Rotation’s Problems Not Minor

The Dodger rotation is already undergoing change because too much patience was practiced last season.

Manager Davey Johnson won’t experiment as much this time, explaining why struggling left-hander Carlos Perez was optioned Friday to triple-A Albuquerque before the New York Mets’ 2-1 victory at Shea Stadium.

Perez wasn’t in the Dodgers’ immediate plans because they don’t need a fifth starter at the moment, and his first outing didn’t inspire confidence. He’s scheduled to make two tune-up starts for the Dukes before supposedly rejoining the club April 21.

Other Dodger starters have room to improve too.

Darren Dreifort had a strange night in losing during his regular-season debut before 27,791.

The right-hander gave up the Mets’ only two hits and runs, escaping many jams while walking eight in five innings. Mike Piazza and Robin Ventura provided the Mets’ offense in the first with a run-scoring double and groundout, respectively.

Met starter Rick Reed located the strike zone better than Dreifort, pitching 7 2/3 strong innings in his first victory. Closer Armando Benitez worked the final 1 2/3 to earn his second save.

Gary Sheffield continued his impressive pace, hitting his second home run in the fourth. The all-star left fielder has seven homers in his last 11 games spanning two seasons.

Reed and Benitez made sure he didn’t receive much help Friday, limiting the Dodgers to four hits.

Dodger rookie Matt Herges had another good two-inning relief appearance, striking out three and strengthening his position on the club. Devon White was ejected by home plate umpire Mike Everett in the fourth for arguing balls and strikes.

The Dodgers lost their third straight game, and the rotation is dominating Johnson’s thoughts.

“Dreifort didn’t have much feel for the ball,” he said. “He was just all over the place.”

Dreifort set the wild tone in the first. He walked leadoff batter Jon Nunnally, and Nunnally advanced to second on a wild pitch with Edgardo Alfonzo batting. Then Dreifort walked Alfonzo.

Nunnally scored on Piazza’s double off the right-field wall and Alfonzo stopped at third. He scored on Ventura’s grounder. Dreifort also walked Todd Zeile before getting Jay Payton to fly out to finally end the inning.

“Everything seemed out of whack,” Dreifort said. “Every adjustment I made seemed to be an over-adjustment.”

Dreifort has been down this road many times.

He had a career-high nine walks against the Atlanta Braves on April 20 last season. Dreifort earned the victory in that game, 5-4, also giving up two hits in 5 1/3 innings.

“It obviously would be nice to give up only two hits and not walk eight guys,” said Dreifort, who threw only 41 strikes in 92 pitches Friday.

“I got more lucky than anything else to get out of there only giving up two runs. I don’t know how many guys they had on base, but that’s what you call some timely defense.”

The bullpen helped too.

Herges was perfect in the sixth and seventh, and Terry Adams in the eighth. It appeared Herges might be optioned to Albuquerque this week, but the right-hander has done his job.

“I have to prove myself every time out there,” said Herges, an eight-year minor leaguer. “I hate to see anyone go down [to Albuquerque], it happened to me twice last year, and it’s the worst feeling in the world.

“I’m going to out there and try to show Davey I can help each time. Hopefully, I’ll just keep proving to them that I belong here.”

The guy he relieved said there’s no doubt.

“Herges did a great job, he gave us three up and three down in two innings,” Dreifort said. “It’s just too bad we had to go to the bullpen so early. The last thing you want to do is burn the bullpen the first month of the season.”

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* PEREZ CONFUSED

Carlos Perez questioned the decision to demote him to triple A. Page 12