This Time, It’s OK for Parker to Replace, 4-1 : Baseball: He steps in for Kelly and helps the Dodgers beat the Phillies in 10 innings with a pair of run-scoring singles.

Rick Parker was petrified. He scanned the nameplates each day in the minor league clubhouse, watching his friends get released and wondering if he would be next.

He was playing well, but because of his refusal to cross the picket line and become a replacement player earlier this spring, he realized the possible consequences.

Wednesday night, Parker became a hero as the Dodgers scored a 10-inning, 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, ending their five-game losing streak.

“The irony of this is that if I was a replacement player, none of this would have been possible,” Parker said. “They never would have brought me up. They couldn’t. It would have been too big of a distraction in here.

“I know I could have been guaranteed a job by becoming a replacement player, and I would have made pretty good money [$10,000 a month], but I just couldn’t do it.

“Thank God.”

Parker entered the game in the fourth when center fielder Roberto Kelly suffered a bruised left knee when hit by a pitch.

Parker stepped to the plate in the sixth inning and tied the score with a run-scoring single.

He won the game in the 10th with a two-out single, driving in Jose Offerman from second base.

Eric Karros provided a three-run cushion when he followed with a two-run home run into the center-field seats, and Todd Worrell continued his season-long scoreless streak in the 10th for his fourth save, preserving the victory for Ramon Martinez (5-3).

“Maybe this is what we needed,” said Karros, who extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games, “someone unexpected to step up and do what Rick did for us tonight.”

Most of the Dodgers had never met Parker, 32, until he was called up eight days ago. He spent parts of four seasons with three big league teams, but never played more than 54 games in any season.

He was released by the New York Mets after last season and, until January, hadn’t received a call. Then teams began replacing striking regulars and called Parker, a prototype replacement player.

“The Dodgers asked me a couple of times to be a replacement player,” Parker said, “but they were great about it. They didn’t put any pressure on me and let me go to the minor league camp.

“I just prayed I’d get off to a hot start. If I didn’t, I knew I was a goner. I’d be out of baseball.”

He batted .323 at triple-A Albuquerque, and when the Dodgers needed an outfielder after their trade with Montreal, they turned to Parker, who instantly earned his teammates’ respect.

“For a guy in his situation, it would have been very easy for him to cross,” said Dodger left fielder Billy Ashley, who threw out Gregg Jefferies at the plate in the fourth. “I’m sure it was very difficult for him. But he did the right thing. And as a player, I thank him.”

Parker, drafted by the Phillies in 1985 and traded two years later, upstaged Philadelphia starter Michael Mimbs in their dueling pursuits of revenge. Mimbs (3-1), vowing to make the Dodgers regret they released him two years ago, yielded only five hits and one run in seven innings.

“I guess I made a statement just by making the team,” said Mimbs, whose twin brother, Mark, was a Dodger replacement player and now pitches for Albuquerque. “I’ve got nothing to prove to them.”

Mimbs’ effort ordinarily would have been good enough. But on this night, Martinez matched him pitch for pitch, yielding three hits and one run in nine innings.

Catcher Carlos Hernandez attributed Martinez’s performance to his inside fastball. Martinez simply attributed it to Hernandez.

Martinez, visibly upset in his last start because of the Dodgers’ decision to use Tom Prince behind the plate, requested that Hernandez start Wednesday.

“I just feel so much more comfortable with Carlos,” Martinez said. “He’s like my wake-up call.”

Certainly, the statistics support Martinez’s claim. He is 2-1 with a 1.67 earned-run average when Hernandez has been behind the plate, and 0-2 with a 13.60 ERA when Prince has been there. He is 2-0 with a 1.92 ERA when Mike Piazza has been the catcher.