BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Bronchitis Helped Quiet Harris’ Bat

If Lenny Harris had seemed unusually quiet while his average dropped from a season-high .348 on April 27 to .284 one month later, there was a reason.

Harris was suffering from bronchitis, an illness which did not sideline him and which he kept quiet from nearly everybody because he knew the depleted Dodgers didn’t need any more absentees.

Harris said he still has trouble breathing occasionally but counteracted the illness by altering his high-intensity style.

“If you notice, I’m a lot quieter than I have been,” Harris said. “I don’t show as much emotion as I usually do. I am trying to stay within myself, trying to keep my strength.”

Harris has been feeling better lately and showing it with a .318 average in June, raising his overall mark to .290 before Sunday.

Bob Ojeda threw off the mound Sunday as scheduled and pronounced himself fit for his next scheduled start, Wednesday in Atlanta. . . . The Dodgers have signed Pepperdine first baseman Dan Melendez, a second-round pick in the recent June draft.