DODGERS TRY TO PICK THE RIGHT MAN IN LEFT\Hollandsworth, Ashley offer different styles, skills.

Byline: Tim Brown Daily News Staff Writer

A red-eye flight from Los Angeles arrived in Orlando on Monday morning, and it carried all of the necessities - passengers, luggage, flight crew and two of the Dodgers' left fielders.

Todd Hollandsworth and Billy Ashley deplaned together and began their real journey, in the direction of Opening Day, where one of them might have a full-time job and the other might find himself in search of playing time.

Hollandsworth, with a fresh, blond crew cut, was dressed in a starched shirt and tie.

"I have to take it seriously," he said.

Ashley, who has a tattoo on his shoulder of three wolves howling at the moon, opted for the shorts-and-sweat-shirt look.

"The best man for it's going to win it," he said. "I'm just going to have fun down here."

And so they approached the assignment as starting left fielder for the Dodgers from the same place and from contrasting directions, two of the organization's leading prospects whose futures could begin as soon as six weeks from now. Neither seemed particularly awed by the process, simply braced for it.

Hollandsworth trained this winter in the Dominican Republic, where he contracted bronchitis, lost a lot of weight and stayed around to hit .245 in 39 games anyway. Ashley played in Venezuela, where he batted .305 and homered five times in 30 games. Hollandsworth played in order to retain a job he took from Ashley in July last season, Ashley to take back what he possessed last Opening Day.

"When you get benched and you don't get the at-bats you need or I would have liked to have, you kind of lose that confidence, you lose that touch with the game," said Ashley, who is 25. "That's not the way I want to play the game. Not from the bench. I have to believe in myself for me to be out there every day. I have to be the guy the team wants out there."

He was. Right up until the All-Star Game. Then Hollandsworth took the job.

"I'm definitely more prepared," said Hollandsworth, who will be 23 shortly after Opening Day. "I came into last year not really knowing what to expect. I know what it's all about this year. I'm more mentally focused.

"I'm coming in with the attitude I'm winning the everyday job. I intend to play every day. That's going to be demonstrated by how I perform. I gotta prove to myself and to the Dodgers that I can play this game."

The Dodgers have an idea that he and Ashley can. What they don't know is which does it best. They are different packages.

Ashley, at 6-foot-7, 235 pounds, could be yet another right-handed power source in a lineup that already boasts Mike Piazza, Eric Karros, Raul Mondesi and Mike Blowers, who combined to hit 113 home runs last season. He hit at least 24 homers in three different minor-league seasons. In parts of four seasons in the big leagues, Ashley has hit 10 home runs, one for every 12.6 at-bats. In three-plus seasons, Piazza has averaged one home run for every 15.8 at-bats.

However, defensively, Ashley has been a late-inning replacement waiting to happen, though one of his primary objectives this winter was to correct that.

"Knowing I have to battle for a job has given me more incentive to play harder, not that I haven't done that in the past," Ashley said. "The time to do that is now. And that's what I'm prepared to do.

"After last season and the way I felt about it, I went into winter ball and left there with confidence. I'm young still. I know I can play this game."

Hollandsworth's game is closer to Angels center fielder Jim Edmonds', though perhaps without the home-run power. He is a left-hander with speed and uncanny athletic ability. The Dodgers' commitment to defense is a vote for Hollandsworth, who, along with center fielder Brett Butler and right fielder Mondesi, could make the Dodgers' outfield among the fastest in baseball.

"I haven't been in this situation before," Hollandsworth said. "But I know what it's all about. It's competition. It's baseball."

Something else is baseball: platooning. It's possible and maybe likely if, by April, there isn't enough light between Ashley and Hollandsworth. Hollandsworth batted .194 against left-handers last season, though in only 31 at-bats. In 239 career at-bats against right-handers, Ashley has hit .209.

"There's a good chance of that," Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said. "It could happen. I don't like to platoon, but if I have to, I will."

Though that may be the offensive solution, Butler would like a say on the defensive end.

"I'm not saying you can't win (with a left-field platoon)," Butler said, "but if I've got the same guy out there, I've got his moves, his mannerisms, what he can get to and can't get to.

"You want to have the same guys out there all the time. It's second nature."

However, Butler would not choose who should stand with him on Opening Day.

"Billy has great tools," he said, "and he's done it at every level he's been at. So there's no reason to think he won't do it at this one. Hollandsworth's a thoroughbred. He's hard-nosed. He'll run through a wall for you. It's a pleasant problem, because you have two guys who want to play."

Notes: Right fielder Raul Mondesi was the only absentee on Tuesday, when the Dodgers held their first full-squad workout. Mondesi, who has yet to agree to a 1996 contract, was due to arrive Tuesday night . . . Pitchers Todd Worrell, Ramon Martinez and Ismael Valdes threw off mounds before pitching coach Dave Wallace. Though many pitchers reported last week, this was the trio's first workout . . . The Dodgers elected Worrell their new kangaroo-court justice. He'll replace departed judge Tim Wallach.

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Photo (color) Todd Hollandsworth, left, and Billy Ashley begin spring training with the same goal locking down the starting left-field job. Jon SooHoo / Los Angeles Dodgers