Kemp is a big part of the puzzle

The rookie takes the league by storm, hits the cover off the ball for a few weeks, and he begins to dream of accomplishing great things.

Then, scouting reports detect his weaknesses. Opposing pitchers feed him baffling curveballs and vexing changeups. The cover of the ball is no longer in danger of being dislodged.

That was the story last season for Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp.

Home runs in three straight games in his first week in the major leagues. The first Dodger in 32 years to hit four homers in his first 10 games and only the fifth major leaguer to hit seven homers in his first 18 games. A .293 batting average for the month of June.

Optioned to triple-A Las Vegas on July 14 and left there until Sept. 1.

“Baseball is just a game of adjustments,” Kemp said.

He’s getting accustomed to making those modifications. He’s hoping that a change here, a shift there and a patient presence at the plate will allow him to become more than a comet that blazes brightly across the sky before it quickly flames out.

The 22-year-old Oklahoma native was hitless in four at-bats Wednesday, including a double-play grounder in the sixth inning that scored the second run in the Dodgers’ 5-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. The sellout crowd of 56,000 seemed restless most of the night, perhaps sensing an imminent loss or bored while awaiting the pinwheeling, cascading postgame fireworks that lit up the sky above Chavez Ravine in brilliant shades of red, white and blue in celebration of July 4.

Or maybe the fans just wanted to see more fireworks from Kemp, who was five for 15 with two home runs and six runs batted in during the homestand before his hitless night dropped his batting average from .403 to .382.

If Kemp can maintain a constant and confident eye at the plate, the Dodgers may have a chance to do something wonderful this summer, with 20-somethings Kemp, James Loney and Russell Martin leading them into a hopeful future.

“We’ve played together all through the minor leagues and we’re excited to play with each other,” Kemp said. “We’re all good friends, so it’s just a relaxed environment.”

But if Kemp fizzles again, he may put himself on a path to becoming the answer to a trivia question instead of answering the Dodgers’ need for power and production.

Manager Grady Little says Kemp has learned from the dramatic rise and fall he experienced last season.

“A lot of times, when he got two strikes on him, you knew the at-bat was over. And it’s totally the opposite now,” Little said. “He’s putting better approaches on with two strikes. With two strikes he’s protecting the strike zone, trying not to go out of the strike zone as much as he did last year, and that’s going to make a world of difference for him.”

It’s one of those adjustments Kemp is learning to make.

“That’s what you’re looking for out of a kid who’s got a chance to keep continuing to get good and play for a long time in the major leagues,” Little said, “because those adjustments are going to come the rest of his career. And the sooner they’re able to get their mind to thinking in that direction, the better off they’ll be.

“It certainly looks like he’s headed in that direction right now.”

Kemp started the season with the Dodgers, beating out Ethier for the starting job in right field, and he was six for 14 before he separated his shoulder after running into the right-field wall on April 9. After a stint on the disabled list he was sent to Las Vegas, where he hit .329 with four home runs before being recalled June 8.

Like James Loney, whose forceful bat led Little to create a spot for him by moving Nomar Garciaparra from first base to third, Kemp played his way into a regular spot in the lineup. He also became the central figure in a rumor that had the Dodgers trading him to the White Sox for left-hander Mark Buehrle.

But with the Dodgers only a game behind the division-leading Padres, there’s no need for General Manager Ned Colletti to make a trade just yet.

“For us to move a young player, it’s got to be the absolute right deal,” Colletti said, “and the players that are being talked about right now don’t equate to the absolute right deal.”

While his teammates showered, dressed and escaped before the fireworks took flight Wednesday, Kemp sat in his uniform at his locker and twisted a bat in his hands.

“We let one get away today,” he said softly. “We just have to come back strong tomorrow.”

The same applies to him.

“I just didn’t swing the bat that good today,” he said. “I got some good pitches to hit but didn’t take advantage of them. I just have to get ‘em tomorrow.”

Tomorrows seem to stretch infinitely when you’re 22. But Kemp seems intent on making sure he’s here tomorrow and the day after and the year after that.

“Pitchers have already made adjustments to me and I’ve made adjustments to them,” he said. “I’m starting to figure out pitchers a little bit and it’s getting easier. I’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

That’s what tomorrows are for.