DODGERS : So What’s the Hurry? Only 8 Players Attend First Regular Workout

Those spirited, champing-at-the-bit Dodgers charged into the official opening of spring training Tuesday.

All eight of them.

“There’s more writers here than players,” observed pitcher Orel Hershiser, one of the handful of Dodgers on the major league roster to show up for Tuesday morning’s first regular workout after the owners’ 32-day lockout.

On a day when many major league clubs welcomed 20 or more impatient players--opening-day opponent San Diego had 29--the Dodgers couldn’t even field a team. Batting practice consisted of three hitters. The pitchers threw one at a time. During morning calisthenics, there were more photographers stretching than players, perhaps explaining why Hershiser tackled one.

“I expected a few more people here,” Hershiser said, and he was not alone.

If official projections are true that just 10 more Dodgers will arrive in time for today’s workout, with most of the remaining players planning to begin workouts Thursday, the Dodgers will effectively have two fewer days of spring training than most teams. Most years, that would be no big deal. This year, with just 20 spring training days available, it’s different.

Excusing the few Dodgers who live on the West Coast and must spend a day traveling here, could it be that the rest of them did not know about the end of the lockout?

“I called a lot of people when the lockout ended, but I got a lot of answering machines,” said Hershiser, who lives in Vero Beach. “And I thought I was tough to get ahold of.”

But he added: “I do understand how a lot of guys have family problems; they have to get packed and pay bills and take care of all their stuff for the summer. It’s hard for some people, sure.”

Hershiser was joined by pitchers Ray Searage, Zak Shinall, Mike Hartley and Mike Maddux. Also in attendance were first baseman Eddie Murray, infielder Lenny Harris and catcher Rick Dempsey. Two other members of the 38-man major league roster appeared later in the afternoon, pitchers Dan Opperman and Pat Perry.

The players were greeted with the usual hugs and headlocks and shouts by Manager Tom Lasorda, who clearly could have used more company.

“It’s not fair to compare anyone to me,” Lasorda said, when asked if he was among the first players at camp in his playing days. “But I would have been here today.”

Some of the absent players said their reasons have nothing to do with enthusiasm, but logistics.

“I’ve got to close up my house for the summer in one day?” Jeff Hamilton asked late Sunday from his Phoenix area home. “I can’t do that, and I can’t always be leaving my wife alone to do it. I’ve got to take care of business; I can’t just throw stuff in suitcases and go. (The owners) keep us out so long, they have to understand that.”

Hershiser sighed. “There is going to be residue from the lockout,” he said. “There is going to be a fallout.”

The Dodgers spent most of Tuesday addressing that fallout, figuring out everything from exhibition games to pitching rotations. A summary:

--The Freeway Series will be held one week later than scheduled, with a change in locations. The Dodgers and the Angels will play at Anaheim Stadium on Friday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m., then move to Dodger Stadium for games on April 7 at 7 p.m. and April 8 at 1 p.m.

Tickets for the originally scheduled March 30 game will be honored for the April 8 game. Tickets for the March 31 game will be honored for the April 7 game. Either ticket can also be refunded or exchanged for tickets to any game during the 1990 season. Tickets for the April 1 game had not been printed.

--The exhibition season will begin next Monday against the Minnesota Twins at Orlando, Fla. It will continue with one game a day until the Dodgers break camp after an April 4 game against the Montreal Expos and return to Los Angeles for an April 5 Dodger Stadium workout before the Freeway Series.

--There is a chance that the Dodgers will open the season on April 9 at Dodger Stadium against the Padres before going to San Diego for a three-game series. The date, previously an off day, was awaiting approval from the league office.

--Ron Perranoski, Dodger pitching coach, hopes his starting pitchers will be able to go four innings on opening day, with two starters pitching each game until they can get stronger. This type of rotation would require six starting pitchers, meaning that Mike Morgan would at least begin the season as a starter, along with Hershiser, Tim Belcher, Fernando Valenzuela, Ramon Martinez and John Wetteland.

The pitchers’ biggest problem, according to Hershiser, could be not in their arms, but in their heads.

“It’s one thing to be careful in spring training, it’s another thing to listen to your body when you are pitching in front of 50,000 people in a big league park and the adrenaline is hitting you,” he said. “That’s why that three-innings-for-a-win rule is so good. If they didn’t have that, I could see guys going four innings, feeling good, trying to push it to five innings so they could get a win, and then getting hurt.”