This Dodger Star Sure Doesn’t Feel Like One : Baseball: Harris is batting .356 in May after driving in both runs during a 2-0 victory over the Astros, but he probably won’t start against the Reds.

For Lenny Harris, who drove in both runs in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros Thursday, great games seem as if they are little more than wonderful dreams.

For a precious few moments he finds himself in front of thousands of people. He whips his bat at a fastball, he runs wildly around the bases, he becomes a star.

But then the next morning, he is jolted awake with reality.

Star? He is not even in the starting lineup.

This will happen tonight in the Riverfront Stadium clubhouse, when Harris will learn that despite batting .356 this month, he will probably not start in the first game of the weekend showdown with the world champion Cincinnati Reds.

In fact, despite leading the Dodgers to a 17-7 record when he is in the lineup, Harris will probably not start in any of the three games with the Reds.

This is because Reds are starting three left-handed pitchers. And, for now, Harris just does not play against left-handed pitchers.

Talk about your nightmares.

“I’m going to be so pumped up on that bench . . . it’s going to be so hard to watch,” said Harris, whose singles in the fourth and sixth innings gave the Dodgers a split of this four-game series before 9,386 at the Astrodome.

There is a sense that is also getting harder for Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda to watch Harris sitting there. But because the organization is committed to giving Jeff Hamilton loads of chances, Lasorda will continue to platoon the two players.

This is even though Harris, who supposedly cannot hit left-handed pitching, batted over .300 against left-handers during the spring while Hamilton is just batting .211 against left-handers this season.

And this is even though Harris is batting .310 overall, while Hamilton is batting just .222.

“For now, we’ll give (Hamilton) a little more of a chance,” Lasorda said wearily. “If he ever gets started, he can really help us. We have to keep it like it is, for now.”

If the Harris-less Dodgers need inspiration this weekend, they can think about Thursday.

While a shaky Tim Belcher combined with a cool John Candelaria and Jay Howell to record the Dodgers’ first shutout since April 26, Harris commanded the spotlight, however briefly.

With one out in the fourth and Eddie Murray on second base after a double, Harris grounded a pitch from Xavier Hernandez just under the glove of lunging shortstop Rafael Ramirez to score Murray.

Two innings later, with Darryl Strawberry on third base after a walk and a single by Murray, Harris calmly lined a ball up the middle to score the second run.

“It’s not how hard you hit it, it’s where you hit it, and when you hit it,” Harris said with a smile.

With the victory, Belcher broke a three-game losing streak, scattering six hard hits in 7 2/3 innings before handing the ball to Candelaria.

It was the eighth inning, two out, runners on first and second. Candelaria calmly retired pinch-hitter Mark Davidson on a fly ball to center field to strand his 16th and 17th runners. Howell pitched a perfect ninth inning for his eighth save, and fifth in six appearances.

Candelaria has come into games with 21 runners on base this season, and only four have scored. He has stranded 12 consecutive runners.

“I know my job is just to face one batter, and so I approach it that way,” Candelaria said. “It’s like, either I get the guy out, or I’m staying up a long time that night thinking about it. Even after all these years.”

The Dodgers go into the series in Cincinnati holding a 1 1/2-game lead over the Reds.