BASEBALL : DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Murray Takes Early Batting Practice

Dodger first baseman Eddie Murray, who has only 10 hits in his last 50 at-bats, took extra batting practice at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“I was just out there working trying to get things right,” Murray said. “That’s what early batting practice is about.”

Mitch Webster, who homered in the bottom of the ninth to send Tuesday night’s game into extra innings and then hit a bases-loaded single in the 10th to give the Dodgers a 6-5 victory, has hit in six of the past eight games. He is batting .471 with four RBIs in that span.

Traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Dodgers for Jose Gonzalez on July 3, Webster hopes to have found a home in Los Angeles after playing for Toronto, Montreal, the Cubs, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Dodger pitcher Mike Morgan, who has an inner ear infection which forced him to leave a game last week, said his condition is improving. “I’ve still got the infection, but it’s not as bad as it was a week ago,” Morgan said. “Hopefully by my next start on Sunday it will be completely gone.” . . . For the first time since Dodger Stadium opened in 1962, the Dodgers have padded the outfield wall, and Dodger outfielder Darryl Strawberry, who hurt his shoulder when he ran into the outfield wall earlier this season, is pleased with the change. “If it was there before, I could have avoided the injury,” Strawberry said.