A Schelling For Your Thoughts

“You get out there on the field and you use another gear, and obviously when he got to that, that’s when he felt it again,” Mattingly said. “Or it came from it, at least. He didn’t feel it at the time, but he obviously irritated it to the point where it came back.”

Mattingly said that he is prepared to continue with a closer-by-committee approach for now, choosing who will close out games based on the situations and matchups. He also noted that Javy Guerra has emerged as the best option in the back end of the bullpen.

But with an injury that has already lasted much longer than expected, there’s a chance Broxton could not pitch again for the Dodgers this season.

“We’re at a timetable now that’s getting to be so far out again that — he did that once, he did the three weeks, the slow return and all that, and we got back to here,” Mattingly said. “It’s just hard to say, you know, ‘We’re going to get him in six weeks, or seven weeks, or eight weeks.’

“To me, at this point, if he gets back, great, all the better. But you’ve got to kind of move forward.”

Barajas could play rehab games this weekend

MINNEAPOLIS — Catcher Rod Barajas (right ankle sprain) could play in rehab games this weekend, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said before Tuesday’s game at Target Field.

Barajas, who has been on the disabled list since June 19, has been taking batting practice, throwing and participating in other baseball activities.

“Right now, he seems to be either on track or right there — right on it,” Mattingly said. “It could be a couple of days, to make sure [he’s ready].”

Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal (strained left oblique) continues to rehab with Class A Rancho Cucamonga. Furcal had four at-bats Monday night while leading off and playing shortstop. He finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Mattingly said he believed Furcal was scheduled for nine innings at shortstop Tuesday night, and would DH on Wednesday. Furcal still has no target date for his return.

“He’s doing well,” Mattingly said. “We want him to be ready.”

Gwynn on a tear recently for Dodgers

MINNEAPOLIS — After the game Monday night, someone had put tape over the name on the back of Tony Gwynn’s jersey. On the tape, they had written the name Caleb.

Before discussing his four-hit game as a part of the Dodgers’ 15-0 victory over the Twins at Target Field, Gwynn explained the significance of the name.

“Caleb was one of the people God chose to go look at some land, and when they went to go look at it, all the people who were also chosen to go look saw how strong and powerful the people who were already on the land were, and convinced everybody else not to try and go fight for this land,” Gwynn said.

“And Caleb felt like, with what God provided, they didn’t have to worry, they were going to be alright. … We had that in chapel the other day, so I’ve been trying to use it as my motivation.”

Whatever is motivating Gwynn, it’s been working over the last two days.

In the Dodgers’ victories Sunday and Monday over the Angels and Twins, Gwynn hit .636, collecting seven hits in 11 at-bats, including a walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday. Gwynn also scored two runs with a triple, three RBIs, two stolen bases and an outfield assist over that stretch.

Gwynn sparked the offense Monday, as they matched a club record with 25 hits and set a new season high with 15 runs.

“We were able to just find holes and hit balls hard,” Gwynn said. “When we didn’t hit balls hard, we found holes. I think that was just one of those games you enjoy being part of and getting the ‘W’ out of it.

“We definitely haven’t had enough of those. … Just finding holes and getting calls here and there, we haven’t had enough of that. It’s nice to get a victory like that.”