BASEBALL 1992 PREVIEW : Not Much Gets By Them : Dodgers: They have the bats, but this outfield will prevent a lot of hits, too.

Brett Butler is the talker.

He chatters about the batter, the pitcher, the weather in center field . . .

He talks to other fielders, to the second baseman, to himself . . .

“And the fans,” Butler says. “Don’t forget the fans.”

Butler talks so much that when he and Darryl Strawberry meet in right-center during a game, what appear to be strategy sessions actually go like this:

Strawberry: “Hey Bugsy?”

Butler: “Yeah?”

Strawberry: “Shut up!”

Eric Davis is the leaper.

He can still dunk a basketball with two hands from a flat-footed start. A couple of years ago, he seriously considered trying out for the Clippers. “If I thought I could have pulled it off, I would have tried it,” he says.

Instead, he has stuck with pulling baseballs over outfield walls.

“Something about going up there and robbing somebody,” Davis says. “It’s electrifying.”

He helped Cincinnati win a World Series, but his personal highlight could be the time he robbed Jack Clark of home runs on consecutive nights in St. Louis.

“My favorite plays,” Davis says, “are the ones where the crowd goes ‘Ohhhhh, ahhhhh.’ ”

Darryl Strawberry is the thrower.

He might look funny chasing down baseballs, but what happens after that is serious. It is so serious, Strawberry strides down a clubhouse hallway and flails his arm to demonstrate.

“I like to get the ball and go, ‘one-two-three boom ,” he says.

Strawberry says he is most proud of what happened last season when the New York Mets made their first visit to Dodger Stadium. He threw out Dave Magadan, who was attempting to turn a single into a double.

It was two days after he separated his left shoulder.

“It hurt me,” he remembers, smiling. “Except when I threw.”

Together they have appeared in five league championship series, three World Series and on 11 All-Star teams.

One holds the National League record for most games in a season without an error.

Another has won three Gold Gloves.

The third has averaged eight assists per season, including 11 last year, sixth best in the league.

Brett Butler. Eric Davis. Darryl Strawberry.

The season hasn’t started, and they have already appeared on a national magazine cover together. And signed hundreds of autographs together. And spent hours in the clubhouse discussing sunglasses and sliders together.

The Dodgers brought them together this season to play in the same outfield, which is like lining up three fireworks displays and setting them off at once.

The results will either be brilliant or just loud. But the Dodgers can’t wait to watch.

“Anything that’s in the park, they are going to have a chance to catch,” coach Joe Amalfitano said. “If a plane flies too low across Dodger Stadium, they have a chance to catch it, too.”

Through two free-agent signings and a trade, they have come together to give the Dodgers their best outfield since Manager Tom Lasorda’s first in 1977: Dusty Baker, Reggie Smith and Rick Monday.

“I know one thing,” Davis said. “It’s the best outfield I’ve ever played on.”

Davis, the left fielder, was the final piece. He was added this winter in a trade that sent pitchers Tim Belcher and John Wetteland to the Cincinnati Reds.

Butler, in center, and Strawberry, in right, joined the team last year as free agents.

“Our outfield defense will be vastly improved,” said Fred Claire, Dodger vice president.

Strawberry is 6-feet-6 and Davis is 6-3, making Butler at 5-10 the smallest but biggest of the outfielders.

Before every pitch, he shouts positioning and reminders to the other two. Then they shout back.

“I will yell, ‘Straw, you get the ball up, and I’ll get the one back,’ ” Butler explained. “Or Eric will yell to me, ‘I’m cheating on this one, I got it up’ and I’ll play it from there.”

The outfielders are directed from a scout in the press box, but sometimes Butler positions himself on instinct.

When he played for the San Francisco Giants in 1990, it was only a guess that made him start running toward right before a fly ball by the Dodgers’ Kal Daniels.

This jump accounted for a spectacular back-handed, diving catch that might have earned him a long-term contract with the Dodgers three months later.

“I can’t explain it,” Butler said. “I was moving toward left field when I decided to move toward right.”

Once the ball is hit, the outfielders become products of their experience.

Davis said he “just knows” what can be caught with leap or a dive.

“There is no time to think, ‘Should I dive or should I not dive?’ ” he said. “You do that, they will score by the time you are done thinking.”

Davis has dived into stands and in dirt and in the ninth inning. He dove so hard in the fourth game of the 1990 Series, he tore his kidney.

“Growing up, we used to slide in the street with the football,” he said. “That’s where I learned to dive.”

Butler said he has already learned that with Davis’ expansive range, he will be diving less.

That is except in Atlanta, where last fall the Dodgers outfielders learned it is each man for himself.

“When those people with the tomahawks get going, it is impossible to hear anything out there,” Butler said.

Once they get to the ball, Butler and Davis are often in a position to make reasonable throws because their footwork is so good.

“People don’t usually get to see strong my arm is, because I don’t often have to make long throws,” Davis said.

Strawberry, however, almost always has to make a long throw. And he loves it.

“I like guys challenging my arm,” Strawberry said. “I anticipate before the hit whether I’m going to come up throwing or not.”

In fact, when men are on base, Strawberry is one of the only people in the stadium who is not concentrating on the batter.

“I’m watching the runner, seeing what kind of lead he gets,” Strawberry said.

When Strawberry throws out a runner, he says that the jog into the dugout is a highlight of his game.

“I can give the other team a look like, ‘Yeah, try me again,’ ” he said.

And when the run scores? Strawberry puts his arm to use in a different way.

“One of my best throws ever was in San Diego,” Strawberry recalled. “We had a long inning, I caught the ball for the last out . . . and I turned and threw it over the right field fence.”

Into the stands?

“No, man,” Strawberry said, beaming. “Into the parking lot.”

1991 in Review

Brett Butler Batting: .296 At-Bats: 615 Runs: 112 Hits: 182 Home Runs: 2 RBI: 38 Eric Davis Batting: .235 At-Bats: 285 Runs: 39 Hits: 67 Home Runs: 11 RBI: 33 Darryl Strawberry Batting: .265 At-Bats: 505 Runs: 86 Hits: 134 Home Runs: 28 RBI: 99