It’s getting a little old for Hernandez

Roberto Hernandez was slumped in his chair Sunday morning, his uniform still hanging in his locker.

“I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck carrying a full load of tomatoes,” Hernandez said. “The only thing that doesn’t hurt today is my hair.”

The 42-year-old reliever was the losing pitcher in the Dodgers’ 7-4, 14-inning loss to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night, which had concluded only 10 hours earlier. He pitched two innings in the game, giving up three runs.

The appearance was the 1,001st of Hernandez’s career, 12th in baseball history. One more and he moves into a tie with Goose Gossage for 11th.

Hernandez, who debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1991 and has 326 saves, says he has seen the game gradually change over 17 major league seasons.

He has seen the ballparks become newer and smaller. He has seen players move from one team to another with greater frequency. Hernandez himself has moved often; the Dodgers, with whom he signed last month, are his 10th team.

But the one change that bothers Hernandez the most is the money given to young players. With that money, Hernandez said, comes a sense of entitlement.

Hernandez said he learned how to pitch because teammates such as Carlton Fisk, Ozzie Guillen and Bobby Thigpen were tough on him early in his career. He recalled how Guillen called timeout during games to scream at him on the mound.

Something like that would never happen today, Hernandez said.

But Hernandez says he is doing what he can to pass along his share of knowledge, and he’s been pleased to find willing pupils in Jonathan Broxton and Chad Billingsley. They talk daily, with Hernandez asking them why they threw certain pitches in certain situations and offering alternatives.

“He’s been awesome for the young guys to be around, especially me,” Broxton said.

Of Hernandez’s appearance total, Broxton said, “That’s a lot of games. You could average 70 games for 10 years and that’s 700.”

The sum has taken its toll on Hernandez.

He said retirement crossed his mind Saturday night. Ducking for safety to avoid a comebacker in the 14th inning, he found himself turned around and facing center field. He look up at the scoreboard, which told him it was 12:05 a.m. Sunday. It was his wife’s birthday.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” he said.

Matt Kemp batted third in five of the Dodgers’ last six games and was seven for 16 with two home runs and five runs batted in.

Manager Grady Little wouldn’t make any assurances about Kemp’s staying in that spot, but said, “You’ll see him there a lot. We like the way he’s getting after it day after day.”

Kemp said that he was seeing better pitches to hit as a result of batting behind Juan Pierre and in front of Jeff Kent. Because Pierre is a threat to steal (he has 50 stolen bases), Kemp says he sees more fastballs when the center fielder is on base.

“You get a good chance to get some RBIs,” Kemp said.

Kemp has spent most of his time in the majors this season batting seventh or eighth.

“You don’t get as many pitches to hit,” Kemp said. “Hitting eighth is hard because you hit right in front of the pitcher and they’re not going to give you anything to hit. Sometimes you get a little too impatient. You want to get that hit and you start swinging at bad pitches.”

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com