BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Guzman Gets Help From His Friends

Not only did the Dodgers trade Juan Guzman to the Toronto Blue Jays, where he has since become an All-Star, they also are helping him stay in shape. Guzman said that he worked out last winter at the Dodgers’ academy in the Dominican Republic.

“I would go over there and play catch, sometimes with Ramon (Martinez),” Guzman said before Tuesday’s All-Star game in San Diego. “And I will go over and throw again this winter. I know everybody over there. Everybody is very nice.”

Guzman, who was traded to Toronto for Mike Sharperson in late 1987, said he wonders if Martinez worked hard enough last winter. Guzman, 11-2, leads the American League with a 2.11 ERA and 122 strikeouts. Martinez is 5-6 with a 3.51 ERA and 69 strikeouts. “I think that is Ramon’s problem this year, he took a lot of time off during the winter,” Guzman said. “I think he lost his rhythm and has not been able to get it back.”

Bill DeLury, the Dodgers’ traveling secretary, was the most relieved man in the clubhouse Thursday. His entire team was there for the early game, even though eight players had left Los Angeles Sunday to spend their All-Star break in different states, or a different country, in the case of Martinez, who flew to the Dominican Republic.

“This is the earliest I can ever remember having a game after the All-Star break,” DeLury said. “Maybe that is why everybody made it, because we made such a big deal out of it.”

DeLury held a meeting Sunday in Los Angeles to remind the players of the early start, then ordered two announcements to be made on the charter airplane that flew most of the team here Wednesday. The charter was diverted to Baltimore because of bad weather, making it nearly an eight-hour trip from Los Angeles.

Jose Offerman is taking to the leadoff spot, where he batted for the fifth time Thursday. He has six hits in 20 at-bats with four runs scored, three stolen bases and one RBI from that position. “I have batted there before. I am comfortable there,” Offerman said. . . . Brett Butler doesn’t mind the switch, even though he could be permanently out of that spot for the first time in five years. “If he gets on base, then it is the best lineup,” Butler said. Butler’s two-run single in the ninth inning Thursday overshadowed his earlier inability to lay down a sacrifice bunt in three tries and a fielding lapse that allowed Dave Hollins to turn a bouncing line drive in front of Butler into a double.