It’s Nothing Doing for Ashby After Loss

SAN DIEGO —  His right middle finger was bandaged, but the obvious pain was on Andy Ashby’s face Saturday afternoon as he sat at his locker stall before the game and discussed his pitching performance the night before, a performance that may have ended his season.

Hampered by a blister on that finger, Ashby gave up six consecutive hits and five runs in the third inning of a game the Dodgers went on to lose, 8-4. In his last 20 1/3 innings, Ashby has surrendered 22 runs and 34 hits.

“The blister is sore,” Ashby said. “That’s embarrassing to say. It sounds like an excuse. But it’s just getting worse. It’s cracking and getting deeper. It seems like it’s worse every time I go out there. It’s ridiculous to sit here and talk about a blister, but it feels like the end of your finger is on fire. The ball doesn’t come off your finger right and everything is different.”

Ashby gave up two singles but held the Padres scoreless over the first two innings. Then, facing San Diego right-hander Brett Tomko in the third, Ashby took a swing that further inflamed his aching finger.

“I hit a ball foul off the end of the bat,” he said, “and my finger stung like crazy.”

When he took the mound again in the bottom of the inning, he wasn’t the same.

“I got the pitches over the plate, but I couldn’t get an out,” Ashby said. “It’s not fair to the team. I’m not giving us a chance to win.”

Ashby said he knows of nothing that can be done medically to alleviate the problem if he continues to pitch.

“It’s the rubbing against the leather and the seams of the ball that tears it up,” he said.

So what now?

“I’m going to take a couple of days off and not throw at all,” Ashby said after meeting with Manager Jim Tracy and pitching coach Jim Colborn. “After that we’ll see, but it’s not good.”

Said Tracy: “He will do nothing for the next few days. He won’t play catch. Nothing.”

His pitching worn as thin as the skin on Ashby’s ailing finger as the season wears down to a few days, Tracy can hope only for a miraculous recovery by his pitcher.

*

TODAY

DODGERS’

OMAR DAAL

(11-9, 4.07 ERA)

vs.

PADRES’

ADAM EATON

(1-7, 7.91)

Qualcomm Stadium, 2 p.m.

TV--Channel 13.

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

Update--With holes all through his rotation, Tracy needs a solid performance from the inconsistent Daal, who is 0-3 with a 12.60 ERA in his last three starts. In his last outing, Daal lasted only 1 2/3 innings, his season low as a starter, against the San Francisco Giants, giving up five runs. This is the final home game of the season for the Padres.