Their Questions Are Answered : Dodgers: As club heads home, short spring training appears not to have hurt them too much.

Two weeks after they unpacked their bags, the Dodgers loaded up again and flew out of Dodgertown Wednesday.

But like any good last day of spring training camp, it provided some important answers.

--Yes, Eddie Murray can make Tom Lasorda laugh.

The Dodger first baseman, who was spiked in the left foot by New York Yankee catcher Rick Cerone Tuesday, hobbled into Lasorda’s office Wednesday morning on crutches, with a cast on his leg. The joke appeared to work, even though the cast was on the right leg.

The Dodger manager’s loud laugh let everyone know that Murray was fine and next week will be able to continue his streak of playing in 359 consecutive games.

--A shorter spring actually helped some pitchers.

Jim Neidlinger was voted the winner of the Mulvey Award, annually given to the top rookie at Dodgertown, on the basis of two official spring innings.

And Orel Hershiser and Tim Belcher went through an entire spring without being bugged by their manager.

“Good to see ya, Bulldog,” Lasorda yelled at Hershiser as the pitcher walked past his office Wednesday. “That makes twice I’ve seen you this spring. But that’s better than Belcher. I saw him the other day and said, ‘When did you get in?’ ”

Two weeks in the baseball world is like two days in the real world, which makes it even more surprising that the Dodgers were able to get anything done. But following Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to Montreal in the camp finale, which dropped their record to 5-4, the Dodgers had managed to get 316 official at-bats and pitch 82 innings. And their real questions ended up with some real answers.

--No, Kirk Gibson is not going to be ready for opening day. But yes, Kal Daniels is.

Gibson arrived in camp with soreness in his surgically repaired left knee after taking 150 swings off a batting tee two days earlier. It cost the outfielder more than a week of field work. He is taking batting practice now, and is running the bases at less than full speed, and hopes to be ready by mid-April.

Daniels, already recovering from off-season knee surgery, arrived in camp several days late after a scary session of heart examinations due to a detected irregular heart beat. The outfielder was cleared of all problems, began playing Sunday, and is already up to five innings.

--No, Jim Gott will not be ready opening day.

Expect Gott to be placed on the disabled list after pitching in the Freeway Series either Saturday or Sunday.

Although the new Dodger reliever has thrown three official scoreless spring innings in his comeback from last season’s elbow surgery, his pitches are coming across the plate far too slowly. He will likely be out 21 days, during which he will probably pitch for Class-A Bakersfield or another Dodger farm team in hopes of returning by May 1.

His spot could be taken by either Jeff Bittiger or Mike Hartley, two right- handed relievers who should see work in this weekend’s Freeway Series

--Juan Samuel should not embarrass himself in center field. And yes, his leadoff hitting could change the face of this team.

The heralded new Dodger was a model citizen, spending half of his time claiming he will not complain about playing a still-foreign center field, and the other half getting base hits. Samuel hit in seven of the team’s nine games, batting .364 with a team-leading 12 hits and two stolen bases.

The former All-Star second baseman was also adequate in center, committing no errors while making several running catches.

“It’s like I told him in the Dominican (Republic) this winter,” Lasorda said. “He has everything it takes to be a center fielder. It all boils down to, how bad does he want it?”

--No, Willie Randolph didn’t age 10 years over the winter while listening to trade rumors after the club acquired Samuel. The second baseman went two for three Wednesday to improve his spring average to a team-leading .434.

“I’m just a basic kind of guy. I don’t fool around a lot with mechanics and all that,” Randolph said. “As soon as I get my timing down, I’m ready. After working hard all winter, it happens just like that. And it’s already happening.”

--No, Dodger pitching will not be devastated by the short spring. Ramon Martinez became the first Dodger starter to go five innings in his work against the Expos Wednesday, meaning the rest of the rotation will likely reach that distance before opening day.

That means a probable limit of six or seven innings each for the Dodger starters in their first regular-season appearances, perhaps eight innings in their second starts, and by the third starts things could be back to normal.

“That’s two unusual starts out of 30-some starts during the season,” Lasorda said. “That’s not a problem.”

--Yes, the club’s top position prospects became lost in the short spring.

The middle infield duo of Jose Vizcaino and Jose Offerman combined for five at-bats. Third baseman Dave Hansen was given seven at-bats. Catcher Darrin Fletcher batted five times.

Expect Dodger officials to monitor their progress closer than ever at triple-A Albuquerque this summer. With injuries to regulars, they could experience sudden advancement, at which point their spring training big-league exposure could happen in July.

“We knew this would happen,” Lasorda said. “There just wasn’t enough time to see everybody.”

--And no, a shorter spring did not effect Lasorda’s reputation for practical jokes. Within days of playing an April Fool’s joke on infielder Lenny Harris by telling him he had been sent to the minor leagues, Lasorda played a similar trick on pitcher John Wetteland and outfielder Chris Gwynn Wednesday.

With a camera hidden in his office closet, filming for a segment of a television show involving former Dodger outfielder Jay Johnstone, Lasorda summoned Wetteland and Gwynn and told them they had been traded to Montreal for Tim Raines. Needless to say, it shook the players up.

“I acted like I liked it,” said Gwynn, who has been hearing trade rumors all winter. “But I didn’t.”