Lasorda Dresses Up Offense as Hershiser Does the Rest

As Tom Lasorda noted later, after Orel Hershiser had allowed only two hits and the Dodgers had broken away for a 9-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies Sunday, “When the snowball is rolling down the hill, you try anything to derail it.”

So among the things Lasorda tried Sunday:

--A pregame meeting in which he promised a new suit to any player who drives in two runs in a game over the rest of the season.

Eddie Murray began collecting a new wardrobe by hammering two home runs and driving in five runs Sunday.

--Cancellation of batting practice.

“Maybe we’ve been trying too hard, taking too much hitting,” Murray said after the Sunday awakening. “Maybe by not taking batting practice we got our minds off it.”

--Replacing Joe Amalfitano as the third base coach after the Dodgers’ string of scoreless innings reached 25 when Phillie starter Alex Madrid shut them out in the first.

“(Coach Bill) Russell came over and said, ‘Why don’t you go out to third base and maybe shake things up,’ ” explained Lasorda, who exhorted his hitters in a voice heard on Broad Street. About coaching third, he said: “I enjoyed it. It felt good to see those runs coming. I did it a few years ago and I think we won seven in a row. Poor Joey thought he was out of a job.”

--Chris Gwynn was moved to the leadoff spot, with Willie Randolph dropped to No. 2 in the batting order.

Gwynn doubled in a run in a four-run fourth and doubled and scored in a four-run seventh.

Gwynn will remain at leadoff when the Dodgers open a three-game series in New York tonight, Lasorda said, adding that he will again cancel batting practice and again coach third base.

“I think that if I didn’t go out there, the players would make me after scoring this many runs,” he said.

The nine runs were a season high for the Dodgers, who ripped four home runs after going 66 innings and 13 days without one.

Jeff Hamilton ended that streak and the 25-inning scoreless streak when he hit his first homer of the year in the second.

Murray hit a two-run homer when the Dodgers chased Madrid in the fourth and cracked a three-run homer off Randy O’Neal in the seventh, when Mike Scioscia followed with his first of the year.

Madrid is a 25-year-old rookie who was recently recalled because of the injury siege that decimated the Phillies’ rotation.

The true test of the Dodgers’ offensive rejuvenation will come during the next three days when they are scheduled to face Met pitchers Sid Fernandez, Ron Darling and Dwight Gooden at New York.

The Dodgers have wasted a series of outstanding pitching performances, but Hershiser said:

“This was nicer for the hitters than for me. I mean, winning 1-0 wouldn’t have been enough because everyone would have been talking about the good pitching again. The hitters needed the confidence boost more than I did, and maybe this will give it to them.”

Said Murray: “The toughest thing has been to see the pitchers pitch the way they have and keep coming up with Ls. We’re too good a club to keep playing the way we have. We were bound to turn it around.”

Murray has six home runs and 25 RBIs. He also leads the club in walks and has seen few good pitches as opposing pitchers try to take advantage of Kirk Gibson’s absence and pitch around Murray, who had one hit in his last 19 at-bats before homering in the fourth.

“It doesn’t matter who you are or who’s hitting behind you, that’s something all hitters have to deal with at one time or another,” Murray said of being pitched around. “You get hot and the other team says, ‘We’re not going to let this guy beat us.’ I’ve also gotten some pitches and missed them.”

He didn’t miss the fastball from Madrid or the breaking ball from O’Neal.

Gwynn may not miss either. He is being given the chance to play regularly and force the Dodgers into a move with Mike Davis, perhaps, when Gibson leaves the disabled list.

“I just want to be here,” Gwynn said. “If I play, fine. If I don’t, fine. “Right now I’m just trying to help the club any way I can. I’ve never hit leadoff as a pro before, but I like my name on the lineup card no matter where it is.”

Pitching with eight days’ rest, Hershiser walked four but struck out seven and allowed only a third-inning single by Ricky Jordan and a bloop double by Steve Jeltz in the eighth.

Hershiser is 5-3 after eight starts with a career low earned-run average of 1.72, having allowed just 12 earned runs, 46 hits and 18 walks in 62 2/3 innings.

“I don’t want to say that I’ve picked up where I left off (last year),” he said. “But I feel like I’m pitching up to my capability. Two shutouts. ERA under two. It wasn’t that good when I started last season 5-0.”

And maybe the Dodgers’ offense is ready to perform up to its capability. Said Gwynn: “The pitchers have kept us in the game. It’s time to repay the debt.”

Dodger Notes

The four-hit, four-run fourth inning marked only the second time this year the Dodgers have gotten four hits in an inning. . . . Eddie Murray has 14 more runs batted in than Mike Marshall, who is second on the club with 11 and has only two in the last 15 games. . . . Marshall came out of the game in the seventh inning because of continuing stiffness in his lower back, but he said he will play tonight. “I don’t want to jump ship right now,” he said. “I’ll get some rest for it when we’re going better.” . . . Of Tom Lasorda’s bellowing from the third-base coach’s box, Chris Gwynn said, “You could definitely hear him. There was no missed communication.” . . . John Tudor said his rehabilitation from elbow surgery has reached the point where he expects to throw batting practice for the first time in New York.