Gibson Too Sore to Play : Dodgers: Hobbled outfielder overextended himself in Michigan and won’t be ready for a while.

Kirk Gibson, who couldn’t wait two more days, is now worried that he may have to wait another month. Or longer.

On what was supposed to be his first day of organized training since Aug. 29, when he had surgery on his left knee, Gibson arrived at Dodgertown Thursday and wearily said, not so fast. After taking 150 swings in a high school batting cage Tuesday near his Michigan home, he awoke Wednesday morning with his left knee sore and inflamed.

Too sore to take batting practice, too sore to run the bases, Gibson began his spring with a trip to the trainer’s room. Then a trip to the weight room. Then back again.

When Gibson’s season will begin is anybody’s guess, including his. Last month, he said he could not be ready for opening day with three weeks of training camp. Now it appears he will be lucky to play in the opening month.

“I had not done anything with a bat or a ball up to (Tuesday); I was going to wait,” Gibson said wistfully. “But then they settled the lockout, and everything was rush, rush, and everybody was down here doing something and . . . hey, at first I was just hitting off a tee, and then in a cage. I didn’t think this would happen. I thought I would be OK.

“I don’t see how I could have reinjured it. But it’s inflamed. It’s my first setback.”

Gibson had spent the winter working five hours a day on strengthening his body and originally planned to avoid hitting or fielding until he arrived here. But those guessing Gibson would give into temptation were proved right.

Said Dr. Frank Jobe, the Dodgers’ medical director: “In retrospect, he came back and tried to do too much. Yes, 150 swings for a first time was probably too much. But I would hate to call it a setback. It may last only 24 hours.”

Jobe said he was heartened that Gibson’s soreness did not occur until a day after the impromptu batting practice, and that it was not in the area of last summer’s incision, but in surrounding tendons.

“It would have been one thing if he felt the pain right away, but he didn’t,” Jobe said. “And he was not sore where the operation was, but in a different area, which could easily happen. I think this will get well.”

The Dodgers should hope so. Already missing outfielder Kal Daniels because of his tests today for possible heart irregularities, Manager Tom Lasorda may need to do some fancy opening-day figuring--not that he’s openly worried.

“We’ll have three guys in the outfield, I’m almost certain,” Lasorda said. “We’ll manage somehow.”

If Daniels proves healthy, the effect of Gibson’s absence will be lessened. But if Daniels is unable to play by opening day, the Dodgers probably would choose a left fielder from among Chris Gwynn, who looked strong in batting practice Thursday, John Shelby or Jose Gonzalez.

Gibson said he has no choice but to begin his spring training in the background.

“I’m not going to be doing anything real exciting,” he said. “Therapy, lifting weights . . . “

When asked for the umpteenth time about yet another target date for his return to the lineup, he winced and said: “How can I give you that? I’m not going to give you that. I will not rush it--it will not allow me. I’m not going to do anything stupid. I’m not going to rush this time.”

Gibson even went so far as to talk, once again, about retirement. When asked if this injury could be career-ending, he shrugged.

“It’s possible,” he said. “‘It’s possible.”

As he has proved time and again, with Kirk Gibson anything is possible.

Dodger Notes

All of the Dodgers but outfielders Kirk Gibson and Kal Daniels were in camp Thursday for the first full workout. . . . Manager Tom Lasorda said he was still awaiting results of his knee X-rays but did not think it looked good. “The X-ray technician was honest with me; he told me it looked terrible,” said the still slender Lasorda, whose weight-maintenance program could be affected if he is unable to exercise.

Willie Randolph arrived in camp with one thing on his mind, and it wasn’t the trade rumor that has him being sent to Oakland or Cincinnati as soon as the Dodgers find a center fielder that will enable Juan Samuel to move to second base. “It’s like Don Mattingly (of the New York Yankees) said, once we get started, all I care about is playing the game, and the rest will take care of itself,” Randolph said.