DOWN THE LINE

Where have you gone, Edwin Jackson?

On his 20th birthday, Edwin Jackson made his major league debut, a kid plucked from double A to face Randy Johnson. Jackson won that night, in September 2003, and the Dodgers envisioned him as a star for years to come.

He’s 23 now, still younger than Jered Weaver or Russell Martin, trying to reclaim a major league future. The Dodgers gave up on him last year and shipped him to Tampa Bay.

He has not won in four starts this season, and his earned-run average remains above 6.00. But he pitched into the seventh inning before giving up an earned run in Anaheim last week, throwing as hard as 96 mph in his final inning.

“It’s unfortunate his clock was started so quickly,” Devil Rays Manager Joe Maddon said. “The expectations went through the roof on the young man. He just wasn’t ready for that.

“It was impossible for him to catch up and be everything everybody wanted him to be.”

Said Jackson: “Maybe it’s true. Maybe not. Who knows? If I would have done well, it could have been the other way around.”

So he wasn’t the next Dwight Gooden. He’ll always have that one night, the night he beat Johnson, if he cares to remember. For now, he says, he does not care to remember.

“I don’t want that game to be the highlight of my career,” Jackson said.

He’s in no hurry to Zell the Cubs

No sooner had Sam Zell announced he would become the controlling investor in the Tribune Co. -- and sell the Cubs -- than Jerry Colangelo said he would meet with Zell about buying the team. But Colangelo said Friday that Zell turned down the meeting.

“He’s decided not to have direct meetings until after the major transaction has closed,” Colangelo said.

The Tribune sale, which includes the Cubs and the Los Angeles Times, is expected to close no sooner than October. Zell has said he plans to sell the Cubs after the season.

Colangelo, a Chicago native, got the Diamondbacks to the World Series in four years, and won. The Cubs haven’t won the World Series in 99 years.

And now for something completely different

The Devil Rays call it their 3-4 defense. When Cleveland’s Travis Hafner stepped to the plate last week, the Rays called time out and moved shortstop Ben Zobrist to left field.

Tampa Bay left the entire left side of the infield open, playing three infielders between first base and second base and four men across in the outfield.

“It basically looks like a slow-pitch softball alignment,” Zobrist said.

As the bench coach for the Angels before the 2002 World Series, Maddon proposed a similar alignment against Barry Bonds, whose batting charts showed he hit few ground balls to the left side but sprayed line drives all around the outfield. The Angels opted not to deploy the 3-4.

As manager of the Devil Rays, Maddon did. No matter: In three games, Hafner homered twice and drew four walks.

As the NL West turns; freaky days in the AL

The Giants might be offensively challenged beyond Bonds, but they charged from last place to first in the NL West last week behind a rotation headed by $126-million ace Barry Zito and three pitchers with ERAs lower than Zito’s: Matt Cain (1.55 before Saturday), Noah Lowry (3.12) and Matt Morris (2.49)....The Yankees used nine starting pitchers in their first 20 games, en route to last place in the AL East. Closer Mariano Rivera is 37, and Manager Joe Torre pledged not to use him in the eighth inning. Torre did it anyway.... The Devil Rays drew the Indians, Yankees and Angels in one week, facing perhaps the three best AL hitters in Hafner, Alex Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero. Said Maddon: “We’ve gone from Pronk to A-Rod to Vladdy. It seems like everybody’s got a freak these days.”