Hamstring Injury Sends Beltre to Disabled List

The Dodgers will place Adrian Beltre on the disabled list today after the third baseman severely strained his right hamstring in Saturday night’s 7-6 loss to the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.

Beltre, who signed a three-year, $5.05-million contract with the Dodgers on March, 23 sustained the injury running out out a ground ball in the sixth inning. He pulled up two strides shy of first base and clutched at the back of his leg before collapsing in pain.

“It’s hard to walk on it right now so it’s going to be awhile,” said Beltre, who was shuffling around the Dodger clubhouse with a pained expression on his face before Sunday’s game. “I felt something pop back there. It’s the first time I’ve pulled a hamstring.

“I hope I can be back soon but all I can do is go through treatment.”

Beltre, who is batting .269 with five home runs and 31 runs batted in, missed two games [May 5-6] this season because of a tight left hamstring.

Dodger Manager Davey Johnson said he was not sure what roster move the Dodgers will make.

“As far as a replacement, there’s a lot of possibilities,” Johnson said. “But most likely it could be a position player [to be recalled from the minor leagues].

“If we get a position player, we’ll want someone with a little more flexibility [position-wise].”

Utilityman Jose Vizcaino started at third Sunday.

*

Alan Mills sees the season as a distance race, not a sprint. So he is keeping in perspective his current scoreless streak. It reached 8 2/3 innings over his last six appearances with a scoreless inning Saturday night, lowering his earned-run average to 3.63 after being as high as 7.71 on April 18.

“You can’t get too down on yourself when you’re not going well and you can’t get too high on yourself when you’re doing well because this is a very humbling game,” said Mills, who is 2-1 with a save in 15 appearances. “You try to keep an even keel.”

Mills said an early-season talk with first baseman Eric Karros, who also was struggling statistically at the time, helped ease his mind.

“Everybody’s going to have bad games,” Mills said. “[Mark] McGwire’s going to have a stretch where he doesn’t hit the ball. Kevin Brown’s going to throw the ball not so well some days. That happens to everybody. You’ve just got to roll with it.”

ON DECK

* Opponent--New York Mets

* Site--Dodger Stadium

* Today--4 p.m.

* TV--Channel 5 locally and ESPN nationally today; Channel 5 Tuesday; Fox Sports Net 2 locally and ESPN2 nationally Wednesday.

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

* Records--Dodgers 26-21, Mets 28-22

* Record vs. Mets--1-2

TODAY

DODGERS’ CHAN HO PARK

(4-4, 5.01 ERA)

vs.

METS’ AL LEITER

(5-0, 3.31 ERA)

* Update--Park has yet to win at Dodger Stadium this season, going 0-2 in two starts. Against the Mets, he is 1-2 with a 2.60 earned-run average in eight career games. The left-handed Leiter, among the National League’s leaders in ERA, is enjoying a career season. He is 5-3 with a 4.28 ERA against the Dodgers in nine games. The Mets, who have won nine of 12, are concluding a bizarre road trip that had them in San Diego before heading to St. Louis this weekend.

Tuesday, 7 p.m.--Eric Gagne (0-3, 4.33 ERA) vs. Bobby Jones (1-1, 9.68 ERA).

Wednesday, 7 p.m.--Kevin Brown (4-1, 2.57 ERA) vs. Mike Hampton (6-4, 3.99 ERA).