DODGERS NOTEBOOK: LASTING IMAGE; STUCK WITH PLATOON LABEL, DEVEREAUX TRIES TO HANG ON.

Byline: Matt McHale Daily News Staff Writer

October 1995 was the best month of Mike Devereaux's life. And the worst.

After nine big league seasons, Devereaux finally had a World Series ring. While playing for the Atlanta Braves down the stretch, he became typecast as a platoon player even though he was a regular all year with the Chicago White Sox and hit a career-high .299.

Two and a half years later, it's a label he can't shake.

``It's hard to explain how great that experience was coming over from the White Sox and being a part of a championship,'' said Devereaux, who one month from his 35th birthday is trying to make the Dodgers as a non-roster player. ``But it had its drawbacks. I had played every day for seven years but in one month people stopped seeing me that way. I know I still can do it.''

He won't play every day in Los Angeles.

As Devereaux pointed out Friday after collecting a double and a triple and after making a spectacular catch in the Dodgers' 18-2 victory against Baltimore, he didn't have a lot of options. He was released last June by Texas and failed to catch on with another club.

In 1996, Devereaux played a full season with the Orioles in his second tour with the team. He had been an All-Star center fielder with Baltimore in 1992 and finished seventh in American League MVP voting.

``But (Orioles manager) Davey Johnson thought I had been a bench guy my whole career and that wasn't going to change. I went to the Rangers the next year, but that didn't work out.''

Out of necessity, Devereaux shifted his focus to staying in the game. He played three months this winter in Venezuela and was signed by the Dodgers on Jan. 18. The club likes his defense and work ethic, but his bat will determine whether he makes the team.

``He certainly is capable of making the club,'' manager Bill Russell said. ``He still can run, but it will all come down to whether he hits enough. We like what we've seen so far. He is a veteran who has been through it. That is important.''

It was a much different scene during the spring of 1989 when Devereaux was traded to the Orioles for right-hander Mike Morgan.

``My chance had finally come,'' Devereaux said, pointing to his old locker across the Dodgers spring clubhouse where he learned of the trade. ``Of course, I wanted to play here, but it wasn't going to happen.''

Before the trade, Devereaux, Chris Gwynn and Dave Hansen represented the next generation of Dodgers. They were eager for playing time, but all were heading back to Triple-A Albuquerque.

Devereaux got out. Gwynn and Hansen stayed and became the Dodgers' top left-handed hitters off the bench in the early 1990s. But they never became regulars.

``There are a lot of guys who could do it if they got the chance to play every day,'' Devereaux said. ``I'm not talking about getting a month or two, but an entire season. It's hard to get that feeling out of your system, but baseball is a game of adjustments. That's why I'm here.''

Ashes to Ashley: While Devereaux has a good chance to make the team, Billy Ashley has none. The Dodgers tried to peddle him to the Red Sox for nothing and were rejected. Releasing him is a possibility.

Friday, Ashley, 27, who will earn $450,000 if he makes the team, showed why he was once considered one of the top power hitters in the organization he has been a member of for 10 years. Ashley pinch hit for Jose Vizcaino in the sixth inning and hit a grand slam off right-hander Gabe Molina, who is expected to start the season at Double-A.

``I don't know what is going to happen, barring a trade and I don't know what the future holds for me,'' said Ashley, who is better known for striking out once every three at-bats during his career. ``I'm coming to the time where I'm reading the writing on the wall where there is nothing here. With the limited time I've been getting, it appears there is a different direction away from me.''

SPRING TRAINING '98

DODGERS

FACT: Although they scored six runs in the sixth inning of their 18-2 victory against Baltimore, the Dodgers probably had their best fundamental inning of the spring in the fourth. Todd Hollandsworth - a hitter the club wants to stop pulling everything - doubled to left. Jose Vizcaino, a contact hitter, slapped a single to center. Wilton Guerrero, whose intensity was questioned last year, stretched his drive to center into a triple. Eric Karros later had one of his two RBI with a two-strike single and Mike Piazza ran from first to third.

NOTES: The Dodgers have voided the $1 million contract of Korean right-hander Sug Chung after an examination of his shoulder detected a slight tear. . . . Karros returned to the lineup after missing three games with a sore left knee and went 2 for 3. The knee was a little stiff during early workouts. . . . Ramon Martinez allowed one run in four innings and has given up just one run in seven innings this spring.

QUOTE: ``He looks like he's ready to start the season, but I am not ready to say he is the Opening Day starter,'' manager Bill Russell said of Martinez, who has started the last three openers. ``He's made two starts. There is still a lot of spring left.''

-- Matt McHale

ANGELS

FACT: While they had 21 hits in a 19-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday, it was not a good day for the Angels. Catcher Todd Greene, coming back from surgery on his right shoulder, felt it tighten up during morning throwing and had to stop. After he hit an RBI double in the first inning, he went to a hospital for an MRI. ``He had to shut it down and that's not good because he was on schedule to that point,'' manager Terry Collins said. ``He was throwing from 150 feet and he was supposed to go 15 minutes . . . but after 10 minutes, we had to stop.'' Greene is 4 for 12 this spring, playing exclusively as a designated hitter.

NOTES: Second baseman Randy Velarde also had an MRI. Velarde, who missed all of last season because of an elbow injury, said it has been ``really, really tight'' this week. He won't throw or hit for at least a week.

QUOTE: ``We knew coming in that we might have some problems with these guys, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating,'' Collins said. ``Now Greene has a setback and Randy can't even get at-bats in. But we've got a long way to go in the spring and another week or so before things start to get critical.''

-- Daily News Wire Services

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BOX: SPRING TRAINING '98 (see text)