Hoffman Trying to Find a Routine

Glenn Hoffman played eight years in the major leagues, and he managed four seasons in the minors.

But nothing really prepared him for what he has faced in his first week as Dodger manager.

“Everything has been a day-to-day adjustment,” Hoffman said before the Dodgers played Pittsburgh on Saturday night. “All of the stuff I’ve done has helped me getting used to almost a routine, but . . .”

But there has yet to be a truly routine day.

“No, there hasn’t,” he agreed.

Since Hoffman was named manager Monday, there have been three losses, three coaches banished and three more hired from the minor leagues, three players have been recalled from the minor leagues and Antonio Osuna has been installed as a closer in a role that’s so tenuous, interim General Manager Tom Lasorda has been on the phone with Cincinnati to talk about getting Jeff Shaw.

The latest move was Saturday, when the Dodgers recalled pitcher Manny Barrios--the player to be named in the Mike Piazza-to-Florida deal--from triple-A Albuquerque and sent down reliever Will Brunson.

Bill Russell could have told Hoffman that anything resembling a routine was history, at least as far as the Dodgers were concerned.

“I’m trying to get things squared away and get through all this,” Russell told the Riverside Press-Enterprise in his first public statement since being fired. “It’s kind of a mess.”

While Russell has been trying to restore order in his life--”I don’t know if I’m bitter,” he said. “But I know I was disappointed with the way things turned out. Do you know how disappointing it is to be there so long and then for everything to go like it did?”--Hoffman has paced a marathon in the dugout, talking as he walks of situations and giving players an idea of how he likes to handle them. It’s all part of an attempt to communicate, allegedly a failure under Russell.

And he has pumped coaches Joe Amalfitano and Mike Scioscia for information, trying to “learn the other teams real quickly,” Hoffman said.

Through it all, Hoffman’s status is in the back of his mind. The operative word here is “interim,” although Dodger management has gone to great ends to soft-pedal the designation, and although the team has joined the major league mainstream, meaning any mention of the term “permanent” with the job of manager is an oxymoron.

“It’s a fact of life,” Hoffman said of being interim manager. “I know it’s there.”

And he knows what he can do to remove it.

“We’re here to win,” he said.

Until then, newly appointed bullpen coach John Shelby has perhaps the best slant on Hoffman’s situation, even the situation for everybody involved.

“Hoff says everything is day to day,” Shelby said.

Actually, Hoffman would like to be able to say routine day to routine day.

*

After taking batting practice, Gary Sheffield was inserted into the Dodger starting lineup, replacing Matt Luke in right field. Sheffield sat out Friday’s game because of a stomach ailment. . . . Bobby Bonilla, on the 15-day disabled list because of an intestinal ailment, is eligible to come off it Wednesday.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ DAVE MLICKI (3-4, 4.55 ERA) vs. PIRATES’ JASON SCHMIDT (8-4, 3.87)

Dodger Stadium, 5 p.m.

Radio--AM 1150, KWKW (1330).

* Update--Mlicki has not given up an earned run in 22 innings, stretching back to the second inning on June 12 against the Colorado Rockies. It is the longest such streak for any Dodger starter this season, and during it, he became only the eighth pitcher to throw a shutout at Denver’s Coors Field. He is 2-0 with a 2.08 earned-run average in four starts since coming to the Dodgers in the Hideo Nomo trade with the New York Mets on June 4. His Pittsburgh counterpart, Schmidt, has lost three decisions in a row since winning seven in a row. He is 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA on the road this season.

Tickets--(213) 224-1448.