Perez Will Miss Friday Start

Odalis Perez will miss at least one start after an MRI exam Wednesday revealed he has shoulder tendinitis.

The Dodgers scratched the left-hander from Friday’s game against the Angels at Angel Stadium, saying they were not sure when Perez might rejoin the rotation.

“I can’t tell you when he’ll pitch, but I think he’s going to miss a start,� team physician Frank Jobe said. “We’ll see how he is in the next couple of days.�

Kazuhisa Ishii has been moved up from Saturday to the series opener, and Manager Jim Tracy said the club would consider its options before announcing a starter for the second game.

Tracy acknowledged that the Dodgers are not especially encouraged about the available candidates to replace Perez on a short- or long-term basis. It appears triple-A right-hander Edwin Jackson is the best of the bunch, although Jackson has struggled at times for the 51s.

Jobe had previously diagnosed Perez, removed after five innings in his last start Saturday against the Angels because of shoulder pain, with biceps tendinitis, but the MRI exam confirmed the problem is on the edge of the rotator cuff.

“I don’t like to use those words [rotator cuff] because that makes you think of the whole thing,� Jobe said. “It’s just one leading edge. It’s not the whole rotator cuff.�

Perez (4-3) leads the Dodgers with 106 1/3 innings and has the lowest earned-run average among starters at 2.96. Jackson, who last pitched Monday for Las Vegas, is 6-4 with a 5.29 ERA and 41 walks in 78 1/3 innings.

Jobe said Perez would continue to undergo therapy and take anti-inflammatory medication. Perez said he had an adverse reaction to the medication, but Jobe intimated the medication wasn’t the problem.

“You have to take it with food,� Jobe said. “Sometimes that doesn’t get accomplished.�

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Running out of time and apparently patience, Tracy changed his mind and revamped the batting order before Wednesday’s game against San Francisco.

Milton Bradley, who had batted third since opening day, batted fifth after sitting out six games.

Shawn Green, the struggling former cleanup hitter, was dropped to sixth for the first time this season. Paul Lo Duca, who had primarily batted fifth, was elevated to third in front of cleanup batter Adrian Beltre.

Tracy had repeatedly said he didn’t want to “move too many pieces� and risk hurting the rest of the batting order, but the Dodgers had scored fewer runs than every National League team except Montreal beginning play Wednesday.

“It makes sense,� Tracy said of the new batting order. “You have Bradley in an RBI spot in the middle of the order. The three guys in front of Beltre are all high on-base-percentage guys right now.

“Beltre is leading the club in home runs and RBIs. And Shawn Green is in that lineup because we’re going to continue to give him the opportunities to get going.�

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Many Adelphia cable subscribers in the East San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles were deprived of a good portion of Fox Sports Net 2’s coverage of Tuesday night’s Giant-Dodger game. Adelphia General Manager Kurt Taylor said Wednesday it was because of technical difficulties, but he could not give specifics. He said the situation was being investigated.

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Times staff writer Larry Stewart contributed to this report.