Beimel’s Future Is Uncertain

Plastic surgery repaired Joe Beimel’s left hand, but the cuts kept coming in the clubhouse.

It has been difficult for players and team officials to forgive Beimel for slicing his hand on a broken glass in a Manhattan bar at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, an injury that forced the Dodgers to leave the valuable left-handed reliever off the playoff roster.

“It was a selfish thing to do,” pitcher Brett Tomko said. “It’s all about responsibility. I’m sure a lot of guys had dinner and a glass of wine but were responsible about it.

“He has to deal with what he did and the consequences, and we have to go on. I’m not happy about it. I’m sure other people aren’t happy about it. There’s a time to go out and have a good time. In my opinion, it was an inappropriate time to go out and have a good time.”

Beimel compounded the problem by lying about his whereabouts, telling team officials that the injury occurred in his hotel room. He didn’t try to contact General Manager Ned Colletti until Thursday night and didn’t reach him until Friday, one day after Beimel spoke to a Times reporter.

“He said he let the team down,” Colletti said. “I told him, ‘You let yourself down.’ ”

Manager Grady Little said the injury occurred more than two hours past the team curfew of midnight. Beimel hasn’t spoken to Little since Wednesday morning, when it became apparent he couldn’t pitch.

Little’s usual humorous approach to explaining away a problem quickly gave way to irritation.

“He broke a curfew, and he broke a glass,” he said. “We didn’t talk long. He didn’t want to know anything I had to say and I didn’t want to hear anything he had to say at the time.”

Colletti wouldn’t say whether Beimel’s conduct would jeopardize his rejoining the team next season. In fact, he wouldn’t even rule out putting him back on the roster if the Dodgers advance in the playoffs.

Others in the clubhouse said it would be difficult taking him back, even though Beimel was the Dodgers’ only consistent left-hander, posting a 2.96 earned-run average in 62 appearances.

“It’s going to be tough for him to get a job next year,” Tomko said. “There will be a question of character. It was the wrong time to go out and do something like that.”

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Steve Trachsel is a postseason veteran of sorts in Southern California.

The Orange County native was in the upper deck of Anaheim Stadium in 1979 when the Angels played the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series. Two years later, he was in the Dodger Stadium stands when the Dodgers played the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Tonight, Trachsel will fulfill a lifelong dream only a few dozen miles from home. The New York Mets right-hander, a veteran of 381 major league games, will make his postseason debut as the starting pitcher for a team trying to close out the Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.

“Right now is the most exciting part of my career,” said Trachsel, whose closest call came in 1998 when he started a one-game playoff for the NL wild-card berth as a member of the Chicago Cubs. “I mean, this is why you play. It’s for the postseason. And I’ve been fighting for this for a number of years.”

Trachsel, who went 15-8 with a 4.97 earned-run average in his 13th full major league season, will be pitching on 12 days’ rest after leaving the Mets last weekend because of undisclosed family issues. Trachsel says he has put those issues behind him and is focused on helping his team advance to its first league championship series since 2000.

“I’ve pitched kind of sporadically like that all season -- a couple of times on eight days’ rest, seven days’ rest -- so I think that actually is going to help me a little bit,” said Trachsel, who was the starting pitcher last month when the Mets clinched their first division title since 1988.

The Dodgers battered Trachsel for four runs in 2 2/3 innings Sept. 10 at Shea Stadium, but Trachsel has fared better on the road this season, going 8-3 with a 4.34 ERA.

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steve.henson@latimes.com

ben.bolch@latimes.com