Rough Start for Kemp, Dodgers

Rookies often are saddled with menial tasks such as fetching sodas and carrying luggage for veterans.

Center fielder Matt Kemp found himself with a tedious chore Sunday in his first game as a Dodger -- chasing down extra-base hits blasted by the Washington Nationals at RFK Stadium.

He couldn’t even get to four of the balls that sailed over his head. They went into the stands for home runs, part of a 10-4 shellacking that marked the first time the Dodgers had lost a series since May 4.

Jae Seo (2-3) was the victim of most of the damage, giving up a run in the first and five in the third, an inning in which the Nationals hit for the cycle. Odalis Perez mopped up, going 2 1/3 innings in his longest stint since losing his spot in the rotation nearly a month ago.

The Nationals had 16 hits, including three doubles, a triple, two homers by Nick Johnson and one each by Ryan Zimmerman and Alfonso Soriano.

Kemp was in the middle of the maelstrom because he’d been called up from double-A Jacksonville (Fla.) hours earlier, a move made when General Manager Ned Colletti became uneasy with the tenuous health of outfielders Kenny Lofton and J.D. Drew.

Lofton has been playing despite a sore hamstring, and Drew took a second day off because of shoulder soreness. The addition of Kemp gives the Dodgers five outfielders. “We need more than four outfielders and need more than two healthy ones,” Colletti said. “It came to a crossroads where it was a risk worth taking.”

The danger would be destroying Kemp’s confidence if he fails. And his first day didn’t go so well. He struck out in his first three at-bats before hitting a single in the eighth. He made an error when he overran a single by pitcher Ramon Ortiz in the fifth.

Ortiz apparently received the scouting report on Kemp developed during spring training, when the 6-foot-4, 230-pound power hitter was four for 39 with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Breaking balls and more breaking balls, preferably down and away.

Kemp said he worked on plate discipline at Jacksonville, and it showed in his numbers. He batted .327 with seven homers and 34 runs batted in. Telling of the improvement was his respectable strikeout-to-walk ratio of 38 to 20. At Class-A Vero Beach (Fla.) in 2005, he had 92 strikeouts and only 25 walks.

“I learned to be more patient at the plate,” he said.

The game ended a whirlwind few hours for Kemp, who traveled from Huntsville, Ala., to Washington and slept for only two hours.

“I’m still in shock,” he said. “When they said you are going up, I thought they meant to Las Vegas.”

The Dodgers could have been mistaken for their triple-A team and Seo, certainly, for a triple-A pitcher. His earned-run average ballooned to 5.36.

“In the third inning my fastball was over the middle, and my changeup was up,” he said. “I’ve been facing this team since 2003, and they knew what I was going to throw.”

Perez was next, and although he gave up four hits and two runs, it was an improvement. Manager Grady Little said he would consider replacing Seo with Perez in the rotation, but that a decision had not been made.

“I want to be a starter,” Perez said. “I want to contribute. I don’t want to be in the bullpen all year. But I don’t make the decision, so I’ll wait until something develops.

“I don’t need to prove nothing. I don’t need to improve nothing.”

The four rookies in the Dodgers lineup might want to avoid adopting Perez’s philosophy. Kemp clearly is open to suggestion. Before the game, he received some guidance about Ortiz’s pitches from veteran reserve catcher Sandy Alomar Jr.

“Everything is hard,” Alomar said.

Afterward, the advice took on deeper meaning. Kemp is in the big leagues now, where nothing comes easy.