Dodgers Rained Out for Fifth Time This Season

CHICAGO â€”  Umbrella Day at Wrigley Field, fittingly, resulted in steady rain Monday and the scheduled game between the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs was postponed.

The Dodgers’ fifth rain-out of the young season occurred at an inopportune time, too. They have won 5 of their last 6 games, totaling 61 runs and 67 hits in that span, and were looking forward to trying to continue their offensive assault in a ballpark famous for run production. “They are trying to put us on hold,� Dodger outfielder Mike Davis said. “But you can’t hold back dynamite ready to explode. Whoever is pitching tomorrow is going to have to pay for us waiting another day to explode.�

Monday’s scheduled pitchers--Tim Belcher (2-1) for the Dodgers and Rick Sutcliffe (2-3) for the Cubs--will be the starters today at 11:15 PDT. No date has been set for making up Monday’s game but it will be part of a doubleheader when the Dodgers visit here in July.

The Dodgers, 18-9 and in first place in the National League West, are scheduled to play four doubleheaders--two against the San Diego Padres in June at Dodger Stadium and two on that July trip, one in Chicago and one in San Francisco.

“I’d love to find a way to play, now,� Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I don’t like to play doubleheaders. That’s a lot of ballgames to play in July. But we may even be hotter then. If you’re going to think of the future, think positively.� Dodger left fielder Kirk Gibson, however, spoke more realistically.

“It will hurt us down the road,� he said. “It’s important to try to win as many as we can now, because it’ll be tougher when we have to play all those doubleheaders.

“But if you’re a good team, you have to deal with things like this. There’s nothing to do but rise to the occasion. I remember in ’84 in Detroit, we played four doubleheaders in five days, and we wound up losing only one game (in the standings) after all those games.�

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ confidence has grown as the club’s record has improved.

The Dodgers stayed competitive the first month of the season thanks to excellent pitching and offense provided by Pedro Guerrero and Mike Scioscia. Recently, however, the rest of the Dodger offense has emerged, and the results have been impressive. They have lost only one game in the last week and lead the National League with a .266 team batting average.

“We’ve been waiting for our bats to wake up,� Davis said. “For a while there, even we were a little skeptical about when that would happen. But now, you’ve seen what has happened. This team can explode any day at the plate now.

“Maybe the rain-out today will work to our advantage. It looked to me like the the wind was blowing in today. Maybe tomorrow, the wind will blow out and we’ll hit some more home runs.�

Dodger Notes

Because of Monday’s rain-out and Manager Tom Lasorda’s decision to start Tim Belcher today, Orel Hershiser will pitch Wednesday night and Fernando Valenzuela Thursday night, both against Pittsburgh. . . . Two days after throwing 67 pitches Saturday for the Dodgers’ farm team in Bakersfield, Ken Howell felt stiffness in his right shoulder, according to Dodger trainers. Physical therapist Pat Screnar said Howell, who had off-season shoulder surgery, is receiving treatment at Dr. Frank Jobe’s office in Los Angeles. . . . Because of the rain at Wrigley Field, John Shelby was unable to take batting practice to test his strained right abdominal muscle. It is unlikely that he will be activated before Thursday night, when the trip ends.