Don Mattingly says Ted Lilly has ‘elbow tenderness’

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Ted Lilly’s next start has been moved back one day, to Tuesday, because the struggling pitcher has not been able to get sufficient throwing in between starts because of ‘elbow tenderness,’ Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said Saturday.

Lilly, a left-hander, was scheduled to start Monday when the Dodgers open a homestand against the New York Mets, with right-hander Rubby De La Rosa following him Tuesday. Now, the pitchers’ starts will be swapped, Mattingly said.

Lilly, 35, has not been able to take part in throwing sessions between appearances for his last ‘three or four starts,’ Mattingly said. That happens to coincide with a slump for Lilly (5-8), who has given up six runs in each of his last three starts.

‘I guess his elbow’s been giving him some form of trouble. He feels better with it now,’ Mattingly said before the Dodgers played the Angels at Angel Stadium. ‘Maybe we’ve gotten over that hump.

‘He’s got areas where he wants to improve in, but he hasn’t been able to throw on his in-between days,’ Mattingly said of Lilly, who is in the first year of a three-year, $33-millon contract. ‘So we felt like pushing him back a day, it gives him a chance to throw a bullpen and work on some stuff.

‘Rubby’s kind of on regular rest. It’s not like he’s going early, he’s really just going on his fifth day instead of six,’ Mattingly added.

Asked if the problem played a role in Lilly’s recent struggles, Mattingly replied, ‘He doesn’t say that, he said he hasn’t made pitches. He didn’t seem to think that it’s changed really anything.’

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-- Jim Peltz