BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Butler Looking Forward to His Next Hit

Brett Butler, who got his 1,999th hit Saturday night, said he has been looking forward to No. 2,000 for a long time.

“I can remember when I was an All-Star in 1991, sitting with Tony Gwynn, and we were calculating numbers,” Butler said. “I was calculating how long it’d take me to get to 2,000, and he was calculating how long it’d take him to get to 3,000.

“I thought, ‘Man, am I short-changing myself? This guy’s a little younger than me.”’

Gwynn, at 34 two years younger than Butler, began Saturday with 2,083 hits.

Is 3,000 hits a goal?

“To think of 3,000, that’s improbable, highly improbable,” Butler said. “If you figure it out, I’d need 175 hits a year until I’m 42 to get 3,000. That’s way out there. Six years from now, my daughter’s going to be 17, almost ready to leave the house. Do I want to be playing that long? I’m not sure.”

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In a statement released about an hour before the game, the Padres announced that slumping second baseman Bip Roberts “will not be with the team for the duration” of the series. “He is being given time off in an effort to help him cope with the stress and pressures that have been bothering him,” the statement read. “He is expected to rejoin the team in a few days.”

Roberts, who returned to the Padres after two years with the Cincinnati Reds, was hitless in four at-bats and struck out twice Friday night and is batting .217 with only six runs and four runs batted in. He has reportedly been unhappy that he is playing second base this year, not in the outfield, which he prefers.

Roberts was replaced in the lineup by Luis Lopez.

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The Dodgers put third baseman Dave Hansen on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 9 because of a strained abdominal muscle on his right side. The club recalled infielder Gary Ingram from double-A San Antonio. Ingram was batting .257 with one home run.