Kreuter Willing to Help, If Asked

Chan Ho Park has become one of the majors’ top pitchers while working primarily with backup catcher Chad Kreuter, who believes he also can help struggling starter Darren Dreifort.

Although Kreuter said he has not lobbied for an increased role when Dreifort pitches, the 11-year veteran would welcome the assignment.

“I think he [Manager Jim Tracy] already knows the answer to that,” Kreuter said of his feelings about the situation. “It’s a touchy area where you can step on toes.

“It’s not my place to say that I want to play on a certain day. In a perfect world, yes, but it’s not a perfect world. You have to get other guys in the lineup who are playing well and deserve to play.

“If Dreif asked, that’s one thing, but for me to go in [to Tracy’s office] and say, ‘I can help him,’ that’s putting a lot on the line for me. If you don’t, or let’s say he does worse, then what? But I would love to be in the situation to try to help, whether I could or not.”

The Dodgers need to help Dreifort somehow.

The right-hander is off to a typically slow start at 4-7 with a 4.94 earned-run average after Sunday’s 6-1 loss to the San Diego Padres.

Dreifort did not have a poor outing against the Padres--three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings--but he’s under a microscope in the first year of a five-year, $55-million contract that includes a complete no-trade clause.

“I don’t think it’s anything major he needs to do,” said Kreuter, who has started in only four of Dreifort’s 15 starts.

“Maybe it’s just inserting certain pitches into different situations, or going away from a couple of ways he has been pitching. I’m talking about just taking a little bit of a different direction because the weapons are there.”

Dreifort is respected in the Dodger clubhouse because of his work ethic, commitment to teammates and competitiveness, but he has not met the expectations of Chairman Bob Daly and the on-field staff.

Tracy and pitching coach Jim Colborn acknowledge they are perplexed, and that Dreifort is pressing.

So why not try to duplicate the success of Park and Kreuter?

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s not an issue,” Tracy said of Dreifort’s batterymates. “Dreif talked to me early in the season and told me he’s comfortable with all of the guys we put back there.

“It’s just not an issue who catches him. He’s comfortable with Chad, with Paul Lo Duca and with Angel Pena [now at triple-A Las Vegas].

“It’s not a factor in his mind either. If it was, Dreif would have talked to me about it.”

*

First baseman Eric Karros did not accompany the team to San Francisco because of back stiffness.

Karros, on the disabled list for three weeks because of a severely sprained lower back, is still undergoing rehabilitation at Dodger Stadium under the supervision of physical therapist Pat Screnar.

“The likelihood of seeing him in this series is not very good,” Tracy said. “As far as how bad it is, he was stiff this morning.

“I don’t think it’s as bad as it was the previous time. But with the back, who’s to say?”

Karros said he hopes to rejoin the club Thursday in San Diego. However, he could not rule out another stint on the disabled list.

“I’m going through a rehabilitation process and I expect to be back on the field soon,” Karros said in a phone interview. “If it’s not soon, the other course would probably be a [disabled list] situation, though I don’t expect to go in that direction.”

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

KEVIN BROWN

(6-3, 2.55 ERA)

vs.

GIANTS’

SHAWN ESTES

(7-2, 2.59 ERA)

Pacific Bell Park, 7

TV--Channel 5

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

Update--Brown, activated from the disabled list Sunday, is scheduled to make his first start since May 29. The right-hander, sidelined 24 days because of an irritated nerve in his neck, said he felt fine after pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings in Sunday’s 6-1 loss to the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Brown is 8-1 with a 1.45 earned-run average against San Francisco. Estes is 5-0 with a 1.56 ERA in his last seven starts. The left-hander is 3-7 with a 4.39 ERA against the Dodgers.