Castro Smokes His First

Juan Castro feared he might jinx the moment, so he didn’t look.

But he will see the ball in his mind forever.

The light-hitting Dodger utility player hit his first major league home run Thursday afternoon in a 7-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

“I knew I hit it pretty good, I knew the ball was up there, but I didn’t want to look,” he said. “I just kept thinking, ‘I hope it goes, I hope it goes,’ because there was a lot of wind out there today.”

On a full count, Castro hit a leadoff homer to left in the eighth inning against reliever Marc Pisciotta. Castro took over at second base for Eric Young in the bottom of the seventh, after Young injured his right thigh muscle. Young is listed as day to day.

Castro, the Dodgers’ defensive specialist, had 237 official plate appearances while playing parts of four seasons before hitting his first homer.

“It felt really good, because I felt it was something I was missing in my career,” he said. “But I don’t think anybody should expect [more soon], because I’m not really a home run hitter.

*

Eric Karros dislocated his left pinkie Thursday in the second inning after being picked off.

“It’s been an eventful six months or so,” he said. “Everything had been going pretty smooth for me for a while, but a lot of stuff has been happening to me recently.

“At least [Thursday’s injury] wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

An X-ray didn’t reveal broken bones. Karros is listed as day to day.

*

Paul Konerko is expected to be recalled from triple-A Albuquerque today.

Konerko was sent to Albuquerque on April 24 to make room for Karros on the 25-man roster. He was batting .197 at the time of his demotion, but he is batting .379 (33 for 87) with six homers and 25 RBIs for the Dukes.

ON DECK

* Opponent--Arizona Diamondbacks, three games.

* Site--Bank One Ballpark, Phoenix.

* Tonight--7.

* TV--Channel 5 tonight and Saturday.

* Radio--AM 1150, KWKW (1330).

* Records--Dodgers 22-24, Diamondbacks 14-32.

* Record vs. Diamondbacks--2-1.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ DARREN DREIFORT (1-4, 4.34 ERA) vs. DIAMONDBACKS’ ANDY BENES (3-3, 4.09 ERA)

* Update--Dreifort earned his first victory as a starter by defeating Montreal, 9-4, last Saturday at Dodger Stadium. The expansion Diamondbacks have won four in a row.

* Saturday, 7 p.m.--Ramon Martinez (5-2, 3.18) vs. Brian Anderson (1-5, 3.90).

* Sunday, 4:30 p.m.--Chan Ho Park (4-2, 5.33) vs. Willie Blair (1-7, 5.31).