Guerrero May Be Out Two Weeks

Pedro Guerrero learned here Friday morning that he had been added to the National League All-Star team, then flew home to Los Angeles and learned that he probably wouldn’t be able to play.

Guerrero, the only Dodger to play in all of the team’s first 81 games, will be out of action for about two weeks with what Dr. Robert Watkins said was a severe back sprain. Watkins examined Guerrero in Los Angeles.

Guerrero has not played since Wednesday night, when he hit a game-winning home run in Pittsburgh in the midst of a severe back spasm. He said that his back had begun hurting the previous night and worsened as he chased down Johnny Ray’s double into the left-field corner the inning before his last at-bat.

Guerrero complained of similar back problems for the first two months of last season. Although doctors now say that Guerrero has aggravated an old injury, Dodger trainer Bill Buhler said he was unaware of a previous injury.

“He had more problems with his shoulder and his knee than he had with his back,” Buhler said. “To my knowledge, we’ve never done a back study on him.”

Buhler said that Guerrero was still in bed when the team left for the ballpark. “He said he was walking a little better,” Buhler said.

Buhler said he didn’t think Guerrero aggravated his condition by taking his turn at bat Wednesday. Guerrero had gone back to the trainer’s room until it was his turn to hit. He said he told Buhler he’d take one swing and see how it felt. He hit the ball 430 feet for a homer but took 40 seconds to circle the bases because the pain was so acute.

“It’s always a possibility (that the swing aggravated the condition), but I don’t think so,” Buhler said. “Seven days on AstroTurf probably aggravated it more.”

At the moment, Guerrero remains on the National League All-Star team after his selection as a reserve by San Diego Manager Dick Williams.

Dodger publicist Toby Zwikel said that Guerrero expressed a desire to be in Minneapolis for the game Tuesday night, even if he can’t play.

“He told me, ‘Tell ‘em I really want to go, that I really want to play and, short of that, I want to be there,’ ” Zwikel said.

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda spoke to Guerrero by telephone after the Dodgers’ 7-4 win Friday.

“He said he feels a little better,” Lasorda said. “He told me to tell Brock to keep up the good work.”

The Dodgers are losing Guerrero during the hottest streak of his professional career. He hit a National League-record 15 home runs in June and was batting .371 (46 for 124) with 17 home runs and 31 RBIs since Lasorda moved him from third base to the outfield.

In his last eight games, Guerrero was batting .483, getting 14 hits in 29 at-bats. He had hit 11 of the Dodgers’ last 21 home runs.

Overall, Guerrero is third in the league in hitting at .312, second in home runs with 21, one behind Atlanta’s Dale Murphy, eighth in RBIs with 48, tied for fourth in runs scored with 56, and first in both slugging percentage at .582 and on-base percentage at .408. His 11 game-winning RBIs placed him second only to Keith Hernandez of the Mets.