DODGERS NOTEBOOK: LITTLE DELIVERS PEP TALKS.

Byline: JILL PAINTER Staff Writer

Dodgers manager Grady Little made like a reverend Wednesday night and motivational speaker Thursday.

A day after Little called a team meeting, which he likened to a chapel service, he decided inspirational messages, accompanied with the lineup, might do the trick to end the Dodgers' struggles.

They were: "Experience gained the hard way brings knowledge that remains." And: "Some learn from experience. Others never recover from it. Your choice?"

Little said he won't let the latter be a choice. Catcher Dioner Navarro agreed.

"We've been struggling," Navarro said. "We can either get up and start running or lay down. We have a lot of good players and a lot of good talent. I'm confident we'll be OK."

Little does, too. But he called a team meeting, something he said he doesn't like to do unless there's a reason. He said he told his team that they're good and have a resilient offense. He doesn't normally post messages on the lineup board, either.

"It's like the son I had. When he was little, I didn't wait until he got hit by a car in the street to go out there and say, `Don't play in the street'," Little said. "We wanted to try to head it off before anything like that could possibly happen here."

Little had another meeting after that as general manager Ned Colletti paid him a visit. He didn't elaborate, other than saying Colletti offered him a cold drink, which he declined.

--Sunday's starter: Starter Odalis Perez still is in the Dominican Republic with his ailing mother and might miss Sunday's scheduled start.

Little said he has no in-house options to replace Perez, meaning the likely candidate is Aaron Sele, who is 3-0 and 2.43 ERA at Triple-A Las Vegas. He has 28 strikeouts, five walks and has allowed 25 hits in 29 2/3 innings.

--Injury report: Jae Seo, who had a strong start Wednesday, was sore because of a split fingernail on his right index finger. Little said Seo has had the split fingernail before but didn't expect it to affect his next start. & Ricky Ledee (ruptured leg muscle) met with a radiologist on Thursday but the results were not in as of the afternoon. Ledee also met with Dr. Frank Jobe.

Outfielder Jayson Werth had a second cortisone shot in his left wrist on Wednesday in a second attempt to get rid of inflammation.

--Also: IndyCar driver Bryan Herta, who lives in Valencia, threw out the ceremonial first pitch Thursday.

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