Rookie Carrying Dodgers

Brett Butler sensed there was something special about the kid when they first met a year ago. The kid, simply by watching and listening, drew deep admiration and respect for Butler.

Today, Dodger rookie outfielder Todd Hollandsworth is doing everything possible to make Butler proud of him.

Hollandsworth not only is keeping the Dodgers’ playoff hopes alive, carrying them to an 8-5 victory Monday over the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, but in three days will being living out a dream when he and Butler begin playing together.

“I think it’s obvious it will be Friday,” said Butler, who met with Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, before the game. “I’m going in with the thought that I’m going to be playing every day for the rest of the year.”

Said Hollandsworth, who likely will be dropped from leadoff to fifth in the lineup: “Really, this is a dream. It’s a miracle really. This is something Brett and I talked about, and now it’s going to happen. For me to be playing with Brett in September with the division on the line is something I’ll remember the rest of my life.”

Hollandsworth took a huge step toward winning the rookie-of-the-year award with his performance--two doubles, a home run and three runs batted in.

“I think what he’s doing is more special than what any of us did,” said Dodger first baseman Eric Karros, who in 1992 became the first of the Dodgers’ four consecutive rookie-of-the-year winners. “He’s playing for a pennant contender. He’s playing with more pressure and is being asked to do more than any of us has had to do.

“What he’s done is incredible.”

Butler, perhaps more than anyone else, is relishing Hollandsworth’s heroics. He was the one who inspired Hollandsworth to keep his confidence when it looked as if he might be sent to triple-A Albuquerque earlier in the season. He was the one who kept telling Hollandsworth to believe in himself.

Butler proudly has watched Hollandsworth bat .348 with 13 runs, four homers and 13 RBIs the last three weeks. He is the primary reason the Dodgers (75-62) have won 16 of their last 22 games.

“He exemplifies what it’s supposed to be like to be a professional baseball player,” Butler said. “He doesn’t get caught up in the 90’s garbage, ‘How cool do I look?’ He’s a total team player.

“He’s a throwback. He could play at any time in any era.”

Butler said of all the thousands of letters and cards he received, the most memorable was the one he received from Hollandsworth.

“He told me, ‘This world is a scary place without you in it for me,’ ” Butler said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Hollandsworth’s latest heroics began with two outs in the seventh, and the Dodgers trailing, 3-2. Hollandsworth, who struck out in his first two at-bats against Met starter Mark Clark, got ahead in the count, 2-and-1. He waited for a fastball. Clark delivered. Hollandsworth swung and sent the ball into the Met bullpen behind the right-field fence for a two-run homer.

Karros, who once again is proving to be the money man in the pennant stretch, provided a key two-run homer in the eighth for a 6-3 lead.

It was Karros’ 30th home run, making him the first Dodger first baseman to have back-to-back 30-homer seasons since Gil Hodges in 1954. Karros also has a team-high 96 RBIs, including 40 in the last 35 games.

The Mets came back to make it interesting with two runs in the bottom of the eighth, but along came Hollandsworth again to the rescue.

Center fielder Chad Curtis hit a one-out, bad-hop single that squirted past second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo into right field. Hollandsworth stepped up and hit a double into the gap in right-center.

The next thing anyone knew, Hollandsworth was breaking for third base after catcher Todd Hundley dropped the throw home, and scoring when Hundley’s throw to third glanced off Alvaro Espinoza’s glove for an 8-5 lead.

Todd Worrell closed out the game in the ninth for his league-leading 38th save, preserving the victory for Pedro Astacio (9-7).

“I’m not even thinking about any awards,” Hollandsworth. “I just want to get into postseason, and maybe after that, I’ll start thinking about what I’ve accomplished. But not now.

“I’m having too much fun to worry about that stuff.”