Don’t Try to Tell Butler This Game Has No Clock

If this is Brett Butler’s last hurrah, as he has said it will be, he still thinks the hurrah is possible.

Thinks the Dodgers can produce it and thinks he can help.

Thinks, however, that as he embarks on the last half of his last season that the clock is ticking in more ways than one.

Thinks that with the expansion draft in November, the Dodgers have to make too many decisions on too many young players to believe a 40-year-old center fielder would remain part of the lineup if the club lacks a viable shot at the division title.

Thinks, perhaps, that if the Dodgers don’t soon reel off the 15 of 16 that “we’re capable of,” his role could expire in another month or so.

“Hopefully, we can play with a flourish over the next month,” Butler said Wednesday night as the Dodgers and Angels--loosely and heatedly--renewed interleague acquaintance in Anaheim.

“That’s why I’m still here. I think we can do it,” Butler said of the elusive flourish.

“But if we’re still seven or eight out in mid-August or so, I think the Dodgers have to decide what direction they want to go and don’t look back.

“I mean, I don’t think they’re at the push-comes-to-shove point, but they have a number of things they have to address and they’ve got to start at some point.”

Butler batted leadoff and played center field Wednesday between Todd Hollandsworth and Raul Mondesi, with Roger Cedeno on the bench next to Billy Ashley.

While cognizant Butler will require regular rest, this is the way the Dodgers would like to go as often as possible now, stabilizing what has been a revolving door in the outfield.

The hope is that Hollandsworth, back from Albuquerque, can provide some left-handed production and that Butler, with admittedly diminished skills but still batting a pregame .310 with a .410 on-base percentage, can provide some leadoff consistency ahead of Mike Piazza, Eric Karros and Raul Mondesi, who were smoking in June.

Butler said he is probably 85% of what he was before his battle with cancer and about 50% of what he would like to be now.

Part of that is being 40 and the ailments that accompany it. The left shoulder injury that caused him to sit out 24 games still requires surgery “but if I didn’t think I could contribute I wouldn’t still be playing. All I can do is what I’ve done for 17 years, which is give everything I’ve got, physically and mentally.

“If it’s not enough, I’ll walk away and tip my cap. I’ve got nothing more to prove. The only thing I want to do is win a world championship.

“If the organization thinks that can happen with me playing, that’s why I’m here.

“If not, then I’ll go get surgery and the Dodgers can turn the page and move on.

“It’s going to happen at some point, and I’m not going to be surprised if they feel they have to do something and that something involves me.”

For now, Executive Vice President Fred Claire said, the Dodgers need to stabilize the outfield as much as possible, need Butler’s on-base potential as much as possible.

The November expansion draft is an issue in ‘97--each club can basically protect 15 players in the first round--but “we’re not into evaluation at this point, we’re into results,” Claire said.

Did Hollandsworth regain his stroke in Albuquerque? Will Karim Garcia? Can Cedeno and Ashley retain a measure of form playing irregularly?

Is this a potential logjam?

The Dodgers are accomplished spin doctors, which is not to say that’s what Claire was doing when he said:

“Some may disagree, but with Mondesi, Hollandsworth, Garcia and Cedeno I believe our outfield talent is in excellent shape for both this year and the future.

“People talk about our lack of left-handed hitting, but Hollandsworth and Garcia have to rank among the top echelon of young left-handed hitters.”

Time will tell, of course.

For the present, Claire said, Cedeno has demonstrated he can provide satisfactory relief for Butler, while Ashley seems likely to languish on the bench.

“Billy is another right-handed bat in a right-handed lineup,” Claire said. “He has the ability to hit home runs, but he’s more of the same look and he doesn’t give us the speed and defense Hollandsworth does.”

Meanwhile, between errors in a Freeway Series type performance more characteristic of spring training, the Dodgers and Angels, enlivened the interleague stage with a fourth-inning melee that started with a shoving match between Tony Phillips and Tom Prince after Phillips--who once said “nobody takes the cake from my kids’ mouths”--had been almost hit by a Chan Ho Park pitch.

It was no place for a 40-year-old, and by the time Butler had arrived from center field, the mob was under control, and Butler ultimately trotted back to his position amid the ticking clock.

Or, as he said before the game: “I’ve always been an unselfish player. If they say, ‘Brett, you’re a left fielder’ or ‘Brett, you’re a center fielder’ or ‘Brett, you need more rest,’ I’ll do anything to help the team. I’m not a child. I can handle anything they want. If they say, ‘Bugsy, you can’t play anymore,’ I can handle that, too.”