Lewis Is Glad to Be a Part of This Outfield

Surrounded by a circle of reporters on the grass near the batting cage at Dodger Stadium on Thursday afternoon, the newest Dodger, Darren Lewis, politely but quickly excused himself when informed the team was about to hold a meeting.

“I don’t want to get into trouble on the first day,” he said.

Not much chance of that.

Dodger management is too excited at the thought of all the trouble Lewis might cause opposing teams as he joins Otis Nixon and Raul Mondesi in what figures to be one of baseball’s best defensive outfields.

“What you basically have is three center fielders,” said Executive Vice President Fred Claire, who put that outfield together by making a trade with the Chicago White Sox to get Lewis for a player to be named two weeks after getting Nixon from the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league catcher Bobby Cripps.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Lewis said. “We are going to get to balls that are normally not caught. I was telling Otis, ‘I can’t wait.’ ”

Lewis feels that way even though he can’t remember the last time he played left field, although he knows it was in the minors.

“I should be OK,” he said, “because I react to the ball.”

The trade was OK with Lewis, leaving a sinking ship for a luxury liner. The White Sox have been getting rid of quality veterans at a startling rate while the Dodgers have been accumulating them at a similar rate.

“What it means it me,” Lewis said, “is an opportunity to play more, to participate in a pennant race. That’s the exact opposite of where I was. Here, it’s more of a positive, of doing things to make things better instead of the opposite way around.”

If, as expected, Brett Butler returns tonight after the soft-tissue infection in his neck is checked by an Atlanta physician, Butler and Lewis may share left field.

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Although he was optioned to Albuquerque on Wednesday, left-hander Dennis Reyes will be recalled next week when the rosters are expanded and will rejoin the Dodgers in Texas when they play the Rangers.

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Hitting coach Reggie Smith, wearing a neck brace, was a visitor to Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

Smith, who had a bone graft to repair a spine injury in mid-July, hopes to be back in uniform by mid-September.

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The only Dodger left from the 1988 squad that beat Oakland to win the World Series championship is pitcher Ramon Martinez, but he was not on the playoff roster that season.

TONIGHT’S GAME

DODGERS’ ISMAEL VALDES (9-10, 2.67 ERA) vs. ATHLETICS’ BRAD RIGBY

(0-5, 3.75 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West 2. Radio--KABC (790), KWKW (1330).

* Update--Rigby had been scheduled to start Thursday night’s game. But that was when the Athletics had planned to skip the start of right-hander Ariel Prieto, who went on the disabled list Thursday because of an inflammation of the right shoulder. Instead, when Oakland called up right-hander Eric Ludwick from their triple-A team at Edmonton, it was decided to start Ludwick on Thursday and keep the rest of the rotation in order rather than disrupting everybody. Rigby, a rookie still looking for his first major league victory, draws a hot pitcher in Valdes. The Dodger right-hander has won a season-high three in a row and in his last nine starts has a 6-2 record and a 1.54 ERA, with only five walks. After Oakland, the Seattle Mariners come to Dodger Stadium for two games, both of which have sold out.