Dodgers’ Battery Provides Electricity : Baseball: Piazza hits two homers, Hershiser raises average to .424 in 8-3 victory over Cardinals.

Maybe when he is lying on the beach in Maui during the off-season, the success will finally sink in. All the home runs, all the applause, all the records that have chronicled the rookie season of Mike Piazza.

Maybe then, Piazza will remember Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, when he had his second two-homer game of the season, helping the Dodgers to an 8-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

“This whole year has been kind of overwhelming and I haven’t sat back and thought about it,” said Piazza, who hit his 26th and 27th home runs of the season and set a Dodger franchise rookie record.

“I just feel great right now, and even more important, we just broke out of a slump we had at home. Like I’ve said, no matter how I do, if your team isn’t winning, you really don’t have much to celebrate.”

The Dodgers’ wake-up call came about an hour before the game, when the players heard the wrath of Manager Tom Lasorda in a closed-door meeting.

Behind Orel Hershiser (10-12), the Dodgers put together a 16-hit performance to avoid a Cardinal sweep and a losing home stand. But with Hershiser pitching, the key question was: How many of those hits were his?

“This is the first year (the pitchers) haven’t had a gentleman’s bet going on a hitting duel,” said Hershiser (10-12), whose run-scoring double in the fourth inning increased his batting average to .424.

“I think somebody had the inside track.”

Hershiser pitched a three-hitter through six innings, but what fired up the afternoon crowd of 33,794 was his bat. Hershiser belted a 1-and-0 pitch to left field in the fourth inning that bounced past Bernard Gilkey, who slid on his knees as he tried to make the catch. The run-scoring double put the Dodgers ahead, 3-0, and was Hershiser’s 25th hit of the season. The rest of the pitching staff has combined for 30 hits, Kevin Gross next with nine.

The only run Hershiser gave up came in the sixth inning on two walks and a couple of bloop hits by the Cardinals. It was understandable why Lasorda removed him from the mound afterward, but not quite clear why he sent up a pinch-hitter for him in the bottom of the inning.

“I wanted to protect his average,” Lasorda said.

In his 17th year as the Dodger manager, Lasorda said he has never had a team with this much of an identity crisis. It is either very good, or very bad. Never has Lasorda managed a team that is this consistently inconsistent. “Not this much, no,” he said.

But throughout the season, Piazza’s consistency has never faltered. His .316 batting average, 139 hits, 84 runs batted in and 27 home runs not only lead the team, but rank high in the league. And it all seems to be no surprise to Lasorda, who has been throwing baseballs to Piazza since he was a boy.

“When you saw this guy in the spring, he was awesome,” said Lasorda, who is a cousin of Piazza’s father, Vince. “I saw him when he was 11 and 12 and I used to throw balls to him, and I said then that he hit balls like Ralph Kiner. You never saw a 14- or 15-year-old kid hit balls as high as he did. When he was just a youngster, you knew that the strength was there. It was just a matter of him growing up and doing the job.”

Piazza, who will turn 25 this week, hopes the success of this season never sinks in. “I’ve been asked if I’m surprised and yes, I’m a little bit surprised,” he said.

“But then again, for every bit of success you have, you set a standard for yourself and people start to expect that. No matter how well you do, there is always room to improve.”