Dodgers Seem in Control as Season Starts

The Dodgers began the final day of spring training with two question marks in their starting rotation: Carlos Perez’s health and Darren Dreifort’s control.

They got the answer they wanted to the first question. As for the second, it wasn’t the prettiest performance, but Dreifort looked overpowering at times, striking out seven in 4 2/3 innings Sunday during an 8-4 Dodger victory over the New York Yankees in an exhibition game before 30,315 at Dodger Stadium.

But Dreifort also walked four, bringing his spring total to 20 in 27 2/3 innings. Three of those walks came in the first inning, when the Yankees scored once without a hit.

But that didn’t concern Manager Davey Johnson.

“Sometimes it takes a big machine some time to get going,” Johnson said. “I think those first two were strikeouts.

“He’s thrown some quality games [this spring] and his stuff was hard today.”

As for Perez, a day after he was hit on his non-throwing right elbow by a David Cone line drive, he was wearing ice on his arm but said it would not cause him to miss any time.

“Any time I miss a start, it’s because I have a problem with my pitching arm,” Perez said. “If I get hit in the leg or the right arm, I don’t miss any time.

“Last year I played two months with a broken nose from a car accident.”

Perez said he was hit on the bone and not muscle, which meant there was no swelling on the arm Sunday.

Offensively, the Dodgers ended the preseason with a bang, pounding out 11 hits, including five in a five-run first.

After Eric Young led off with a walk and Mark Grudzielanek singled, Gary Sheffield and Devon White scored them with singles, White’s deflecting off the hand of Yankee starter Ryan Bradley.

The next batter was Eric Karros, who knocked an 0-and-2 pitch over the left-center field wall and knocked Bradley out of the game.

Also homering for the Dodgers was Adrian Beltre, whose second home run of the spring, a fifth-inning shot halfway up the left-field pavilion, was the second of three hits on the day. It was an impressive end to an impressive spring for the 20-year-old third baseman.

“The only question before this spring was if I could hit in the big leagues,” said Beltre, who hit .453 this spring. “Now I’m positive and ready to play.”

But even he is surprised at how he is hitting.

“Not that well, to hit over .400” he said of how he thought he’d hit entering the spring.

“I told him if he hit .250 that was alright,” Johnson said. ‘I guess he just got the two and the four mixed up.”

Rick Wilkins added two hits for the Dodgers, starting at catcher and hitting seventh. Seventh will be where starter Todd Hundley opens the season against left-hander Randy Johnson of Arizona today.

Hundley batted second against Cone on Saturday, and it’s where Johnson will keep him against right-handers to start the season.

“Swapping the two and seven hitters, that’s my big managerial move,” Johnson joked after the game.

It was a strong finish for the Dodgers this spring. They scored 25 runs in their final four games and won eight of their last 10.

They tied the team record of 21 victories, set in 1988, the last time the Dodgers won the World Series.

“I think this was a pretty good spring for not trying to win,” Johnson said. “I’ve never had a couple of easier games against the Yankees in my life.”