It’s a Feel-Good Day for Dreifort

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- It’s not as if the Dodgers hold their breath every time Darren Dreifort takes the mound. The right-hander has had only one minor setback this spring in his return from two major elbow surgeries and a knee operation -- a sore hip that delayed his first exhibition start for a day.

But even as Dreifort passed another signpost on the long road to recovery, retiring nine of 10 batters after giving up a double and a home run to open Friday’s exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles, he did not allow an ounce of optimism to seep into his self-assessment.

“I’m happy that everything feels good,” said Dreifort, who gave up two runs and two hits and struck out three in three innings. “But I’ll get excited when the season starts and I get to run onto the field with the rest of the team.”

Manager Jim Tracy also took a cautious approach.

“I just want him to take it a day at a time and to know everyone is pulling for him, especially me,” Tracy said after the Dodgers’ 9-4 victory over the Orioles. “I reserve the right not to get too excited, so if he has a setback, he won’t feel he’s letting everyone down.”

But Tracy couldn’t help but be encouraged by Dreifort’s 44-pitch effort, in which he threw 26 strikes. After Jerry Hairston Jr. chopped a leadoff double over third baseman Ron Coomer’s head and Gary Matthews Jr. ripped a homer to right, Dreifort had little trouble setting down the Orioles.

“His command is what has really grabbed my attention, because you’re talking about a guy who hasn’t pitched competitively since June 29, 2001,” Tracy said. “The ball is jumping out of his hand, and he’s had good location of all his pitches.”

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An MRI test on closer Eric Gagne’s lower back Thursday came out “clean,” Tracy said, and there’s a chance the right-hander will resume throwing today. Gagne’s back stiffened Tuesday and got worse Wednesday, but with treatment, it has loosened up considerably.

“That’s very good news,” said Gagne, who had a 4-1 record and a 1.97 earned-run average last season and shattered a franchise record with 52 saves. “I feel a lot better today, and it’s gotten better every day. I’m sleeping a little better.”

Gagne said he “had never had that kind of pain” in his lower back before. When told that on Thursday he’d said he was not feeling pain but stiffness, Gagne replied, “I didn’t use the word ‘pain.’ I meant ‘sensation.’ I think it’s more fatigue.”

Either way, the MRI result was “fabulous” news to Tracy.

“It should just be a day-to-day thing,” Tracy said. “This is in no way, to my understanding, something that will jeopardize or inhibit him being ready by March 31 [opening day].”

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First baseman-outfielder Larry Barnes is considered a longshot to make the team, but the former Angel prospect has done nothing to damage his chances. Barnes hit a two-run double off the center-field wall in the eighth inning, tying the score, 4-4, and is batting .375 with three doubles and six runs batted in.

“I don’t know if you could hit a line drive any farther -- that was a 400-foot line drive,” Tracy said of Barnes’ double. “His infield popup [in the fourth inning] was his only at-bat this spring when the ball wasn’t blistered. Everything he’s done has been eye-catching.”

Mike Kinkade, a leading candidate for a utility job, continued his hot spring with a single and a double and is batting .533 with two homers, three doubles and four RBIs. Coomer broke a 4-4 tie with an RBI single, and Chin-Feng Chen hit a three-run homer in the ninth, his second homer in two days.

Left-hander Odalis Perez, slowed by flu earlier this week, gave up a run and three hits, one a homer by Jeff Conine, in two innings and afterward declared himself “ready for the season.”

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The Milwaukee Brewers became the first team to ban nutritional supplements from their clubhouse, even though the team can’t technically enforce the rule because of baseball’s labor agreement, but Dodger General Manager Dan Evans said Friday he has no plans to implement a similar ban.

“I’m not versed enough in what the restrictions are, what we can and can’t do, so I haven’t considered anything like that,” Evans said.

Would he consider it?

“I would have to talk to our medical staff first,” Evans said, “and it hasn’t come up in conversation.”