BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Last 10-Game Streak a Faded Memory

Tom Lasorda was in his fourth year as the team’s manager the last time the Dodgers won as many as 10 games in a row. It was 1980 when the Dodgers won 10 consecutively from April 20-30.

“I don’t remember it,” Lasorda said when asked about his club’s 1980 streak. “It’s amazing, when you manage as long as I have, all the years seem to pile up on you.

“But I’m sure it was like this.”

Lasorda is quite clear, though, on his feelings about the current light-hearted attitude in the clubhouse.

“People always say everybody looks lifeless when you’re losing,” Lasorda said. “And that’s simply because nobody’s having any fun, nobody laughs when you lose. Because it’s tough.

“So now, we’re winning, and winning players have a lot more fun. Winning managers have a lot more fun. Winning owners have a lot more fun. . . Winning front-office people have a lot more fun. How can you not?”

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The portable patches of grass made their second appearance in the Dodger dugout Saturday, kept overnight in the protected environs of the visiting clubhouse shower room.

Several Dodgers bought the grass Friday to make the team feel at home after losing their first nine artificial-turf games, and after winning Friday at Three Rivers Stadium, they were not about to pass on the pasture.

“We were getting it some water,” said Orel Hershiser, chief of the sod squad. “We figure that by tomorrow, it’s going to need some sunlight, so that’ll work out fine since it’s a day game.

How long will they go with the grass?

“Just until we lose,” Hershiser said.