Test Pattern Appears to Be a Waiting Game

Major league owners lobbied long and hard for the right to test players for steroid use and penalize those testing positive. Yet, more than two-thirds of the way through the initial season of the program, the player representatives from the Dodgers and Angels have yet to be tested.

The program, triggered when more than 5% of players tested positive in a no-penalty survey last year, permits owners to test players once each season. Catcher David Ross, the Dodger player representative, and shortstop David Eckstein, the Angel player representative, each said he and some of his teammates have not yet been tested.

Under the belief that some players might resume steroid use after their tests, owners have delayed administering tests until the latter part of the season.

“I think that’s smart on their part,” Ross said.

Commissioner Bud Selig has urged the players’ union to approve a stricter testing program along the lines of the minor league policy, under which players can be tested more than once a season and during the off-season. The collective bargaining agreement expires in 2006, and Eckstein said he did not believe players would ratify a provision for multiple tests a year before then.

“Probably not until the next [labor] negotiation,” he said. “You’ve got to give this time to see if it can work.”

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Giovanni Carrara is emerging as one of the Dodgers’ key players. Carrara, 36, who pitched for three triple-A teams in 12 months before the Dodgers rescued him in July, pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings Sunday, in relief of injured starter Brad Penny.

In 23 2/3 innings, Carrara has struck out 25, walked four and posted a 1.14 earned-run average. Although the Dodgers figure to need a replacement for Penny in the rotation, Manager Jim Tracy said he would not consider Carrara.

“His value in our bullpen is too extreme,” Tracy said.

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One day after pitching coach Jim Colborn said the Dodgers were “riding him pretty hard,” Tracy said before Sunday’s game that closer Eric Gagne would get the day off. “It’s the right thing to do,” Tracy said.

Gagne had pitched in five of six games. Tracy said he had hoped not to use Gagne Saturday but relented when the Philadelphia Phillies cut a 6-0 deficit in half in the final two innings, hitting two home runs off Darren Dreifort in the ninth.

Tracy also gave the day off to Dreifort, who had worked in three of four games and nine of the previous 13.

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The Dodgers sold out the weekend series. Their average attendance of 42,392 leads the National League and ranks second in the majors, behind the New York Yankees. ... Shortstop Cesar Izturis’ latest hitting streak ended at 10 games, but he is the only major leaguer this season to compile four streaks of 10 or more games. ... Pitchers Edwin Jackson and Hideo Nomo could start minor league rehabilitation assignments next week. ... Steve Finley (right hamstring) skipped his fourth consecutive start but appeared as a pinch-hitter. He is expected to return to center field Tuesday.