Hershiser

Without Orel Hershiser, the Los Angeles Dodgers - despite a suspect defense and Darryl Strawberry's dismal start - have moved atop the National League West standings. With Hershiser, they just might stay there. Hershiser, who 15 years ago was pumping gas at a Cherry Hill Exxon station, should be throwing gas for the Dodgers within the next two weeks. After undergoing shoulder surgery 13 months ago, Hershiser has been making strides during a minor-league rehabilitation stint.

Ron Darling is the Yale alumnus, but Orel Hershisher is the "Bulldog. " Every time they stick an ABC-TV microphone in front of Tom Lasorda's face, he starts talking about how "Bulldog" is such a great competitor, Lasorda can hardly keep him from selling hot dogs, sweeping off the plate and leading cheers when he isn't pitching. Hershiser, the former Cherry Hill resident who was baseball's dominant pitcher this season, has pitched 15 2/3 innings in three playoff games, has allowed all of three earned runs, and yet he doesn't have a win yet in the postseason.

Don Drysdale had no idea how close he came to keeping his name in the record books. After nine innings of high drama and scoreless baseball, the name of the Los Angeles Dodgers' Hall of Fame pitcher, now a Dodgers broadcaster, was about to be erased as the possessor of one of the sport's "unbreakable" records. But Orel Hershiser, the Dodgers pitcher on the verge of topping Drysdale's mark of 58 consecutive shutout innings, didn't want to go back to the mound for the record-breaking 10th inning.

With Orel Hershiser's season with the New York Mets now over, a new career might be just ahead. The Cleveland Indians have talked to him about becoming their next manager. "We've had a couple of brief conversations," Hershiser said last night before Game 6 of the National League Championship Series in Atlanta. Hershiser, 41, who pitched for the Indians from 1995 to '97, is well liked and respected by Cleveland general manager John Hart, who fired Mike Hargrove last week. "I think when this is over, that is something I would be interested in, interested in talking to John about," said Hershiser, who also could be a candidate for the Indians' pitching coach vacancy.

The Orel Hershiser soap opera is over. The veteran righthander will not pitch for the Phillies this season. The Phils had given Hershiser until 4 p.m. yesterday to accept their one-year contract offer. More than two hours before that deadline, Hershiser's agent, Robert Fraley, called assistant general manager Ruben Amaro. "He told Ruben they were unprepared to meet our deadline, that they were still fielding offers and had a couple already on the table," general manager Ed Wade said.

Before Orel Hershiser pitches in the World Series, and that's very likely to be Game 1 on Saturday, he will be besieged by questions about cheating. Chad Ogea and Orioles manager Davey Johnson saw to that. During the American League championship series, Johnson accused the Indians pitcher of loading up his pitches. Asked about his veteran teammates, Ogea then said, "Sure, Hershiser cheats. Doesn't everyone?" "Everybody knows Chad was joking around," Hershiser said in the Indians' champagne-drenched clubhouse last night.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the ballpark, a peculiar thing happened to those team-of-destiny Phillies yesterday on the way to a 44- game winning streak, 105 wins and a sweep of the playoffs and World Series. They went out and somehow lost one for a change, dropping a 5-1 decision to the Albuquerque "Who Were Those Guys" Dodgers. The Phillies started the day one win from their first four-game sweep of the Dodgers in Philadelphia since 1958. But a guy from Cherry Hill named Orel Leonard Hershiser 4th had other ideas.

If Orel Hershiser is serious about pitching for the Phillies this season, he will get the chance. It's up to him. After much deliberation, the Phils made the 40-year-old free agent a contract offer late Tuesday afternoon. Because the Phillies' major-league roster already was set at the 40-man maximum, Hershiser was believed to have been offered a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training. Should Hershiser accept and earn a spot in the rotation - a strong likelihood if he signs with the club - he would pitch on an incentive-laden major-league contract.

For Orel Hershiser, it was just like 1988: throwing shutout innings with little rest. Only this time, he was doing it as a 40-year-old in 99-degree heat. "This was kind of special," Hershiser said last night after starting with one day of rest for the first time in his career and leading the New York Mets over the visiting Montreal Expos, 10-0. In his previous start, Sunday against Atlanta, Hershiser was sent to the showers in the third inning. With fans chanting "Bulldog," Hershiser once again heard the nickname he first earned by making five starts and a relief appearance in a 16-day span of the 1988 postseason.

A lot of people figured that if Fred Claire's ballclub didn't turn out better than his prose as a sports writer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Peter O'Malley was up to his Brooks Brothers button-downs in trouble. Well, it all came out the way Claire might have written it back when he was a baseball writer - with the happy ending of a pennant and World Series for Dodger Blue. Claire, the Dodgers' general manager, went to work in the marketing end of the front office after his tour of duty as a writer.

