BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Butler Perked Up After Getting the Call

If not for a telephone call last month from Tom Lasorda, Brett Butler might not be a Dodger today. In fact, if not for the call, Butler might not even be playing baseball today.

Butler, batting only .256 at the All-Star break, was feeling miserable. He was slumping at the plate, his mother was dying of brain cancer, his grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and he hated being with a last-place team in New York.

“He was down in the dumps,” the Dodger manager said. “It just wasn’t going good for him. He was really thinking about quitting.

“I told him, ‘Brett, don’t worry about a thing. You come out of slumps better than anybody I know.’

“Now look at him, and the best part is that he’s a Dodger now.”

Butler has raised his batting average to .313, batting .415 (56 for 135) since the All-Star break, including three consecutive four-hit games July 18-20.

“The phone call meant a lot to me,” Butler said. “I was definitely wondering what I wanted to do. Retirement was on my mind, that’s for sure.

“Tommy gave me one of his old-fashioned pep talks, and now look at me.”

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How crazy has it been in the last 24 hours since Butler was traded?

“The phone’s been ringing non-stop,” Butler said. “It got so bad that my wife had to take the phone off the hook. My aunt, the one who lives in L.A., is just going nuts.”

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Lasorda was pleased to learn that rookie Chad Fonville has relinquished his number, 22, to Butler. The official change will take place next week when the new uniforms arrive.

In fact, if Butler wanted, Lasorda said, he would have given him his own jersey, No. 2, to Butler. After all, Butler wore No. 2 until he signed with the Dodgers four years ago.

“I told him when he got over here, ‘If you want this number, you can have it,’ ” Lasorda said.

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Pitcher Darren Dreifort is sidelined until next season, but he has used the time to complete his degree at Wichita State. He takes his last semester of classes beginning Monday, and is scheduled to graduate in December. “The degree is nice,” Dreifort said, “but I’d trade it in for a second to be a part of this year’s team.” . . . Director Spike Lee was in the Dodger clubhouse before the game getting autographed baseballs from Hideo Nomo. . . . Lasorda, on the Chicago Cubs’ 26-7 victory Friday night over the Rockies in Denver: “Do you know how I approached a game when I pitched in Denver? I would look at their pitcher and say, ‘I can outhit him.’ I’m telling you, every offensive record in baseball will be broken at that place.”