Perez Is Steadily Gaining His Teammates’ Confidence

The Dodgers are excited about Carlos Perez’s progress, and Perez is too.

After a rocky season-opening start, the left-hander is 3-0 with a 3.89 earned-run average in his last six appearances, five of them starts. Overall, Perez is 3-1 with a 4.58 ERA.

Perez would have been 4-0 during that span had the bullpen preserved a 6-3, eighth-inning lead Tuesday in an 11-7, 12-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is slowly gaining Manager Davey Johnson’s confidence while also making believers of his teammates.

He hasn’t erased all of the doubts, but he’s accomplishing more than expected.

“There’s no doubt, he has been better,” Johnson said of Perez, scheduled to start today against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

“When guys are going good, and they feel they can get outs, you can see it out there. I’m beginning to see that in Carlos, and it’s not just me.”

His batterymate has been especially impressed.

“His fastball is like night and day from last season,” catcher Todd Hundley said. “That’s the first thing I noticed, that his velocity has been so much better the last few times out.

“The other thing is he’s really getting guys to go after his slider because of what he’s doing with his fastball. He’s just better.”

Perez’s fastball had been clocked consistently between 83-84 mph last season, when he went 2-10 with a 7.43 ERA after signing a three-year, $15.6-million deal. This season, he has registered 87 mph on the radar gun.

That might not seem like much difference, but it helps.

“My fastball has been real good,” Perez said. “When you can throw your fastball for strikes, that helps you make all your other pitches.

“It’s like I said [in spring training], this year isn’t going to be like last year. I know what I have to do.”

Pitching coach Claude Osteen, among Perez’s supporters, said command and confidence have been keys.

“He has built on every outing, and he’s really at a point now where he feels he can win,” Osteen said. “I feel he’s throwing about as good as he can throw now, and he’s probably not going to throw much harder.”

Perez worked hard to reach this point, and plans to keep working.

“You can’t stop just because you’re doing good,” he said. “I want to keep doing better to help my team.”

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Shortstop Kevin Elster participated in batting practice Saturday for the first time since going on the disabled list because of a pulled groin muscle May 5 (retroactive to May 4).

“It felt like the first day of spring training,” said Elster, who also fielded a few grounders. “When you spend a whole week not doing anything, it feels strange when you get back out there.

“Davey wouldn’t let me go all out, so we’ll spend the next week fielding ground balls and just going over the basics. Everything seems on target.”

Elster is eligible to be activated Friday. Shortstop Alex Cora is expected to be optioned to triple-A Albuquerque to make room for Elster on the 25-man roster, but Cora has played well in Elster’s absence.

Cora is batting .350 (seven for 20) with two runs batted in. He has had three hits in each of his last two games.

“Well, that [optioning Cora] is the probable option, but Cora has played very well,” said General Manager Kevin Malone, who will rejoin the club Monday in Chicago.

“I have to talk with Davey and see what he’s thinking. A lot of times, those situations work themselves out.”

ON DECK DODGERS’ CARLOS PEREZ (3-1, 4.58 ERA) vs. CARDINALS’ PAT HENTGEN (3-4, 5.44 ERA)

Busch Stadium, 11 a.m. PDT

TV--Channel 5. Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Update--Perez is 3-3 with a 4.58 ERA in nine starts against the Cardinals. He was 0-1 in two starts last season. Hentgen, acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in November, is 0-4 in his last four starts.