Strawberry Issue Gets to Lasorda : Dodgers: Manager tires of questions about right fielder, who returns to lineup in 9-4 victory over Rockies. Reed has big game.

After a controversial Sunday in San Diego, where his team’s victory took a back seat to a busted water cooler, Manager Tom Lasorda took his show on the road to Mile High Stadium where he was hoping to get a respite.

But the questioning before the Dodgers’ 9-4 victory Monday night over the Colorado Rockies continued to focus on Lasorda’s latest soap opera--”All My Outfielders,” starring a happy-go-lucky player named “Corndog” and a $20.25-million frustrated understudy named Darryl Strawberry.

“Can’t we quit talking about who I am going to play where and talk about something else?” Lasorda asked reporters. “We played a great game Sunday and all I hear is you ask is whether Darryl (Strawberry) is going to play or not.”

Lasorda, who said he is frustrated with all the questions about Strawberry’s frustration, started Cory (Corndog) Snyder in left field and returned Strawberry to right field--each without incident. It was the first time Strawberry has played right field since he returned from the disabled list June 5, and he played it aggressively.

“I’ve just got to put (Strawberry) out there,” Lasorda said. “He’s the kind of guy who is capable of hitting so well he can carry a club. Darryl feels more comfortable in right field and Corndog says he doesn’t care where he plays.”

Strawberry, who was in the lineup to start right field on Sunday, vented his frustration when he was scratched after he arrived on the team bus instead of arriving earlier as required to undergo his daily therapy program for his surgically repaired back.

Strawberry completed his therapy program anyway, then went out to the dugout to check when he would take batting practice. But when he saw he wasn’t hitting in the starter’s group, he hit the water cooler with his bat, scattering ice and water everywhere.

“My frustration is not with anybody but myself,” Strawberry said. “Look at me, I’m hitting a buck forty and my back has been terrible all season. . . . It would have been nice to be told (that he was scratched), but I will leave that alone.”

More mad than frustrated was Fred Claire, the team’s executive vice president, who laid down the law to Strawberry Sunday in a closed-door meeting.

“I basically told him that you are a member of this team and you do what we say under the guidelines we lay down,” Claire said.

Strawberry went 0 for 3 with two walks in Monday night’s game, but afterward said he was just happy to be out there. “I’ve got a long way to go, but everybody else is playing well and hopefully I’ll just slide my way in.”

If Strawberry can fade out for a while, then the attention can turn to some of his teammates, who have done a great job turning this team around.

Pedro Astacio (5-4) held the Rockies to four runs and seven hits through seven innings Monday night for his third victory in four outings.

Tim Wallach was two for four with three RBIs and Brett Butler was two for five. But the star of the game was Jody Reed, who went four for four, including a two-run home run in the fourth inning off Rockie starter Willie Blair (2-4), which gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead. Reed also scored three runs.

“Maybe it was me getting back at my old teammates,” mused Reed, who was a Rockie for six hours after being left unprotected by the Boston Red Sox in the expansion draft. The Rockies then traded Reed to the Dodgers for pitcher Rudy Seanez.

Reed, who is batting .286, says that about three weeks ago he and Eric Karros, who is batting .273 waged a bet--the winner calls the prize--over who could raise his batting average the highest by the All-Star break.

“The way we have been battling back and forth, when you get up there, it gives you an edge,” Reed said.

Meanwhile, Lasorda, when asked how he felt Strawberry played in the outfield, answered this way: “Let’s talk about how Corndog played, let’s talk about the entire outfield. Not just Darryl. And they all played well.”