THE MEDIA : GET READY FOR NEW SHADE OF BLUE.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

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Spin, spin, spin this Rupert Murdoch-wants-the-Dodgers business until you get dizzy. . . .

The worst-case scenario: Andrew Shue, who seems to be the only guy on ``Melrose Place'' who can't even get to second base, somehow weasels his way onto the roster as a utility midfielder.

Vin ``X-Files'' Scully is locked into the all-new Fox Sports Blue channel for all 162 games on TV - and never comes back to do radio.

Or Rick ``Melrose'' Monday doing tongue-tied interviews with Fox celebs who drop by the booth during the game - ``So, what's the next project we can expect from Christina Applegate?'' - as the entire fourth inning passes by without notice.

Or Ross ``Married . . . to Statistics'' Porter squeezing in the latest Nielsen ratings and audience shares between the Dodgers' record on Wednesday nights when it goes head to head with ``Beverly Hills 90210.''

The best-case scenario: Fox Sports West 2, as much as we snarl at the arm-twisting methods by which it operates, becomes a mandatory addition to cable boxes (and forces the deletion of the evil HSN).

It's no coincidence that this week, FSW2 sent out a press release disguised as a story announcing new distribution agreements with Jones Intercable (68,000 subscribers in Palmdale and Lancaster who started getting it May 1), TCI (360,000 subscribers, including Calabasas, by July 1) and Charter Communications (225,000 subscribers), which boosts FSW2's infiltration to more than 1.1 million homes. The Fox flacks are talking of cracking the two-million mark, with key signees in Orange County, by next week - just in time for the Ducks' playoff series.

Oops.

The likely story: It doesn't take a Mulder to figure out that, given the Dodgers' exposure on FSW2 is only 40 games right now, it'll at least double next season.

And they'll have to hire a new TV play-by-play and analyst team, because Scully flying solo putting captions on the pictures won't cut it for the thousands who continue to come out to Fox Field at Murdoch Ravine with their transistor radios just to hear his sweet voice.

The Dodgers' exposure on the Fox Network's game of the week shouldn't change. When Disney took over ESPN, our worst fears of seeing the Ducks play on the Sunday-night NHL game every week didn't happen. There's a certain decorum to follow.

The big picture: Murdoch finally spoke from Tokyo on Wednesday about his interest in the Dodgers - even about bringing them to Japan to play the ``other'' Giants.

Think globally, act locally.

Murdoch wasn't in Japan to do karaoke night at the local Yoshinoya. He was locking up another direct-digital satellite-TV deal with his Japan Sky Broadcasting company. When the folks in the Far East figure out Murdoch will have a greater interest in beaming back Hideo Nomo's every move stateside, the yen will be flying to be part of his empire.

Murdoch already has a share of the Australian, United Kingdom and Latin America satellite-dish market. With Peter O'Malley having set the table with his International House of Pitchers, Murdoch needs only to pull up a chair and begin feasting.

The X-factor: Not everything Murdoch wants turns up golden.

His other most recent public display of business dealings was a $1 billion proposal involving a half-purchase in the EchoStar satellite-dish company - which would have made him an instant competitor to the antagonistic cable industry (see: FSW2) and establish a satellite foothold in the U.S., going up against DirecTV and PrimeStar.

After making several appearances before U.S. Senate Commerce Committees to try to get the EchoStar sale approved, Murdoch's people last week admitted the sale was not going to happen, and American Sky Broadcasting chairman Preston Padden resigned after a falling out. EchoStar has since filed a $5 billion breach of contract suit against News Corp., and Murdoch has talked about giving up his ASkyB assets, which include uplink facilities and orbital satellite sports worth almost $700 million.

Stock in News Corp. has also been taking a beating on Wall Street this week.

The bottom line: The Oxford-educated Murdoch isn't stupid. He just loves to take walks on the wild side.

He's hip to turning a business upside down and shaking up tradition to make his madness work. So Dodgers fans shouldn't hold their breath. Change will occur.

And he's got a heck of a track record.

Murdoch told GQ magazine last year: ``Just to buy something because it looks like a nice asset is a great mistake - unless you've got so much money that you can do it for a hobby, or unless you can see that you can do something better with it.''

In Murdoch's case, both apply with the Dodgers, whether or not he can get them at this ``bargain'' price of $350 million, which is more than half of what he spent to get five years' worth of TV coverage for all of Major League Baseball.

Right now, O'Malley's face is on his ``America's Most Wanted'' list. The way Dodgers folks are talking, it's Rup, Rup, Rup for the home team, if he don't buy it's a shame.

But if he does, pull up a chair and grab a Duffs beer. The circus will be in town.

On the air: Live radio broadcasts of the NHL's Western Conference finals have found their way to KIEV-AM (870). Kings play-by-play man Bob Miller joins former King Eddie Olczyk to do the call on the Colorado-Detroit series.

STATION BREAK

What smokes

Dan Patrick to Keith Olbermann at the start of Tuesday night's ESPN ``SportsCenter'' shift: ``Welcome to the `Big Show,' and where the hell have you been?'' The response from Olbermann, fresh off a two-week ESPN-mandated vacation: ``I overslept.''

What chokes

Nike trying to show support for one of its paid endorsers by taking a shot at what it perceives is TV's apathy toward soccer. A current commercial with women's soccer star Mia Hamm has her bemoaning that Summer Olympic TV viewers didn't see her (a.k.a. ``the best football player in America'') win a gold medal ``because all the networks agree that the best football player in America isn't good for ratings.'' The obvious target here is NBC, which won't air the spots. Nor will ABC and CBS. But Fox, ESPN, Comedy Central and BET has been using them. Hey, Nike, guess what? If kickball was any kind of TV sport, the networks would be climbing over each other to televise it. Don't blame TV for the sport's visceral failures. The apathy lies within the viewers - the same ones to whom you're trying to sell shoes.

XTRA-AM (1150) expands the show hosted by Vic ``A Few Bricks Short of a Load'' Jacobs from two to three hours, starting Monday. Oddsmakers have revised the over/under line on the station's demise to late fall, '97.

A lesson in semantics to those who speaketh from Jim Rome's sports-talk ``Jungle Gloss'' and religiously address the host: ``Hey, Romey!'' In the new book ``BuzzWords: L.A. Freshspeak'' by Buzz magazine's Anna Scotti and Paul Young ($9.95, St. Martin's Press), the self-proclaimed last word on SoCal underground lingo includes the entry ``romie: a person who uses drugs.'' (pg. 141). It's not spelled the same, but we suspect the pronunciation guide is close enough. So think twice before requesting a drug test, eh?

Hollywood's insistence on tempting fate by using sports guys in the role of news meat puppets. In ``Volcano,'' there's KTTV Channel 11's Rick Garcia pulling a Kent Shocknek - going head-first under the anchor desk while on air during a pre-lava tremor. Remember when ex-KCAL Channel 9 stiff Gary Cruz played newsman for our alien updates in ``Independence Day''? It's no coincidence - putting a sportscaster in a news anchor's chair is only a recipe for disaster.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: More Dodgers games would likely be on TV if Rupert Murdoch bought the team.

Associated Press

Box: STATION BREAK (See Text)