Yankees to Visit Next Year

The New York Yankees’ first regular-season visit to Dodger Stadium highlights the Dodgers’ soon-to-be released 2004 schedule.

The Dodgers play host to their former borough neighbor and frequent Subway Series participant in the 1950s, facing the Yankees in a three-game weekend series June 18-20.

The matchup of tradition-rich franchises and onetime hated rivals figures to be among the major leagues’ most anticipated series of the season, and the hottest tickets on a schedule the club plans to release next week.

“It would be premature to comment on the schedule, which is not official,” said Derrick Hall, senior vice president. “All I’ll can say is that it will be released in weeks.”

While the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, they played the Bronx Bombers in seven World Series from 1941 to ‘56, including six from 1947 to ’56. The Dodgers were 1-6, winning the 1955 World Series in seven games.

The Dodgers have fared better in the postseason against the Yankees since moving to Los Angeles in 1958.

Led by the dominant pitching of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, the Dodgers swept the Yankees in the 1963 World Series. They clinched their second championship in Los Angeles as Koufax outdueled Whitey Ford, 2-1, at Dodger Stadium in Game 4.

The Yankees defeated the Dodgers in the 1977 and ’78 World Series. Manager Tom Lasorda in 1981 won the first of his two World Series championships, leading the Dodgers back from an 0-2 deficit and finishing the Yankees in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, 9-2.

The Dodgers play host to the San Diego Padres on opening day April 5.

The Giants are at Dodger Stadium April 23-25, June 29 through July 1 and Oct. 1-3.

The Angels visit Dodger Stadium June 25-27. The Dodgers have an interleague trip to Toronto and Boston from June 8-13. They face the Angels at Edison Field July 2-4.

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Edwin Jackson is in a kind of limbo today, assigned to be on standby in the bullpen in case Hideo Nomo’s start is curtailed by a recurrence of the rotator cuff inflammation Nomo recently experienced.

But Jackson, who made a sensational debut Tuesday at Arizona, doesn’t mind not knowing what’s coming next. He’s simply happy to be here and was awed by his first look Friday at a packed Dodger Stadium.

“I had been here for workouts, but it was my first time during a game and that atmosphere,” Jackson said Saturday. “It was very different.... I’m thinking, ‘You know, I’m here, and with the same team that drafted me from the start.’ It’s great to make it with the team that drafted you from the start.”

Jackson, who celebrated his 20th birthday Tuesday, was given the locker next to 44-year-old Rickey Henderson. “He couldn’t be next to a better person,” Henderson proclaimed. “I tell him all the ropes and what to do.”

Jackson said he was honored to be near Henderson. “To come in and be next to one of the best in the game is amazing,” he said. “He gives me a lot of good advice and his knowledge.”

Manager Jim Tracy said he has placed no restrictions today on Nomo, who hasn’t pitched since a 10-1 loss Sept. 1 at Houston.

Tracy also said he’ll reconsider the pitching rotation after Monday’s day off to analyze upcoming matchups against Arizona and San Francisco the rest of this home stand, as well as the season-ending series at San Diego and San Francisco.

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Tests were completed on Andy Ashby’s sore pitching elbow, but Tracy said he couldn’t disclose the results or say much of anything at all.

Tracy said last week Ashby, who has been idled since Sept. 3 because of a nerve problem, probably “won’t pitch again the rest of the year.” Ashby, earning $8 million in the final year of a three-year, $22.5-million contract, is 3-10 with a 5.18 earned-run average in 21 games.

“As far as Ashby’s situation is concerned, they do have the results but it’s something that Andy and Frank [Jobe, the team physician] are going to discuss as to the direction they’re going to take,” Tracy said. “Beyond that, there’s nothing I can say.”