Marshall Won’t Require Back Surgery, but He Will Be Out for Two Weeks

Tests on Mike Marshall’s sore back Friday showed no damage serious enough to require surgery, but team physician Dr. Frank Jobe said the Dodger right fielder will need “a couple of weeks” before he can play again.

The Dodgers will likely decide today whether to place Marshall on the 15-day disabled list. Marshall is scheduled to see a hand specialist today regarding a troublesome wart on his left hand. Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, said Marshall would be put on the disabled list only if he needs hand surgery.

“We’ll have a better idea on that tomorrow,” Claire said.

Marshall, who missed five games this season and most of the second half of last season with the back condition, underwent a Magnetic Resonance Imaging test that can detect even minute irregularities. Results were sent to Dr. Roger Thorne, a back specialist at Scripps Institute in La Jolla.

“To use layman’s terms, it’s a mechanical strain, which means that the lumbar disks begin to dry,” Jobe said. “That happens to everybody, but it’s happened to Mike earlier. It’s nothing that will be helped by surgery.

“He will have to be on a regular program of exercises and, occasionally, medication. . . . This is essentially the same (diagnosis and condition) as last season, but it occasionally needs to be adjusted.”