BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Candiotti Activated, Astacio Sent Down

The Dodgers optioned pitcher Pedro Astacio to Albuquerque and brought pitcher Tom Candiotti off of the disabled list.

Candiotti will pitch Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates and fellow knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who has won three of four decisions since being called up from triple-A Buffalo.

It will be Wakefield’s first look at a knuckleball pitcher in an opposing lineup. The two met briefly before Monday’s game.

“I’m real anxious for his success,” said Candiotti, who added that he was beginning to think the knuckleball was becoming extinct. “I saw him pitch a game against the Braves, and I stayed in the video room the whole way. I was real happy for his success.”

Candiotti said that he had picked up hints on the pitch from former Atlanta Brave Phil Niekro and from Charlie Hough, now with the Chicago White Sox.

“Maybe I can learn something from him,” Candiotti said of Wakefield.

“I doubt it,” Wakefield said.

The matchup’s appeal might be lost on at least one player. Don Slaught has caught three of Wakefield’s five games.

“Usually, a catcher only sees one of them (knuckleball pitchers) in a lifetime,” Slaught said. “Me, I get two.”

Slaught caught Hough when the two played for the Texas Rangers. But in those days, at least Slaught could count on hitting against a more conventional pitch.

Not so Wednesday, if he draws the starting assignment. “I’ll tell you, it’s easier to hit them than catch them,” Slaught said. Faced with both, he said: “My eyes probably won’t straighten out for two days.”

It will be the second time this season Astacio has been optioned, and he is expected to be recalled Sept. 1, when rosters are expanded for the rest of the season.

In five starts for the Dodgers, he has two shutouts and is 2-2 with a 1.42 earned-run average.

Brett Butler is renowned as a bunter, primarily for base hits. But his role changed slightly when he was moved to second in the order and Jose Offerman moved from eighth to leadoff. Butler sacrificed for a personal-best 18th time during Sunday’s game. Going into Monday’s game, he had a .417 average in 38 games as the No. 2 hitter (53 for 127).