BASEBALL ’93 : Dodgers Get Out Erasers for 1993 : Baseball: The memory of last season remains strong enough to be used as an incentive.

While sitting in the clubhouse during a recent exhibition game, Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis looked up at a television and heard their manager, Tom Lasorda, saying those oft-heard words: “If Darryl and Eric are healthy, we have a very good chance.”

“Uh oh,” Strawberry said, shaking his head. “Here he goes again, laying it on our shoulders.”

“Guess we better go lift some more weights,” Davis said.

The Dodgers can rely on more than Strawberry and Davis. Lasorda believes he has five players who can hit home runs, including the reigning National League rookie of the year and a rookie catcher.

Lasorda has a closer who can throw hard, a defense that can catch the ball and a pitcher he calls Bulldog, who once again can sink the ball.

He has a group of regulars that has spent the spring together. They have played together, run together, even had days off together.

There is team chemistry, that immeasurable factor that can make the difference in a season. The players say there is unity in the clubhouse and on the field, even among the reserves.

“It started building from the first day of spring, when Tommy had a meeting and talked to us about unity,” Lenny Harris said. “He told us that we all needed to pull on the same side of the rope, we needed to be together. Last year we were in the cellar. This is a new year.”

On that note, before the Dodgers broke training camp Wednesday, infield coach Joe Amalfitano came in the clubhouse and yelled to the players, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” Next to Lasorda, the misery of last season might have affected Amalfitano the most. The infield combined for 116 errors.

But the Dodgers will still have problems unless they do something about their bullpen. With few exceptions, their middle relief is shaky. They are in sore need of a strong left-handed reliever--maybe two--and spent too much time this spring gambling with bargains that didn’t pan out.

If they shore up the bullpen, they will be competitive. But to win, they need a few breaks. As improved as the Dodgers are, so is the rest of the National League West. Every time the Dodgers look up they will see Atlanta, Cincinnati and Houston.

This should not be the same team that lost 99 games last season, made 174 errors, hit a league-low 72 home runs and scored only 548 runs. If it is, expect to say goodby to Lasorda, who is in the last season of his contract; and Fred Claire, the club’s executive vice president in charge of player personnel.

Over the winter the Dodgers traded for veteran third baseman Tim Wallach and second baseman Jody Reed, and signed Todd Worrell for three years for $9.5 million and reserve infielder/outfielder Cory Snyder for one year at $1.35 million.

The team re-signed reserve outfielder Mitch Webster and relievers Jim Gott and Roger McDowell and cut loose pitchers Bob Ojeda, John Candelaria, Jay Howell, Tim Crews and catcher Mike Scioscia.

The players who remained pulled closer together and are determined to avenge the embarrassment of last season.

“This club has more togetherness than last year’s did,” said first baseman Eric Karros, last season’s rookie of the year. “Guys rag on one another a little more and I guess we have a common goal.

“Everybody has a lot to prove after what we went through, and everybody has a motivating factor. You can just go down the lineup. Jose Offerman wants to throw away last year. With Brett Butler, you get the question of age. With Davis, it’s injuries. With Strawberry, he’s coming back. Wallach has had two sub-par years. With myself, I need to prove that last season was no fluke. (Mike) Piazza is trying to break into the lineup, and Jody Reed is coming off a sub-par year.

“Last year we were a team but not anything like this year.”

OFFENSE

While Claire spent the winter shopping on a budget, Strawberry and Davis were healing from injuries that limited them to a combined 119 games, 10 home runs and 57 runs batted in last season. They both had surgery near the end of last season--Davis on his shoulder, wrist and hand and Strawberry for a herniated disk.

If they stay healthy, the 3-7 spots in the Dodgers’ batting order can be explosive.

This spring, Davis, who will bat third, worked hard to regain the bat speed he had before 1990, when he suffered a kidney injury diving for a ball in the World Series. He batted .282, with four home runs and five doubles in 71 spring at-bats. He drove in 16 runs, scored 15 and walked 10 times. But he needs to strike out less.

Davis’ goal is to keep himself in the lineup, so he said he ate more sweets in the off-season and lifted weights to cushion himself against injuries. He also spent the spring telling reporters he wasn’t going to dive for balls anymore, then played as hard in left field as ever. He was ready for the season to start two weeks ago.

Strawberry, batting fourth, came along slower because of minor pulls and tightness, but he is healthy. He drove in 14 runs, hit a lot of balls to the fence and six of his 12 hits were for extra bases, including three home runs.

Wallach, batting fifth, worked overtime on his swing, and once he started hitting he didn’t stop. He tied Davis for the team lead in RBIs with 16 and sacrifice flies (4), tied for the club lead in doubles (6) and batted .292 with three home runs.

Karros had an even better spring than last season, when he played well enough to win the 25th spot on the roster. He hit .425, with six doubles, 13 RBIs and a team-high five home runs.

