BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : At Long Last, the Joke Is on Lasorda

Tom Lasorda, the Dodger manager who has been playing practical jokes on his players for years, has finally been paid back.

Lasorda and pitcher Orel Hershiser were the subjects of a Canadian version of Candid Camera during an seemingly innocent drive from the Dodgers’ hotel to Olympic Stadium before Saturday’s game.

Pierre Lavoie, a longtime clubhouse worker who was their driver, suddenly made an illegal right turn on to a dead-end downtown street. A police car pulled up, and the three men were ordered out of the car.

Once Lasorda and Hershiser were standing on the curb, Lavoie shouted that he didn’t want to lose his drivers’ license, and sped away with the police car in pursuit.

Lavoie and the police car then engaged in a reckless chase around the cul-de-sac. At one point, Lavoie disappeared behind a truck and a stunt driver reappeared, jumping curbs and doing spins in the gravel.

Lasorda, still detained by one of the policemen, began jumping and screaming on the curb.

“Tommy was shouting, ‘This guy is a lunatic, he’s on drugs!” Hershiser said. “He was shouting, ‘Pierre, for God’s sake, stop!”

An elderly woman appeared out of the shadows and slowly crossed the street. Lasorda then began shouting at her.

“I thought, ‘My God, this woman is going to die,”’ Lasorda said. “I was yelling, ‘Please, ma’am, get off the street, get off the street!”

The stunt driver barely missed the woman, driving the car on two wheels to avoid her, then sped up a ramp and jumped over another car before coming to a stop.

By then, Hershiser had noticed a hidden camera in a nearby box, and the actors ended their performance. It will be shown on the local television show “Surprise sur Prise” next fall.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been fooled like that before,” Lasorda said at the ballpark. “I’m exhausted.”

Jay Howell threw off a mound for the third time since going on the disabled list June 27 and said he felt as good as he has felt since his elbow became tender.

“I really thought I was fluid,” Howell said after the 15-minute workout. “I think we’re making good progress now.”

Mike Morgan said the big toe on his right foot was only “sore” Saturday, and confirmed that he would make his next scheduled start Wednesday in Philadelphia. . . . Kal Daniels left the team Saturday morning to attend to his ailing mother at his Warner Robins, Ga., home. The Dodgers are uncertain when he will return.