Pitchers to Miss Hough

Dodger pitchers expressed disappointment and anger Wednesday over the firing of pitching coach Charlie Hough.

Many pitchers credited Hough with helping them through difficult times and praised him for his work ethic and dedication to the organization.

“It’s really a shame when a person who is as good a guy on and off the field as Charlie Hough winds up getting fired because of how we pitched,” staff ace Kevin Brown said. “We failed Charlie Hough. Charlie Hough didn’t fail us.”

Starter Darren Dreifort agreed.

“Charlie didn’t need us, we needed him, that’s why he was here,” Dreifort said. “I hear people say Charlie can’t be a good pitching coach because he’s a knuckleball pitcher. Charlie Hough is a great pitching coach. Charlie Hough has 30 years in the big leagues. He’s seen every situation and he’s been through everything. His knowledge of pitching is unbelievable. He has a game plan for everything.

“You can go up to Charlie at any time and ask him anything. It’s not Charlie’s fault that I’ve got a 5.00 ERA [4.98]. It’s not his fault that Chan Ho [Park] is doing what he’s doing and Carlos [Perez] is doing what he’s doing. [Brown] is the only one who has pitched consistently. Atlanta has a ton of Cy Young Award winners who are getting [pounded]. You don’t see the Braves firing [pitching coach] Leo Mazzone.”

Reliever Alan Mills said other changes will probably follow unless things change soon.

“I feel bad for Charlie because he didn’t throw any pitches. He didn’t do anything to warrant his fate,” said Mills, the right-handed setup man. “Unfortunately, that’s just the nature of this game.

“When you have a team like ours, and it doesn’t play up to expectations, changes are going to be made. And I’m sure that might be the first of many [changes] unless we start playing a lot better.”

TODAY

DODGERS’ ISMAEL VALDES (4-2, 3.77 ERA)

vs.

REDS’ PETE HARNISCH (4-4, 3.16 ERA)

Cinergy Field, 9:35 a.m. PDT.

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

* Update--Valdes is coming off his worst outing of the season. The right-hander gave up six hits and four earned runs last Friday in a 10-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. Valdes continues to suffer from the blister problems that hinder his command. Harnisch is 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA in his last two starts, pitching 17 1/3 innings.