Dodgers Tap a New Power Source, 13-5 : Baseball: Strawberry is back in the lineup, but it’s Harris who hits a grand slam in a rout of the Cubs. Daniels, Samuel also have homers.

The Dodgers are playing so well, just before Monday night’s 13-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs, Mike Sharperson had the nerve to predict that Lenny Harris would hit his first home run in nine months.

The only thing crazier was that four innings later, Harris hit a grand slam.

Yes, Harris was wagging that finger at Sharperson as he skipped toward first base after the first grand slam of his career, a drive deep into the right-field bleachers against Chuck McElroy.

When their new power hitter finally returned to the dugout, the Dodgers hugged Harris, congratulated Sharperson and counted their blessings.

“If it was Lenny who had called that home run, we would have been hearing about it for the rest of the season,” Kal Daniels said.

For once, an opposing player was pleased with the Wrigley Field tradition of throwing opponents’ home run balls back on to the field.

“I was so glad to see that ball coming back, I said, ‘Thank you,’ ” Harris said. “Now I get to keep it.”

While the Dodgers get to keep this victory, their third in this four-game series and fifth in seven games on this trip, they might want to stuff it in the drawer for now.

They scored a season high in runs with a season-high 16 hits, but that will count for nothing tonight at Pittsburgh, where they play the first of a three-game series against the National League’s other first-place team, the Pirates. It will be the first of 12 games between these two teams, who have been admiring each other from afar.

“It’s still early but hey, this is going to be a series about respect,” predicted Harris, who is batting .316 but may find himself on the bench for two of the three games because the Pirates will be throwing left-handers John Smiley and Randy Tomlin.

Added Darryl Strawberry: “We are going to have to go in there with an aggressive approach, because that is the way they are going to be. They have seen the difference in our ballclub, so they will be more pumped up.

“Also, I have played a lot of big games against the Pirates when I was with the Mets, I have hurt them in a lot of big situations, and they are going to remember.”

Strawberry hurt the Cubs Monday before he ever left the hotel room.

After saying Sunday that he would end his weeklong layoff today, Strawberry woke up Monday and changed his mind. In the early afternoon, he phoned coach Bill Russell at the hotel and told him that he wanted to be in Monday’s lineup.

“My shoulder was feeling fine, and I decided I couldn’t wait,” Strawberry said.

Said Russell: “Players don’t usually call me like that. I guess that shows how much he wanted to play.”

After missing seven days with a sore shoulder, Strawberry singled in his first at-bat and finished with two hits, a walk and a run.

There were certainly bigger stars, as Daniels and Juan Samuel also homered while Eddie Murray drove in four runs with a pair of two-out hits. But Strawberry, as usual, won raves just by his presence.

“Darryl shocked everybody by playing,” Harris said. “But that’s what is going around on this club. Everybody wants to participate.”

Said Strawberry: “I just hope Lenny doesn’t start thinking about home runs.”

Ramon Martinez (10-2) was certainly thinking about Dodger home runs. He got the victory, but he allowed four runs and 10 hits in six innings because he wasn’t thinking much about pitching.

“With our big lead, I was just throwing the ball across the plate,” Martinez said. “If the game is close, maybe I don’t go that way.”

The only reason Sharperson was thinking about home runs was that Harris was hitting a lot of balls hard during batting practice. But then again, with the wind blowing out of Wrigley Field, every Dodger was hitting the ball hard, accounting for a nearly a bag of lost balls.

“Yeah, but I had a good feeling about Lenny, I just thought he was going to do it during a game,” Sharperson said.

Harris just missed out on the Dodgers’ five-run third inning. His single was the last hit in a rally against Cub starter Mike Bielecki that included a run-scoring single by Brett Butler, a two-run single by Murray and a two-run homer by Daniels, who had three hits to improve his average to .251.

Everything was perfect for Harris in the fourth, after rookie catcher Rick Wilkins dropped a two-out, third strike to Samuel. Murray hit a two-run single and Daniels walked to loaded the bases for Harris, who was not replaced by Jeff Hamilton even though McElroy is left-handed.

“Everybody said I can’t hit left-handers, but I am turning that story around,” said Harris, who hit a full-count fastball. “But if I am not on the bench tonight, it will be a big surprise to me.”