BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Was Karros Weighted Down?

Eric Karros says he doesn’t know what, if anything, his weightlifting program had to do with his slow offensive start this season, but he says he will take a different approach in the weight room next off-season.

Karros was batting .220 at the end of April but has hit .304 since. He said he always has lifted weights, but never to the degree he did last winter.

“I was so tight (in his chest), I didn’t feel right at the plate, and there’s no doubt my bat speed was slower,” Karros said. “It’s not the lifting, but I may have gotten into a situation where I started emphasizing the wrong areas (with weights) and probably got a little too involved with the chest area. It’s easy to get caught up with lifting, even though it doesn’t start out that way.”

Karros, batting .266 with 23 runs batted in, says his downfall might have been that he didn’t stretch enough.

“I am still going to lift, but with a different approach,” he said. “I am not a limber guy anyway. I’m not fluid and not athletic, so I need to concentrate on stretching along with lifting.”

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Through 88 at-bats in 1991, Darryl Strawberry was batting .216 with two home runs and nine RBIs. He went on to finish the season batting .265 with 28 homers and 99 RBIs. After 88 at-bats this season, Strawberry is batting .136 with five homers and 12 RBIs, but there is a difference. In 1991, Strawberry made his 88th at-bat on May 7. This season he made it June 8. . . . Mike Piazza continues to lead the team with a batting average of .335, with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. He is tied for fourth in the league in batting average and ninth in home runs. . . . Jose Offerman is batting .288 with seven doubles, four triples and 22 RBIs.