Dodger Notebook : Guerrero Not One of Boys on Bus--He’s Fined

About the time the Dodgers took the field in Kissimmee, Fla., Thursday afternoon against the Houston Astros, Pedro Guerrero was just awakening from a nice night’s sleep in his condominium here.

The thing was, Guerrero was supposed to be playing left field instead of being left out, so he knew he was in trouble. All he could do at that stage was dress and work out at Dodgertown while waiting for Vice President Al Campanis and Manager Tom Lasorda to return and impose disciplinary action.

By Thursday night, Guerrero, who will earn $1.52 million this season, had been fined an undisclosed amount. It has been speculated that Guerrero was fined $1,000, the same amount as players who walk out of camp. The Dodgers said the money will be donated to charity.

Other players oversleep and get fined. Guerrero, who has a reputation of reporting late and being in the doghouse, oversleeps and gets a press conference called over the matter. At the gathering, Guerrero said he will apologize to his teammates this morning for missing the team’s 5-1 loss to the Astros Thursday afternoon.

“It’s not that I forgot that I worked here; I just can’t wake up,” said Guerrero, who said he woke up at 12:30 p.m., about four hours after the team bus left. “I stayed sleeping. It could happen to anyone.

“Of course, I feel bad. Otherwise, I wouldn’t apologize to anybody. I promise it won’t happen again.”

So far, the only road exhibition game Guerrero has played was Monday in Miami. e

Lasorda and Campanis said they both were disappointed in Guerrero, and Lasorda said he was “completely convinced” Guerrero has no drug problem. Dodger officials also said they had Guerrero’s assurance that he would not oversleep again this spring.

“He wept and said he felt terrible,” Campanis said.

Guerrero, however, was able to wipe away the tears and joke about it later, when he met the media.

“If I had to work in a factory, they probably would have fired me a long time ago,” he said. To which Lasorda countered: “Pete, if you worked in a factory, you’d be on the 4-to-11 shift.”

Added Guerrero: “I’d be better off if we started spring training at night.”

The Dodgers had only two hits in their loss to the Astros--by Mike Marshall and Alex Trevino--off five Houston pitchers. Los Angeles went the first 6 innings hitless.

Dodger starting pitcher Orel Hershiser gave up three runs and seven hits in four innings, and Tim Leary allowed two runs and six hits in three innings. Reliever Tom Niedenfuer pitched a scoreless eighth inning.

Lasorda was able to find something positive in Leary’s performance, even though Leary himself did not seem pleased.

“Sure, they scored a couple of runs off him, but Tim is throwing hard, and I like that,” Lasorda said. “He’s just been out there twice. All these guys are trying to do is get their arms in shape.”

Leary, battling with Jerry Reuss and Alejandro Pena for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, thinks his spring pitching assignments have more importance than that. In two appearances, he has given up eight hits and three runs in six innings.

“I didn’t pitch particularly good,” Leary said. “I didn’t feel like I threw that hard. I feel a little erratic. I feel like I’m kind of under pressure. I don’t like to give up runs any time, even if it is the spring.”

Dodger Notes Bill Schweppe said his reason for resigning as the Dodgers’ vice president of minor league operations is, basically, because of his age, 73, not because the Dodgers’ minor league system has had three consecutive losing seasons. “I think there’s the realization that something has to change and that change is inevitable,” Schweppe said. “Forty-two years in the same job is a lifetime to some people.” Schweppe’s retirement will be effective at the end of the season. Dodger owner Peter O’Malley and Vice President Al Campanis said they have no prospective replacements in mind. O’Malley said that, in the past, the Dodgers have had assistants to assume positions. But that is not the case with Schweppe’s job. . . . The Dodgers will play an exhibition with the New York Mets today at Vero Beach. Dwight Gooden is expected to start for the Mets.