DODGERS NOTEBOOK: LO DUCA'S PLAY SIMILAR TO 2001.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

MILWAUKEE - Paul Lo Duca suffered through parts of last season with a partial tear in his groin, plus the nicks and bumps that are inevitable from catching. For those reasons, among others, Lo Duca believes he never found his stroke.

Thanks to a torrid May, though, Lo Duca believes he is close to his 2001 form, when he batted .320 and drove in 90 runs. The Dodgers catcher went 2 for 5 in Saturday's 6-0 victory against Milwaukee and is batting .391 this month.

Since Lo Duca's average dipped to .247 on April 27 because of a 3-for-37 streak, he is batting .390 and pushed his average to a team-leading .315. Lo Duca is third among National League catchers in batting.

``I feel very close to where I was, and I don't think I ever fully got to that point last year,'' Lo Duca said. ``I just didn't think I ever got the point. I never really was to the point where I felt really comfortable, and I think whenever I did get comfortable I would always have something nagging with me.''

Certainly, neither Lo Duca nor the Dodgers are counting on him to match the career-high 25 homers he smashed in 2001, but batting coach Jack Clark believes Lo Duca, in his third full season, will round into a power threat.

``I think you're looking at a guy who's still learning,'' Clark said. ``He's going to come into his prime like that. When he does, he's going to find exactly that slot he wants to get into where he hits 15 to 20 home runs every year and drives in 85 runs. He's going to hit. He keeps the ball in play.''

--Waiting for Ward: Daryle Ward had five RBI, 11 hits and a .177 batting average entering his Saturday start in left field. It's a far cry from the 20 homers he hit with Houston as a platoon player in 2000 and well off his 12-homer, 72-RBI campaign in 2002, when he had a career-high 453 at-bats.

However, Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said it was too early to measure Ward's success, or lack thereof, because the at-bats have been scarce. Ward had 62 at-bats.

``He's a very good left-handed bat that we need to be productive on this club,'' Tracy said. ``And the way it becomes productive is for me to give him at-bats.''

In his previous 12 starts, Ward batted .200 (9 for 45) with three RBI. He went 1 for 4 against the Brewers on Saturday but has yet to homer.

--Nice try: Though Eric Gagne was told before Friday's game he wouldn't pitch regardless of the situation, the Dodgers closer lobbied three times to get in the game.

Gagne told Tracy before the game he could pitch for a fourth successive day and seventh consecutive game. Gagne said he reminded Tracy in the fourth inning and again in the eighth.

Tracy balked each time and let middle reliever Guillermo Mota pitch the final three innings of the 6-4 victory to record his first major-league save.

But how close was Gagne to getting in the game? Well, when a bank of lights went out in the eighth inning, it would have been possible if the game was to be delayed a day. Instead, it was delayed 18 minutes.

``He was within an amp of getting into the game,'' pitching coach Jim Colborn said.

--Odds and ends: The most effective Brewers pitcher was reliever Brooks Kieschnick, a former first baseman and outfielder. He pitched three scoreless innings. ... Tracy said left fielder Brian Jordan would get today off.

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- Brian Dohn