BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Butler Looking for More

When Brett Butler started playing, he wanted to last one season in the majors. Then it was six years. Then it was to play until he turned 35.

Now in his 12th season, Butler turned 36 Tuesday and his goals have already been reset to 40.

“I called Dusty Baker today to tell him happy birthday,” Butler said. “Bake is 44, and his birthday is the same as mine.”

In Butler’s previous 10 full seasons, he played in an average of 155 games and batted .292 with 100 runs scored and 41 stolen bases. Last season his .309 batting average was eighth in the league and his 41 stolen bases tied for seventh. Since he joined the Dodgers in 1991, he has missed only seven games out of 386.

Through Tuesday, he is batting .311 and leads the team with 37 runs scored, 31 walks and 76 hits. He has not gone hitless in consecutive games this season and has been on base by a hit or walk in 51 of 60 games.

“With the life expectancy about 70 now, my wife told me that I’m now on the downside of life,” Butler joked.

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The next oldest players on the team are Tom Candiotti, who will turn 36 in August, and Tim Wallach, who will be 36 in September. . . . It was Butler’s daughter Stefanie who nicknamed Cory Snyder “Corndog.” “My nickname was ‘Cordog,’ but Stefanie couldn’t say it,” Snyder said. “I lived with the Butlers when I was coming up (with Cleveland) and Stefanie, who was 3 then, called me Corndog instead, and it stuck. . . . Dodger scouting director Terry Reynolds will begin negotiations with No. 1 draft pick Darren Dreifort of Wichita State on Thursday in Kansas. . . . Injury report: Todd Worrell, who hurt his elbow warming up in the bullpen Saturday night, threw on the side Tuesday and was put on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 11. Rod Nichols was called up from Albuquerque. Eric Davis, who aggravated his surgically repaired wrist when he attempted a diving catch in Saturday’s game, was used initially in the ninth inning as a pinch-runner and scored. He later had a two-run double in the inning.