Bodies scheduled to arrive for Dodgers, just in time for a tough 19-game stretch

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There now, feel better?

Nothing like a nice little day off to help a team take its mind off the real world.

That would be the one in which the Dodgers have lost nine of their last 12, have to take a number to squeeze into the trainer’s room and have more kids in the locker room than the local Montessori.

Fear not, fresh troops arrive! Or at least old troops, bandaged and pointed in the proper direction.

After being so thin on their 2-4 road trip they had to play one game with a single healthy player on the bench, the Dodgers open a six-game homestand Friday by welcoming back three starters.

Third baseman Casey Blake (elbow staph infection), catcher Rod Barajas (sprained wrist) and Andre Ethier (sore everything) are all expected back.

Of course, Blake has appeared in only three rehab games at triple-A Albuquerque. He went one for six Wednesday with four strikeouts; he’s scheduled to play again Thursday before joining the Dodgers.

And Ethier didn’t start the last four games simply because of his collision with a chain-linked fence, but because he’s not hitting. He has two hits in his last 31 at-bats and one extra-base hit in his last 79 at-bats.

Barajas is hitting only .221, though his seven home runs are -- sadly -- second on the club.

The Dodgers are in no position to be choosy over what cavalry comes over the hill, just that somebody comes riding to town.

The Dodgers, however, have even more troubles. Like the competition. It’s about to get tougher.

In their next six series, not one team awaits with a losing record. Then they get the lowly Astros again, which just took two of three from them in Houston.

Feel better?

-- Steve Dilbeck