BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Belcher Will Start Today, After All

In a change of plans, pitcher Tim Belcher will start for the Dodgers today after successfully testing his pulled right groin Friday.

Belcher was uncertain he would start after suffering the injury Monday in Cincinnati, but as much as six hours a day of therapy has apparently paid off.

“I’ll pitch (Saturday) . . . for as long as I can,” Belcher said. “Today I threw every pitch I had. I pitched from the stretch, I tried both the bullpen mound and regular mound and the only time there was any tightness was right in the beginning.”

Belcher said his biggest worry involves worrying.

“My only potential problem is getting past my apprehension about the groin,” he said. “I’ve got to be able to go full bore and not think about it. I can say that’s not a big deal, but I don’t know.”

Belcher has a 5-2 record against the Braves and a 2.33 earned-run-average in 12 games.

Brett Butler figured this new rivalry with the Atlanta Braves had gone too far early Friday morning when he arrived at his Atlanta-area home and discovered a police car in the driveway.

The officer was watching his house after it had been bombarded with eggs and covered with toilet paper.

“The toilet paper, I don’t mind. I’m used to that from when I was in high school,” Butler said. “But the eggs, that’s a different story. I think we’ll have to repaint everything they hit.

“My wife (Eveline) has a gun. I think whoever did it is lucky she didn’t hear them and get scared.”

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda also was given an unusual greeting Friday morning when he traveled to nearby Athens to address the University of Georgia football team. The football players reportedly did the tomahawk chop, a gesture used at Braves’ games.

The Dodgers gave 150 reporters the impression they were nervous Friday when their clubhouse was ordered closed before the game because of “meetings.” This was even though some players were on the field and the normal pitcher-catcher meetings had ended.

The Braves’ clubhouse was open before the game.

“We didn’t have any big team meetings. We just wanted the media out of the clubhouse so we could stay relaxed and get focused,” Darryl Strawberry said.

Lasorda called it a misunderstanding.

Orel Hershiser probably will tell the Dodgers today that he is ready to make his scheduled start Monday in Los Angeles. . . . Eddie Murray’s 10th stolen base Friday tied a career high.