Roberts Takes Measure of Unit

It was a glancing blow, but the Randy Johnson fastball that hit Dodger leadoff batter Dave Roberts in the seventh inning Sunday still left a sizable welt on his lower rib cage and a nasty sting to go with it.

As he headed for first, Roberts gave Johnson a quick glare, showing his displeasure with the pitch. What was the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Roberts going to do, charge the mound against the 6-10, 231-pound Johnson?

“I don’t think so,” Roberts said. “He’s out of my weight class.”

Monday was Roberts’ first Big Unit experience -- he had never faced Johnson before -- and it left him bruised but not beaten. Roberts, who rarely played against left-handers in 2002, will start against plenty of them this season. Luckily for him, they won’t all be as tough to hit as Johnson.

“You face a guy like him, and it’s all downhill from there,” Roberts said before the game. “I just want to see some pitches, put some good at-bats against him.”

Mission not exactly accomplished. Roberts grounded out to second on the second pitch in the first inning and flied to left on the first pitch in the third. He reached on an error in the sixth before getting hit with the pitch in the seventh. Roberts also singled off reliever Stephen Randolph in the ninth and scored his second run in the Dodgers’ 8-0 victory.

“I’m very happy,” Roberts said. “Sore, but happy.”

Roberts’ biggest contribution Monday may have come on defense. With the Dodgers leading, 1-0, Tony Womack drilled a double over Roberts’ head to lead off the fourth. Roberts raced to the wall and made a strong throw to shortstop Cesar Izturis, whose relay cut down Womack at third. Pitcher Hideo Nomo then retired Steve Finley and Junior Spivey, the second and third batters in the order.

“That was the turning point of the game,” Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “It was a great relay and a big out. It really changed the momentum of the game.”

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If youngster Joe Thurston came away with one lesson from his failed attempt to win the second-base job this spring, it’s that he shouldn’t pull so much for the Dodgers. Pull the ball to right field, that is.

“I talked to him about some holes he has to work on -- he has to learn to drive the ball the other way,” left fielder Brian Jordan said. “That comes with practice. He’ll play hard [at triple-A Las Vegas] and adjust. Then later in life, he’ll be telling some young guy that it’s OK to be sent down.”

Thurston, who had 196 hits at Las Vegas last season, played well defensively all spring, showing a particular aptitude for turning the double play, but he hit only .241. The average was less a determining factor in the Dodgers’ decision to send him down than his overall approach.

Thurston, the leading candidate to win the job after the Dodgers traded Mark Grudzielanek to the Chicago Cubs over the winter, took his demotion in stride.

“My dream is to be here, and to be told you need to go back [to triple A] ... it’s human to be upset,” said Thurston, 23. “But I’m not going to go down and pout. My purpose is to get back here. I’m going to have fun, be myself, but there will be more of an urgency to get here.”

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Arizona reliever Bret Prinz suffered a right groin strain while delivering an 0-2 pitch to Nomo in the eighth inning. Prinz, who collapsed in front of the mound after the pitch, had to be carried off the field. He will undergo an MRI test today.