Betemit is feeling pinched

Wilson Betemit’s recent struggles as a starter combined with his phenomenal success as a pinch-hitter may have some thinking that he would be better utilized as a reserve.

Betemit, however, is not among them.

“I don’t like that type of role. I don’t like coming off the bench,” he said. “It’s difficult to play coming off the bench. Everybody knows that. But lamentably they made the decision to use me that way and there’s nothing I can do.”

Betemit started 20 of the Dodgers’ first 29 games at third but was benched Friday after his average fell to .125. He then appeared twice as a pinch-hitter last weekend and responded with long home runs each time.

“Every day can’t be bad,” he said with a smile. “The whole year can’t be that way. I can only do what I can do. If I’m not batting well, I’m not going to kill myself or whatever.

“I have to keep working hard, coming here early and working hard.”

In batting practice, Betemit is taking grounders at second and short as well as third to make himself more versatile as a reserve. And at the plate, he said, he’s trying to be more patient and wait for his pitch -- an approach that paid off in his two weekend at-bats.

But before anyone pushes the panic button, note that Betemit has always been a slow starter; his lifetime average in April is 61 points lower than his career average.

“This game, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” he said. “This game is demanding. Sometimes people who don’t understand want you, in one turn at bat, to get five hits. It’s impossible.”

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Speaking of slow starts, the first inning has not been kind to left-hander Randy Wolf this season. Opponents are batting .364 against him and his earned-run average is 10.29. That’s nearly seven runs higher than his ERA after the first inning.

“It’s getting frustrating for me,” said Wolf, who gave up a first-inning run to the Braves on Sunday then shut them out for the next 4 2/3 innings. “I think by now it has to be mental.”

And it’s a problem that has plagued Wolf before. So the Dodgers have tried to address it in a number of ways, including changing his warmup routine before starts.

“He’s not the only pitcher that’s even been like that in his career,” Manager Grady Little said. “There’s been a lot of pitchers that are like that in the first inning.

“It’s a matter of not having a feel for some pitches, the command of some pitches, right out of the gate. Maybe we can come up with some secret to get him through this tough inning. Because he sure is pretty good after that.”

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When the visiting clubhouse staff at Dolphin Stadium unloaded the Dodgers’ gear early Monday they found a surprise waiting for them in Luis Gonzalez’s equipment bag: a foot-long black plastic rat.

Gonzalez said the lifelike rodent was given to him years ago as a gag after teammates, noting his early arrivals and late departures, began referring to him as a “ballpark rat.” Now, he says, he travels with the rat, keeping it in his locker and duffle bag partly to scare visiting clubbies.

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Third baseman Andy LaRoche was hit in the wrist by a Jorge Julio pitch in top of the eighth and left the game before the bottom of the inning. X-rays after the game were negative.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com