Tracy Not Ready to Let Beltre Clean Up Just Yet

Manager Jim Tracy has said he likes to keep his hottest hitter behind No. 3 batter Shawn Green in the lineup, and with that in mind, he admitted Wednesday he has considered moving third baseman Adrian Beltre to the cleanup spot.

“But I’m not ready to do that,” Tracy said. “I’m aware of what I said before, but you don’t want to make a rash decision that sends a message through the clubhouse that we haven’t hit well for 25 games, and it looks like we’re in a panic mode. It’s not going to be that way.”

No Dodger struggled more than Beltre in the first four months of the season--from June 29 to July 24, Beltre could not lift his average above .240.

But when the July 24 trade for utility player Tyler Houston threatened to cut into Beltre’s playing time, he responded by going 17 for 46 (.370) with four homers and 15 runs batted in during his next 11 games.

Tracy moved Beltre from the sixth and seventh spots to the fifth spot this past week, and now that Beltre has snapped out of his season-long funk, Tracy doesn’t want to put too much pressure on Beltre by hitting him cleanup.

But if the Dodgers don’t get more offense from the fourth spot, which produced two RBIs in the first 25 games after the All-Star break, Tracy may have no choice but to promote Beltre again.

“If my hand gets forced because we’re not getting it done behind Shawn Green, then I will make that adjustment,” Tracy said. “But if you start doing things that are drastic ... you don’t want to send a message that’s going to have people looking around and feeling the guy in charge doesn’t realize the offense has gone cold, but they’re all trying to rectify it.”

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Second baseman Mark Grudzielanek took the blame for a baserunning gaffe that resulted in two runners on third base in the second inning of Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to the Pirates.

With Beltre on first and one out, Grudzielanek hit a blooper to left that outfielder Brian Giles dived for, but the ball hit Giles in the head and caromed toward center.

Beltre headed for third while center fielder Adam Hyzdu retrieved the ball, and Beltre was held by third base coach Glenn Hoffman. But Grudzielanek didn’t pick up Hoffman’s stop sign around second and continued to third, where Beltre was easily tagged out.

“I got to third and I was like, ‘What in the world?’ ” Grudzielanek said. “I didn’t think it would have been a close play at the plate at all. It was just a weird play. But I should have looked up. I took it for granted, I assumed [Beltre would score], and that hurt us. It cost us a run.”

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Giles, whose flying header would have looked great on a World Cup highlight show but will probably land him on a baseball bloopers video, remained on the ground for several moments after Tuesday night’s play.

When a trainer hustled to left field and asked if Giles was OK, Giles said, “Yeah, I’m just too damn embarrassed to get up.”

Giles also had a little beef with the official scorer: “Why didn’t I get an assist?”

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

KAZUHISA ISHII

(12-7, 4.07 ERA)

vs.

PIRATES’

JIMMY ANDERSON

(8-11, 4.86 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Channel 13. Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

Update--The Dodgers will face a left-handed starter for the first time since July 19, a string of 16 games, when they oppose Anderson, whom the Dodgers bombed for eight runs on 11 hits in a 9-6 win in Pittsburgh on April 23. The Dodgers are 17-8 against left-handed starters this season. Ishii was hit hard in his last two starts, giving up 13 earned runs on 11 hits, including four homers, in 7 2/3 innings against Cincinnati and Philadelphia.

Tickets--(323) 224-1448.