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LOS ANGELES — David Ross walked into the visitor's clubhouse Monday in Dodger Stadium, and as he passed Todd Hollandsworth's locker he said in a hushed whisper, "This is the house that Hollandsworth built. Rookie of the Year here."

Well, Dodger Stadium was nestled atop Echo Park long before Hollandworth arrived in 1996. And, yes, he was Rookie of the Year, hitting .291 with 12 homers and 59 RBIs, numbers he never again discovered during his 12-year career that has taken a long and winding road from L.A. to Colorado, Texas, Florida, Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland and Cincinnati.

L.A., though, remains special, and Hollandsworth was thrilled to be in the lineup Monday to face the Dodgers.

"Absolutely this is special because it is where it all started, and the Dodgers gave me my chance to play major-league baseball (a third-round pick in 1991). And it is where I won Rookie of the Year. I spent nine years of my life with the Dodgers, about one-quarter of my life," he said.

"It all started with the Dodgers 15 years ago, and while there are no managers, coaches or players still with them when I started, the ball park is pretty much the same and it means a lot to me."

Hollandsworth, though, said that doesn't preclude a desire to whip the Dodgers, even though he expects a warm reception from fans with long memories.

"The absolute truth is I'd like to help us take three from the Dodgers and walk out of here with big smiles on our faces."

Waiting out the pain

Disabled closer Eddie Guardado may try to throw a baseball here Wednesday or on the off day Thursday in San Diego, but said, "I'm not going to throw until I don't feel anything in my elbow when I try to do something. For a while, I'd talk to my wife on the phone — and you know that means at least an hour — and my elbow would hurt after the call. I'd turn door knobs and my elbow would hurt. It doesn't hurt now when I do those things, but let's see what happens when I toss a baseball."

Moves coming

General manager Wayne Krivsky is tight-lipped about what the team is about to do concerning adding players to the roster after Friday and which 25 players will make up the roster eligible for the playoffs (those 25 have to be on the roster by midnight Thursday).

"We'll make some moves," Krivsky said. "Whatever Jerry wants, give him every weapon we can that he needs. But we also don't want to make the clubhouse too crowded.

"We'll make a move before Friday (probably call up outfielder Chris Denorfia, so he is eligible for the postseason), we'll make some moves Friday and some after Friday," Krivsky said. "Louisville (Class AAA) is still in it, Chattanooga (Class AA) is still in it and we're still in it, so whatever we do with players has a domino effect. But the big-league team does come first."

Junior bats fourth

Ken Griffey Jr. batted fourth (clean-up) in the Reds batting order 60 times last season. This year, that spot has been occupied by Rich Aurilia (51 times), Adam Dunn (35), Edwin Encarnacion (31), Austin Kearns (13) and Scott Hatteberg (1).

Griffey? Zero — until Monday when he was there. Griffey had started 97 games through Sunday and batted third in all 97 games.

He was fourth Monday because Dunn was out of the lineup (1-for-19, 12 strikeouts against L.A. starter Brad Penny, although that one hit was a home run).

Narron's order Monday had Freel batting first, Hatteberg second, Encarnacion third, Griffey fourth and Hollandsworth fifth.

"Encarnacion and Griffey are the only guys who did anything in San Francisco (where the Reds lost three of four)," said Narron. "Eddie was 6-for-15 and Griffey was 5-for-15 and it was pretty slim after that.

Since getting two hits in one inning against Houston last Tuesday, including a home run that nearly crash landed in the Ohio River, Dunn is 1-for-18 with six strikeouts.

Definitely La-La land

Hardly a day passes when the Reds are in Los Angeles that a player doesn't come in with a tale about his trip from the team hotel in Century City to Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine near downtown.

"This is the only place in the world where it takes 45 minutes to travel 15 miles," said pitcher Todd Coffey as he arrived at the park. "We had to get off the freeway today. Some guy was on top of a bridge threatening to jump, so they had the bridge closed."