Green Ends Up on Positive Note

Shawn Green returned to the lineup Sunday against the Montreal Expos after sitting out the day before.

Manager Jim Tracy said Green approached him after Saturday night’s 3-1 loss and requested that he return.

“He came in and said he wanted to go again,” Tracy said.

Green had sat out only two previous games as a Dodger, one because of injury and one to observe a Jewish holiday.

Green said he thought the day off served him well, though it did not appear that way until his final at-bat.

He struck out looking against left-hander Bruce Chen in the first inning, drew a walk from Masato Yoshii and scored on Paul Lo Duca’s double in the third and struck out swinging against Britt Reames in the fifth.

In the eighth, he ripped a shot into the right-field gap against Matt Herges. The ball bounced into the right-field pavilion for a ground-rule double.

“When you’ve been struggling, you need a starting point,” Tracy said. “I think for him, it’s a real good starting point.”

Green, who is batting .231, was not getting overly excited, not after finishing the home stand one for 19.

“It’s one hit,” he said. “Once I get up there and have two or three good games, I’ll feel like things are starting to click.”

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Herges, traded to the Expos by the Dodgers in March, said he almost begged Expo Manager Frank Robinson for a chance to pitch against his former teammates.

“You can’t even imagine how glad I am to have that over with,” Herges said. “I needed to face the fact that I’m on another team.”

Herges gave up a single to former roommate Jeff Williams, got Alex Cora to fly out to right and Adrian Beltre to line out to center before surrendering a ground-rule double to Green in the eighth.

“He’s one of my best friends in the world,” Herges said of Green. “I guarantee I didn’t throw him a cookie. I was trying to get him out.”

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Andy Ashby’s solo home run into the left-field pavilion in the fourth inning was the first homer of his career.

“I don’t even think I hit one in T-ball,” he said.

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Over the years, the Dodgers have had numerous players that posted overwhelming statistics in triple-A but could not duplicate their prowess in the major leagues.

That won’t be a problem this season.

Tracy said the Dodgers’ offensive struggles would not be fixed by calling up a player from triple-A Las Vegas.

“Unless somebody is slipping beneath the radar screen of what I’ve watched very closely for two years, I don’t know that there is some prospect down there that is rocking and rolling and ready to go that’s going to uplift this entire situation offensively and have everyone in the Los Angeles area saying, ‘That’s the guy we needed.’” Tracy said. “He’s not there.”

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Brian Jordan did not play for the sixth consecutive game because of a strained ribcage muscle.

Jordan took swings in the batting cage and will play Tuesday at Milwaukee in the first game of a six-game trip that will also take the Dodgers to Arizona to play the defending World Series-champion Diamondbacks.

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Second baseman Mark Grudzielanek was scheduled to have a bump on the back of his right hand drained of fluid after Sunday’s game.

“I tweaked it awhile ago and something happened where fluid caused a pocket that was causing pain,” Grudzielanek said. “It’s been going on too long. I want to get it out of there so it can heal up right away.”