This is a strange time to give Drew some rest

The Dodgers were down to their final 11 games, so I was flabbergasted to find J.D. Drew’s name missing from Wednesday’s starting lineup.

I expected Drew would feel the same way, maybe even running over me to get to Manager Grady Little’s office and demand to play.

“I’m not in there?” said Drew while peeking over my shoulder at the posted lineup card, and then shrugging.

“Why would you not be playing?” I asked.

“Ask Grady,” he said.

“Aren’t you going to ask Grady?”

“It might have a little to do with last night,” said Drew, who had struck out four times. “But I’m thinking rest.

“You know what, T.J.,” he added, “Rest at any point is not a bad thing.”

I’m going to rest here for a moment, so that I don’t type something I might regret later....

EVERY INNING now counts, Drew is making millions because he is one of the team’s top players and you’d expect the Dodgers to be playing every inning with their top players.

The Pirates were starting a right-hander, Drew is a left-handed hitter and maybe the most naturally gifted hitter here, so what kind of competitor takes a seat on the bench at a time like this?

“I hit something like 63 balls off my legs the past three games, but I’ll be there at some point when I’m needed,” he said, and I’m not sure Drew and I have ever had a chat that somehow doesn’t get back to Drew explaining he’s just not right physically, but is getting closer and closer to full strength.

I found that amusing this time, because there was this big ruckus over a Sports Illustrated story that had Jason Giambi calling out Alex Rodriguez. I thought I’d check with Jeff Kent to see if he had called out Drew, and if not, why not, but Kent was unavailable.

He was getting treatment on a sore hamstring and sore rib muscles, so that he might limp out to the field and play.

THE COMPARISONS between Drew and A-Rod are striking when you consider both players are paid well, have decent stats, but lack much visible emotion and seemingly falter every time the heat is turned up.

If the Yankees think A-Rod needs a kick in the rear, what do you think the Dodgers would like to do to Drew?

Giambi called on Yankees Manager Joe Torre to stop “coddling” A-Rod, and now we’ve got Little, well, coddling Drew.

“You’d be wrong if you used that word,” Little said.

“OK, so you’re babying him,” I said.

“I wanted to get [Andre] Ethier back in the lineup and don’t want to take Marlon Anderson out,” Little said. “This guy has played a lot of games for us, almost the most in his major league career, and a day off -- just as it did earlier this season -- will make him a better player in the long run.”

The Dodgers put Anderson in right field in Drew’s place, a night after Anderson had gone head first into the left-field seats in an aggressive attempt to catch the ball. A message there?

Anderson, though, lacks the skills Drew possesses in the field, and so the Pirates knowing that, sent a runner home (successfully) on a play they would never have dared with Drew out there. One more reason why Drew should’ve been playing.

WHEN LITTLE didn’t write Drew’s name into the lineup, though, he was acknowledging he doesn’t think Drew is a gamer -- like Kent and Nomar Garciaparra, who are playing hurt.

Are you doing this because Drew struck out four times? I asked.

“That’s my fault,” Little said. “I told him that I wanted him to strike out more. I really did -- I wanted him to be more aggressive.”

Everyone wants Drew to be more aggressive. I’ve stuck the needle in him all year for that reason. The other night I told him he needed to get his average above .280, and he went out and hit a homer and double.

I kidded him the next day for not saying, “Thanks,” and he said, “For what?”

“You think you got that double and homer all by yourself?”

Then I told him I was going to be busy talking to the pitchers, so I was worried he might fall apart. He laughed, and then struck out four times.

“If your teammates aren’t going to call you out, I’ll have to do it the rest of the way, starting tonight with the fact you’re not starting and not raising a fuss.”

Then Drew went out, and got off the bench to hit a two-run homer and single in a 6-4 loss. Had he started, well, we’ll never know.

BY THE sound of it, Arte Moreno just came up with this original idea of improving the Angels next season.

“I’ll guarantee we’re going to do something major,” he said, which reminds me of all the times the wife has yelled at me for not taking out the garbage, and always falling for it when I tell her “next time.”

LITTLE told batting practice pitchers Bob Grant and Pete Bonfils they will join the team on the final road trip. Grant has been here six years and Bonfils began here as a ball boy in 1969, but this is the first time they’ve been invited on the road.

“I was floored,” Bonfils said.

“It shows you what type of person Grady is,” Grant said.

When I asked Little if he told owner Frank McCourt the team was paying the way for Grant and Bonfils, he said, “No, we’re just going and we’ll worry about that when we get back and they look at the roster and go, ‘Who were those two players?’ ”

TIGER WOODS is upset because someone said there are naked photos of his wife out there. If there were naked photos of my wife out there, it might be my only shot to see her that way again. Especially if she reads this.

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.