Time Isn’t Right for the Giants

The Dodgers were surprised at comments in Tuesday’s San Francisco Chronicle from Giants’ Executive Vice President Larry Baer, who criticized them for not agreeing to move the start time of a Sept. 19 game to ease the Giants’ travel burden.

San Francisco will finish a four-game series in Dodger Stadium with a 7:10 game that night and must travel to Milwaukee for a game the following night.

The Giants asked the Dodgers for an earlier start so they could arrive in Milwaukee at a decent hour, but the Dodgers, as they have with several similar requests from the Giants in recent years, declined.

“When teams ask for things like this there is usually a reciprocity that develops or doesn’t develop,” Baer said. “When you ask, they usually accommodate you because they might be in the same boat later. The level of reciprocity between us and the Dodgers is lower than with most teams. When a request is made, more often than not it is not honored.”

Derrick Hall, the Dodgers’ senior vice president of communications, said a Giants’ official called the Dodgers early this season with the request and was told that it probably would not be honored.

“Their response at the time was, ‘OK, no big deal,’ ” Hall said. “We didn’t realize this was a big issue to them, so much so that [Dodger President] Bob Graziano called Baer [Tuesday] to tell him he was surprised. Because if we knew it was a major concern, we would have worked with them and tried to compromise.

“Our decision boils down to what’s best for our fans and viewership. We have a night game, when kids are in school, in the prime-time [television] slot against the Giants. This has nothing to do with the Giants and Dodgers. It has to do with our fans and what’s best for them.”

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Andy Ashby was scratched from Tuesday night’s start because of a blister and an infection on the middle finger of his pitching hand, but the Dodger right-hander was thankful his condition was diagnosed and treated quickly.

Ashby, who is scheduled to start Sunday in Colorado, went on the disabled list in June of 2000 after an infection traveled from his fingertip up his throwing arm, all the way to his shoulder, and began spreading into his body.

“I didn’t realize it was that serious until I went to the hospital,” Ashby said. “They gave me antibiotics, and I was fine. This one isn’t that bad. The main thing is to let it heal a bit. I don’t want to be in the same boat I was in back in 2000.”

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Dodger pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii, who suffered a fractured skull when he was hit in the head by a line drive Sunday, remained hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Tuesday, but Manager Jim Tracy said he felt well enough to go outside and take a walk. “He’s made some major strides,” Tracy said.... The Dodgers are considering recalling knuckleballer Dennis Springer from triple-A Las Vegas for Friday night’s game against the Rockies but will probably use a bullpen-by-committee approach, with either Giovanni Carrara or Kevin Beirne starting.

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TODAY

DODGERS’

HIDEO NOMO

(13-6, 3.30 ERA)

vs.

GIANTS’

KIRK RUETER

(12-7, 3.05 ERA)

Pacific Bell Park, 12:30 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

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

Update--Nomo is 11-1 with a 3.10 ERA in his last 22 starts and has a 9-3 record and 2.51 ERA against the Giants in his career, including a 7-0 mark and 1.68 ERA in San Francisco. Rueter, the Giants’ left-hander, is 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA in his last nine starts.