BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Dodgers to Start Hershiser Today After a Rainout

Long before Game 3 of the National League championship series between the Dodgers and the New York Mets was postponed by rain Friday night, Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser had sense enough to return to the comfort of his hotel room.

Whether it was Game 3 or 4, Hershiser was scheduled to pitch today at 9:20 a.m., PDT, anyway, so he was spared the monotony of waiting out the storm with the rest of his teammates.

“If we had played,” Manager Tom Lasorda said, “it would have been a long night. I didn’t want to put him through that.”

Today, regardless of the weather conditions, Hershiser will be at Shea Stadium, in uniform and intending to pitch. The rainout enabled Lasorda to replace his scheduled Game 3 starter, John Tudor, with Hershiser, who started Game 1 Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Ron Darling will remain the Game 3 starter for the Mets. Tudor will face the Mets’ Dwight Gooden Sunday night in Game 4, since Friday’s rainout afforded an extra day of rest for Gooden, who also started Game 1.

After waiting an hour past the scheduled starting time, National League President Bart Giamatti postponed the game. Barring further rain, Game 5 will be played Monday afternoon at Shea Stadium, meaning that the teams will lose a travel day. Game 6, if necessary, is scheduled for Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Although the Dodgers expressed the usual annoyance at having to prepare for a game that would not be played, the rainout actually proved beneficial for their uncertain pitching rotation.

Hershiser, who is scheduled to pitch today on 3 days’ rest, also will pitch Game 7 Wednesday night in Los Angeles, if necessary. Lasorda said having Hershiser available for a decisive seventh game was his primary consideration in moving him up a day.

“In the event that it goes seven games, I want our best pitcher going,” Lasorda said. “I’m not predicting how many games it will go. But . . . “

The change also benefited Tudor, because he now will receive an extra day of rest for his strained right hip.

And although Lasorda will not name his Game 5 starter, it appears that 17-game winner Tim Leary will pitch in Game 6. Tim Belcher is the likely Game 5 starter, and since there is no longer an off-day, Leary seems Lasorda’s only choice if there is a Game 6.

“We really have to see what happens before I decide who pitches (Game 5),” Lasorda said. “My original plan was to pitch Tim (Leary) in Game 5. But now that would be (Belcher’s) fifth day (between starts).”

Leary, who was upset at his uncertain status earlier in the week, now is joking about it.

“I’m like a doctor on call after midnight,” he said. “I’ll do anything.”

Today, Hershiser will make his fifth start this season on 3 days’ rest rather than his customary 4. He was 3-1 during those starts, including two shutouts during his record 59-inning scoreless streak.

Before departing Shea Stadium, Hershiser downplayed the effects of pitching on 3 days’ rest. “The only thing that is really different is that I get to the mound a day earlier,” he said. “Sometimes I feel more in control when I pitch on 3 days of rest. You stay in a good groove. There is no extra day to sleep on it and maybe lose it.

“If I win on 3 days’ rest, it’s good. If I lose on 3 days’ rest, it’s bad. So, I guess I’ll save that as an excuse.”

No excuses were needed after Hershiser’s performance in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. He shut out the Mets for 8 innings before allowing a run in the ninth and being replaced by Jay Howell. The Dodgers lost that game, 3-2. “During that streak Orel had, he was very fortunate,” Ron Perranoski, the Dodger pitching coach, said. “The maximum number of pitches he threw was 114 (in a start). Two of the starts, he threw less than 100. He’s really in a groove right now.”

Tudor, who has pitched only 2 innings since Sept. 24 because of the hip injury, said being pushed back to Sunday will not affect him.

“What difference does it make?” he said. “It’s not easy to do, come here tonight, thinking you’ll pitch, and then going home. But I’ve done it before.

“The only way to find out about the injury is to get out there and do it. I was looking forward to getting it over with. Now this adds to the anxious moments, not knowing whether it’s going to hold up. Hopefully, things will work out.”

Tudor said he understood Lasorda’s reasoning for moving Hershiser into the Game 3 slot.

“I think their reason was that they are not sure about my hip,” he said. “I want to pitch, but I don’t have a crystal ball to know how I’ll do once I get out there. They told me Orel’s going tomorrow, and I told them no problem.”

The Mets could have started Gooden on 3 days’ rest today, but they decided to stay with Darling for a couple of reasons. First, Gooden is not as effective without 4 days between starts. And second, the Mets’ depth allows them to stay with a 4-man rotation and conceivably bring back Darling, a 17-game winner, or David Cone, a 20-game winner, for Game 7.

“We like to keep Doc (Gooden) on his regular rest,” Mel Stottlemyre, the Mets’ pitching coach, said. “If he pitches Sunday, he could come out of the bullpen in Game 7 if it comes down to the nitty-gritty.

“Doc is more of a power pitcher. He pitches better on the fifth day. Darling could go on 3 days’ rest in Game 7. I mean, we could go with Doc. They want to get 3 games out of Hershiser. But our depth doesn’t require it. But that’s not a knock on the Dodgers.”

Like Tudor, Darling said he was not affected by the postponement Friday night and his assignment today.

“You’ve got to be ready when they call on you,” he said. “It happens all the time through the year.

“It’s part of the profession. I’m surprised they didn’t wait longer before calling it. They (the league) usually don’t care about the players. I thought they’d start it at 11:30, even though we would come back at noon (EDT, today). It’s better this way.”