Pitching Has Been Bumpy

Dodger pitching coach Jim Colborn said the staff is only experiencing a “bump in the road,” though it appears to be a big bump.

The group had an outstanding 3.56 earned-run average in the first half as the club took the NL West lead. In 19 games since the All-Star break, the Dodgers have a 4.81 ERA and several starters struggled in July.

The team is batting .257 and averaging 3.6 runs during that span after hitting .263 and averaging 4.4 runs in the first half, so the offense hasn’t done much to compensate for pitching woes. But the Dodgers acknowledge they have holes offensively, which is why they built the club on a foundation of pitching.

Is the foundation cracked?

“They threw so well in the first half, it’s tough to keep that up the whole year,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “We’re also not giving them a lot to work with, and pitchers are trying to make perfect pitches.”

Colborn agrees.

“There’s been a little bit of that,” he said. “There are times, in the first inning, when we’re carefully pitching around a guy with first base open. That wouldn’t happen if you knew you were going to get five or six runs, but I don’t think it’s affected them too negatively overall.”

Andy Ashby (0-3, 6.75 ERA), Odalis Perez (0-3, 7.16) and Kazuhisa Ishii (1-2, 5.16) are in the worst post-All-Star slumps.

“The product of a good season is the handling of various slumps, and making proper adjustments as they’re needed,” Colborn said. “When this season is done, it will end up being a strong season, but it’s not just a product of smooth sailing.”

*

General Manager Dan Evans made a late push to acquire All-Star center fielder Randy Winn from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before Wednesday’s non-waiver trading deadline, baseball sources said.

Evans declined comment on the trade talks, but sources said Tampa Bay General Manager Chuck LaMar asked for current members of the 25-man roster that the Dodgers would not trade. Winn was batting .322 with 32 doubles, eight home runs, 48 runs batted in and 21 stolen bases beginning play Wednesday.

There would have been a logjam in the outfield had Evans acquired Winn, 28, who cannot become a free agent until after the 2004 season, but that would have been a good problem for the struggling Dodgers.

TODAY

DODGERS’

ODALIS PEREZ

(10-7, 3.30 ERA)

vs.

REDS’

ELMER DESSENS

(9-5, 2.68 ERA)

Cinergy Field, Cincinnati

9:30 a.m. PDT

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

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

Update--Perez, who rejoined the club Tuesday after receiving permission to travel home to the Dominican Republic to tend to a family matter, is making his first start since July 22. Dessens is second in the National League in overall ERA and during day games (1.40).