Park Becoming Elite Pitcher

HOUSTON —  Chan Ho Park was nervous in the winter of 1999.

The right-hander had a disappointing season--13-11 with a 5.23 earned-run average--and regretted having rejected a three-year, $21-million contract that could have become a four-year, $30-million deal with a club option.

Seeking a change, Park hired influential agent Scott Boras, who convinced the Dodgers to sign veteran catcher Chad Kreuter to work with the shaken starter.

The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Park had a breakthrough season in 2000, establishing personal bests at 18-10 with a 3.27 earned-run average and 217 strikeouts in 226 innings.

He limited right-handed batters to a National League-low .199 average and was second in the league in strikeouts and overall opponent batting average at .214.

Although only 6-4 because of poor support this season, Park is third in the league with a .199 opponent batting average, fourth with 84 strikeouts and seventh with a 2.78 ERA.

And he has been dominant at Dodger Stadium, going 6-1 with a 1.86 ERA, 49 strikeouts in 48 1/3 innings and a .170 opponent batting average.

“The job he has done is phenomenal, especially when you look at what he’s done when he’s pitched at Dodger Stadium,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “I said it last year and I’m still saying it: The guy can be better than he already is.

“The potential is there to do that. Rarely do you see an opposing club put three consecutive hits on this guy. You just don’t see it.”

Park’s next contract also figures to be uncommon.

Boras and the Dodgers settled on a one-year, $9.9-million contract to avoid arbitration--the highest single-season salary for a pitcher with five-plus seasons.

The Colorado Rockies made Mike Hampton baseball’s highest-paid pitcher, having signed him to an eight-year, $121-million deal.

So what’s Park worth?

“You have to put this guy in the class of a No. 1-type pitcher,” Boras said in a phone interview. “He’s the only guy under the age of 30, in that class, available in the [upcoming free-agent] marketplace.

“History has shown there is always a premium assigned with those types of players. We still have two-thirds of the season to go before we start talking about those issues, but it appears Chan Ho is on track to have the best season of his career.”

Not surprisingly, Tracy was upset about the Thursday firing of longtime Montreal Expo Manager Felipe Alou.

Tracy was Alou’s bench coach in Montreal from 1995-98, and he considers Alou a mentor and friend.

“It’s very disappointing,” he said. “All it can do is get me in trouble to make statements about what I think another organization should do, it’s none of my business. But when you look at what that man had done there since 1992, and under some very adverse situations.

“Not taking anything away from [new Expo Manager] Jeff Torborg, he’s a very capable guy and has been in the game for a long time, but I find it hard to believe that there’s anybody that could do a much better job than [Alou] has done there. You’d be hard pressed to find somebody that would be able to do that.”

Starter Andy Ashby (right elbow strain) is progressing in his throwing program, Tracy said.

The right-hander is scheduled to throw breaking pitches in a bullpen session today. If Ashby does not suffer a setback, he might begin a rehabilitation assignment next week.

The Milwaukee Brewers sent right-handed pitcher Ruddy Lugo to the Dodgers to complete the Marquis Grissom-Devon White trade.

In 10 games at Class A, Lugo is 1-0 with a 0.60 ERA, five saves, 20 strikeouts and six walks in 15 innings. The Dodgers assigned Lugo to Class-A Wilmington.

TODAY

DODGERS’

DARREN DREIFORT

(3-3, 4.29 ERA)

vs.

ASTROS’

ROY OSWALT

(2-1, 1.93 ERA)

Enron Field, 1 p.m. PDT

TV--Channel 11

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330)

Update--Dreifort had a no-decision May 27 in the Dodgers’ 5-4, 12-inning victory over the Astros at Dodger Stadium. Leading, 2-0, Dreifort gave up a two-run home run to Lance Berkman in the eighth. The right-hander walked five and matched his season high with nine strikeouts. He is 3-3 with a 3.86 earned-run average in 12 career appearances against the Astros. Oswalt is making his first career start after eight relief appearances. The rookie right-hander was recalled from triple-A New Orleans on May 5.