BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Craig Has Been on This Road Before

Roger Craig, who came West with the Dodgers, might be going East with the Giants.

The San Francisco Giants’ manager was a talented young pitcher with the Dodgers when they moved West from Brooklyn in 1958.

The next season he was an 11-game winner and pitched four shutouts for the first Los Angeles World Series winner.

With the possible move of the Giants to Florida, it brings back memories of the move West by the Dodgers and Giants.

“I was just a young fellow when we made the move and I thought it was a pretty good idea,” Craig said. “It was a different situation for the older guys. People like Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo and PeeWee Reese were really unhappy. Their lives were tied in with Brooklyn.

“I was talking to (Don) Drysdale about it the other day. Of course, he was glad because he was from Van Nuys and I think Duke (Snider) didn’t mind too much because he was from here (Fallbrook in San Diego County). But many of them didn’t even bring their families out for the first season. I’m sure Gil Hodges didn’t.”

Of the Giants’ move to Florida, Craig said: “I have a year left on my contract, but I don’t know what I’ll do if the sale goes through. I haven’t heard from anyone directly, but I understand they want me to remain as manager.

“So I came West with the Dodgers and I may go East with the Giants. How about that?”

Manager Tom Lasorda said that it isn’t all that unusual for a pitcher to be merely average in the minors and then blossom in the majors as Pedro Astacio has done. “Pedro has been aggressive, he’s thrown strikes and he’s not afraid of anything,” Lasorda said. “That’s why he’s done so well.”

Although his mouth still hurts from dental work, Brett Butler, who sat out two games, was a late addition to the starting lineup. “I’m going to give it a try,” he said. . . . The Giants’ Will Clark has a groin injury and was out of the lineup for the fourth game in a row.