Mike Piazza, Karros’ roommate, won the starting catcher’s job over Carlos Hernandez and Lance Parrish, with a hot bat. He hit .478, with four home runs, a triple, four doubles and 11 RBIs.

The catcher’s job was the only one up for grabs--except for those of the relief pitchers--and Piazza took his godfather, Tom Lasorda, off the hook by making the decision easy.

“I don’t want to brag about him, but he really was a shining star in camp,” Lasorda said. “He has worked hard.”

“He hits the ball harder than anybody I have played with in 12 years, hitting seventh, and that shows you what kind of team we have,” Butler said.

Brett Butler, batting second behind Jose Offerman, is the oldest player on the team at 35, but he shows no signs of slowing. The best bunter in the National League, Butler was hitting .300 when camp broke and plays center field as aggressively and flawlessly as ever.

Offerman, who hit .260 last season, looks improved with the bat; and Reed, a lifetime .280 batter, was starting to hit well.

Reserves are Cory Snyder, who has power and plays such solid defense in the infield and outfield that he will play a lot; Mitch Webster, a switch-hitting outfielder who hit .361, with two home runs and 12 RBIs as a pinch-hitter last season; and left-handed hitter Tom Goodwin, who should add speed. Left-handed-hitting Lenny Harris and Dave Hansen and right-handed-hitting Mike Sharperson, all utility infielders, also made the team. Backing up Piazza is Carlos Hernandez, a consistent line-drive hitter whose defensive skills could have won him the starting catcher’s job if Piazza hadn’t excelled at the plate.

DEFENSE

Other than Lasorda and Amalfitano, the pitchers could be the happiest with the Dodgers’ defense. The addition of Wallach and Reed has Offerman playing well at shortstop. Karros is improved at first base.

“I’m more comfortable this year,” Offerman said. “I’m ready to go. Things are working out real well with Jody and me, and that’s what I have been working for.”

Offerman, who made 42 errors last season, is showing maturity. He made only two errors this spring and turned double plays routinely.

Reed, who broke into the majors with the Boston Red Sox as a shortstop and then switched to second, took charge from the beginning, and says Offerman never questioned Reed’s leadership.

“I’m really happy about it,” Reed said. “Sometimes young guys aren’t ready to listen, but Jose hasn’t been like that at all. From the first time I met him, he was open. I told him he didn’t need to make the spectacular plays, just make the routine ones. We’re ready to go.”

Reed makes spectacular plays routinely, and Wallach, who knows National League hitters well, has become the captain of the infield.

“It’s just unbelievable to watch Jody Reed and Wallach and Offy, how he is developing, and to watch Piazza,” Orel Hershiser said.

“This year everybody knew their roles coming in--the starting seven guys, with the only competition at catcher--so the relationships started very quickly.

“I believe this team came in with the attitude of ‘we have to be gamers, we have to be tough.’ There is a lot of motivation to not be embarrassed and to show people that was not the real Dodger team last season.”

PITCHING

The right-handed starting rotation of Hershiser, Ramon Martinez, Tom Candiotti, Kevin Gross and Pedro Astacio is solid. But Martinez has pitched inconsistently after he was rained out of one start, missed another and then strained his hip.

Still, Martinez says he is fine, and Ron Perranoski, the pitching coach, says Martinez’ sharpness is improving. He is scheduled to make his first start Tuesday. If not, his younger brother Pedro, who pitched better than Ramon in the spring, is waiting in Albuquerque.

Hershiser is fully recovered from shoulder surgery and has been selected today’s opening day pitcher against the Florida Marlins.

Gross is throwing so hard he could have started the season a month ago and will pitch the home opener, April 13. And Candiotti’s knuckleball is dancing better.

Astacio, who pitched four shutouts in his 11 games last season, is still confident and poised.

In the bullpen, Worrell, who spent most of the spring recovering from tendinitis, has thrown hard in his limited outings and appears healthy. Gott has been impressive. McDowell has been inconsistent.

But then, it gets shaky. Steve Wilson, the only left-hander on the staff, has been inconsistent. The Dodgers are trying to trade for a stronger left-hander.

Making the team as the 10th pitcher is Rickie Trlicek, a right-hander picked up this spring from Toronto. Trlicek was impressive enough to beat out a group that included including Kip Gross, who was offered the chance to go to Albuquerque, and Pedro Martinez.

Before camp broke Wednesday, Lasorda said he was pleased with his team.

“I’m leaving here with a good feeling,” Lasorda said. “I think we accomplished what we wanted to when we arrived, and that was to get prepared physically, mentally and fundamentally.

“I told the players it’s going to be tough. But I feel we can compete and play aggressive, daring and winning baseball. I told the players to respect every team they play, but don’t fear them.”