Dodgers Tune Up Offense : Baseball: Strawberry still isn’t at full throttle, but his presence on bases helps beat Cardinals, 7-2.

During the weekend, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda simply shook his head when asked when Darryl Strawberry was going shake his season-long slump.

All is not well with the sore-shouldered Strawberry’s swing. But on old-timers’ day at Dodger Stadium Sunday, a sellout crowd of 45,293 got a glimpse of how potent the Dodger offense can be when Strawberry simply gets on base.

His two soft singles and run-scoring fielder’s choice won’t make many highlight videos, but Strawberry was in the middle of three run-scoring bursts as the Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2.

The real power was provided by Eddie Murray, who broke the game open with a three-run home run in the four-run seventh.

Two of Strawberry’s former New York Met teammates also were prominent. Bob Ojeda threw his first complete game as a Dodger to improve to 6-4, and catcher Gary Carter singled in a run as the Dodgers took a 3-2 lead with a two-run sixth.

“We really haven’t been hitting too good,” said Lasorda, who punched up the Dodger offense Sunday with several successful hit-and-run calls.

“That’s what you’ve got to do--manufacture runs. Murray swung the bat great today. Strawberry’s the big key--once he starts hitting like he’s capable, we’ll be more productive. We’re not operating on all cylinders.”

Neither is Strawberry, who suffered a separated shoulder during the last week of May and is having trouble generating his vaunted power. He drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder during the fourth inning, led off the sixth with a looping single to center and scored as the Dodgers took a 3-2 lead and singled home a run with a soft liner to right in the seventh, preceding Murray’s home run.

“My swing is not there,” Strawberry said.

“Once I got hurt, I really haven’t been the kind of hitter I think I am--driving the ball. I just have to fight through that. At this point, getting completely healthy is my concern--now I’m 75 or 80%. It doesn’t get better unless I rest, but I really don’t like (not playing). So I’m just playing through it, hoping I get up one morning and it feels better.”

Ojeda hasn’t lost since May 26, and Sunday he was in control after the second inning, when the Cardinals scored their runs on two hits and two walks, one with the bases loaded to Jose Oquendo. Ojeda finished with a four-hitter.

“He was outstanding,” Carter said. “The last couple of innings he was really on target. Give Bobby O a lead like that and he can finish them off with the best of them. He was pretty masterful.”

Ojeda won only seven games last season, when the Mets shifted him to the bullpen.

“With the Mets he just wasn’t given the opportunity to pitch (last season),” Carter said. “You give him that and let him get his confidence, he’s going to win a lot of games.”

Ojeda agreed that being in the rotation every five days means more than complete games or statistics.

“I just care about winning,” he said. “Complete games and earned-run average are overrated. I don’t feel I was out of sync (in New York). I just needed more of a chance to pitch.”

Ken Hill (6-4) took the loss, although much of the damage was done against reliever Tim Sherrill.

The victory left the Dodgers three games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the National League West.

“If things continue to go this way I don’t think anybody will complain,” Murray said. “It’s amazing how it gets done, somebody different comes through every day. And everybody in here feels like they can be doing better than they are.”

* NIXON’S RECORD: Atlanta’s Otis Nixon ties a major league record with six stolen bases. C9.