BASEBALL : DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : A Frustrated Gonzalez Reacts Angrily

The ejection of Jose Gonzalez from Thursday’s game was one of the uglier ejections in recent memory as Gonzalez threw his bat and helmet before he left the field.

According to Gonzalez, who was ejected when he argued two strike calls after a strikeout, umpire Mark Hirschbeck taunted him.

“I said, ‘You called a bad pitch,’ and he said, ‘Just because you are having a bad day, don’t take it out on me.’ ” Gonzalez said. “I was trying to walk to the dugout, but he was walking to me like he was going to hit me. I said, ‘What do you think, I’m scared of you?’ But I thought he was going to bite me.”

Said Hirschbeck: “I called a pitch he didn’t like, he argued, then as he was walking away he said something else, and he kept talking, and that was it.”

Gonzalez’s anger might have been influenced by the fact that he is the only major leaguer who has been on a roster since opening day and is still hitless, going zero for 26 before Friday. He has repeatedly asked to be traded, but the Dodgers repeatedly say they need him.

The last two pitchers cut from the Dodgers’ roster at the end of spring training are having different kinds of seasons at triple-A Albuquerque. Dennis Cook is 7-3 with a 3.22 earned-run average in 86 2/3 innings; Jim Neidlinger is 2-6 with a 5.31 ERA in 61 innings.

Two former first-round picks are also struggling for the Dukes. Jamie McAndrew has a 5.14 ERA and Dan Opperman has a 5.95 ERA with 34 walks and 32 strikeouts.