Hoffman Gives Shaw the Day Off to Recover From a Tough Week

After a pregame discussion, Dodger Manager Glenn Hoffman and Jeff Shaw--who had pitched in five of the team’s last six games--agreed that the closer would take Sunday off, and possibly at least another day.

Shaw has blown saves in his last three opportunities, including giving up a game-losing two-run home run with two out in the ninth inning to the Mets’ Edgardo Alfonzo on Saturday.

Acquired on July 4 from Cincinnati, Shaw has recorded 15 of his 38 saves with the Dodgers, including nine in a row at the start of his Dodger tenure.

“He’s gotten us to this point, but in the last week he’s lost some tough ones,” Hoffman said Sunday. “There’s a time to back off and today’s a day to back off.

“He can’t carry the club by himself. We’ve just got to watch him. We’ve used him a lot, and he’s been battling for us all the time he’s been here. He’s human.”

*

Mike Piazza took an Eric Young foul ball off of his right shoulder in the first inning on Sunday, and had to leave the game in the second.

The Mets said they would know the extent of his injury today.

Piazza, still received with a mixture of boos and applause by the Dodger Stadium crowd, fouled out to first base in his only at-bat. He was replaced in the second inning by Jorge Fabregas, who went hitless in three at-bats.

“Mike’s not all right,” Met Manager Bobby Valentine said after the game. “He couldn’t play. I think it’s muscular.”

*

The latest Dodger general manager candidate to interview: Omar Minaya, the Mets’ 39-year-old assistant general manager and director of international scouting.

“For a young guy like me to go through this is great,” said Minaya, who interviewed with Dodger President Bob Graziano, former owner Peter O’Malley and interim General Manager Tom Lasorda on Sunday.

With current general managers such as Cincinnati’s Jim Bowden and Florida’s Dave Dombrowski considered front-runners for the Dodger vacancy, does Minaya consider himself a real contender?

“I have scouted and developed and run departments and I feel I am as qualified as anybody for the position,” Minaya said.

*

Catcher Charles Johnson, suffering from what was described as stiffness in his right shoulder, was a late scratch from the starting lineup, replaced by Tom Prince . . . Starter Ismael Valdes, on the disabled list since July 27 because of a strained abdominal muscle, is set to start Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium.

TONIGHT DODGERS’ CHAN HO PARK

(11-7, 3.86 ERA)

vs.

METS’ RICK REED

(15-8, 3.23 ERA)

Site--Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West 2.

Radio--AM 1150, KWKW (1330).

* Update--Due to the Mets’ current use of a six-man rotation, former Dodger starter Hideo Nomo, who beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1, on Aug. 26, will miss this four-game series, which concludes tonight. The Dodgers have consistently given Park good run support--in his 27 starts, they have averaged 6.27 runs.