DODGERS NOTEBOOK : BUTLER STRUCK BY FLY BALL, MISSES START.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

He is developing as the Dodgers' answer to Ziggy, the comic-strip character with the pure intentions who continually seems to get the back of fate's hand.

Dodgers outfielder Brett Butler was felled again Friday, this time by a freak batting-practice injury in which he was struck in the face by a fly ball.

Butler suffered a cut above his left eye that required three stitches to close. Although he said he was prepared to play in the Dodgers' game with the Florida Marlins, he looked as if he had just emerged from a barroom brawl, and manager Bill Russell scratched him from the lineup in favor of Darren Lewis, who already had been robbing Butler of playing time lately.

Butler's emotions when he was knocked to the ground by the ball? ``I got mad,'' he said. ``It was, `Something else? Are you kidding me?' ''

Indeed, count 'em up: He fought off throat cancer last year and made a courageous return in September, only to break a bone in his hand when struck by a pitch.

In this season, which Butler announced would be his last, he twice has visited doctors for throat troubles, landed on the disabled list with a cartilage tear in his left shoulder, injured his neck slightly while making a dive for a ball in the outfield, was struck on the rump by a batting-practice liner from the bat of Raul Mondesi . . . and now this.

``I tell you what, you're going to have to carry me off this field the last 22 games,'' Butler said. ``I'm going to go out the way I came in, kicking and screaming. . . . Somebody or something's trying to take me out. But I'm going to persevere.''

Batting practice mishaps are not uncommon, but they usually occur on the infield or just back of it. Butler was struck by the ball while standing in front of the left-field bullpen gate.

He was fielding fly balls hit by coach Manny Mota from near third base when reserve catcher Tom Prince, in the cage at home plate, sent a drive down the line. ``Hot, sunny, hazy day,'' said trainer Charlie Strasser, ``and, obviously, nobody saw it coming.''

Strasser added that there was ``no loss of consciousness, no dizzyness, no upset stomach,'' which are common symptoms of a concussion.

Watch the birdie: Mondesi forgot that the Dodgers were due at the park early for a shooting of the team picture and missed the session entirely.

His image will be added to the photo later through the wizardry of computer graphics, a team official said.

Mondesi won't be unique in that regard. Ramon Martinez missed the session, too, but his was an excused absence. He was the starting pitcher for Friday night's game, and the coaches did not want him on his feet and in the outfield heat posing for pictures.

Gift for Murdoch: The Dodgers, who are averaging 40,500 fans per home game, will probably top 3 million in attendance Monday night against the Marlins. It will mark the fifth time in the past six full seasons that the Dodgers have cleared that pinnacle.

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Photo: BRETT BUTLER

He overcame throat cancer last season, then fought back from injuries to his hand, neck and shoulder, only to be sidelined again Friday.