Mondesi Is Not Used to Sitting Out

While the Dodger starters stretched on the field between the dugout and batting cage late Wednesday afternoon, Raul Mondesi sauntered out, strolled about and languidly went through a routine.

What was the point of getting ready for a game you aren’t expected to play in?

When batting coach Rick Down told Mondesi that Manager Davey Johnson was going to sit him for the second game of the three-game series with San Diego, Down didn’t exactly find a happy right fielder.

“Ever since I was 12 years old, I’ve never sat and watched guys play,” Mondesi said. “That’s never happened to me. Even when I first came up, I played.”

Johnson said the reason for the respite was Mondesi’s “expanding the strike zone a little bit.”

Translation: He’s been swinging at bad balls.

Actually, that’s nothing new. Since he came up with the Dodgers in 1993, Mondesi’s strike zone has been pretty much anywhere.

“When you’re hitting good, it doesn’t matter,” Mondesi said.

When you’re three for 27 on the homestand and have cooled to a .267 batting average after a hot start, it matters.

Still, “he’s a hard guy to take out of the lineup,” Johnson said. “. . . He’s been carrying us. I’ll probably have to throw him in tonight before it’s all over.”

And it’s only for one night.

“It had better be,” said Mondesi, who was the only Dodger to have played all 68 games. “I don’t want to come out, but he’s the manager. If I didn’t feel good, I wouldn’t mind. If I feel strong, I want to play.”

He feels strong.

“Even if we’re up, 8-1, in the ninth inning, I want to complete the game,” he said. “Now I watch the game, eat sunflower seeds, candy.”

Todd Hollandsworth started in right field and batted fourth in the order, in Mondesi’s spot.

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Johnson also sat down second baseman Eric Young, subbing newcomer Craig Counsell as the leadoff hitter.

“E.Y. looked like he was getting a little frustrated to me,” Johnson said.

Young is three for 19 on the homestand.

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Third baseman Adrian Beltre batted second for the third straight game and came into Wednesday’ game in a 0-for-7 slump since moving from the seventh spot in the order.

And he wasn’t happy about the whole process.

“I don’t know what is going on,” Beltre said. “I know that I don’t see the pitches batting second that I saw batting seventh.”

Beltre is getting a steady diet of off-speed stuff that has him tied up. And moving runners over by sacrificing is a potential problem.

“I’m not used to bunting,” he said. “That’s one reason I can’t bat second: I can’t bunt.”

And he’s unwilling to question the decision to move him to the second spot.

“I can’t do that,” he said. “[Johnson] is the manager.”

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Dodger reliever Doug Bochtler cleared waivers and was designated to report to Albuquerque, but has until today to decide whether he will do so or sign with another club as a free agent. . . . San Diego right fielder Tony Gwynn, 18 hits shy of 3,000, was unable to play Wednesday night because of a recurring calf injury, and the Padres said he probably will be put on the 15-day disabled list today. . . . San Diego put catcher Jim Leyritz on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday after he suffered a broken left hand when hit by a Chan Ho Park pitch in Tuesday night’s game. The Padres called up catcher Ben Davis from triple-A Las Vegas. . . . Padre batting coach Merv Rettemund called the press box Wednesday to complain about the decision of official scorer Gordon Verrell, who charged Beltre with an error on a one-hopper by San Diego’s Eric Owens that Beltre lost in the Dodger Stadium lights. The decision stood.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ DARREN DREIFORT (6-5, 5.96 ERA)

vs.

PADRES’ ANDY ASHBY (6-4, 3.65 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7

TV--Fox Sports West 2 Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330)

* Update--Dreifort turned in a one-run, six-hit performance in 6 2/3 innings of an 8-1 win over Philadelphia on Saturday to end a three-game losing streak. It was his first win since May 22. “I feel good,” he said. “I haven’t felt bad all year. Things just weren’t going right for me.” Chief among them, he added was a pitching rhythm he has reestablished with advice from several people, including trainer Stan Johnson. “He told me to get strike one,” Dreifort said. “It’s simple, but I wasn’t doing it.” Ashby is coming off the 15-day disabled list, the result of a back strain.