Candiotti Volunteers for Duty

Manager Bill Russell said he hasn’t decided who will replace starter Ismael Valdes, who is out indefinitely after pulling his left hamstring in Saturday’s 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres.

Russell said he’ll start Chan Ho Park on Thursday and Hideo Nomo on Friday when the Dodgers resume play after the All-Star break against the San Francisco Giant.

“I think we’ll go to a three-man staff,” starter Tom Candiotti said. “I did that a few years ago. I pitched two games in one series against the Mets. It was pretty fun. I could do it if they wanted me to.”

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Russell said the Dodgers are fortunate to be three games over .500 and six games behind the first-place Giants in the NL West going into the break.

“It could be a lot worse,” Russell said. “We were eight games behind at one time.

“It was a tough first half until June, when Eric Karros started hitting. That was when we started playing better and scoring some runs. Up to that point we didn’t get the hits in the right spot.”

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The Dodgers got a scare when Raul Mondesi, who sprained his left pinky finger and left shoulder with a head-first slide last month, was hit in the same finger in the fifth inning by reliever Will Cunnane.

But Mondesi, who extended his hitting streak to seven games with a fourth-inning double, wasn’t injured.

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Shortstop Greg Gagne got off to a good start this season, hitting .360 in his first 100 at-bats.

But Gagne struggled in May, batting .160 in his next 100 at-bats.

He has found his swing again.

Gagne extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a second-inning single.

“The kind of guys like Gagne don’t get the credit they deserve for the success of ballclub,” Russell said. “It’s usually the guys who put up big numbers who get the credit, but the little guys put up the little numbers at crucial times.”