Reyes Good, but He’s Not Good Enough

If this was indeed Dennis Reyes’ farewell appearance for the Dodgers, make sure he gets a round-trip ticket to Albuquerque.

And a temporary residence.

The Dodgers’ 20-year-old left-hander pitched well again in losing to the New York Mets on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, 2-1, in front of a crowd of 39,610.

The loss dropped the Dodgers four games behind the division-leading San Francisco Giants in the NL West.

With the imminent return of injured starter Ismael Valdes, Reyes (1-2) figures to be the odd man out of the rotation.

He would, however, be gone only for the month of August, and undoubtedly return in September when the minor leaguers are called up to help with the stretch run.

The Dodgers won’t say officially that Reyes is gone until they have to make a decision, because there is always the chance of an injury in the meantime.

But unless that happens, the decision seems obvious. Valdes has recovered from his hamstring injury and is ready to regain the spot in the rotation that Reyes had filled.

The other missing starter, Ramon Martinez, appears to be still several weeks away from returning as he recuperates from a rotator-cuff injury. But in his place is veteran knuckleballer Tom Candiotti, who is 6-3 with a 3.22 earned-run average.

So logically, that leaves a bullpen spot for Reyes if he stays.

Manager Bill Russell wouldn’t comment on Reyes’ fate, but he did reveal his feelings about the Dodgers’ options.

“I wouldn’t want [Reyes] sitting here,” Russell said, “when he could be getting his innings in Albuquerque. That’s better than having him sitting in our bullpen.”

Reyes still has learning to do, but Wednesday, he again showed that, while he is not unhittable, he is seemingly unflappable. As was the case in his previous two outings, Reyes seemed to get tougher when the Mets got men on base.

“He pitched his way out of trouble,” Russell said. “You like to see that in a kid. He had three starts here and we’re pleased with him.”

New York got to him for a pair of runs. Manny Alexander doubled to left in the second inning, stole third and then scored on a fly ball to left by Rey Ordonez. Brett Butler, bothered by shoulder problems, came up short on the throw to the plate.

In the fourth, Alexander got his second double of the night and scored on a double by Lance Johnson.

But Reyes also had Mets on first and third in the first inning and got out of trouble by striking out Todd Hundley and getting Edgardo Alfonzo on a grounder to short. Reyes had the bases loaded in the third, but he got Butch Huskey on a fly to right.

“He had a lot of composure out there,” catcher Tom Prince said. “Not a lot of kids that young have that kind of composure. He’s going to be a great pitcher. He is a great pitcher.”

Meanwhile, the Mets’ pitchers shut down on only four hits a Dodger team that, going in, had won 14 of 19 in July, five of its previous six at Dodger Stadium, and was hitting .312 for the month with 27 home runs.

The 28th homer accounted for the Dodgers’ only run Wednesday against starter Brian Bohanon (2-1), who was followed by relievers Cory Lidle, Greg McMichael and John Franco.

That home run came from an unlikely source. Prince, filling in again for the injured Mike Piazza, slugged a homer into the left-field bullpen in the fifth off Bohanon.

It was Prince’s second homer in as many nights, after he had hit a total of six in his previous 10 big-league seasons.

Asked if had ever hit home runs on consecutive days on any level, Prince said, “Never. I’m feeling pretty good and I’m seeing the ball pretty decent.”

The other three hits were singles, one of them by Raul Mondesi, who increased his hitting streak to 12 games.

Mondesi also reached on an error by Alfonzo to lead off the ninth. He went to second on a passed ball. But Franco struck out Eric Karros, and got Todd Zeile on a fly to left that Bernard Gilkey appeared to misjudge, then recovered to make the catch. Wilton Guerrero grounded to third, giving Franco his 26th save.