Every Dodger Has His Day, 15-1 : Baseball: Hershiser pitches fifth complete game, yields only five hits to the Giants.

When it was all over, when the Dodgers had pounded the San Francisco Giants for a season-high 17 hits and a 15-1 victory Monday at Candlestick Park, the question remaining was obvious.

“What have we done today that we haven’t done on the other days?” asked Mike Piazza, who turned in a great day’s work, both behind and at the plate for eight innings before taking teammate Eric Karros’ glove and playing first base in the ninth inning.

Orel Hershiser (8-9) pitched his team-leading fifth complete game, holding the division-leading Giants to five hits and throwing his vintage sinking fastball on all but 10 pitches. Only one Giant reached third base after the third inning, during which Kirt Manwaring scored the Giants’ run on a bouncer up the middle by Darren Lewis. That made the score 6-1.

“We haven’t had a laugher in a long time, let’s see . . . well, it was some time ago,” said Hershiser, who faced only 31 batters. “I felt good today and Dusty (Giant Manager Dusty Baker) rested many of the starters after a while. But no lead is safe in this ballpark.”

Jody Reed, who said he asked the team for a victory as a birthday present--he turned 31 Monday--said he could sense the players’ energy before the game.

“You’re up for every game, but your energy level rises when your backs are against the wall, and it better be up,” Reed said. “I could tell from the first inning, our concentration was locked in and we had a goal--certainly not to score 15 runs, but we were locked in.

“All I asked the team for was a ‘W’ as a present. They sure know how to deliver, don’t they?”

The Dodgers arrived in San Francisco for this three-game series after scoring only 10 runs on 21 hits in the last three games, and that was against the last-place New York Mets.

So to make sure his team had something to work with, Manager Tom Lasorda said he tried the mental approach. After Brett Butler had led off the game with a walk against starter Bryan Hickerson (5-2), Lasorda had Jose Offerman sacrifice Butler to second base.

“Well, I thought that, psychologically, if we could get one run in front it would help,” Lasorda said.

After five innings, the Dodgers had moved ahead 11-1, knocking out Hickerson in the third inning for the earliest departure by a Giant starter in 88 games. The Dodgers’ 15 runs were a season-high and the most the team has scored since May 24, 1990, against the Chicago Cubs. It is the Giants’ worst defeat since 1975, when the club lost 17-2 to St. Louis. Before Monday, the Giants’ biggest defeat this season was a 10-0 shellacking by the Mets. Still, Baker would not subscribe to the theory that the team, having beaten the Philadelphia Phillies in three of four games during the weekend, was experiencing a letdown.

“It’s not a letdown, but it’s just, I could tell when everybody walked in this morning, it was hard getting their engines started,” he said. “That’s the beauty of baseball, tomorrow’s another day. Like I said, this team always rebounds after a tough loss, and today was as tough a loss as we’ve had.”

The Giants have lost consecutive games only once since June 4 and only three times this season. They haven’t been swept all season, but have swept the opposition six times. And their timing has been impeccable--they have lost only seven times on the same day the second-place club has won.

But the Dodgers have been tough on the Giants this season, beating them in five of seven games. In the Giants’ last 15 series, the Dodgers are the only team to win the series from them, which they did a month ago in Los Angeles.

“But there’s a short memory here,” said Butler, who was two for two with a sacrifice fly and a walk and scored two runs. “The Giants have beat our butt the last four or five years. (Sunday) we were as flat as could be and then today we score 15 runs. The key is to be consistent and we haven’t been, and it’s been that way all year.”

Piazza’s two-run home run off the right field screen--his 21st homer this season--put the Dodgers ahead by 6-0 in the third inning. Henry Rodriguez’s two-run homer in the fifth inning made the score 8-1 and Karros’ solo shot over the left-field wall in the eighth inning put the Dodgers ahead, 12-1.