BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Karros Welcomes Break From Attention

The closer Eric Karros moves toward winning the Rookie of the Year award, the hotter it gets.

Karros acknowledged that while he is grateful for the constant attention, it is making him weary. He has three hits in his last 20 at-bats.

“I’m sort of glad to be back on the road,” he said at the beginning of the Dodgers’ 11-game trip through the Midwest. “Things got pretty heavy during the last home stand. I say ‘Yes’ to every interview and every request, and maybe I have to start being a little picky.”

Karros was able to work in relative obscurity during much of the early season, but since the Dodgers have fallen out of the championship race, he has become the team’s best story.

“It was easy in the beginning of the year, and even in the middle of the year, but now it is hard,” he said. “I know this sounds trivial, and maybe it’s not that big of a deal, but all of the outside stuff wears on you.”

Karros might get a break from the media attention when Darryl Strawberry returns, or when Mike Piazza is recalled from triple-A Albuquerque.

But it would take a standout month by either Moises Alou of the Montreal Expos or Reggie Sanders of the Cincinnati Reds to prevent Karros from becoming the Dodgers’ first Rookie of the Year since Steve Sax in 1982.

Eric Davis made his first start since Aug. 1 and collected his first hit since then on a single to right field during the sixth inning.

But he said he would reserve judgment on his sore wrist until he came to the ballpark today.

“This is the most activity I’ve done (since going on the disabled list),” Davis said. “I’ve got to wait 24 hours to see how it feels.”

The Dodgers held their breaths in the fourth inning when Davis made a running catch on a line drive by Ray Lankford. Davis said he would have dived for the ball on the hard artificial surface if necessary.

“I am not going to sacrifice a game and hurt my teammates,” Davis said. “They are trying hard, and I will keep going hard, even if it means diving.”

Bob Ojeda, with one victory in his last nine starts despite a 3.42 earned-run average during that time, probably winced when he saw David Cone traded from the New York Mets to the Toronto Blue Jays Thursday. But while he said he was happy for Cone, he refused to publicly lament that because he did not pass through waivers earlier this month, he will probably not be traded to a contender. “I started the season with this team, and I will go down with the ship,” he said . . . Tom Candiotti said his bruised left knee passed several tests Wednesday, and he will remain in the starting rotation . . . Darryl Strawberry is still in Los Angeles with an upper respiratory infection but is expected to join the Dodgers during this trip.