BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Three Consecutive Doubleheaders Set

One week after the Players Assn. vetoed the idea of the Dodgers and Montreal Expos playing one of their makeup games during the All-Star break, the National League has scheduled three consecutive doubleheaders on July 6, 7, 8 at Dodger Stadium.

The league also announced the scheduling of a July 3 makeup doubleheader between the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, meaning the Dodgers will play four doubleheaders in six days to make up for games postponed during the Los Angeles riots.

This will be the first time a team has played three consecutive doubleheaders since 1976.

“It’s nothing I’m thrilled with, to say the least,” said Fred Claire, Dodger vice president. “I don’t like it, but that’s what it is, and that’s how we’ll play it.”

The players were even less thrilled, with one player proclaiming, “I guess (National League President) Bill White is not a pitcher.”

“Yeah, some guys are upset, but I think we’re feeling, ‘Let’s just get it done, get it over with,’ ” Brett Butler said.

The doubleheaders mean the Dodgers will play the longest home stand in Los Angeles history, 22 games in 18 days, from June 25 to July 12. The doubleheader starting times will be 3:35 p.m. on July 3, 6 and 7, and 12:05 p.m. on July 8.

Mike Morgan, who is a Cub but will not pitch this series, said he missed his former Dodger teammates but not the team. Morgan was voted the Dodgers’ most valuable pitcher last season but left the team as a free agent. “And I know they miss some people more than me,” he said. “Like, I know they miss Eddie Murray and Tim Belcher. We had a team last year that finished just one game behind, and you would have thought they would have kept it together.”

How available is Cub reliever Dave Smith? Although he has had fewer than 23 saves only once in the last seven seasons, he does not even have a save opportunity this season. The Cubs have gone to youngster Chuck McElroy and Paul Assenmacher. . . . The Dodgers were further touched by area violence last week when Tim Maulding, brother of longtime bullpen catcher Todd Maulding, was stabbed in the neck with a steak knife after his bakery truck was stopped by a woman in South-Central Los Angeles. Because the knife did not break through nerves or muscles, Maulding will be fine.