On This Day, Heads Are in the Clouds

Brett Butler’s surgery will be Tuesday. He went to his daughter’s 11th-birthday party Saturday. He went to another daughter’s eighth-grade graduation Friday.

Not playing, Butler says, is “driving me crazy.”

Not having Butler to play with, the Dodgers themselves went a little crazy. But they snapped out of it. They put together a little five-game winning streak. Their team batting average--second-worst in the majors--rose to .239. Eric Karros, Raul Mondesi and Mike Blowers awakened from a long, long lumber slumber.

Doing exactly what Butler wants them to do, the Dodgers have been picking up the pieces.

They better hope Butler’s satellite dish was broken Sunday.

It was just the sort of game that would have bugged Butler, because a lot of Dodger heads seemed someplace else. His understudy Roger Cedeno lost a fly to center field, for the second time in a few days. Double. Right fielder Raul Mondesi backed up to the fence . . . and didn’t jump. Home run. Left fielder du jour Todd Hollandsworth threw wildly to home plate . . . for an error. Shortstop temp Chad Fonville let a grounder come to him . . . and the batter beat it out.

And then came the ninth inning, which turned out so lousy that Philadelphia Manager Jim Fregosi made a joke about the Dodger lineup on his way out of town.

The Dodgers might not find it very funny, either.

Here’s what happened:

Up by a run, Fregosi brought on Ricky Bottalico, his new relief ace. Bottalico promptly sized up Fonville as though he were Eddie Gaedel, walking him on four pitches. Then the Phillie closer did a Mitch Williams impersonation and whizzed one near Cedeno’s head. Squared away to bunt, Cedeno ducked just in time, taking the pitch on the hand.

The Dodgers suddenly had two runners on base, with Mike Piazza, Karros and Mondesi up next.

Strikeout.

Strikeout.

Strikeout.

Their winning streak was over, Bottalico blew them away and Fregosi’s punch line was: “He knew he could get Fonville and Cedeno out. He just wanted to see if he could get the middle of their lineup out.”

Ow.

Guess he could.

“Ricky hadn’t been out there for a while. He just wanted to get some work,” Fregosi added.

Double ow.

The Dodgers know a joke when they hear one. But if they have any pride, they won’t laugh at one that teases the heart of the Dodger order as simply a little extra work for the pitcher.

Particularly on the heels of Cedeno nearly getting beaned, trying to bunt.

That’s all the Dodgers need, losing another center fielder.

“I don’t know if young Mr. Cedeno will ever square up and bunt again,” said Fregosi, feeling frisky after a Phillie victory.

It was Dis-the-Dodgers Day, for some reason.

Jim Eisenreich, who had four hits to raise his career average against the Dodgers to a fat .424, was asked why he does so well against them.

“Oh, I don’t know. Five right-handed starters?” Eisenreich asked back.

A couple of his hits were flukes. On one, Cedeno stood like a statue until Eisenreich’s fly was well overhead. On another, Fonville failed to charge a routine grounder to short.

“Fonville was surprised, I guess, that I can still run,” Eisenreich said.

There were other Phillie flukes. One liner just eluded a leaping Blowers, who landed, legs splayed, on his tailbone, which was still sore after the game.

“That’s why I don’t play basketball,” Blowers joked.

Everybody in baseball has been expecting the Dodgers to wake up from their April nap. They are, if you will pardon the expression, sleeping giants.

The five-game winning streak was a nice start.

Any more games like Sunday’s, though, and you can bet Butler will strain his voice and have a few words with them.