Roberts Back in Leading Role

Center fielder Dave Roberts, who was out of the starting lineup seven games after spraining his neck and experiencing difficulty turning his head, returned to the leadoff spot Friday.

“We’ve been playing good baseball, and I’m just happy to get back in there and do what I can,” Roberts said. “It was inflamed and stiff, so it took a long time to contain it, but now it feels a lot better.”

Although Manager Jim Tracy acknowledged the team missed Roberts’ speed and bunting ability, he praised Jolbert Cabrera and Cesar Izturis for filling in admirably. The Dodgers are 44-40 in games in which Roberts bats leadoff, 11-6 with Izturis batting leadoff and 0-1 with Cabrera in that spot.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to what Jolbert Cabrera has been doing for this club all year long, and in the absence of David,” Tracy said. “With Jolbert doing what he’s done and Cesar Izturis responding in the leadoff spot the way he did, we were able to do just fine.

“But the fact of having him back, and the disruption he creates on the other side of the field, it’s nice having him back.”

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Hideo Nomo (rotator cuff inflammation) threw again Friday and was fine, Tracy said, leaving the manager to reaffirm his intention to have Nomo start Sunday. However, Edwin Jackson, who pitched six impressive innings Tuesday in a 4-1 victory at Arizona, will be on standby.

“How far [Nomo] can go, how deep into the game he can go, I don’t know,” Tracy said. “We’re hopeful he can get in six innings or whatever it might be. If he can’t, Edwin Jackson would be a nice guy to have in there to back him up.

“Edwin would enter under the circumstances in which he’d start an inning clean. We wouldn’t bring him in with men on base. He’s been a starter all year long at double A and he’s not accustomed to coming to the mound with men on base standing out there and saying, ‘OK, get out of this.’ ”

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Tracy said reliever Tom Martin, who was unavailable Thursday because of back spasms, wasn’t likely to be out on a long-term basis.... Tracy also said results of tests on Andy Ashby’s pitching elbow weren’t available. Ashby returned to Los Angeles after the team’s victory at Arizona on Monday because he experienced nerve problems.... Eric Gagne on the four-year, $19.5-million contract fellow French-Canadian Jean-Sebastien Giguere signed with the Mighty Ducks this week: “Lucky.” Then he paused and smiled. “Aw, he wasn’t lucky. He was awesome,” said Gagne, who also grew up in the Montreal area. “He deserves it.”