Dodgers Pull for Strawberry’s Recovery

The royal hamstring is pulled. It belongs to Darryl Strawberry, to whom the Dodgers have promised 20 times more than Walter O’Malley paid for control of the club.

Strawberry hasn’t been playing. The royal hamstring, he assures us, will return soon to normal, meaning business as usual for the biggest investment in human flesh ever undertaken by the Los Angeles organization.

It is said to run $20.25 million for five years. It isn’t a record. But the Dodgers still swallow hard, merely contemplating any malfunction by this entertainer they have captured as a season-saver.

His case is turned over to Tom Lasorda, confidence specialist. Lasorda puts his arm around Strawberry, aiming to defuse him.

“Relax,” the manager says. “Have fun. You aren’t being asked here to carry this club on your shoulders.”

Lasorda breathes heavily, rejecting his own fears. If Strawberry doesn’t hit a ton, the Dodgers are deceased.

This is mainly because of so many other dark possibilities pervading their picture. The pitching future of their Cy Young Award winner, Orel Hershiser, is pick-it.

Two new pitchers the Dodgers bag, Kevin Gross and Bob Ojeda, are pick-it, too. Gross wins nine games last year, Ojeda seven.

And Fernando Valenzuela at this juncture? Si and no.

And the latest import from San Pedro de Macoris, Ramon Martinez, who wins 20 last year? He shows up late this year, with no vestiges of sharpness. He goes four innings the other day--seven hits, five runs.

The third baseman, Jeff Hamilton, is battling a shoulder injury that decommissions him after seven games last year. The shortstop, Alfredo Griffin, has a bum back.

And in left field stands the redoubtable Kalvoski Daniels, who, in his time, goes out with back strain, back spasms, knee surgery, ankle troubles and hamstring troubles.

Kalvoski is a dangerous batsman, if one can arrange for him to bat.

So for more money than it costs to build Dodger Stadium, the club brings to gaff Darryl Strawberry, an interesting performer with a history not at all conventional.

It includes drinking problems, human relations problems, marital problems and management problems, all vanishing, he promises, before the wonders of newly discovered religion.

At his former station, New York, Darryl does some big-time hitting. Last year, we are talking 37 home runs and 108 runs batted in.

The book on him seemed to be that as long as stress didn’t seize him, he could give you an impressive day’s work.

But once his world narrowed, his skills tended to diminish.

Because of this background, the Mets made no serious effort to retain him at the stakes that were mentioned.

But he intrigued the Dodgers, who took the position they could succeed where the Mets failed.

The Dodgers also are eager to return to the altitude they ascended in 1988 when they won everything.

So they bring in Strawberry, assigning his head to Lasorda, who opens modestly with the observation that Darryl may be the best hitter since Ted Williams.

Unmistakably, Strawberry is a vital part of the Dodger scheme, meaning if he develops hiccups, much less a hamstring pull, you have an organization that runs a temperature.

Whether Darryl is partly responsible isn’t known, but ticket sales by the Dodgers, historically brisk, have been better than usual this year, expectations of the villagers rising.

Each year, the Dodgers limit season purchases to 27,000, roughly half the park, saving the other half for the everyday peasantry, always confident that weather won’t ruin its outing.

It is a startling statistic that since the Dodgers moved to their present stadium in 1962, they have endured but 15 rainouts.

During one incredible stretch, they played 737 games in a row without a cancellation. Later, they would embark upon a new streak of 724 consecutive games.

Entering the 1991 season, the club has run a streak of 156 rainless games at home, meaning the Dodgers rarely are forced into makeup doubleheaders, blowing a day’s admission.

Maybe that is why they are able to risk $20.25 million on Darryl Strawberry, who, encouraged to relax, may be more relaxed than the Dodgers.

When Darryl pulls a hamstring, you see the Dodgers as pretty nervous.