DODGERS NOTEBOOK : GUERRERO ISN'T HAZY ABOUT HIS BIG-LEAGUE INITIATION.Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer Wilton Guerrero Wilton Guerrero (born October 24, 1974 in the Don Gregorio, Dominican Republic) is a major league utility player who currently is a free agent. He previously played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1996-1998), Montreal Expos (1998-2000, 2002), Cincinnati Reds (2001-2002), Kansas City may be a raw youngster who is trying to adapt to major-league baseball at age 22, but the Dodgers' rookie second baseman second baseman n. Baseball The infielder who is positioned near and to the first-base side of second base. Noun 1. second baseman - (baseball) the person who plays second base second sacker is at least demonstrating resilience and the ability to take instruction. The season is not yet a month old, but already Guerrero has been benched for a game, dropped from second in the batting order Noun 1. batting order - (baseball) a list of batters in the order in which they will bat; "the managers presented their cards to the umpire at home plate" lineup, card to eighth, and, Saturday night, benched again. He was told to sit, relax a little, and pay attention, and he obviously heeded the instruction. Sent up to pinch hit in the seventh inning, Guerrero smacked a triple into the right-center-field gap. ``I'm fine,'' he said of the white-knuckler that has been his season. ``It's OK. It's a long season. They just wanted me to rest my mind and watch the pitcher. . . . I have to do what they want me to do.'' Guerrero was sat down because he had collected only three hits in 20 at-bats over his previous six games. Also, his on-base percentage of .254 was the lowest among the team's regulars. The triple, which led off the seventh, raised his batting average batting average n. Baseball A measure of a batter's performance obtained by dividing the total of base hits by the number of times at bat, not including walks. Noun 1. to .246. Not surprisingly, the Dodgers stranded him at third. Bloom off the rose: The Dodgers took considerable delight in the fact their bullpen opened the season with a string of 32-1/3 innings without giving up an earned run earned run n. Baseball A run scored without the aid of an error, used in computing earned run averages. Noun 1. earned run - a run that was not scored as the result of an error by the other team . Lately, the scales have begun to tip precariously. Over the last five games, which have featured blowups by Tom Candiotti Also: Jim Eisenreich continues to be the most accomplished Dodger-wrecker in baseball. With a 3-for-4 night (plus an RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in and a run scored), he raised his career batting average against the Dodgers to .430. He has driven in 40 runs against them in 172 at-bats. . . . Dodgers third baseman Todd Zeilie had collected only one hit in a stretch of 25 at-bats, his average plummeting to .136, when he broke through with a double to the left-field wall off Alex Fernandez in the fifth inning. ``I finally felt, all four times, `I'm going to get this guy,' '' Zeile said. ``I was confident throughout, which wasn't the case last week.'' |
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