Berroa hopes to make major contribution

Angel Berroa reported to the Dodgers on Saturday intent on making up for lost time.

The 2003 rookie of the year, Berroa spent most of the last two years with the Kansas City Royals’ triple-A affiliate in Omaha. The addition of the 30-year old middle infielder, who was acquired Friday for class-A infielder Juan Rivera, forced the Dodgers to designate reserve third baseman Terry Tiffee for assignment to make room on their active and 40-man roster.

Berroa said he was delighted to put his time in Omaha behind him.

“I don’t see the reason for being sent down there,” said Berroa, whose production started to decline after receiving a four-year, $11 million contract extension in May 2004. “It was a hard time there, but now I’m here and ready to start again.”

Because Berroa’s entire salary is being paid by the Royals, the Dodgers have no financial incentive to keep him if they don’t think he is a fit for their team. Manager Joe Torre said that Berroa would probably play his first game today.

Bench coach Bob Schaefer, who was a coach with the Royals when Berroa broke into the league and recommended him to General Manager Ned Colletti, admitted that he didn’t know what to expect.

“I don’t know how good he’ll be, but I think he can help our team,” Schaefer said.

Plans for Hu

Rookie Chin-lung Hu remains on the major league roster largely because the Dodgers don’t know what they’ll be getting from Berroa, Torre said. Hu continued to struggle at the plate Saturday, as his 0-for-4 day lowered his average to .159.

Torre maintained his position that he would like Hu to play at triple-A Las Vegas, which he thinks would aid his development. The manager said that Andy LaRoche is “close” to being called up from Las Vegas, a hint that LaRoche and Hu could trade places soon if Berroa is deemed an adequate utility man.

Generation gap

Jeff Kent pointed to his ejection Friday for arguing a called third strike as an example of how he differs from the latest generation of players.

“You know what’s missing in this game, maybe in the last six or seven years?” Kent said. “People don’t question or challenge plays that are made in this game anymore. We allow umpires and we allow coaches and we allow players to do things and we just turn the other cheek. That didn’t happen when I played.

“And it happens a lot. Because the generation gap is so large between me and the rest of the team, I guess I get stuck in that challenge mode more often that not, so everybody looks at me as being more passionate, and I’m not.”

Because Kent played only five innings Friday, he opted to not take his scheduled rest Saturday.

Ardoin making his case

Backup catcher Danny Ardoin has made his two starts this season on days Hiroki Kuroda has started and Kuroda has given up only one run in 15 1/3 innings in those games.

Because of that, Torre said, it isn’t a given that Gary Bennett will be Russell Martin’s backup when he is ready to come off the disabled list.

Bennett is in Las Vegas on a rehab assignment recovering from a foot injury and fixing his problem of throwing the ball back to the pitcher.

Schmidt delayed

Jason Schmidt won’t be making his scheduled rehab start with Las Vegas today, as he woke up with discomfort stemming from a bullpen session Friday.