Hubbard Stays Ready

Based on his solid performance this season--and his team’s mostly dismal play during the first half--Dodger outfielder Trenidad Hubbard might be inclined to expect more starts and at-bats.

Hubbard is batting .373 (22 for 59) with four doubles and five runs batted in. He has scored 12 runs and appeared in 31 games.

Hubbard, however, says he has no complaints about his role.

“It’s the same as it’s ever been, I’m a reserve,” said Hubbard, who has started nine games in center field, one in left and one in right. “If one of our outfielders ever needs a break, I hopefully step in and not miss a beat or give the team a little something different.”

Hubbard, 33, was anything but pleased at the start of the season when the Dodgers decided to keep Jacob Brumfield on the major league roster and shipped Hubbard to triple-A Albuquerque.

“I was angry,” said Hubbard, who batted .298 with seven home runs, nine doubles and 18 runs batted in in 94 games for the Dodgers last season. “They made the decision they thought they had to make to improve the team and I had to live with it, but I didn’t necessarily have to agree with it or be happy about it.”

Hubbard was recalled on May 18, 11 days after Brumfield was claimed on waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Since then, he has supplied the Dodgers with steady play off the bench. Staying prepared, he said, is the key.

“You have to do the extra work,” he said. “You have to have a serious passion for the game and you really have to work even when you’re tired to stay sharp.”

Hubbard credits Manager Davey Johnson for giving him advance notice about his starts. He rarely has to wait until he arrives at the stadium to find out if he’s playing.

“Davey is very good at communicating to the players, especially the reserve guys, as to when they’ll be playing,” he said. “That’s a good thing for me. I visualize so much before I go to bed about hitting against the pitcher I’m going to face the next night. I like to know.”

Hubbard is hoping to build on his first-half performance and is confident the team will do the same.

“The season started out kind of rough for me, but I’m happy about the things I’ve been able to show,” he said. “I’d be a lot happier, obviously, if we had a lot of wins to go with some of my success.”

*

After sitting out Friday night’s series opener, second baseman Eric Young and first baseman Eric Karros returned to the lineup and Johnson moved struggling Raul Mondesi to the No. 6 spot in the batting order for the second time this season.

Mondesi, batting .258, struck out three times Friday night hitting in the fifth spot.

“Just trying to take a little pressure off,” Johnson said. “For the last month, it looks like he’s been pressing.

“I’m just looking to get him to relax.”

TODAY

DODGERS’ DARREN DREIFORT (6-8, 5.79 ERA)

vs.

MARINERS’ JEFF FASSERO (4-8, 6.67 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 1 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West 2

Radio--KXTA (1150, KWKW (1330)

* Update--The Dodgers and Dreifort are hoping to finish the first half on a positive note. Dreifort has lost his last three decisions, including a 5-2 defeat at Colorado last Tuesday. After today’s game, the Dodgers won’t play again until Thursday, when they open a three-game series against the Angels in Anaheim. Manager Davey Johnson said reliever Antonio Osuna probably will pitch today against Bakersfield and Wednesday against Modesto as he continues his rehabilitation assignment at Class-A San Bernardino. Osuna, on the disabled list since May 17 because of soreness in his right elbow, gave up no runs, no hits and struck out two in 1 2/3 innings Friday against High Desert. “He’s up to about 30 [pitches per outing],” Johnson said. “The quality of his pitches has been getting better, which is good. It’s not so much the quantity of pitches he throws. It’s the quality.”