Spring Training / Dodgers : Oliver Has His Swing in Shape, Works on Arm

Normally, the word location belongs to the lexicon of the pitcher. It is in the interests of location that here at Dodgertown, pitchers work at the “Strings,” roped-off areas that leave no doubt where the strike zone is.

But Al Oliver has made location a hitter’s term, too. He has an 11-game hitting streak, and his two hits Saturday in the Dodgers’ 5-1 loss to Baltimore raised his average to .425. Oliver says he has usually hit this way but that the difference this spring is location.

“I’m not hitting the ball hard at people, which I have a tendency to do,” he said.

So, at age 38, Oliver’s aim may be getting better, at least for now. And according to team physical therapist Pat Screnar, Oliver’s arm is improving, too, through a series of stretching exercises designed to improve the flexibility in his left shoulder.

“He’s showing improvement,” Screnar said. “We’re getting somewhere with the stretching exercises. They’re designed to increase Oliver’s arm flexibility rather than his strength.”

In one of the exercises, Oliver throws a ball against a cement slab while on his knees.

Recently, Oliver said, he was examined by Dr. Frank Jobe, who took X-rays of the bone spur that has affected his shoulder since 1982.

“Dr. Jobe said that if I were just coming up, or if I was going to play for another 10 years, he’d operate,” Oliver said. “But I just have another year or two.”

Oliver said he feels pain in the shoulder only when “I throw in an awkward position.” He doesn’t know if the pain will worsen as the season goes on, “but what if it did? Just put someone else out there. The way I look at it, the Dodgers got a bargain, anyway.”

Oliver doesn’t deny that, logically, he should be in the American League, finishing his career as a designated hitter.

“Tom Haller (the San Francisco Giant general manager) and I talked in San Francisco last year,” Oliver said. “I told him, we’re not going anywhere this year, if you can put me in a deal with the American League, that would be a smart move. We both agreed. The next thing I knew, I was in Philadelphia.

“Personally, I was geared for it (designated hitting). But this is fine with me. I’ll play left field and I’ll do well.”

The Dodgers have no illusions about Oliver throwing out runners from left field. They just don’t want runners advancing at will from first to third on a hit to left or from second to home on line-drive hits to left.

“Nobody’s going to go from first to third,” Oliver said. “If my arm weren’t that strong, I wouldn’t play.”

And if he didn’t play, he couldn’t do what apparently comes naturally--hit a baseball.

The stomach virus that has swept through the Dodger camp may have originated with pitcher Orel Hershiser, but it may have most affected outfielder Mike Marshall, who can’t seem to shake it even after a week.

“I’m sicker than a dog,” said Marshall, who estimated that he has dropped at least eight pounds since contracting the virus. Marshall came into camp at around 230 pounds and now estimates his weight at around 214.

His batting average is even lower--with three hits in 22 trips, including an 0-for-3 day Saturday, Marshall is down to .136. But he said he is not alarmed, and not just because he has been sick. “I could have had ay least seven more hits,” he said. “I hit a ball today that could have been a home run if the wind hadn’t held it up.”

Marshall said he is comfortable making the transition from left field, which he played last season, back to right, where he played as a rookie in 1982.

“I think I’m a better right fielder,” he said. “I see the ball coming off the bat better.”

Dodger Notes

The loss ended the Dodgers’ seven-game winning streak. . . . Wildness was a problem again for Fernando Valenzuela, who walked four and gave up four hits in six innings against the Orioles. “He was too strong,” said Dodger scout Ralph Avila, who clocked Valenzuela at 88 m.p.h. hour on the radar gun. “When he’s that strong, his ball tends to sail.” . . . Ken Howell, who worked two hitless innings, striking out two, was clocked at 91 m.p.h. . . . Greg Brock, back in the lineup after missing four games with a sore right elbow, had two of the four Dodger hits, including a towering triple to left-center field. . . . Umpire Bruce Froemming ejected Baltimore Manager Joe Altobelli, who interceded when star slugger Eddie Murray took exception to one of Froemming’s ball-strike calls, then took greater exception at the blunt way in which Froemming instructed him to get back into the batter’s box. “Good thing they’re in the American League,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said, “because Bruce will remember that until the day he dies.”