Harris Hitting Notably : Baseball: Message from Eric Davis sparks streak. Bases-loaded triple keys Dodgers’ 8-0 victory over Cardinals.

When Lenny Harris arrived in Chicago this week to begin a trip with the Dodgers, there was a message awaiting him. It had been left by a player from the team that occupied the hotel the previous night.

According to Harris, the message read: “Good luck. You’re swinging the bat well now, keep up the good work.”

Since reading it, Harris has had seven hits in 15 at-bats, including his second bases-loaded triple in three days Saturday to lead the Dodgers to an 8-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Eric Davis is probably hoping his Cincinnati Reds never find out he wrote the note.

The makeshift Dodgers used all sorts of Cincinnati inspiration Saturday in winning their fourth consecutive game. They remain eight games behind the first-place Reds.

Harris, a former Red, said he appreciated the note from his close friend Davis.

Other Dodgers said they appreciated the Busch Stadium scoreboard flashing news of the Reds’ victory over the Montreal Expos during Saturday evening’s batting practice.

And virtually every member of the second-place Dodgers said they can’t wait for next weekend’s series against Cincinnati at Dodger Stadium, marking the first four of 18 games between the teams.

“All of us are wanting to see just how tough the Reds are,” Harris said. “We know now, if we play as good as we are playing, they are going to have their hands full.”

The Dodgers have won nine of 12 games but have gained only a half game in the standings during that time.

“I know I looked at that score on the board tonight. I think we should look at their scores,” Hubie Brooks said of the Reds’ 5-3 victory.

Said Harris: “We could have looked at it like, well, it don’t matter whether we win or not, we still aren’t going to gain any ground. But we looked at it the other way.”

And then, before 47,077, they played their usual game of late. Meaning they won and all sorts of weird things happened that only Manager Tom Lasorda could love.

--Mike Morgan, four days after allowing the New York Mets nine runs in 2 1/3 innings while pitching with flu, threw his major league-leading third shutout. He allowed five singles and only three other balls to leave the infield, ending the game by retiring the final six batters in about 10 minutes.

“Thank goodness it ended as quick as it did,” Morgan said. “About the seventh inning, I had hit the bottom. My legs were wobbling.”

--Harris, batting leadoff for only his fourth time this season, increased his average in that position to .421 with seven runs batted in.

“I don’t like batting leadoff,” Harris said. “There’s no reason I don’t like it, but every time I say I don’t like it, I get to play there and I do good there. So like I said, I don’t like it.”

In 34 starts at third base by Harris and platoon mate Mike Sharperson since Jeff Hamilton injured his shoulder, they have a combined .339 average. The rehabilitating Hamilton, still about a month from returning from shoulder surgery, can officially begin to look over his shoulder.

“You put them together and you have one heckuva third baseman,” Lasorda said.

--Harris’ three-run triple in the fourth inning off Cardinal starter and loser Bryn Smith, giving the Dodgers a 5-0 lead, was preceded by errors by third baseman Terry Pendleton and shortstop Ozzie Smith. Smith has won 10 Gold Gloves, Pendleton has won two.

“We can’t give them five outs,” said Bryn Smith, who was beaten by the Dodgers for the first time since May 27, 1987.

--Chris Gwynn, playing center field after not even shagging a fly ball there this season, caught a fly ball and did not embarrass himself. Sharperson, starting at first base for the third time in his career, had 15 putouts and three assists.

And Stan Javier, benched for a second consecutive night, had the comeback of the evening after entering in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement. He sealed the game with the Dodgers’ second bases-loaded triple, a ninth-inning grounder down the first-base line off Scott Terry.

Dodger Notes

Kirk Gibson, in triple-A Albuquerque on a rehabilitation assignment, took an off day as scheduled Saturday. He will play again today with Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, watching. In two rehabilitation games thus far, Gibson has played just one four-inning stretch in center field, making it doubtful he could return to the Dodgers by next weekend’s showdown in Cincinnati, as many had hoped. He has said he will probably need to play a full game and feel good the next day before risking his legs in a major league game situation.

Eddie Murray missed his fourth consecutive start with a strained left hamstring, but he is expected to return to the lineup today. Murray has missed four games this season, the most since 1986.