BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Mondesi Suffers Strained Right Knee

Raul Mondesi suffered a strained right knee when he jumped to try and catch an eventual run-scoring triple by Kevin McReynolds in Tuesday night’s game. He left the game and said he will rest it for a couple of days.

“I tried to jump and came down and twisted it,” Mondesi said. “I had surgery on this knee two years ago. Both knees. I think it would be a good idea to rest it.”

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Orel Hershiser, who has been sidelined since Saturday because of a muscle strain in his left side, threw on the side Tuesday for the first time and said he was encouraged. “It felt fine, no stiffness,” he said.

He will throw again today before trainers determine when he can throw from the mound. If all goes well, the Dodgers hope Hershiser will be able to pitch during the San Francisco series, which begins Monday.

“With the progress I am making right now, I see no reason to think about the disabled list,” Hershiser said.

Ramon Martinez, pitching on three days’ rest, will face Bret Saberhagen in the final game of the series today. Pedro Astacio will pitch Friday’s opener in Montreal, followed by Tom Candiotti, pitching for the third time in eight days. Kevin Gross will pitch Sunday.

Also, test results on Delino DeShields’ upper left leg indicated there was nothing abnormal. He returned to the starting lineup Tuesday and went one for two, scored two runs and had a two-run home run.

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One of the first things Ismael Valdes did after Monday night’s game was call his family in Victoria, Mexico. Valdes, who made his first major league start, came out of the game in the second inning because of two blisters.

“I was disappointed because I wanted to pitch yesterday to help my teammates get one more day of rest,” Valdes said. “I called my family because I knew they had heard on the radio about me leaving the game and would want to know what happened to me.”

Valdes believes he developed the blisters on his middle finger because he had cut his fingernail too short about four days ago.

“When you cut them too short, the soft tissue can get aggravated in the nail area,” trainer Charlie Strasser said.