Green Benched by Tracy

After the 39th game of his season-long slump, Shawn Green rested.

Less than 24 hours after saying he didn’t think Green’s slide had warranted a day off, Dodger Manager Jim Tracy benched his struggling first baseman on Saturday for the first time this season. Paul Lo Duca played first and Adrian Beltre batted cleanup.

Green, hitting .157 in May and .219 overall, contributed to his removal from the lineup by going hitless in four at-bats Friday and grounding into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded during a 2-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

“He got an opportunity to where, if something positive would have happened there, it could have completely turned the table on everything,” Tracy said. “But it didn’t. With that being said, that situation in essence just kind of compounds what we’ve been dealing with over the past 10 or 12 days or so.

“To just continue to go in that direction, there’s really nothing good that can come out of it other than giving him the chance to mentally clear his mind and start over again.”

Green, who was removed from the cleanup spot Friday for the first time this season, said he agreed with the decision to take a break.

“It helps to take a day off when things aren’t going well,” said Green, whose batting average is the lowest among the regulars and whose 18 runs batted in rank fourth.

Tracy said he would not determine whether to put Green back in the lineup for today’s series finale until this morning, even though Green has hit .619 against Brave starter Mike Hampton in 21 at-bats, with three home runs and 12 RBIs.

“That does play into it,” Tracy said.

Green, who didn’t play April 16 against the San Francisco Giants because of a strained right groin, hasn’t missed consecutive games since Aug. 21-22 of last season, when a stiff neck kept him out.

Tracy said the ultracompetitive Green might have been pressing to help the Dodgers break out of their longest funk in more than a decade. That funk ended Saturday with a 7-4 victory over the Braves.

“When you’re one of the key guys on a ballclub, and you see your club in the midst of a losing streak, and yet you wake up in the morning and you also see your club on top of the standings, yeah, it can be a matter of that,” Tracy said.

The highest-paid Dodger has not homered in two weeks, but Tracy said the shoulder problems that sapped much of Green’s power last season and necessitated off-season surgery have “not even been a point of discussion.”

“I’m just working through it,” Green said. “I go through it every year, the same time pretty much every year, so hopefully it will turn around.”

An off day worked wonders for Green in May 2002. Two games after being benched when his average dipped to .230, Green hit two homers off the Milwaukee Brewers. Two games after that, he went six for six with four homers against the Brewers. Today marks the two-year anniversary of that four-homer game.

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Tracy said Hideo Nomo could be put on the disabled list next week if the pitcher’s split fingernail still bothered him and the team needed another reliever.

Jose Lima is scheduled to take Nomo’s turn in the rotation Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks if Nomo is unable to pitch.

Even with Nomo injured and several other starters struggling to find a rhythm, Tracy said he would not consider moving Darren Dreifort back into the rotation a season after knee and hip surgeries.

“With what he went through last year, you’re pushing the envelope and you’re flirting with potential danger there,” Tracy said.

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Dave Roberts experienced stiffness a day after running the bases for the first time to test his strained right hamstring and will be reevaluated today.