BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Hitters Get Respite From Knuckleball

Tom Candiotti has been told that he no longer will pitch regular batting practice.

“Because they want to give the hitters a chance, I will only face two hitters, a righty and a lefty, in simulated games,” said Candiotti, who pitched his first simulated game Friday. “I guess I can’t blame them.”

Such games also give him a chance to work with Mike Scioscia on catching a knuckleball under game conditions.

“It’s not easy,” Scioscia said. “It’s going to take a little working together. But I’m not intimidated by it.”

The legacy of the last knuckleballer to pitch for the Dodgers, Charlie Hough, is maintained in the glove Scioscia is using.

It was borrowed from Don Wakamatsu, the non-roster catcher who worked with Hough last season with the Chicago White Sox.

The Dodgers are remaining quiet about the condition of Peter O’Malley, club president, who has been hospitalized because of a respiratory tract infection since Monday. “He’s improving,” a Dodger spokesman said. . . . After working with a back brace Friday, pitcher Rudy Seanez pitched without the brace Saturday and had no problems.