Orel Hershiser is leaving his front-office job with the Texas Rangers less than 3 months after he resigned as the team's pitching coach. After 3 1/2 seasons as pitching coach, Hershiser in November became an executive assistant to Rangers president Jeff Cogen. Hershiser interviewed last fall with the Los Angeles Dodgers about their manager and general manager openings. He spent parts of 13 of his 18 major league seasons in Los Angeles, including 1988 when he set a major league record by pitching 59 consecutive scoreless innings and was the NL Cy Young Award winner.

Orel Hershiser, who has no prior coaching experience, was hired yesterday to replace the fired Oscar Acosta as the Texas Rangers' pitching coach. The former Los Angeles Dodgers ace is being asked to make something out of a pitching staff that is traditionally one of the worst in the major leagues. After attending Cherry Hill East High School, Hershiser developed from a 17th-round draft choice into one of baseball's best clutch pitchers. Hershiser, 43, was 204-150 with a 3.48 earned run average in 18 seasons and won the National League Cy Young Award with the 1988 Dodgers, the World Series champions.

Some ex-jocks easily make the transition to the television booth. Others struggle and never catch the wave as smooth talkers. Few former professional athletes have made as positive an early impression as Orel Hershiser. Hershiser (204-150 pitching record in 18 major league seasons) was in the ESPN2 booth Wednesday night at Veterans Stadium for Colorado's 6-2 victory over the Phillies. Hershiser, the Most Valuable Player of the 1988 World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is insightful, relaxed and humorous.

The moment Orel Hershiser will remember most from his playing days was being mobbed on the mound on Oct. 20, 1988. "To have the ball in my hand for the last pitch of the World Series and to be the one being mobbed, that was special," Hershiser, 41, said yesterday as he announced his retirement. "I can't wait for old-timers day, so we can talk about what we did as a group. The individual awards, they get dust on them. The championship team things, that multiplies. " Hershiser, a Cherry Hill East product, was one of baseball's dominant pitchers for the Dodgers in the 1980s.

Orel Hershiser wanted to be the link between the Dodgers' last World Series title in 1988 and their next one. But the team's pitching hero during much of the 1980s was waived yesterday, a day after he gave up eight runs in the second inning of a 9-5 loss to San Diego. The inning was one of the worst of his 18-year career. Hershiser, the 1988 National League Cy Young winner and World Series Most Valuable Player, struggled after rejoining the club as a free agent last winter.

Orel Hershiser, the Los Angeles Dodgers' pitching hero during much of the 1980s, was waived yesterday, a day after he gave up eight runs in the second inning of a 9-5 loss to San Diego. The inning was one of the worst of his 18-year career. "I understand and support the club's decision of giving me my release after the way I performed," Hershiser said in a statement. "I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to play for the Dodgers this season. " Hershiser, the 1988 NL Cy Young winner and World Series MVP, struggled after rejoining the club as a free agent last winter.

Orel Hershiser, who began his career in 1979 in the Los Angeles Dodgers' organization, agreed yesterday to a one-year contract worth about $2 million. The Dodgers, who have an option for 2001, haven't won a postseason game since 1988, when Hershiser, a Cherry Hill East graduate, won the National League Cy Young Award and helped them win the World Series in a true dream season. "I'm elated. I just can't wait," said the 41-year-old righthander, who left the Dodgers after the 1994 season and won 69 games in the last five years.

With Orel Hershiser's season with the New York Mets now over, a new career might be just ahead. The Cleveland Indians have talked to him about becoming their next manager. "We've had a couple of brief conversations," Hershiser said last night before Game 6 of the National League Championship Series in Atlanta. Hershiser, 41, who pitched for the Indians from 1995 to '97, is well liked and respected by Cleveland general manager John Hart, who fired Mike Hargrove last week. "I think when this is over, that is something I would be interested in, interested in talking to John about," said Hershiser, who also could be a candidate for the Indians' pitching coach vacancy.

Orel Hershiser's first thoughts upon reaching the 200-win mark were of his wife, Jamie. Hershiser reached the milestone last night as the visiting New York Mets hit a team-record six doubles in the second inning on their way to a 7-4 win over the Montreal Expos. "I'd like to dedicate something like this to my wife," Hershiser said. "I think that she's been through a lot and I think the girls really stay off to the side and out of the limelight, and they really do an awful lot of work for us to come out here and play as well as we do and take care of our families.

Orel Hershiser has picked the perfect stage. Today, when the New York Mets righthander takes the mound against the crosstown rival Yankees at Shea Stadium, he will attempt to become the 95th player in major-league history to accumulate 200 victories. Yet when Hershiser spoke to the usual throng of reporters after his 199th career win - Tuesday's 10-0 triumph over Montreal - he made it sound as if the real milestone had already been accomplished. For most, 200 victories represents a nice round number, one that attests to a pitcher's excellence as much as his durability and consistency.