Garciaparra hoping to return soon

PITTSBURGH -- Waking up Thursday morning with his left knee feeling better than expected, Nomar Garciaparra decided to skip his scheduled visit to Jim Bradley, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ orthopedic surgeon.

“I don’t want to waste his time,” said Garciaparra, who re-sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee on Wednesday night.

Garciaparra said he was hopeful of playing again in a couple of days and that he was told by the Dodgers’ medical staff that spraining that ligament last month might have loosened parts of his knee and prevented damage in other areas.

“I definitely got lucky,” he said.

DeWitt saves the day

The Dodgers nearly lost Thursday’s game in the 10th inning, but a heads-up play by rookie second baseman Blake DeWitt kept them alive.

With one out and men on first and second, pitcher Chan Ho Park fielded a weak comebacker by Jason Michaels and threw to second to start a double play.

One problem: No one was there.

DeWitt made a diving catch to prevent the ball from sailing into center field and immediately got up and threw home to nail Nyjer Morgan. Catcher Russell Martin short-hopped the throw and was bowled over by Morgan but held onto the ball.

“I got lucky on that play, for sure,” DeWitt said. “I should’ve been covering second base. I got a learning experience from it.”

Manny ripped by Schilling . . . again

Manny Ramirez was ripped Wednesday afternoon on a Boston radio station by former Red Sox teammate Curt Schilling, who accused him of being disrespectful to his teammates.

“It’s the life that we lived and we saw it every day,” said Schilling, who called the station from a car phone. “Even if we told people the truth, they still wouldn’t believe it.”

Schilling said Ramirez quit on the Red Sox when he learned that he wouldn’t be granted a contract extension.

“The fact of the matter was, you looked at a guy who, at the end of the day, when you look back on the history, never, ever cared about any of us,” he said.

Ramirez had no comment.

Short hops

James McDonald, who was named the Dodgers’ minor league pitcher of the year for the second consecutive season, admitted to being nervous when he made his major league debut Wednesday night. “The adrenaline kicked in,” he said. Though McDonald retired the side, his first pitch was up and in and his second sailed to the backstop. . . . The Dodgers severed ties with their triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas and double-A affiliate in Jacksonville. The Dodgers’ triple-A club will be based next season in Albuquerque and their double-A team will be in Chattanooga, Tenn.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com