Goodwin, who could serve as a pinch-runner.

Claire could also cause a stir by recalling pitcher Pedro Martinez, brother of the Dodgers’ Ramon. But the younger Martinez, who started the year at Class-A Bakersfield, has only been at Albuquerque about a month.

Brett Butler has grounded into one double play this season, on a checked swing against the San Francisco Giants April 17. No left-handed hitter has played in 150 or more games while grounding into fewer than two double plays. . . . Butler also has reached his yearly goal of 20 bunt hits. . . . Stan Javier continues to be one of the worst pinch-hitters in baseball, with four hits in 41 pinch at-bats (.098). “I’m not going to change anything. I’m just going to do what Manny Mota (baseball’s career pinch-hit leader) tells me to do--keep swinging,” Javier said. “It seems like I’ve been in a slump for six months. I figure it has to change soon.”