BASEBALL: DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Strawberry on Disabled List

Darryl Strawberry was placed on the disabled list after undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging exam late Saturday afternoon at Centinela Hospital Medical Center. According to Dodger spokesman Jay Lucas, Strawberry is “in a great deal of pain and discomfort and experiencing occasional spasms.”

Surgery is considered “not likely” at this point. Instead, Strawberry will remain in the hospital three to four days while an attempt is made to decrease the inflammation.

Strawberry has appeared in 26 of 32 games, hitting .250 with five home runs and 21 runs batted in. His last homer came in Montreal earlier this week in his first at-bat after the back problem had forced him to miss four games. But he failed to get a hit in his next seven at-bats, striking out six times.

It is considered likely that the Dodgers will activate Kal Daniels to take Strawberry’s place. Daniels was put on the disabled list April 30 because of a sore right knee.

Daniels is hitting .200 without a home run or a run batted in in 11 games.

Right-hander Bret Saberhagen of the New York Mets will return to New York to have his ailing right index finger examined. Saberhagen has a strained ligament in that finger, an injury that forced him out of Friday night’s game against the Dodgers after five innings.

Keith Jones, a 21-year-old right-hander for the Vero Beach Dodgers, was arrested Friday for falsely reporting his car stolen and then collecting the insurance. The recipient of nearly $20,000 in insurance money, Jones was charged with two felony counts. Released Friday night after posting an $11,500 bond, he will be permitted to continue pitching pending the outcome of the case.