DODGERS : Some Finding It Hard to Weather the Storm

The Dodgers have played in heavy rain, muddy fields and 50-m.p.h. winds, but they haven’t missed a game since a devastating storm hit Florida last Friday.

With three games cut short, though, the club has missed chances to get better looks at reserves and relief pitchers. The starters are usually replaced after the sixth inning, pitchers earlier.

“When is it going to be sunny again so we can give these guys the chance they deserve?” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

In Thursday’s wind-blown game against the New York Mets, rain started during the fifth inning and by the seventh inning it was raining hard. Lasorda waited for reliever Kip Gross to get the final out in the seventh before yelling to the home plate umpire that he thought the game should be called before somebody got hurt.

“And the umpire told me he thought it was clearing up,” Lasorda said.

With 14 games played and 14 to go before the Freeway Series with the Angels on April 2, what is becoming clear is that Wally Ritchie, who is one of three left-handers trying to get a job in the bullpen, has not been impressive.

Ritchie, a nonroster player, replaced Tom Candiotti in the sixth inning and blew a 3-0 lead, giving up three runs--two earned--and lasting only one-third of an inning. The Mets won, 6-3.

In Ritchie’s previous appearance, last Sunday against the Mets, he gave up two runs in a four-run ninth inning. The Mets won that game also, 6-3.

But even worse was his appearance against Atlanta on March 11, when Ritchie gave up a two-run homer to Atlanta’s Ryan Klesko, a left-handed hitter.

Lee Guetterman, another nonroster left-hander, had given up a run in each of the five innings he had pitched until Wednesday’s game against Philadelphia, when he pitched two scoreless innings.

There are no left-handers in the starting rotation, and Steve Wilson is the only lefty in the bullpen. Wilson has not been scored on in three appearances.

With a sound Todd Worrell, who is scheduled to make his debut Saturday in a B game against the Montreal Expos, the Dodgers would probably carry 10 pitchers, which would mean there is room for only one left-hander. The rest of the relief pitchers are right-handers Roger McDowell, Jim Gott and probably Pedro Martinez.

Dodger Notes

The Dodgers can rest assured that weather won’t interfere with their games tonight and Saturday. They will play the Toronto Blue Jays in the SkyDome. Tonight’s game will be televised live by KTLA Channel 5 at 4:05 p.m. PST. . . . Playing it safe, Darryl Strawberry, who has a sore groin, didn’t start Thursday’s game because of the field conditions but did pinch-hit. . . . Eric Davis drove in the first run of the game with a single, then scored on a two-run single by Cory Snyder. Davis is eight for 18 in his last eight games, with two home runs and eight runs batted in. . . . Eric Karros has hit in nine of his last 10 games.