Spring Training / Dodgers : Johnstone Hasn’t Got a Hit, or a Worry

With four exhibition games left, Jay Johnstone is still 0 for spring.

“I remember when Ron Fairly didn’t get a hit all spring and he batted .330 that year,” Manager Tom Lasorda said.

So does that mean the Dodgers can expect Johnstone to hit .330 in 1985?

“I didn’t say that,” Lasorda said.

The Dodgers would probably be happy if Johnstone just hits more than his weight, which is about the same as the team’s pinch-hitting average last season, .184.

And although Johnstone went hitless in four trips Wednesday during the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins, he was anything but alarmed.

“I’ve never seen any of these guys,” said Johnstone, after coming up empty against American Leaguers Ken Schrom and Ron Davis. “Gossage, Smith, Minton and Sutter, I know what they throw. These guys throw real garbage. One guy threw me a 3-and-2 changeup.”

Besides, he said, it’s unfair to be judged on 13 spring at-bats. “I’m 26 for 60 in camp games,” said Johnstone, who served as the designated hitter for both teams in some of the minor-league games this spring.

“I’m just too anxious. I get so excited, the adrenaline is up, when I play in these games.

“Besides, Tommy’s not going to use me in the first month, anyway.”

What, then, will Johnstone do to keep occupied in the interim?

“There’s always golf,” he said.

R.J. Reynolds, who has struggled all spring and went into the game batting .111 on 3-for-27 hitting, doubled and later scored with some aggressive baserunning, ending in a head-first slide to the plate.

“I’ve been a little down lately, but I’m coming out of it,” said Reynolds, who has been nursing a hamstring pull the last few days. He said the injury was his own fault because he hasn’t gotten used to being ready to come into the game off the bench.

“I’m used to playing all the time, so I tend to get a little depressed,” he said. “Joey Amalfitano has been talking to me a lot, helping me to understand my role.

“I can be a fourth or fifth outfielder. I can run, go out and play defense, get up and pinch-hit. I expect to get a chance to play and prove myself.”

Until the Dodgers made the deal for Al Oliver, it appeared that Reynolds would get a shot as a regular outfielder this season.

Said Reynolds of Oliver: “He’s 38, but if he keeps hitting that way, he may play another nine years, and I’m up a creek. But I’ll be ready to play.”

Dodger Notes Pedro Guerrero, Mike Scioscia and Mike Marshall did not make the trip. . . . Bobby Castillo is being treated for soreness in his right shoulder. Ken Landreaux sprained his left ankle while leaving the batter’s box, but is expected to play today. . . . Bob Bailor is being treated for a sore right shoulder. . . . Steve Howe and Rick Honeycutt are scheduled to pitch two innings apiece in a minor league game today in Melbourne, Fla. . . . Jerry Reuss gave up three runs in three innings and took the loss, his first after five wins. . . . Ken Howell worked three innings for the first time, did not allow a run and lowered his exhibition earned-run average to 0.56. . . . Former Dodger Mickey Hatcher, who cut up Tom Lasorda’s pants on the Dodgers’ visit to Orlando last spring, came away empty-handed this spring. Lasorda was ready for him. “I hid everything,” Lasorda said. “I told Jerry Turner (clubhouse attendant), ‘If that s.o.b. gets anything, you’d better be ready to walk back to L.A.’ ” . . . The Dodgers will leave for home immediately after today’s game with Montreal at Vero Beach.