Roberts Will Be Left Out

Arizona’s Randy Johnson will open a three-game series against the Dodgers tonight, which means center fielder Dave Roberts will be right where he’s been the previous 12 times a left-hander has started against the Dodgers this season: On the bench.

The leadoff batter is hitting .320 with a .415 on-base percentage, 23 runs, 20 walks and a team-leading 14 stolen bases in 39 games, infusing the Dodgers with a top-of-the-order energy they’ve lacked for several years, but Manager Jim Tracy is not about to break up his center-field platoon of Roberts and Marquis Grissom.

Not when Grissom is batting .300 with six homers--two of them against Johnson in Bank One Ballpark on Sunday--seven doubles and 20 runs batted in, and the Dodgers are 10-2 against left-handed starters.

And not when a shared center-field position has produced a .319 average, seven homers, 29 RBIs, 16 stolen bases, a .393 on-base percentage, 26 walks and only 30 strikeouts in 52 games.

Last season, Dodger center fielders--primarily Grissom and Tom Goodwin--hit .236 with 19 homers, 70 RBIs, 27 stolen bases, a .282 on-base percentage, 39 walks and 145 strikeouts.

“I really like what we have in center field,� Tracy said. “We’re not sacrificing anything defensively [when Grissom starts], we’re keeping the outfield rotation sharp, and with the stroke Roberts is having, all it takes is to get carried away, play him against a lefty with a nasty slider, and all of a sudden he’s jumping at pitches.�

Roberts had a .205 career average (8 for 39) against left-handers before this season and has four hits in nine at-bats (.444) against lefties in 2002. He thinks he can hit left-handers and would like to be a full-time player, but having been slowed by a sore quadriceps for much of May, he admits the current arrangement is best.

“I know, if given the opportunity [to start against left-handers], I’ll be ready, but this keeps you fresh,� Roberts said. “As much as I’d like to be in the lineup every day, I kind of get a reprieve because my quad is still not 100%. The day a lefty throws is a day to recover. Plus, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Marquis deserves his at-bats, and he’s played well.�

Could Roberts evolve into a full-time player?

“I think he’d be OK at it,� Tracy said, “but I also think it doesn’t hurt to give this guy a day to recharge his battery. His game is his legs, his energy, that’s the special entity he brings to the club, and to give him a chance to recharge is good for the team.�

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After opening the season with only nine wins in their first 19 home games, the Dodgers have won six of their last seven in Dodger Stadium. Their success can be attributed at least in part to the competition--the last seven home games have been against Montreal and Milwaukee--but Roberts believes the Dodgers have elevated their play at home too.

“As a team, we realized what the problem was--we didn’t have much energy or intensity at home,� he said.

*

Reliever Jesse Orosco was activated off the disabled list Wednesday after missing 15 days because of a strained left rib-cage muscle, but the left-hander will no longer participate in one of his favorite daily activities--batting practice. Orosco, 45, hurt himself hitting three weeks ago.

*

To commemorate the 61st anniversary of his death, Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech will be read by entertainer Chris Rock during pregame ceremonies in Dodger Stadium on Saturday. Major League Baseball has designated June 1 as Project ALS Day, and to raise awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, celebrities will recite the famous words of Gehrig’s “luckiest man on the face of the earth� address in stadiums around the country.... Left-hander Terry Mulholland, out since May 4 because of back spasms, will throw a simulated game today and hopes to be activated by early next week.

ON DECK

Opponent--Arizona Diamondbacks, three games.

Site--Dodger Stadium.

Tonight--7

TV--Fox Sports Net 2 tonight, Channel 11 Saturday and Channel 13 Sunday.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

Records--Dodgers 31-22, Diamondbacks 33-20.

Record vs. Diamondbacks--1-2.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

OMAR DAAL

(4-0, 0.88 ERA)

vs.

DIAMONDBACKS’

RANDY JOHNSON

(8-1, 2.73 ERA)

Update--Johnson, the 6-foot-10 left-hander with the 98-mph fastball and vicious slider, has 4-0 record and 2.04 ERA in seven Dodger Stadium starts, but the Dodgers have reason not to be intimidated--they unplugged the Big Unit on Sunday in Phoenix, raking him for seven runs on eight hits, including three homers, in five innings of a 10-9 Diamondback victory. Daal, the Dodger left-hander and reluctant reliever, will begin his second rotation stint in place of the injured Kevin Brown.

Saturday, 1 p.m.--Andy Ashby (4-4, 3.21) vs. Brian Anderson (0-4, 5.44).

Sunday, 1 p.m.--Kazuhisa Ishii (8-1, 2.90) vs. Miguel Batista (2-2, 5.28).

Tickets--(213) 224-1448.