Outfielder Andruw Jones returned to the Dodgers lineup Friday following minor knee surgery … and he picked right up where he had left off:

As the biggest free-agent bust in Dodgers history. Aside, perhaps, from Jason Schmidt.

Andruw went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts in the Dodgers’ 10-7 victory. Which is hard to do. Making five outs in the middle of a 10 run game, that is … or a team scoring 10 despite your 6 hole hitter going 0-for-5 and putting the ball in play only once (a weak tapper to third).

Jones is back sooner than originally expected, and we have one question about that.

Why?

The club should have left him in Triple-A for at least a week of at-bats. Instead of a couple of games and his quick promotion.

He is nowhere near ready. He looked every bit as clueless at the plate as he did before the knee clean-up.

Clearly, the Dodgers — Ned Colletti in particular — want to see this stiff contribute something, anything, while he gets that $18 million this season … and he can’t do it at Las Vegas. But he remains an open wound in the lineup. Dude now is hitting .159 in 138 at-bats, with two homers and seven RBI.

Probably a dozen pitchers could leave Jones’ in the dust, in terms of run-production, if they had 138 at-bats. C.C. Sabathia and Micah Owings, to name two.

I don’t see the reason for the rush, here. Matt Kemp can play center field for the short term, and the under-appreciated Delwyn Young can play in left until Juan Pierre comes back.

Andruw Jones needs to get his head back on straight … if, indeed, the Dodgers are lucky enough that this turns out to be some mental issue, and not just the sudden and violent end to a once-promising career.

Stash him in Vegas till the All-Star break. Again, consider this: If ‘Druw is out of sight, he is at least a little more likely to be out of mind — and that can’t hurt Colletti or the Dodgers. Not the way another 0-for-5 with four whiffs can.