DODGERS NOTEBOOK: FURCAL'S BAT IN THE PINK.

Byline: TONY JACKSON 

Staff Writer

Ask Rafael Furcal today what his favorite color is, and he might tell you he has grown partial to pink.

The Dodgers shortstop, who like several other players on the field used a pink bat for some of his plate appearances in Sunday's 10-5 win over Cincinnati, finally broke out of his hitting doldrums with his 13th career four-hit game.

His performance also included two doubles, two stolen bases, two runs and an RBI. He went 2 for 4 in Saturday night's win over the Reds, a game which he went into riding a 1-for-13 skid. The weekend breakout raised Furcal's average to a semi-respectable .254.

Furcal missed the start of the season with a left-ankle injury, and although he came back less than two weeks in, the lack of playing time meant it was almost as if he were starting spring training all over again. As a result, he only now is beginning to find the sort of groove he normally would be in at the start of a season.

"For me, I feel that way," Furcal said. "When I (came back), I tried to do too much and try to hit the ball so hard. That made me lose my confidence. But now, I'm starting to feel much better, and I'm trying to see more pitches at home plate."

The pink bats were used on Mother's Day to raise awareness for breast cancer research. Furcal, a switch-hitter, used a pink bat in his first three at-bats from the right side, then went back to his regular bats when he hit left-handed against Reds relievers Todd Coffey and Kirk Saarloos because he couldn't get a pink bat made to the specifications of the one he normally uses when he hits lefty.

No choice: Dodgers infielder Marlon Anderson, who was in the clubhouse for the first time since undergoing a second arthroscopic procedure to remove painful scar tissue from his right elbow on Friday, said he had no choice but to undergo surgery.

"Once we saw what was on the MRI, what was in there, there was no decision to be made," Anderson said. "It wasn't one of those things where you can rehab it and it'll get better. ... I'm just glad I had it done, because it feels so much better already."

Anderson also said there was nothing that could have been done during the first surgery, done last October, to prevent the need for the second one.

"Probably as you get older, your body just starts to do different things, and you produce scar tissue in different ways," said Anderson, who believes he will play again this season.

Home cooking: Dodgers first baseman Nomar Garciaparra went 3 for 5 and now is hitting .391 at home this season, compared with just .225 on the road.

Garciaparra went 3 for 25 on last week's seven-game trip, but is 8 for 13 in the first three games of this homestand.

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DODGERS vs. ST. LOUIS

- Tony Jackson