PHOENIX — Admittedly nervous, Jason Schmidt had modest expectations for his twice-repaired right shoulder in his return to the mound Monday.

"My biggest goal was to get out there and walk off in one piece," the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher said. "I wanted to be able to come out knowing I don't have to ice. I think I accomplished that, as long as I don't trip on the way to the clubhouse."

Things couldn't have gone much better for the 36-year-old veteran, who threw nine of his 11 pitches for strikes and retired three of the four batters he faced to begin a five-inning intrasquad game.

Schmidt has pitched in only six games, all in 2007, during the first two seasons of his three-year, $47 million deal with the Dodgers.

He looked sharp in his brief stint against teammates. Schmidt used only two of his four pitches, fastballs and changeups, to retire Juan Pierre, Mark Loretta and Matt Kemp while allowing only an infield single to Casey Blake.

"I wanted to get in a game, get my feet wet and see how it feels to play catch tomorrow," Schmidt said. "I wouldn't have minded a few more pitches. When you get out there and get loose, you feel like you can throw all day.

"It's going to take me a while. I'll be honest about that. I have to get all my checkpoints back, the things that got me over the plate and got me aligned."

There were no speed guns used Monday, but pitching coach Rick Honeycutt was very happy with what he saw from Schmidt, a candidate for the back end of the rotation if the positive trend continues.

"The whole key is he just feels good. He's been one of the regular guys, he hasn't missed any throwing or drills," Honeycutt said. "He wants everything to be perfect, but this was a very positive step."

Honeycutt also liked what he saw from several other pitchers, including closer Jonathan Broxton, right-hander Greg Miller and lefty Victor Garate. But all eyes were on Schmidt, who could provide an otherwise inexperienced Dodgers rotation a big lift.

"I'm not going to be a 96-98 (mph) guy like I was before. I just have to get it around the plate and get them to hit it on the ground," Schmidt said. "Down the road, maybe a little bit will come back. It probably won't fully be there, but you never know."

Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who watched Schmidt struggle from the first day last spring, was impressed with how smooth he looked Monday.

"He had an easy time throwing the ball. He certainly looked comfortable," Torre said. "He's been in a great frame of mind. Last year, there would always be that one day when he wasn't sure. But today looked like he was just letting it go and it looked great coming out."