BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Butler: Beating No-Hitter Is an Omen

One day later, the Dodgers were still enamored with their 1-0, 10-inning victory over Montreal Friday, despite being held hitless for nine innings by Mark Gardner.

“To win a game like that . . . if we don’t win this division, something is wrong,” Brett Butler said. Said reliever Jay Howell: “I’d have to say that’s the first time I’ve ever been the winning pitcher in a game where the other guy threw a no-hitter. It was a very strange night.”

Darryl Strawberry, who had the winning hit off reliever Jeff Fassero, said he felt bad for Gardner.

“I almost thought they should have taken him out after the ninth inning,” Strawberry said. “He had pitched a great game, and he was tired. Why not let him go out on top?”

For Butler, the game kept alive a streak. In his 10-year career, he has never participated in a no-hitter.

It’s almost as if no-hitters have been avoiding him. Last season, in one of only two games he missed with the San Francisco Giants, Terry Mulholland of the Philadelphia Phillies threw a no-hitter against them.

“And I was standing in the on-deck circle when that game ended, getting ready to pinch hit,” Butler said.

Orel Hershiser said that while his six scoreless innings Friday might quiet critics, it didn’t show him anything he didn’t already know.

“I’m throwing the ball and I’m pain free, which lets me know that it’s just a matter of time and practice,” Hershiser said. “That’s what I’ve felt all along.”

Hershiser added: “Maybe this will take a little heat off. Maybe I won’t do as many negative interviews. Maybe I won’t have as many people looking over my shoulder. . . . But I’ve known that it’s not a matter of not pitching again. It’s just a matter of when I’ll be successful.”

Dave Hansen has taken four consecutive days of early batting practice against Manager Tom Lasorda, who has made the young third baseman his pet project. Hansen, who gained the Dodgers’ confidence with a three-run pinch-hit home run in New York last weekend, went hitless in three at-bats in his first major league start Friday. . . . John Candelaria, who has struck out six in his last 2 1/3 innings, sometimes wears a basketball-type brace on his right knee. “He has had some discomfort there, but it is just normal wear and tear,” said Charlie Strasser, assistant trainer. . . . Jeff Hamilton rejoined the team after missing one day to fly his son to Michigan for a hernia operation. Hamilton said his left knee is feeling good, and he could be sent to a minor league team for rehabilitation by the middle of next week.