Cora Keeps Swing Short and Sweet

Dodger infielder Alex Cora hit 10 home runs playing in Puerto Rico two winters ago, and it may have set his career back a year.

“I thought I was a power hitter, and that wasn’t the case,” Cora said. “It took me a whole year to realize that I had to keep my swing short and [hit to the opposite field], take what [the pitchers] give to you.”

Cora batted .217 with four homers and 29 runs batted in last season, and last spring, he lost his starting shortstop job to Cesar Izturis. But with the switch-hitting Izturis batting .195 from the left side and Cora’s average hovering around .300, Cora, who bats from the left side, began playing regularly against right-handers in early August.

Cora, who has put in long hours with batting instructor Jack Clark in an effort to adjust his approach, had three hits, an RBI and a run in Wednesday night’s 5-2 victory over the Expos, lifting his average to .299. He stroked a two-out, RBI single to left to give the Dodgers a two-run lead in the eighth.

While second baseman Mark Grudzielanek struggled to adjust to the eighth spot in the order during the first half of the season, Cora has provided consistent offense hitting in front of the pitcher this month.

“I call the eighth spot the black hole, because sometimes you think they’re not going to pitch to you and they come right at you, and sometimes you think they’re going to be aggressive and they pitch around you,” Cora said. “You can’t think about anything. You just have to react.”

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Left fielder Brian Jordan has responded favorably to an epidural injection to alleviate the pain caused by a protruding disk in his lower back, and he could return to the lineup as soon as Friday night against the New York Mets.

Jordan flew from Los Angeles to Montreal on Wednesday night and will join the team tonight, but Manager Jim Tracy said he will hold him out of the series finale against the Expos, for fear he would take too much of a pounding on Olympic Stadium’s artificial surface.

Jordan, who is batting .271 with 13 home runs and 50 RBIs, has missed the Dodgers’ last five games. He missed six games in May because of a lower back strain but did not go on the disabled list.

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The Dodgers’ game against the New York Mets in Shea Stadium on Saturday has been changed from 4 to 4:30 PDT to accommodate a pregame ceremony.... With his solo homer off Montreal starter Bartolo Colon in the third inning Wednesday night, Shawn Green has hit five home runs in the last seven games.

TODAY

DODGERS’

OMAR DAAL

(9-6, 3.95 ERA)

vs.

EXPOS’

JAVIER VAZQUEZ

(8-8, 3.87 ERA)

Olympic Stadium, Montreal, 4 p.m.

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

Update--Daal, who has given up nine earned runs in his last 26 1/3 innings, could become the fourth Dodger to win 10 games. Grudzielanek tweaked his sore right hamstring legging out an infield single in the sixth Wednesday night, but he remained in the game until the eighth.