Ashby Has His Sinker on the Rise

Andy Ashby spent Tuesday morning in a fishing boat, bagging several bass on Lake Tarpon, which is a half-hour north of Tropicana Field. Wednesday night, the Dodger right-hander had the Tampa Bay Devil Rays hook, line and sinker.

Relying heavily on a sinking fastball that induced 11 ground-ball outs, Ashby gave up only one run and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings to lead the Dodgers to a 4-2 interleague victory over the lowly Devil Rays before a crowd of 11,083.

Overpowering, Ashby wasn’t--he struck out one--but he walked only two and was in command throughout his efficient, 85-pitch performance, putting the finishing touches on the Dodgers’ 6-3 trip through Colorado, Baltimore and Tampa Bay and providing a pleasant flashback for Manager Jim Tracy.

“This was what I witnessed from him in 1998, when he had a pretty darn good year,” Tracy said, referring to Ashby’s career-best season with the San Diego Padres, when he went 17-9 with a 3.34 earned-run average and 151 strikeouts in 226 innings.

“He’s getting stronger; you can see it with his effectiveness and the way the ball is coming out of his hand. The heaviness of his sinker is returning, and that’s part of getting over the hump [of returning from elbow surgery], when you’re finishing pitches with authority, knowing nothing’s going to fall off or get hurt when you throw.”

Ashby, who had surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon last June 15, was erratic all spring and choppy for the first five weeks of the season, sprinkling in a few excellent starts with several subpar outings. But in his past six games, Ashby (6-5) has given up only nine earned runs in 41 2/3 innings for a 1.94 ERA.

Is the 34-year-old beginning to feel like he did in 1998?

“I don’t want to jinx myself by answering that question,” Ashby said. “The main thing is I feel good, and when I feel good, I can do my job. I hope my stuff gets to be as consistent as it was in 1998. Maybe it is. Hopefully it will stay that way.”

Closer Eric Gagne struck out two of three in the ninth for his major league-leading 22nd save, and Shawn Green’s fifth-inning home run, his 16th of the season, was the highlight of an offense that made the most of seven hits, including Mark Grudzielanek’s double and Alex Cora’s RBI single in the fourth.

Leadoff batter Dave Roberts, idle the past two nights because the Devil Rays started left-handers, provided some fuel injection to the Dodger offense, opening the game with a bunt single, stealing second and scoring on Paul Lo Duca’s single. Lo Duca scored on Brian Jordan’s fielder’s choice for a 2-0 lead.

“I wanted to set the tone,” Roberts said. “We got our butts handed to us [11-2 Tuesday night], and I wanted to make a statement that we needed to win this game. When you don’t see the field for a couple of days, you really want to exert some energy, and if I bring that to the table, hopefully everyone feeds off of that.”

Roberts also bagged his team-leading 16th stolen base in the second inning. He’s batting .320 with 29 runs and .402 on-base percentage.

“He makes it happen--he’s a real table-setter,” Jordan said. “I like what he’s done, taking advantage of his skills.

“He bunts for a hit and it’s a double. He puts pressure on the pitcher. He’s really maturing as a leadoff hitter. He’s been awesome all year.”

About the only downer for the Dodgers was the play of third baseman Adrian Beltre, who made a throwing error and a fielding error and has one hit in his last 16 at-bats.

Beltre went on a tear in mid-May, raising his batting average as high as .283, and Tracy moved him to the No. 2 spot. But Beltre has gradually slipped back to .250, he’s back in the seventh spot, and he has made three errors in the last two games.

“This team needs Adrian Beltre to be as good as we know he’s capable of being, and we’re waiting on him,” Tracy said. “The group is waiting on him.”