Starters May Feel a Bit Restless in September

With the Dodgers still clinging to playoff hopes and their rotation ravaged by injury last September, Manager Jim Tracy refused to start ace Hideo Nomo on three days’ rest and would have used Odalis Perez on short rest for the season finale only if the game had playoff implications.

Tracy won’t be as cautious this September with Nomo or Perez, and particularly Kevin Brown and Wilson Alvarez, who both threw well on three days’ rest Aug. 13-14 at Florida.

“I will entertain it if it makes sense,” Tracy said of the possibility of using starters on three days’ rest this September. “With the bullpen we have ... if we could get 15 good outs from a guy on short rest and get to a bullpen that isn’t used up, it would make a lot of sense. Our bullpen enhances the situation more.”

Tracy already has aligned his short-term rotation so Brown and Nomo, his top two pitchers, will remain on regular rest despite off days. Perez, Nomo and Alvarez will start Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Houston, Brown will pitch Friday against Colorado, and Andy Ashby will be pushed back -- and probably out -- of the rotation.

Kazuhisa Ishii, out since July 30 because of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, threw a 56-pitch bullpen session Sunday and is scheduled to throw a two-inning simulated game Wednesday.

If Ishii doesn’t have any setbacks, he probably will be activated for Saturday’s game against the Rockies, and Perez would pitch Sunday. If Ishii is not ready, Ashby, who gave up four runs and 11 hits in Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Mets, probably would start Saturday.

But when Ishii returns, Alvarez, who has given up one earned run in 20 innings in his last three starts, would remain in the rotation over Ashby.

“My goal is to return [this] weekend,” Ishii said through an interpreter. “It’s still a little sore, but it’s tolerable. Everyone else is playing with pain, so I have to too.”

Tracy wants to see Ishii throw to hitters Wednesday before he is activated.

“We’re going to make sure he’s OK before he pitches,” Tracy said. “[The injury] is to his drive leg, and you don’t compromise that. That could lead to other problems.”

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Outfielder Jeromy Burnitz missed his third straight game Sunday because of a strained right groin, but he took batting practice in the cages before the game, was available to pinch-hit in an emergency and expects to return to the lineup Tuesday in Houston.

“I don’t think it’s real severe,” he said. “It’s definitely way, way, way better.”

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The Dodger bullpen entered Sunday’s game with a major league-low 2.09 earned-run average. According to research by the Elias Sports Bureau, the last team to finish the season with a lower bullpen ERA than the Dodgers currently have was the 1942 St. Louis Cardinals, with a 1.75.... Reliever Troy Brohawn, who underwent surgery for rotator cuff tendinitis in May, will begin throwing off a mound next week and is shooting for a September return.