BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Strawberry May Return Soon

Darryl Strawberry said he has revised predictions and now hopes he can join triple-A Albuquerque on a rehabilitation assignment in two weeks.

That means he could return to the Dodger lineup after the All-Star break.

The reason for his optimism was that he ran and swung a bat at soft tosses from a coach Thursday for the first time since going on the disabled list because of a herniated disk May 16.

“Two weeks is what I’m hoping for,” Strawberry said while standing along the third-base line, swinging a bat. “I need to get in there, and this team needs something to get them going.”

Strawberry was asked his opinion of the removal of Kal Daniels from the roster.

“I had nothing to do with it,” he said with a smile. “I wasn’t even around when it happened. That’s all I can say.”

Strawberry said that he was in Las Vegas last Friday attending the heavyweight championship fight between Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes.

But he said he did not fly there.

One of the reasons he could not be with the team during the last trip was that doctors did not want him to fly for extended periods.

“I took a limousine there. It was no big deal,” he said, answering criticism from some fans who phoned local radio talk shows after spotting him at the fight. “And I could have flown there anyway. It’s only a short flight, and the reason I wasn’t with the team was because they didn’t want me taking those three-hour flights.”

Mike Scioscia said his bruised left rib cage was still too sore to bat or throw Thursday, and he missed a second consecutive start. Scioscia hopes to return by next week, at the latest. . . . Rudy Seanez rejoined the Dodgers and played catch for the first time in several weeks. He recently had been undergoing his back therapy at double-A San Antonio. Seanez has made such improvement that trainers are saying there is a chance he could be back in the major leagues before the end of the season.