Tracy Trying to Take Pressure Off Izturis

Third baseman Adrian Beltre’s move from the seventh to second spot in the order, and shortstop Cesar Izturis’ demotion from second to eighth, may be permanent, indicating a slight shift away from the little-ball approach Manager Jim Tracy emphasized the first month and a half of the season.

The speedy Izturis energized the top of the order when he hit .280 in April, and he did a good job as a situational hitter, advancing runners from second to third with grounders to the right side and dropping six sacrifice bunts. But the 22-year-old is batting .206 (14 for 68) in May and is four for 27 in his last seven games.

After suffering consecutive shutouts to the New York Mets last week, Tracy benched Izturis for a game and moved Beltre to the second spot. The Dodgers won three of their next four games with Beltre batting second.

When the Dodgers broke camp, they believed the slick-fielding Izturis wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the mental rigors of batting second or leadoff, but Tracy said Tuesday that dropping him in the order should alleviate some of the pressure he might be feeling. Izturis, a switch-hitter, will still lead off against left-handers.

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is a 22-year-old shortstop, and we don’t want him to overly worry about the offensive part of the game,” Tracy said. “He has a chance to be an exceptional major league player, but this way we can bring him along accordingly, just let him be a guy, let him contribute without force-feeding him too much. ... What he does in the two hole, he can also do in the eight hole.”

Beltre is hardly a prototypical No. 2 batter, though. He’s more of a free swinger who has a grand total of 12 sacrifice bunts in 3,281 professional at-bats, including one in 1,395 minor league at-bats. Izturis has half that many this season.

Though Beltre, who is batting .266, has stroked several opposite-field hits, he failed to advance Dave Roberts from second in the first inning Tuesday night, grounding out to shortstop.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ HIDEO NOMO

(3-5, 4.00 ERA)

vs.

BREWERS’ BEN SHEETS

(3-3, 4.01 ERA)

Miller Park, Milwaukee,

5 p.m. PDT

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

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

Update--Tracy said Nomo’s rotation spot is secure from now, but if the right-hander continues to struggle with his control, he will be in danger of being replaced by Omar Daal. Nomo ranks third in the National League with 34 walks, including 14 in his last three games, but perhaps the impatient Brewers will help--they rank 13th in the league in walks.