The Road to Success as a Starter Is Still a Bumpy One for Dreifort

Dodger Manager Glenn Hoffman and his pitching coach, Charlie Hough, car-pooled to work Tuesday. All the way to Dodger Stadium, they discussed the ongoing project to transform Darren Dreifort from a reliever into an effective starting pitcher.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Hoffman and Hough made the return trip home. The main subject of conversation remained unchanged.

So, said Hoffman, does the optimism despite the fact that Dreifort’s performance Tuesday reaffirmed the fact this is indeed an ongoing project.

The right-hander gave up five runs and 11 hits in five innings to the Florida Marlins, a team stuck in the next-to-last position in the National League in batting at .251, ahead of only the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Dreifort has three losses and a no-decision in his last four outings.

What frustrates the Dodgers is that they see a live arm, but they don’t see results.

“He has not pitched a lot as a starter,” Hoffman said. “But he is going to be an outstanding pitcher. His stuff is outstanding. You talk to everybody he faces. When his pitches are out of the strike zone, they don’t touch them because they are too nasty.

“He’s a hard worker, he’s learning out there and it’s all going to click one day.”

Dreifort has already worked 157 1/3 innings in his new role as a starter. That’s nearly 60 innings more than he had worked in his previous three seasons as a Dodger combined. Has he perhaps hit a dead period because of the extra work load?

“No,” Hoffman said, “I don’t think he’s hit that wall yet.”

So Dreifort keep trying to straighten out his problems on the mound and Hoffman and Hough will keep trying to straighten them out in the carpool lane.

*

Shortstop Jose Vizcaino, sidelined since June 22 because of a right ankle sprain, is at least three weeks away from returning.

Right-hander Ismael Valdes, out for the last 2 1/2 because of a strained stomach muscle, does not yet even have a target date for throwing off the mound, much less returning to the rotation.

*

The comings and goings on the Dodgers have reached record proportions this season. There have been 49 players in uniform, tying the team record in the Los Angeles era, set in 1995.

The club will need six more new faces to tie the Brooklyn record. That was set in 1944 when the comings and goings were largely dictated by World War II.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ BRIAN BOHANON (5-7, 2.79 ERA)

vs.

MARLINS’ BRIAN MEADOWS (9-8, 4.61 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7.

TV--Fox Sports West 2. Radio--AM 1150, KWKW (1330, Spanish)

* Update--Bohanon knows full well that, when Valdes is ready to return, the left-hander is one of those being considered for a demotion to the bullpen. But the left-hander is doing all he can to plead his case on the mound. He has given up only one earned run in each of his last five starts, compiling a 1.41 earned-run average over that stretch.