Dodgers Are Left With Old Questions : Baseball: Strawberry and Worrell could fill the need of a left-handed bat and bullpen stopper.

Last spring, Manager Tom Lasorda asked Darryl Strawberry to hang around the clubhouse so he could meet the Dodger charter plane, which was arriving from Los Angeles with the nucleus of players.

“Can you imagine the looks on their faces, Darryl, when the other players see you there?” Lasorda asked Strawberry, anticipating their jubilation.

This spring, the only feeling Strawberry elicits is trepidation. Once again, he is the wild card in a Dodger lineup that needs a dominating left-handed hitter to break out of mediocrity.

“He’s the key,” Lasorda said.

Lasorda didn’t meet the plane when it arrived Thursday, only the second time he had missed the event in 22 years. He was originally told it would arrive today, and had committed to a charity event in Nashville. So, while he was in Tennessee, he stopped by the Sisters of Mercy convent to visit some of the nuns and to ask for some special prayers.

“I need you to find me a left-handed nun to pray that I get a left-handed reliever,” he told them. “Then I need you to find me another nun, just to pray for my defense.”

The Dodgers, coming off a .500 season, open spring training today in a newly aligned National League West, where their competition is the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies. The team improved last season, but the questions Lasorda has to answer in the next six weeks are the same as those of last spring. They begin with Strawberry, his new left fielder.

Club officials said Strawberry’s surgically repaired back is absolutely sound. But his tendency to find trouble off the field is still suspect. If Strawberry stays out of trouble, is productive and is not traded, Lasorda will use him as the cleanup hitter, followed by Mike Piazza and Eric Karros, and probably Raul Mondesi, who is the favorite for the right-field position.

Second baseman Delino DeShields strengthens the lineup considerably with his speed and bat, but Lasorda, who spent Wednesday night here with some of his former players, said he still isn’t sure about having him lead off. That prompted former Dodger second baseman Davey Lopes to say:

“You put Brett Butler behind DeShields, he steals, Butler bunts him over and you have a guy on third base with one out.”

Jose Offerman, who gained about 12 pounds while playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, stole 30 bases last season (to add to Butler’s 39), which makes Lasorda want to keep Offerman in one of the top three positions of the lineup. Offerman batted .308 with runners in scoring position, and drove in 62 runs overall.

“It all depends on Darryl in the cleanup spot,” Lasorda said. “We’ll get it figured out by the end of spring training.”

Tim Wallach, who has drawn rave reviews for his work during the winter, is the incumbent at third base, and unless prospect Mike Busch emerges, there really isn’t anybody else. Dave Hansen, who set the Dodger franchise record last season with 18 pinch-hits, is not considered a good enough fielder to be seriously considered for the spot.

The Dodgers made no progress during the off-season in filling the glaring bullpen deficiency that cost them games and destroyed morale on the team. They open camp without a left-handed stopper, which keeps them from matching up against teams loaded with left-handed batters, such as the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves.

So, the image of Rod Nichols standing on the mound in the 20th inning against the Phillies continues to haunt the Dodgers.

And even without Will Clark, the Giants are tough and are led by Barry Bonds, who warrants a left-handed stopper in the late innings. Right-hander Pedro Martinez helped shut down the Giants last season, and he went to Montreal in the trade for DeShields.

Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, has spent the last year looking for a left-hander, but says there aren’t many available. As he did last spring, Claire has resorted to inviting several newcomers to try out, along with returnees Omar Daal and Steve Wilson, one of whom will probably make the roster by default.

The effectiveness of the bullpen depends greatly on injury-plagued Todd Worrell, who had only five saves last season. Worrell says he is sound, which means Jim Gott, who had 25 saves in 1993, might be able to return to the setup role, Martinez’s former slot. Roger McDowell, who did a good job in mid-relief last season, returns, as does long-reliever Ricky Trlicek.

The Dodger starters--all right-handers--finished with the third-lowest earned-run average in the major leagues, but only one of the five, Pedro Astacio, had a winning record. Tom Candiotti pitched well, but wound up with an 8-10 record because of poor offensive support. Orel Hershiser, Ramon Martinez and Kevin Gross round out the rotation.