DODGERS : No For-Sale Sign on Ballclub

The California Angels might be available if the offer were too good to refuse, Gene Autry said recently, but the Dodgers are definitely not for sale.

That was the word from club President Peter O’Malley, who arrived Thursday in Dodgertown and spoke on a variety of topics, from Manager Tom Lasorda’s contract to the state of baseball.

O’Malley usually arrives here earlier but has spent this spring in meetings, trying to help straighten out baseball’s problems.

“We are going through a tough time, but I see some daylight in our labor area and that is our biggest problem,” O’Malley said.

But the increased spending and time demands have not discouraged O’Malley from being an owner, he said.

“I’m not 85 years old,” O’Malley mused. “I’m old enough to be Autry’s son.

” . . . I cannot deny inquiries about the team, but that’s all they are. I’d feel badly leaving baseball now in the middle of a storm. I need to ride it out.”

O’Malley said he will not let the expiration of Lasorda’s contract at the end of this season become a distraction, but he gave no hints of what that could mean. Lasorda is in his 17th season as manager. Last spring, the contract became a media issue and O’Malley extended it through 1993.

“I liked what I saw at the game today, and I will do nothing to interfere with that,” O’Malley said. “I think we’ve got something going here, and we need to keep it that way.”

What O’Malley saw Thursday was catcher Mike Piazza hit a two-run pinch-single in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4.

It was the Dodgers’ fourth consecutive exhibition victory and their fifth consecutive game without an error. The team, which is 4-3, has made four errors in seven games. Last season they had 13 errors through seven games.

After missing two games because of a mild groin strain, Darryl Strawberry started in right field and got his second hit of the spring, a double to center. He then got picked off at second by pitcher Greg Maddux.

Eric Karros doubled and homered.

Eric Davis, who has said he isn’t going to risk injury by playing too aggressively, leaped against a chain-link fence to rob Ryan Klesko of a home run in the sixth inning with the score tied, 2-2.

Davis said he leaped for the ball because he got there ahead of it.

Tom Goodwin replaced Brett Butler in the fifth inning again and wondered if he was being showcased for another club. The Florida Marlins are reportedly interested.