BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : First Exhibition Is a Funny Little 10-0 Loss to Braves

Kal Daniels dropped a pickoff throw at first base, Eric Davis dropped a line drive in left field and the offense managed only four singles.

But the Dodgers still found reasons to chuckle Thursday after dropping their exhibition opener to the Atlanta Braves, 10-0, at West Palm Beach, Fla.

When asked about David Justice’s long two-run homer to right field in the first inning, Darryl Strawberry said: “It was wind blown. The wind was created by the swing of his bat.”

When asked about playing his first game at first base, Daniels said: “When you realize how close to home plate you are standing . . . I wasn’t smiling much. I was just glad Justice’s ball was over my head and not at me.”

The focus, as it will be throughout spring training, was on first and third base.

Daniels fielded a grounder at first but also caused a run when he dropped a pickoff throw from Ramon Martinez, who gave up three earned runs and four hits in 2 1/3 innings.

Jeff Hamilton, the starter at third, went hitless in two at-bats and committed an error.

Also not helping himself much was reliever Jim Gott, who is fighting for a job in the overcrowded bullpen. He gave up four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.

John Wetteland, elated to be pitching for the Montreal Expos, said he felt his eccentricities were never accepted by the Dodgers.

Wetteland was traded to the Cincinnati Reds this winter with Tim Belcher for Davis, then traded again to Montreal.

“I didn’t fit in as a player or a person,” Wetteland said from West Palm Beach, where the Expos train. “A lot of people in the organization did not accept the way I was.”

Wetteland recited poetry in the bullpen, played guitar in the clubhouse and taped unusual sayings on his locker.

“The only way I could have fit in there would be if I was a superstar and never went downhill,” Wetteland said. “I was not going to capitulate to conform to their way of thinking. I could not function that way, I just couldn’t do it.”

Said Brett Butler: “I was never aware that anyone thought John didn’t fit in.”