Trip to Albuquerque Looms Closer for Williams With Each Stumble Out of the Bullpen

It’s 791.6 miles by car from Dodger Stadium to Albuquerque Sports Stadium, where the Dodgers’ triple-A affiliate Dukes play. But for Dodger reliever Jeff Williams, it’s closer than that.

Entering Tuesday night’s game against the Houston Astros, the left-handed reliever had struggled in three appearances this season with an earned-run average of 27.00 and admitted he could be demoted soon if his problems continue.

“Obviously, I’m not too happy about how things are going right now,” Williams said. “I’m struggling with my feel on the baseball and it’s something I’ve got to figure out pretty quickly.”

Left-handed relief pitching has been the Dodgers’ most glaring weakness thus far. They have already demoted left-hander Onan Masaoka after he had a 7.50 ERA in five appearances.

“Williams is overthrowing,” Dodger Manager Davey Johnson said. “He’s not throwing like he was last year.”

After a late-season call-up, Williams went 2-0 with a 4.08 ERA in five games, three starts. He beat the San Francisco Giants in their final game at erstwhile Candlestick Park.

“I’ve been given the opportunity to win that left-handed job and I feel like I can do it. I just have to show them I can do it,” Williams said. “I don’t think they’ll take too much of what I’ve been doing for too much longer.”

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The new red synthetic track surrounding the playing field at Dodger Stadium may be aesthetically pleasing, but the corners of the Dodger infield abhor it.

In last weekend’s series against the Cincinnati Reds, third baseman Adrian Beltre stumbled and dropped a foul popup after going from the grass to the track, and first baseman Eric Karros was hesitant to dive after a foul ball down the right-field line.

The hard surface was installed to replace the dirt which, team officials said, clogged the field’s irrigation system.

“With this kind of material, you don’t know if you’re going to slip or whatever,” Beltre said. “So you can’t dive because you don’t want to get hurt.”

Karros agreed.

“With me, I just didn’t get it and I’m not going to go headfirst into that, not the fifth or sixth game of the season,” he said. “You can’t really lay out on that stuff.

“When you’re running towards the stands, it used to be with the dirt that you’d slide [feet first] to protect from running into the stands full bore. And you can’t do it on this stuff.”

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The Dodgers’ makeup game at the New York Mets on Monday has been rescheduled for 10:10 a.m. (PDT). The game, which was postponed because of a snowstorm April 9, originally was supposed to get underway at 4:10 p.m. It will be shown locally on Fox Sports Net 2.

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Antonio Osuna, making a rehabilitation start for Class-A San Bernardino, gave up two runs in 1 1/3 innings at Visalia Tuesday night. He struck out two and walked two and threw 37 pitches. He is scheduled to move up to triple-A Albuquerque later this week.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

OREL

HERSHISER

(1-0, 4.09 ERA)

vs.

ASTROS’

SHANE REYNOLDS

(2-0, 3.32 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--None. Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330)

* Update--Hershiser, the winning pitcher in the Dodgers’ home opener Friday against the Reds, 8-1, is experiencing discomfort in his groin area and will pitch as long as he can endure it, Johnson said. Left-hander Carlos Perez will back up Hershiser. Reynolds, who hit his fourth career home run at San Diego Friday, is 5-7 with a 3.83 ERA in 16 games against the Dodgers.