BASEBALL AT THE BREAK : For Offerman, No Boo-Hooing About Catcalls : All-Star game: Dodger shortstop, jeered by fans over selection, is greeted warmly by teammates and says he belongs.

ARLINGTON, Tex. —  Jose Offerman opened the clubhouse door Monday morning, stepped in and stopped.

He scanned the room, then broke into a huge smile.

It finally had sunk in: Jose Offerman, shortstop of the Dodgers, is an all-star.

“The fans can keep booing me,” he said. “People can write what they want. People can say what they want. But you know, this is something they can never take away from me.

“I’m an all-star. I’ll always be an all-star.”

The trouble, Offerman realizes, is that it’s not good enough.

The way he figures it, as long as he continues to play in Los Angeles, it will never be good enough.

“I think that’s the hardest part to accept,” Offerman said. “It’s like, what do I have to do? I could hit .400 and not make an error for a season, and it still wouldn’t be good enough.

“You like to play for fans who appreciate you, but I don’t know if that can be ever be possible in Los Angeles. I don’t think I can ever live up to the fans’ expectations.”

If that is true, why keep playing for the Dodgers?

“That’s something I have to ask myself this winter,” Offerman said. “You wonder if it’s worth it. And I don’t know the answer to that.”

Said Cincinnati shortstop Barry Larkin, “What’s going on out there isn’t right. I mean, get booed when make your first All-Star team? By your own fans?

“I think everybody in this room feels for the guy. No one deserves the things he’s going through, least of all him.”

When Offerman signed with the Dodgers nine years ago, he was supposed to make everyone forget Bill Russell. He could field, he could hit, and he had power.

He was going to be a perennial all-star, and there wasn’t a team in baseball that wouldn’t have wanted him.

When Offerman was selected as the Sporting News’ minor league player of the year in 1990, and then homered in his first major league at-bat, off Dennis Martinez, it only increased those expectations.

But for four years, he has failed to live up to them--even this year, the year he was selected an all-star. Offerman, a career .247 hitter, is batting .303 this season but he also has 20 errors, tying him for the major league lead with San Diego third baseman Ken Caminiti.

Dodger first baseman Eric Karros said, “He was the only guy I’ve ever seen that could control the game offensively and defensively.

“I don’t know if he was trying to do too much once he got here, but I think guys were frustrated because they had heard all of these things he can do, and they weren’t seeing it.”

Said Dodger second baseman Delino DeShields, “I saw that talent the first game he ever played in the big leagues. When he took Dennis Martinez deep, I said, ‘Damn, this guy is good.’

“But what I didn’t know were a lot of the things that were going on here. I’m not going to point fingers or name names, but he had his detractors.”

The Dodgers, in fact, worried last winter whether Offerman would be accepted back by his teammates. They knew everyone remembered his tantrum during the 1994 season when he refused Manager Tom Lasorda’s instructions to bunt. And they never saw him again after he was demoted in June to triple-A Albuquerque.

“I went to his home this winter,” Dodger hitting coach Reggie Smith said. “I looked at him in his eyes and asked if he wanted to play for the Dodgers. I told him if he didn’t, we could trade him.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Yes, I want to stay. I’ll make the effort.’ He gave me his word he’d apologize to his teammates.”

It’s unclear just whom Offerman offered apologies, but he apparently has won over most of his teammates with his new attitude. He has yet to inspire fans.

“Jose is the quiet type, he likes to maintain his privacy,” Smith said. “But I think for Jose to win them back, he’s going to have to open up a lot more to people. He’s going to have to communicate his feelings toward them.”

This is why tonight’s All-Star game, perhaps just an exhibition to many, could be the most important game of Offerman’s career.

“There’s an opening for him and he’s got to take advantage of the situation,” Smith said. “He’s got the opportunity to endear himself to the fans because he’s wearing that Dodger uniform.”

Said Dodger all-star right fielder Raul Mondesi, “I hope he goes out there and gets the game-winning hit. I hope he’s the MVP of the game. It would be great. The way he’s been treated by the fans, it would be great. He might do it, too, because he’ll be more relaxed. He knows nobody will boo him in Texas. They only do it in Los Angeles.”

Offerman, told by third baseman Bobby Bonilla of the New York Mets simply to ignore the criticism, is almost embarrassed by the support. He was approached by nearly half of the National League team, players offering regrets for his treatment and offering advice.

“It made me feel good, the way everybody talked to me,” Offerman said. “It shows people care about you. I get so down sometimes. But after today, they remind me that I’m a good player.

“They tell me now, no matter what I do for the rest of my career, I can always say I was an all-star. After today, I’ll never forget.”