Sloppy Play Has Tracy Concerned

Manager Jim Tracy is not oblivious to the Dodgers’ recent poor execution, baserunning and fielding.

Tracy expressed concern about the club struggling as it lost two of three games to the San Diego Padres at Qualcomm Stadium, but he said it is not time to panic.

“I’m not going to get overly excited or depressed over the fact of [a few] games,” Tracy said. “It’s 162 games. . . . There’s only [149] left to go.”

General Manager Kevin Malone blamed former manager Davey Johnson for the club’s problems, and Tracy stressed fundamentals in spring training.

But Tracy said the Dodgers will still make mistakes.

“The whole thing with regard to us stressing fundamentals the way we did. . . . We’re going to have [bad games],” he said. “Because we worked on it as hard as we did over the course of six weeks, that’s not to say that you’re not going to go out, on a given day, and make a couple of mistakes.

“But how often do they happen? Are they minimized or do they start showing up daily? To me, if you start to see things that you don’t want to see happening on a regular basis, then it’s something I feel you need to talk out loud about.”

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Players complained that Johnson did not communicate well, and confusion about roles stirred frustration in the clubhouse.

Tracy has an open-door policy, hoping to keep players’ focused on the field.

“I just think that players are more focused when you enlighten them as to what’s going on,” he said. “When the door is closed and they want to disagree with me, or if they want to talk out loud about [a subject], that’s a forum in which we can do so. And I have no problem with that.”

Tracy acknowledged he has already had several one-on-one sessions to address performance issues.

“We’ve had a little bit of that,” he said. “I think the players appreciate the fact of making them aware of, in some cases, what you’re thought process is on a given day.

“For example the other day with [second baseman Mark Grudzielanek]. Before we put the lineup up, I brought Grud in and explained to him what my thinking was [on giving him a day off]. He doesn’t have to walk into that clubhouse and look at the lineup card and spend the first hour of his day at work wondering what the hell is going on in here.”

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Marquis Grissom has batted throughout the order during 12-plus seasons in the majors, and he is now sharing the leadoff role with Tom Goodwin.

Grissom is batting .115 (three for 26) with a .115 on-base percentage, and has not walked. Do not expect him to walk often.

“I’m not going up there looking for a walk, that’s not my intention,” said the reserve outfielder, who had a career-high 52 walks in 1993 with the Montreal Expos. “My intention is to get on base, but it’s not to walk. If I go up there looking for a walk, my game’s going out the door. That’s just not my game.

“My game is to stay aggressive, and you can’t have it both ways. You want a guy to get up there and walk, you better get somebody else. I’m not going up there to walk, I’m going up there to hit.”

Grissom said he wants to produce atop the order, but he must do it his way.

“I’ve got some power, I can hit the ball all over the park,” he said. “I’m the type of player that if you put me in the leadoff spot, I’m going to do the best I can, but I have to stay aggressive.”

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The rotation has been altered to give right-hander Andy Ashby an extra day off, pitching coach Jim Colborn said.

Ashby and Chan Ho Park have been switched, with Park now pitching Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants and Ashby on Thursday.