BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Wallach Downplaying Hit No. 2,000

Perhaps it shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the Dodgers are still amazed by Tim Wallach’s unpretentiousness.

With a fifth-inning single, Wallach has 2,000 hits.

“Don’t get me wrong, it will means a lot to me,” Wallach said before the game, “but winning means a lot more. This just means you have to stay around a long time to do it.”

Even if Wallach is downplaying the event, the Dodgers and Wallach’s peers certainly realize the significance of the milestone.

“In the year of Cal Ripken,” said Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, “there have been some Cal Ripken-type players who never really received the recognition they deserved.

“Tim Wallach is one of those players. I’ve never seen a player less concerned about his statistics or said less about his accomplishments. He’s one of the most unselfish players and team-oriented players who ever played this game.”

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Tom Candiotti still is tentatively scheduled to start Sunday on two days’ rest, but pitching coach Dave Wallace won’t finalize his decision until today. Hideo Nomo is the other possibility. . . . Charlie Hough, who pitched for the Dodgers in 1970-1980, has been hired by the club as pitching coach for the Class-A San Bernardino Spirit. He will join the staff in October in the Arizona Instructional League. . . . The Dodgers were the latest team to meet privately to vote whether to approve several amendments to the Major League Players Assn. that would exclude replacement players from being members of the union.

The Dodgers figure they have the Jim Gott factor working in their favor. Gott, who pitched for the Dodgers last season, has never been in a postseason game, but every team he has pitched for has won the division the following year--St. Louis in 1982, Toronto in 1985, San Francisco in 1988 and Pittsburgh in 1990.