DODGERS NOTEBOOK: NO EARLY RETURN FOR IZZY?

Byline: TONY JACKSON  Staff Writer

HOUSTON - Although no one will say he has suffered a setback, Dodgers shortstop Cesar Izturis' recovery from reconstructive elbow surgery last September might have hit a snag.

It now looks like the initial prognosis that Izturis would be out until sometime around the All-Star break is fairly accurate, even though he said that he was feeling so good he thought he would return before that.

"These doctors we have in L.A. have been doing these things for a long time," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "You have to assume they're going to be right on predicting something like that more times than not. Pitchers go through the same thing when they're coming back from an operation like that. They feel good, feel good, feel good, and then all of a sudden, they go through a time where they don't feel good. That's the same thing Izzy is going through."

The earliest Izturis will begin a minor-league rehabilitation assignment is late May. Those assignments are limited for a position player to 20 days unless the player agrees to extend them in 10-day increments. It would still put Izturis on track for a mid-June return, but that remains a best-case scenario.

Monday's Tuesday: Dodgers broadcaster Rick Monday said he gave 11 interviews - about half of which were to national media outlets - on the 30th annivesary of the day he rescued an American flag from two protestors trying to burn it in the Dodger Stadium outfield.

Monday, who was playing center field for the Chicago Cubs on April 25, 1976, said he never dreamed at the time his heroic act would become so widely celebrated.

"I was flabbergasted after the game that day at the number of media in the locker room," Monday said. "I just thought it was important to do what I did. It's right versus wrong, and that's the way I was raised. We have choices to make. If you see someone asking for help on the side of the road, you can stop your car and get out, or you can keep driving.

"We happen to live in a country where people usually stop the car and get out."

Carter struggling: Reliever Lance Carter, who continued to struggle in failing to retire either of two batters in Monday's ninth inning, admits he is putting pressure on himself.

"It's frustrating, but I think I just have to relax and trust my stuff," said Carter, who has a 5.87 ERA in six appearances. "I'm trying to make the perfect pitch every time, and that's not possible."