Nomo Will Stay Put

Though Dodger starter Hideo Nomo was credited with the victory over Montreal on Friday night, the right-hander was unable to curb his control problems.

Nomo walked five during a 52/3-inning, three-run, six-hit performance, bringing his season walk total to 34, second-highest in the National League behind Colorado left-hander Mike Hampton’s 35. Nomo has given up 16 earned runs in 231/3 innings of his last four starts, his earned-run average shooting from 2.35 to 4.00.

But even with reluctant reliever Omar Daal sizzling out of the bullpen--the left-hander with the Luis Tiant-like delivery entered Saturday night’s game with a 4-0 record and 1.03 ERA in 14 games and had held opponents to a .127 average--Manager Jim Tracy said he has not considered replacing Nomo (3-5) in the rotation with Daal.

“Nomo pitched great early on, and we didn’t score runs for him,” Tracy said. “He’s had a couple bad starts now, so do we move him to the pen? I don’t treat players like that. It’s very important to give him a window of opportunity where if things aren’t going right, he’s given a chance to correct himself.”

With left-handed relievers Jesse Orosco and Terry Mulholland on the disabled list, Tracy has to leave Daal in the bullpen for now. Another factor, though Tracy won’t discuss it: It’s highly doubtful Nomo would be an effective reliever, and not only because he’s had trouble throwing strikes, a strong deterrent to a manager wishing to make a pitching change with runners on base.

Nomo has been a starter his whole career and does not have a reliever’s mentality. In fact, when former Dodger manager Bill Russell demoted the struggling Nomo to the bullpen in 1998, Nomo asked for and received a trade.

Daal, meanwhile, continues to excel, even though he has not backed off his desire to be traded.

Daal won both of the games he started in place of the injured Kevin Brown in April and has given up only one run and four hits in his last eight games.

“Omar has been as valuable to our pitching staff as any guy we have,” Tracy said. “Every role he’s had--starter, middle relief, short relief, situational left-hander--he’s excelled at.”

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An autographed bag of left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii’s hair, sheared off during a pregame haircut Saturday, will not join Arizona outfielder Luis Gonzalez’s chewing gum and Seattle reliever Jeff Nelson’s bone chips on the auction block.

There was some thought given to auctioning the locks on EBay, with proceeds benefiting the Dodger Dream Foundation, and Ishii said he’d “be very happy if the money went to charity,” but a team official decided to throw the bag in the trash.

*

Left fielder Brian Jordan, sidelined since Tuesday because of a strained ribcage muscle, took some light batting practice Saturday but was unable to play for the fifth consecutive game. With an off-day Monday, Tracy said Jordan would probably sit out today’s game in the hopes that he’ll be ready for Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee.

TODAY

DODGERS’

ANDY ASHBY

(2-4, 3.49 ERA)

vs.

EXPOS’

BRUCE CHEN

(2-2, 4.11 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 1 p.m.

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

Update--The Dodgers are 7-1 against left-handed starters, so that should give them some confidence against Chen, the Montreal left-hander. Ashby, who suffered a loss against the Mets despite giving up one earned run in six innings Tuesday, is glad he won’t have to face Expo first baseman Andres Galarraga, who is on the disabled list because of a strained lower back. Galarraga has a .419 career average (18 for 43) with five homers and 13 RBIs against Ashby.