Johnson Happy With Recent Performance

Having spent a great deal of the early part of the schedule on the road, the Dodgers looked forward to a stretch of 20 of 26 games at home, which began May 22 and concluded Sunday.

Surely they would be able to rest their weary, utilize a home-field advantage and make up some ground on the National League West Division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks during the stretch.

But the Dodgers were only 9-11 at Dodger Stadium during the four-week stretch and dropped from second place, two games behind Arizona, to third place, 2 1/2 games back.

Still, Manager Davey Johnson does not look at the recently concluded stretch, which included three games at Edison Field against the Angels, as a missed opportunity.

“In hindsight, I don’t look at it like that,” he said. “Basically, we played pretty good.

“You go through a lot of little things where the mettle of the club has been tested,” Johnson added. “Really, we’ve done a good job, as far as that’s concerned. It could have been a helluva lot worse.”

Consider: During the stretch, the Dodgers lost two starting position players to the disabled list--third baseman Adrian Beltre and catcher Todd Hundley--while a third, center fielder Todd Hollandsworth, missed almost two weeks because of a strained hamstring. Plus, they endured a trade--reliever Alan Mills to the Baltimore Orioles--and the seemingly endless questions regarding roster numbers and the starting pitching rotation, which were alleviated, temporarily at least, when promising rookie Eric Gagne was optioned to triple-A Albuquerque and Orel Hershiser, 41, rejoined the club.

“I’m not discouraged about where we’re at,” Johnson said. “In baseball, you don’t look too far ahead and you don’t look too far behind.”

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Hundley, who has been on the 15-day disabled list since May 31 because of a strained rib-cage, says his recovery is coming along.

“It’s a day-by-day thing and, knock on wood, it will keep feeling better,” Hundley said.

The Dodger offense has suffered without the power-hitting switch-hitter. With Hundley on the active roster the Dodgers averaged 6.04 runs. With him on the disabled list, the Dodgers were averaging 4.35 runs before Sunday’s game.

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The Dodgers announced Sunday that they had signed seven more draftees from the June 5-6 draft, raising the number of signed draftees to 18.

Among the latest wave of draftees to sign is third-round pick Jeffrey Tibbs, a right-handed pitcher out of Davis High School in Farmington, Utah, who was chosen 87th overall.

The seven signees will be assigned to a Dodger minor league affiliate in either Great Falls, Mont., or Yakima, Wash.