DODGERS NOTEBOOK : MONDESI EARNING A NICKNAME WORTHY OF ROSE.

Byline: Kevin Acee Daily News Staff Writer

It's a little over-the-top at times, but there is no denying Raul Mondesi stands out as the Dodgers' Mr. Hustle.

That's not to say other guys aren't working. But no matter how hard Mike Piazza, Eric Karros or Todd Zeile might try, they just aren't going to go from first to third on a grounder.

``We need a guy like him on our club,'' Eric Karros said. ``We don't have anyone close to him on our club. Not many teams do have a player like that. He's as good of that type of player as there is.''

That type of player is one who hits for power, turns singles into doubles, steals bases and plays right field as if he were born to it.

Mondesi entered Friday's game ranked seventh in the National League with 23 home runs, tied for 16th with 20 stolen bases and fifth with 225 total bases. He had successfully taken an extra base 19 times in 28 attempts.

Friday, he added a stolen base, drove in a run with a double, hit an infield single, singled up the middle and scored three times. He is 11 for his past 16 and is batting .307 with 61 RBI on the season. His numbers are up in every offensive category. His defensive stats will never stand out, because no one will run on baseball's best arm.

Through July last season, Mondesi was batting .281, with 17 homers and 54 RBI.

Does Mondesi, whose aggressiveness sometimes costs him, feel like he is playing his best baseball ever?

``Right now, yeah,'' said Mondesi, the 1994 Rookie of the Year. ``The more you play, you're going to be better.''

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Service time: As Chan Ho Park marches on toward superstardom in both the United States and his native Korea, there is uncertainty about his future.

By age 27, every Korean male is required to begin a three-year service in the army. Many Koreans, however, believe the 24-year-old Park is more valuable as a baseball-playing ambassador than a gun-toting private.

``He is introducing Korea to the United States,'' explained Doug Jeoun, manager of Woo Lae Oak restaurant in Los Angeles' Koreatown. ``That is very important to the Korean people.''

One common theory is that the government will require Park, who won his 10th game Thursday, to return to Korea in the offseason and serve a month or so of soft duty.

Said Doug Hwang, a reporter who covers Park for the Daily Sports Seoul newspaper: ``It would be good for the government to have him in the army, like when Elvis Presley was in this country's army.''

Also: Tripp Cromer was relieved to learn he will likely be healthy enough to come off the disabled list when his 15 days are up. He was diagnosed Friday with a strained elbow, which is not as severe as the originally feared sprained tendon. He was placed on the DL Thursday and will be eligible to return on Aug. 15. . . . Reliever Antonio Osuna got his first major-league hit with a single to right field in the eighth inning.