Slam Puts Phillies by Padres : Baseball: Hollins connects off Rasmussen to give Philadelphia its fourth victory in a row since Dykstra returned from injury.

Philadelphia catcher Darren Daulton sat quietly in front of his locker before the Phillies’ 4-1 victory Friday night over the Padres and pondered the question.

His mind flashed back to that awful night of May 5, when he was a passenger in a car driven by teammate Lenny Dykstra. It was the day before the team was to fly to San Diego, but neither Daulton nor Dykstra made the trip. After they left teammate John Kruk’s bachelor party that Sunday night, Dykstra’s Mercedes-Benz crashed into a couple of trees.

Bones snapped. Careers were interrupted. Baseball? They were lucky to be alive, police and doctors said.

Now, here was Daulton, finally sitting in that San Diego clubhouse, the one he never made it to in May. And he was asked whether there were any changes in his life since the accident.

Just one.

“I don’t ride with Lenny anymore,” he said.

He was smiling.

The Phillies are smiling. Friday’s victory was their fourth in a row. Maybe not coincidentally, it was Dykstra’s fourth game since returning to the lineup after missing 61 games.

“Just to come to the ballpark, man, and play ball and get paid the way we do,” Dykstra said. “I thank the Lord every day. People complain, man, and I just don’t understand it. I guess it takes something like (the accident); it makes you put things in perspective.”

There is still pain. There is still mental anguish. But Dykstra’s broken collarbone, three broken ribs and fractured cheekbone, and Daulton’s broken eye socket and severe whiplash have gotten better.

Maybe not completely--they are both still sore, and Daulton gets double-vision when he looks to his left. But they can play. And that means they can laugh.

Yes, the last-place Phillies have gone 4-0 since Dykstra’s return. Not that it has been all Dykstra--third baseman Dave Hollins led the way Friday night with a sixth-inning grand slam off Dennis Rasmussen.

Rasmussen (3-6) was sailing along until the sixth, having allowed only four hits. But with two out, Wes Chamberlain pounded a grounder up the middle and under Tony Fernandez’s glove for a single. Rasmussen had Chamberlain picked off of first, but first baseman Fred McGriff’s throw was wide of second and Chamberlain was safe. Rasmussen, who threw only 25 balls in 88 pitches, then walked John Kruk and Dale Murphy to load the bases.

And here came Hollins.

If Hollins’ name rings a bell, it should. The Padres left him off their 40-man roster two years ago, and the Phillies grabbed him. Now he starts at third for Philadelphia and, in the past week, has three doubles and three homers. He added a single to his homer Friday--his first career grand slam--and is eight for his past 15 (.533).

Phillie starter Jose DeJesus (6-4), meanwhile, shut the Padres down on four hits. His only mistake came in the second, when Jerald Clark hit a bases-empty homer to left.

And then there was Dykstra. He didn’t star Friday, but maybe he doesn’t need to every night. Sometimes the best good luck charms are hidden in someone’s pocket, anyway.

He who singled in four trips to the plate Friday. Since returning Monday, he is seven for 17 (.412), and the Phillies haven’t lost.

“I don’t think there is any question how much he adds to this ballclub,” Philadelphia Manager Jim Fregosi said. “He was gone 60-some days and when he came back, he still led the team in stolen bases.

“He adds three things: speed, defense and hitting. What more can you ask?”

Not necessarily a .400-plus average in his first week back, it would seem.

“You can’t expect that, but he’s an amazing guy,” Fregosi said.

Said Daulton: “He’s one of the premier leadoff hitters in the game. Just the fact that he’s here helps our club. He just keeps on hitting.”

Dykstra says that, though he didn’t plan on stepping back into the lineup and hitting as well as he has, he is not surprised at the results.

“I look at it as preparing myself to play baseball,” Dykstra said. “That’s the key. Preparation, having a plan.

“Hitting is so much more mental than people think. And along with the mental part is confidence. I went out there with the same approach as last year--get good pitches to swing at. Pitchers in this league are too good to swing at pitches when they’re not throwing strikes.”

And he is concentrating maybe even more than usual considering his physical condition.

“I’m still real stiff and sore, but those are things I can deal with,” Dykstra said. “My collarbone is only 85%, but it’s getting stronger each day. I expected some soreness in my back, ribs and legs from not playing that long.

“You can get ready, but when you get out there it’s all different.”

He spoke quietly and deliberately. He said he never looks back, only ahead. He can’t change the past, he said, so why dwell on it?

Yes, his blood-alcohol content that night was well beyond the legal limit in Pennsylvania. And he is reminded of the accident daily. The aches in his body jolt his memory. The questions jolt his senses.

“I’ve had so many things said and written about me, it’s almost sickening,” he said slowly. “But I don’t get mad. I put myself in a position for people to judge me. You’re under a microscope.

“It wasn’t their fault; it was my fault.”