Little says mix at third not a platoon

Who’s at third base for the Dodgers? Monday it was Wilson Betemit, tonight it could be Andy LaRoche.

Although Manager Grady Little said the situation did not fit his definition of a platoon -- in which the switch-hitting Betemit would start against right-handed pitchers and the right-handed LaRoche would start against left-handed pitchers -- it amounts to the same thing.

LaRoche has started six games and Betemit three since LaRoche was promoted from triple-A Las Vegas nine days ago.

“It’s a situation where we’ve got a couple of good players there and each of them will get plenty of playing time,” Little said. “This is what you call splitting time.”

Little said he decided to give Betemit a second consecutive start Monday because left-handed hitters were batting .333 against St. Louis Cardinals starter Brad Thompson. Little also said he liked the way Betemit looked at the plate Sunday, when he doubled in his first at-bat, and believed that Betemit’s .111 average against left-handed pitching before Monday was deceiving.

“We know he’s better than he’s been as a Dodger against left-handed pitching,” Little said of Betemit, who went two for four with a home run Monday. “Talk to Bobby Cox and the people who were with him with the [Atlanta] Braves. He was always better there against left-handers than he was against right-handers.”

Aside from an equipment mix-up that forced him to use pitcher Derek Lowe’s bats on the Dodgers’ most recent trip, everything has gone according to plan for LaRoche. He was hitting .316 with a double and three runs batted in during his first 19 major league at-bats after grounding out in the fifth inning Monday.

“Offensively, I felt relaxed since the first pitch I saw,” said LaRoche, who had hits in each of his first four games and logged his first two-hit game Sunday, when he came off the bench and helped key a seven-run rally during the Dodgers’ 10-5 victory over Cincinnati.

“I was a little nervous the first couple of games getting the hang of things, but then I started to get a few hits to fall that weren’t falling for me in triple A.” In 24 games at Las Vegas, LaRoche hit .235 with three home runs and 11 RBIs.

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Even though he has not given up an earned run in his last six appearances spanning 9 2/3 innings and worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam Sunday, Chad Billingsley could soon be finished as a reliever. And that’s a good thing.

Billingsley, a former starter, is among the candidates to join the rotation the next time the Dodgers need an extra starter.

“We’re all confident that he’s going to be a good starter here for the Los Angeles Dodgers for a long time,” Little said.

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Outfielder Jason Repko reported some tangible progress in his lengthy comeback from a torn left hamstring, saying he could “feel the muscle contract instead of feeling like Jell-O.” Repko said he was attending physical therapy sessions three times a week in an effort to strengthen the muscles that had atrophied since he suffered the injury during spring training.... Jason Schmidt pitched off a mound Sunday for the second time in his recovery from shoulder inflammation, throwing 45 pitches.

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