Inside: Baseball

THE RABBIT'S BITE

In the last month one of the cries around baseball has been: Where are the hitters? The Dodgers have eight good starting pitchers and still haven't been able to make a trade for a hitter. The Padres, who have used nine different people in the fifth spot in the order, haven't been able to package a decent pitcher (Eric Show) with a young catcher (Benito Santiago or Sandy Alomar) for someone to knock in some runs. The Red Sox are so punchless that they are 2-11 in Fenway against lefties. The Astros, Braves, Cubs, Cardinals, Mets, Yankees, Tigers, Orioles and Blue Jays have also been shopping for power.

"Where are the big guys who can hit the ball out of the park?" asks Dodger scout Jerry Stephenson.

Two years ago the big question in baseball was: Where's the pitching? That's because 1987, the year of the juiced-up baseball, was the biggest home run season ever. "A lot of guys who weren't home run hitters hit them that year and fooled a lot of people," says Detroit general manager Bill Lajoie.

Look at the Dodgers. They got John Shelby cheap when the Orioles gave up on him because of a lack of hitting. Shelby hit 21 homers in less than a full season in L.A., and the Dodgers thought they were set in center for years to come. Since the 21-homer season, Shelby has hit only 11 more. Through last Saturday, he had seven RBIs this season. And the Dodgers are now searching desperately for his replacement.

Shelby is not unique. Wade Boggs hit 24 homers in '87; he has had seven since. Wally Joyner hit 34; he has had 15 since. Tim Wallach had 26 then; 15 since. Rafael Palmeiro hit 14 in 221 at bats, and the Cubs thought he would be a home run hitter; when he stopped hitting homers, the Cubs got down on him and traded him to Texas, where he has been a very good line-drive hitter.

All told, 171 players hit 10 or more homers in 1987, and 94 of them had their career highs. Seventy-four of those players haven't hit as many in 1988 and '89 combined as they hit that season.

So, was that a rabbit ball in '87 or not? "They told us the balls weren't juiced up," says Whitey Herzog. "It was a joke."

PAIN, NO GAIN

BOSTON RED SOX: Placed Carlos Quintana, outfielder, on the 15-day disabled list; moved Ellis Burks, outfielder, from the 15- to the 21-day list; moved Dennis Boyd, pitcher, from the 21- to the 30-day list.