Tracy looking for growth in young Pirates

Leave it to Jim Tracy, ever the optimist, to find reasons for confidence when it comes to reviving a Pittsburgh Pirates organization that has not had a winning record since 1992 and is off to another slow start this season.

The Pirates have a losing record and have dropped all four home games, but Tracy preferred to focus on the fact that his team was playing well defensively and was still hovering around .500 without having shown much life offensively.

“We’re off to a decent start, and we’ve been able to win some games early on and realize the fact that we’ve still got a few guys in our lineup that offensively are still searching for and trying to find their niche,” said Tracy, the former Dodgers manager who is in his second year in the same position with the Pirates.

First baseman Adam LaRoche, the big off-season acquisition who was supposed to add some left-handed pop to the lineup, was batting only .106 before Pittsburgh played the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Collectively, the Pirates were hitting .234, the second-worst average in the National League.

But Tracy noted that the personnel in his clubhouse remained largely unchanged from last season, when the Pirates closed the season with a 37-35 flourish.

“I think that type of continuity breeds success,” said Tracy, who guided the Dodgers to the playoffs in his fourth season with the team.

“People getting to know one another and becoming very familiar with one another ... that’s exactly where we got to in Los Angeles so that by the time we got to 2004, we had a pretty special product. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do here.”

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Dodgers right fielder Matt Kemp suffered a setback Wednesday when he experienced soreness in his separated shoulder after making a throw from the outfield while playing for triple-A Las Vegas. Kemp remained in the game but began feeling stiffness the next day, Dodgers Manager Grady Little said.

Kemp was supposed to rejoin the Dodgers on Friday “and we’ll slow him down on his movement forward,” Little said. Kemp is eligible to come off the disabled list next week.

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Reliever Yhency Brazoban, scheduled to pitch out of the bullpen Friday night for Class-A Inland Empire, was moved up to pitch the first and second innings so that in the event that inclement weather wiped out the later innings of the 66ers’ game at Lancaster he would get his work in.

Brazoban, recovering from elbow ligament replacement surgery, gave up two hits and one run in 1 2/3 innings in his second rehabilitation appearance. He struck out one and walked one.

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Little said that Mark Hendrickson, who gave up only one run in 5 2/3 innings Thursday against Colorado while filling in for the injured Jason Schmidt, would start again April 28 at San Diego, allowing the other Dodgers starters to remain on regular rest. Hendrickson will be available to pitch in relief Sunday and Tuesday, Little said. The Dodgers are off Monday.

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The afternoon showers pushed back to today the simulated game that reliever Hong-Chi Kuo was scheduled to pitch Friday at Dodger Stadium. Kuo has been on the disabled list since spring training because of shoulder soreness.... Schmidt was scheduled to undergo an examination Friday night on his bothersome shoulder, said director of medical services Stan Conte.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com