In Losing, Belcher Still Ahead : Baseball: Arbitrator sides with Dodgers, but the pitcher still will double his salary to $900,000.

Tim Belcher may have discovered the high cost of a shoulder injury Wednesday when the Dodger pitcher lost his arbitration case and his hopes of becoming the team’s 13th million-dollar player.

Arbitrator Reg Alleyne ruled that Belcher will earn $900,000 this season instead of the $1.35 million he requested. It was the Dodgers’ first arbitration victory in two hearings since Fred Claire became vice president in 1987. Tim Leary was awarded $670,000 after the 1988 season.

Belcher, using arbitration in his first year of eligibility, was hoping the four-hour hearing at a Los Angeles airport hotel Tuesday would right what he perceived as two years of salary injustice.

After each of his first two seasons with the Dodgers, featuring an award-filled rookie summer in 1988 and 200 strikeouts in 1989, he refused to sign a contract, forcing the club to unilaterally renew his contract each time.

Last season, when he earned $450,000, Belcher was 9-9 with a 4.00 earned-run average. He didn’t pitch after Aug. 16 because of a sore right shoulder and underwent arthroscopic surgery Sept. 11 to remove a piece of torn cartilage in the shoulder.

“I think my shoulder injury had to be the only reason I didn’t win the case,” Belcher said Wednesday. “I was in the hearing. I heard everything. I really thought we hit a home run. But then it’s like, we round the bases and cross home plate and the umpire tells us it’s a foul ball.”

Belcher said he would have no hard feelings toward the club, adding: “I took a chance, I lost. It’s all business, I understand that.”

The only thing about the decision that might linger with Belcher was the presence of Dodger coach Joe Ferguson in the hearing as a representative of the club’s legal team along with Dodger lawyer Bob Walker and two other attorneys.

Teams usually avoid placing field personnel in the position of arguing against a player in such hearings. Although Ferguson spends Dodger games positioning outfielders from the press box, he often works with the players during early batting practice.

“To see Joe Ferguson in there as a club representative against me was, at best, curious,” Belcher said. “I was not in agreement with it.”

Dodger executive Fred Claire, who did not attend the hearing, said: “Joe was there to lend extra baseball expertise if it was needed. It was not needed. He did not say anything.”