Daniels Not Mad, He’s Even : Dodgers: Left fielder hears the taunts of Wrigley Field’s bleacher bums and answers with two three-run home runs in a 7-0 victory over the Cubs.

The debate in left field had been raging for two days.

When the Wrigley Field bleacher bums had screamed at slumping Dodger outfielder Kal Daniels, he screamed back. When they chided him for struggling to catch a wind-swept fly ball, he doffed his cap and bowed.

Looking to get the last word, Daniels did better than that Saturday with two home runs and six runs batted in in leading the Dodgers to a 7-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

“The fans here ride me hard,” Daniels said with a smile. “There is only one way to handle that. You ride them back.”

Daniels had not hit a home run since June 8, a span of 73 at-bats. The six RBIs--a career high--matched his total in the previous six weeks.

His offense overshadowed Mike Morgan’s major league-leading fourth shutout, a three-hitter that equaled his career best and featured only six balls that left the infield on the fly. He was not overpowering, but he was effective, giving up only a single on a grounder mishandled by shortstop Alfredo Griffin and two ground singles to right field.

“To win in this game, you’ve got to be both lucky and good . . . and everybody is already good,” said Morgan after his first shutout and complete game since May 26. “I didn’t think I had my best stuff today, but I got a few breaks, and I’ll take that luck.”

The Dodgers, unbeaten in three games since the All-Star break, are 5-0 at Wrigley Field and can sweep a season series here today for the second time in their Los Angeles history.

“Everybody knows we’re a long way out of first place, but everybody knows anything can happen,” Daniels said.

He has proved that the last two days. Entering Friday’s game here he was hitting .205 since June 1, with one homer and six RBIs. His average had dropped from .329 to .284, and he had missed eight days because of a sprained back.

Daniels was hurting, and so were the Dodgers. Since June 1, they had gone from one game over .500 to three games under .500 and dropped from nine games behind to 12 games behind.

But on Friday, with only two hits in his previous 23 at-bats, Daniels doubled and singled and scored a run as the Dodgers beat the Cubs, 5-2.

Three batters into Saturday’s game, his new streak continued. After Lenny Harris singled and Kirk Gibson walked, Daniels hit loser Greg Maddux’s first pitch over the right-field bleachers and on to adjoining Sheffield Avenue for a 420-feet home run, his 12th.

That quieted the bleacher fans for two innings, until Daniels was called out on strikes by home plate umpire Jerry Layne in the third inning. Daniels showed his disagreement with the call by spiking his helmet--an automatic fine of probably $100--and by screaming in the direction of Layne.

Once he reached left field, the fans showed their pleasure by chanting, “Swing the bat, swing the bat, Daniels is a . . . bum.”

Said Daniels: “They say some stuff you can’t print. In fact, most of the stuff you can’t print. For two more innings, they rode me about that strikeout.”

Daniels yelled back on several occasions during that time--”If they are ever quiet, I still yell, trying to get them started again,” he said.

But his loudest statement came in the eighth inning, after Harris and Gibson had singled. On Maddux’s next pitch, Daniels hit a high fly that dropped over the ivy and into the left- field seats.

Daniels doesn’t know how the fans responded, because he was replaced in the field by Chris Gwynn in the bottom of the eighth.

“If I know them, they probably booed Gwynn and screamed, ‘We want Kal,’ ” Daniels said. “You know, I actually enjoy coming here and listening to that. And I think they like it that I give it back to them.”

It was enough to make Daniels forget about the occasional back stiffness he still suffers. He said that the back injury, which kept him out of the lineup from June 23 to July 1, cost him more than just playing time.

“After I came back from the back problems, I could not cut loose on my swing, and I got into some bad habits,” he said. “I hope I can now pick up where I left off.”

With every game, Morgan is entering new territory. He has never won more than 12 games in a full major league season and has never won more than he lost.

“I just keep forgetting about the past, not looking at last year, not thinking about last year, just trying to stay healthy,” said Morgan, whose earned-run average dropped to 3.21.

Except for Morgan’s error and a walk, no runner reached base Saturday until, with one out in the fourth inning, Andre Dawson legged out a grounder that appeared momentarily stuck in shortstop Alfredo Griffin’s glove. The ball was ruled a hit by official scorer Bob Rosenberg, a potentially controversial call that was rendered less so when Luis Salazar and Domingo Ramos hit consecutive ground singles to right field in the seventh.

Joe Girardi’s fly ball to center fielder Gibson ended that threat, and Morgan said later that he wasn’t even concerned with the questionable hit.

“If that ended up being the only hit I gave up, I might say something, but I didn’t even think about it at the time,” he said. “I don’t think about that stuff. We’re trying to get back in this (pennant race). At this stage, I just think about us winning.”

Dodger Notes

Hubie Brooks was a late scratch from the starting lineup because of a bruised tail bone he suffered while trying to break up a double play in the fourth inning Friday. His tail bone was so sore, he could not sit down, but he said he would still try to return to the lineup today. In his last nine games, he has 10 hits in 34 at-bats for a .294 pace that has raised his average to .247. He is third on the team with 10 homers and third with 40 RBIs.

The Dodgers were probably interested in the news that Darryl Strawberry and the New York Mets have broken off contract talks. Some members of the organization rate Strawberry on the same level as Oakland’s Jose Canseco. . . . Despite picking up saves on two consecutive days, relief pitcher Jay Howell felt good enough to make himself available, although he was not needed. . . . Saturday’s game was the shortest of the season, lasting 2 hours 7 minutes.

Cub loser Greg Maddux gave up seven runs, six earned, in eight innings. He is 4-9 with a 4.74 earned-run average after going 19-12 with a 2.95 ERA last year and 37-20 over the last two years. “It’s like a lot of guys who win the Cy Young award one year and struggle the next year, it comes down to control,” said Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda of Maddux, who walked four, one of whom scored. “Unless you overpower people, you cannot pitch behind hitters, which is what I guess he has been doing.”

Jose Vizcaino gave Dodger fans a glimpse of the future with one of the season’s best plays at second base in the eighth inning, a lunging grab of Dwight Smith’s grounder between first and second that he turned into a groundout. Vizcaino has played in only 11 games during a month in the big leagues this year, but the organization’s top second-base prospect says he is learning. “By being here, I can watch and talk to people and make myself better prepared,” he said.