It’s August: Strawberry Season Is Here : Dodgers: Outfielder continues power display since All-Star break with two homers, seven RBIs in victory over Padres.

When Darryl Strawberry went up to bat with the bases loaded in the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 9-5 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday, coach Bill Russell nudged someone in the Dodgers’ dugout.

“If I’m the pitcher, I’d intentionally walk him,” Russell said. “Give up one run instead of four.”

If only the San Diego Padres’ Ricky Bones had been listening. Three pitches later, Strawberry hit one over the left-center-field fence for a grand slam.

When Strawberry came to the plate with runners on first and second in the seventh inning, Brett Butler, standing on second base, began furiously pointing to his eyes.

“Just wanted to remind Darryl to keep his eye on the ball,” Butler said. “Darryl looked back and me and said, ‘Yeah.’ ”

Yes, indeed. Three pitches later, the only people who could see the ball were the fans in the right-field seats, where Strawberry had hit a three-run homer, completing one memorable day.

Two home runs. Seven runs batted in. Five giant hugs at home plate. Two curtain-call chants from the crowd. And one big weight lifted from the shoulders of one big Dodger.

Nobody who saw this game will ever again look at Strawberry and wonder what all the fuss is about.

“A lot of people thought Darryl was dead,” Lenny Harris said. “I guess they know now that he wasn’t.”

Said Strawberry: “I know a lot of people have been talking a lot of things about me, but hey, I say, let them enjoy it. You can be the last laugh if you know you can play.”

Strawberry’s seven RBIs are the most by a Dodger in Dodger Stadium history and the most by a Dodger anywhere since Ron Cey set the Los Angeles record with eight on July 31, 1974 at San Diego.

His home runs gave him five in his last 20 at-bats and 13 since the All-Star break, the most in the National League.

But before 32,864 on a warm afternoon, Strawberry did more than pad his statistics. He did more than help Orel Hershiser run his record to 5-2 in 5 2/3 innings of pain-free work.

What Strawberry did was restore flickering Dodger spirits. For the first time in weeks, the Dodgers actually looked as if they were having fun.

After his grand slam, which came on an 0-and-2 pitch, Strawberry refused to step outside the dugout for a curtain call because he thought it was too early in the game. Not to worry.

Mike Sharperson, the reserved reserve, leaped onto the field and waved a white towel, causing the cheers to swell.

“I figured I would take that curtain call for him,” Sharperson said. “Why not? It got everybody excited.”

Also after the grand slam, Harris, who had been on second base, exhorted the crowd with outstretched and raised arms as he walked back to the dugout.

“I was just cheering for Darryl like everyone else,” Harris said with a smile. “I was saying, ‘Darr--yll! Darr--yll!’ ”

Strawberry, who is batting .259 with 21 homers and 68 RBIs, has come a long way since the All-Star break, when he was batting .229 with eight homers and 30 RBIs.

Actually, he has come a long way since Friday night, when he was heavily booed for one of the first times here this season. He halted the jeers with a game-winning homer against Houston in the 13th inning that night, and he has not stopped swinging.

He has 17 RBIs since then.

“I come from a place (New York) where people were always yelling and hollering at me, telling me how bad I stink. . . . So those boos were great,” Strawberry said. “I loved them. I’m used to them. Maybe sometimes they help me.”

What has helped Strawberry more, though, has been time. He apparently has finally adjusted from his celebrated free-agent move--”Remember, I only played for one other team my whole career”--and his separated right shoulder has finally healed.

“And, oh yes, it’s August,” Strawberry said. “It’s getting to be the fun time of the year.”

Before this season, Strawberry had hit 98 of his 252 homers in the last two months of the season, compared to 154 in the first four months.

The Dodgers, who finished this home stand with a 7-3 record after sweeping the Padres in three games, are beginning to understand those statistics. They have won the past five games in which Strawberry has hit a homer.