Perez Sees 100 Wins

KISSIMMEE, Fla — KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- The Dodgers are cautiously optimistic about this season, knowing their playoff hopes could hinge on the health of oft-injured pitchers Kevin Brown and Darren Dreifort, so they’ve been very careful not to get too carried away with assessments of their team as April approaches.

Except for young and impressionable pitcher Odalis Perez, whose opinions flow as freely as a baseball out of his left hand.

“I don’t know Dodger history very well, but we have everything compared to last year,” Perez said Tuesday after giving up three hits in four scoreless innings of a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Atlanta Braves. “We won 92 games last year and didn’t make the playoffs. Can you imagine if Brown and Dreifort are healthy?

“If we won 92 games without those guys, we can win 100-plus games with them, and that should be good enough for us to go to the playoffs and win it all. We have more power with Fred McGriff.... We have pitching, defense, everything. I know we can win 100 games.”

Perez, of course, is a key. He went 15-10 with a 3.00 earned-run average in 2002, his first full big league season, and the Dodgers are counting on the 25-year-old to provide innings -- he threw 222 1/3 last season -- and to keep them in games as he did Tuesday, when he needed only 35 pitches to breeze through the Braves.

“Odalis is quickly becoming one of the best, if not the best, up-and-coming left-handers in the National League,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “I see a guy who’s very focused on goals he set for himself and the team, and I think he made a strong statement when he walked into camp in the best shape ever. He’s very close to being ready to go.”

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Atlanta right-hander Greg Maddux was as efficient as Perez, needing only 37 pitches in four perfect innings. Ron Coomer had two hits, including a double, and Todd Hundley had a double and a run batted in for the Dodgers.... Any concern closer Eric Gagne had about being ready for opening day might have been erased Monday when the right-hander threw all out from 120 feet and experienced no stiffness in his lower back, a condition that has sidelined him for more than a week. Gagne threw about 30 pitches off a mound on Tuesday. “[Monday] was huge because before then, I couldn’t let it go like I wanted to,” Gagne said. “I threw as hard as I wanted, and it felt great. It was a big test. It made my week.” ... Dodger interpreter Teppei Shiokawa, who was seriously injured in a head-on automobile collision March 1, was released from Orlando Regional Hospital on Monday night and is resting in Vero Beach.