There’s No Dodging the Tough Questions

CINCINNATI — On the brink of elimination, their good deeds of September undone by two bad days of October, the Dodgers suddenly find themselves face to face with a winter’s worth of hard questions.

Will Tom Lasorda definitely return as manager? Is Mike Piazza’s future at some position other than catcher? If Chad Fonville can’t play shortstop, who can? What happens to Delino DeShields, if the weak-armed Fonville’s best position is second base?

Isn’t it true that neither Brett Butler nor Roberto Kelly will be invited back? That Fonville might be tried in center field, rather than the infield? That third baseman Tim Wallach might retire, rather than accept a severe cut in pay? How much should the Dodgers spend to re-sign reliever Todd Worrell, a free agent?

Tonight’s game could bring about a serious breakup of the Dodgers.

A mere six days after claiming the division championship, the Dodger camp can’t help but wonder how many current names will appear on the lineup card next April. Management must satisfy itself that this is a World Series club in the making, as opposed to one lucky that the opposition in the National League West was unusually tame.

Lasorda’s return for his 20th season as L.A.’s manager seemed assured once the Dodgers took their division, because who dumps a championship manager? The owner of the Dodgers is not named Peter Steinbrenner.

An announcement is likely by Monday, if not sooner, that Lasorda will be retained. The manager has twisted in the wind a bit, not having the job’s traditional one-year contract renewed in midseason, as had been the Dodgers’ habit the last couple of seasons.

Nevertheless, the failure of the Dodgers from training camp to late summer to get better results out of a team with five all-stars, not including a first baseman having an MVP-worthy season, must have made Peter O’Malley and Fred Claire wonder, at least, whether Lasorda, who recently turned 68, might no longer be getting the most out of his talent.

Since the World Series triumph of 1988, Lasorda’s managerial record is 536-528.

A poor final week of September and he could have been below .500.

On the other hand, did the Dodger manager actually overcome the handicap of fielding the worst defensive team in the National League? When he had to, Lasorda let no sentiment stand in his way, yanking Billy Ashley from left field and Jose Offerman from shortstop for defensive purposes, before it was too late.

Speaking of defense, the failure of Piazza to throw out four base-stealers, one on a pitchout, in Game 2 of the playoffs revived a notion that the Dodger catcher might be better suited playing elsewhere.

This is a bizarre argument, seeing as how the Dodgers aren’t about to put Piazza at first base. Expect him to remain right where he is.

Taking umbrage, understandably, at reviews of his defense, Piazza gently reminds critics of the “really unique staff” he was forced to handle, one that included Tom Candiotti, a knuckleballer, and, at one point, Hideo Nomo, Ramon Martinez, Ismael Valdes and Pedro Astacio, four pitchers for whom English is a second language.

Even professionals often confuse the abilities of certain individuals with reality. After a single by Cincinnati’s Barry Larkin dropped in front of replacement right fielder Todd Hollandsworth, following Raul Mondesi’s ejection from Wednesday’s game, second baseman DeShields speculated that Mondesi might have been able to catch it.

He overlooked a thing or two. One, that Hollandsworth is an exceptional fielder, and two, that he runs faster than the gimpy Mondesi currently does. Furthermore, no outfielder would have been playing Larkin that shallow, or that near the right-field line, to be able to catch that ball.

Hollandsworth will start somewhere next season. Where? Probably in center, because Butler is strictly a temp. Roger Cedeno might be ready, while Karim Garcia, now 19, might be too young. But how about Fonville, whose arm is no worse than Butler’s? And what of Ashley, whose power is awesome? The Dodgers hate the idea of giving up on him.

Several of the Dodgers who take the field tonight might never take it for them again. Only one thing is for sure. Next season’s shortstop is not currently on the team.