Order Restored With Butler Back

Dodger center fielder Brett Butler, who scared his teammates when he missed the start of Monday’s game while being examined for a swollen lymph node, was pain-free Tuesday and back in the starting lineup.

“It’s still tender,” Butler said, pressing the side of his neck, “but there’s no pain. Before, it was like a dull pain. Like a toothache. I didn’t want it to linger, so I decided to get it checked out just for a peace of mind. My wife (Eveline) has been sick the last week or 10 days, and I just caught a virus, that’s all. . . .

“Nice day off, huh?”

Butler arrived for Monday’s game in the third inning, entered in the ninth, and scored the winning run in the 15th inning of the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory over the Mets.

With two out and Butler on second base, catcher Tom Prince hit a grounder to the right of first baseman John Olerud. Pitcher Joe Crawford, who actually made his major league debut in the top of the 15th as a pinch-hitter, was late covering first. Prince beat him to the bag by half a step, and Butler kept running.

“I figured we were going to win or lose the game on a fluke play,” Butler said. “I didn’t even look to see what the pitcher was doing. I just kept going.”

It certainly wasn’t pretty, particularly considering the Dodgers played the entire game without an extra-base hit, but the Dodgers will take it. The five-hour game was the eighth-longest in Dodger history.

The Dodger bullpen pitched nine scoreless innings in the game, and before Tuesday’s game had not yielded an earned run in 28 innings this season. Pedro Astacio, who was scheduled to start tonight, pitched the final three innings for the victory.

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While three Pittsburgh Pirate players might have shown poor taste last Saturday by running in the outfield during a pregame ceremony honoring Jackie Robinson, Met third baseman Butch Huskey won’t be leaving his seat during the April 15 ceremony at Shea Stadium.

Huskey is one of three players who wears No. 42 in honor of Robinson, joining Mo Vaughn of the Boston Red Sox and Tom Goodwin of the Kansas City Royals.

“I’ve never met the young man,” said Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson, “but I look forward to meeting him. I’ve heard so much about him.” Said Huskey: “You kidding me, I can’t wait to meet her. When I leaned about Jackie Robinson in high school, I knew I wanted to wear his uniform. This is my way of honoring him.”