Karros Sets His Jaw, Stays in Lineup

His jaw was sore, he couldn’t eat solid foods or close his mouth completely, and he had 12 stitches on his chin to close a deep gash caused by the Felix Rodriguez fastball that hit him in the face Saturday. But that didn’t prevent Dodger first baseman Eric Karros from starting against the Giants Sunday night.

“It’s not an eating contest out there or anything,” Karros said, “so I can play.”

Karros’ jaw was not broken, and his sense of humor remained intact, which was remarkable considering that a day earlier, he lay face-down in the dirt, his feet kicking the ground and his hands covering his face after getting beaned by a high-velocity Rodriguez pitch that tailed up and in.

“It was scary,” Karros said. “I was on the ground trying to feel my teeth, to make sure they weren’t floating around. Blood was coming out of my mouth.... Nothing even remotely close to that has happened to me before.... I haven’t seen a replay of it. I probably won’t want to for a while.”

Neither does Rodriguez, the San Francisco reliever who was a teammate of Karros on the Dodgers in 1995.

“The more I see a replay of it, the worse I feel,” said Rodriguez, who sent a note of apology to Karros Sunday afternoon. “I’m just glad he’s OK.”

Any doubts about Karros were erased when he had three singles in four at-bats Sunday night, which had to reinforce Manager Jim Tracy’s decision to start him.

“Sometimes you think about that,” Tracy said, when asked if Karros might have some trepidation about stepping back into the batter’s box, “but sometimes the best medicine in the world is to jump right back in the saddle rather than sitting around and thinking about it for a while.”

Karros had minor plastic surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles to close the cut Saturday, but showed no sign of having a concussion or blurred vision.

“I’m lucky the pitch wasn’t higher,” Karros said. “I’m as OK as you can be for getting hit in the face.”

*

Infielder Jeff Reboulet strained his lower back during a bunt attempt Saturday and was placed on the 15-day disabled list. To replace him, the Dodgers purchased the contract of utility player Mike Kinkade, who was batting .341 with 11 homers and 50 runs batted in for triple-A Las Vegas.

*

Kevin Brown is scheduled to throw off the Dodger Stadium bullpen mound today, Wednesday and Friday, and Tracy said the right-hander will use most of his pitches, an indication Brown is recovering rapidly from his June 11 surgery for a herniated disk in his lower back and could return sometime in August.

ON DECK

Opponent--San Diego Padres, three games.

Site--Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego.

Tonight--7.

TV--Channel 13 tonight, Fox Sports Net 2 Tuesday and Wednesday.

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

Records--Dodgers 56-43, Padres 41-57.

Record vs. Padres--4-5.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ ODALIS PEREZ

(10-6, 3.23 ERA)

vs.

PADRES’ BRIAN LAWRENCE

(8-5, 3.35 ERA)

Update--The Dodgers begin a four-city, 13-game trip to San Diego, San Francisco, Cincinnati and Philadelphia, their longest of the season. Perez, the Dodger left-hander who hasn’t pitched a full season in the major leagues, has shown signs of fatigue, giving up 20 earned runs and 33 hits in 23 1/3 innings of his last four starts, going 1-3.

Tuesday, 7 p.m.--Andy Ashby (7-8, 3.79) vs. Brett Tomko (5-6, 3.53).

Wednesday, 2 p.m.--Kazuhisa Ishii (12-5, 3.31) vs. Bobby Jones (6-5, 4.73).