Sunday Is a Day of Rest for Road Weary

Citing a need to rest his weary, Dodger Manager Davey Johnson sat four starters for Sunday’s series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.

Center fielder Devon White, second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, catcher Todd Hundley and shortstop Kevin Elster were given the day off. They were replaced by Todd Hollandsworth, F.P. Santangelo, Chad Kreuter and Jose Vizcaino, respectively.

“It’s been a grueling deal,” Johnson said of the start of the season, which began with trips to Toronto (for an exhibition series), Montreal, New York and San Francisco. “I do this with my catchers anyway.

“Grud has been struggling so I wanted to give him a rest,” added Johnson, who said that he wanted to give Elster and White some time too. “Each guy has had a little nagging something, nothing specific.”

Grudzielanek is batting .176 and Hundley .167. Each has one home run and three runs batted in.

“Sometimes you start fighting yourself,” Johnson said of no one in particular. “They’ll work it out eventually, but sometimes it helps if you just sit back and look and watch everything else instead of trying to figure out, ‘Well, why am I jumping around, why am I so anxious, why am I doing this?’ ”

Elster thinks the lengthy trip to start the season has something to do with it.

“It was brutal. My clothes were standing up by the time we [got to L.A.], standing up on their own in the corner,” he said. “And then we had to play a day game here [for the home opener on Friday] so that was probably the worst road trip of the year. At least it’s over with.”

*

A year ago, Elster was lounging by the pool in his suburban Lake Las Vegas home, enjoying retirement and planning on opening a bar.

Now, he’s fighting traffic getting to Dodger Stadium from his Huntington Beach home.

“That drive’s going to get old real fast,” Elster said. “When I played here as a visitor, I always stayed down there in Huntington with my folks. I can take [the drive] in small doses, three times, six times a year. But this everyday stuff, I don’t know if I can take that. That’ll probably be the toughest part of my day, just getting here.”

*

Antonio Osuna, coming back from surgery for a partially torn ligament in his right elbow last September, might rejoin the Dodger pitching staff as early as May 1, Johnson said. Osuna, a right-hander, will make his third appearance with Class-A San Bernardino today and is scheduled to move to triple-A Albuquerque shortly thereafter.

ON DECK

* Opponent--Houston Astros, three games

* Site--Dodger Stadium

* Tonight--7.

* TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

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

* Records--Dodgers 7-5, Astros 5-7.

* 1999 record vs. Astros--3-6.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

DARREN DREIFORT

(0-1, 2.70 ERA)

vs.

ASTROS’

OCTAVIO DOTEL

(0-1, 5.25 ERA)

* Update--Dreifort’s last start, at San Francisco on Wednesday, was postponed by rain and he didn’t figure in the final decision, a game the Dodgers eventually won 6-5. Dreifort is 1-2 with a 3.63 ERA lifetime against Houston and went 0-1 with a 2.35 ERA against the Astros last season. Dotel was with the New York Mets last year and beat the Dodgers in his lone start of the season Aug. 6 at Shea Stadium, striking out a career-high 10 while giving up three hits in the 2-1 Met win. Of the eight players on the Dodger roster to have faced Dotel, only Hollandsworth has touched him for a base hit.

* Tuesday, 7 p.m.--Carlos Perez (1-1, 6.75 ERA) vs. Scott Elarton (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

* Wednesday, 7:05 p.m.--Orel Hershiser (1-0, 4.09 ERA) vs. Shane Reynolds (2-0, 3.32 ERA)