Dreifort’s Sore Knee Might Be a Problem

Darren Dreifort has made a remarkable recovery from two major elbow operations, but there is little doctors can do to treat an arthritic knee that will continue to hamper the right-hander, and force the Dodgers to juggle their rotation all season.

Manager Jim Tracy will use Monday’s day off to skip Dreifort and will use four more days off in June to give Dreifort maximum rest between starts.

Dreifort, bombed for six runs and nine hits in three innings of Wednesday night’s 6-0 loss to the Rockies, is not scheduled to pitch again until June 7, giving him nine days between starts.

“You can’t remedy the problem in the long term,” trainer Stan Johnston said Thursday. “You just have to try to manage the pain to a level where he can pitch effectively.”

Dreifort underwent surgery to clean out loose cartilage in his right knee last July, and the knee flared up briefly in early May. With a 4-3 record and 3.30 earned-run average in his first nine starts, Dreifort appeared sound.

But the knee acted up again Wednesday night, and the Dodgers acknowledged Thursday that Dreifort has had several injections into the knee, over the winter and during this season, to lubricate the joint and stimulate cartilage growth.

The problem, according to Johnston, is caused by a defect in the meniscus cartilage and a rough edge in a bone in Dreifort’s knee. Dreifort, who will be examined by Dr. Frank Jobe today, feels fine when he’s running forward, but there is pain when he drives toward home plate in his delivery.

“It’s not an ache, it’s not a dull pain, it just hurts,” Dreifort said. “It always seems like from the day after I throw until the next day I throw, it’s a little less irritable. Time off makes everything better.”

Dreifort’s fastball was clocked in the 95-mph range Wednesday night, but he had trouble getting his pitches down in the strike zone.

“When he gets in the drive position, he either anticipates a ‘grab’ or he gets it,” Tracy said. “If he anticipates it, that disrupts his focus.”

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With outfielder Brian Jordan out for at least a few days because of a deep bone bruise on his left hand and reserve outfielder Daryle Ward unavailable Thursday because of a sore right hand, the Dodgers called up hot-hitting outfielder Bubba Crosby from triple-A Las Vegas and sent reliever Steve Colyer down.

Pinch-hitting in the seventh inning Thursday, Crosby hit a bloop RBI single to center field in his first major league at-bat.

Crosby, the Dodgers’ 1998 first-round pick from Rice University, failed to live up to expectations in his first five minor league seasons, but something clicked in 2003. Crosby was leading minor league baseball with a .401 average in 49 games at Las Vegas, and had six homers, six triples, 20 doubles and 37 runs batted in.

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Ward will undergo an MRI test on his right hand today, and Jordan, who is also suffering from a stiff neck, will be examined by Jobe. Jordan said the Rockies’ team orthopedist examined X-rays of his left hand late Wednesday night and couldn’t see any clear fractures, “so it doesn’t look like I’ll have to go on the disabled list right now,” he said. “It seems like a day-to-day thing.” If the pain and swelling don’t subside in a few days, Jordan may undergo a bone scan.

ON DECK

Opponent -- Milwaukee Brewers, three games.

Site -- Dodger Stadium.

Tonight -- 7.

TV -- Fox Sports Net 2 tonight and Sunday, Channel 13 Saturday night.

Radio -- KFWB (980), KWKW (1330).

Records -- Dodgers 30-23, Brewers 20-33.

Record vs. Brewers -- 3-0.

Tonight, 7 -- Hideo Nomo (6-4, 2.70) vs. Ben Sheets (4-4, 4.57)

Saturday, 7 p.m. -- Kevin Brown (6-1, 2.24) vs. Ruben Quevedo (0-1, 5.30).

Sunday, 1 p.m. -- Kazuhisa Ishii (4-2, 3.02) vs. Glendon Rusch (1-8, 7.24).

Tickets -- (323) 224-1448.