Ishii Is Not Scared Off

The Dodgers believe the mental hurdles pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii will face in his return from a fractured skull next season will be more difficult to overcome than the physical ones.

So they plan to make a counselor available to help Ishii cope with the possible anxiety of returning to the mound after being hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Houston’s Brian Hunter in Dodger Stadium last Sunday.

Ishii’s response: Thanks, but no thanks.

“A lot of people say there might be fear factors when I come back,” Ishii said through an interpreter by phone from his home Saturday. “But that’s not the case. If it was, I would quit.”

That is not to say Ishii had no fear last week, especially during his ambulance ride to the hospital Sunday and when he underwent two hours of nasal cavity surgery early Monday morning to have a titanium plate inserted in his head.

“Obviously, being a human being, living is an important thing, and you have to do what you can to help your family,” said Ishii, who expects to return to the team after being examined Tuesday but is out for the rest of this season. “Those kinds of thoughts became more important after this accident.”

Ishii still hasn’t seen a replay of the incident; nor does he want to. In something of a fortunate twist, his wife, Ayako, did not witness the play, even though she was at Sunday’s game.

“She was not [in her seat],” Ishii said. “She was changing diapers at that point.”

A line drive to the head can alter a pitcher’s career. In 1975, a liner off the bat of Tony Muser hit then-Boston pitcher Dick Pole in the right eye, breaking his jaw and shattering his retina.

Two years later, after a promising start with the Red Sox, Pole was out of the big leagues with a 25-37 record, and 27 years later, he has only 10% vision in the eye. “I was never the same [after the accident],” said Pole, now Montreal’s pitching coach.

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Dodger reserves Luke Allen and Joe Thurston each had their first major league hit Saturday. Chin-Feng Chen had his first big league plate appearance, becoming the first Taiwanese-born player to appear in a major league game.

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TODAY

DODGERS’

ANDY ASHBY

(9-11, 3.54 ERA)

vs.

ROCKIES’

DENNY NEAGLE

(8-10, 4.91 ERA)

Coors Field, Denver, noon PDT

TV--Channel 13.

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

Update--Ashby missed his last start because of a blister and an infection on the middle finger of his pitching hand, but after a 60-pitch bullpen workout Friday, the right-hander declared himself fit.