BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Gross Learns How to Pitch

The shoulder stiffness that has plagued Kevin Gross since January has taught him to be a different type of pitcher, and the results have been good. “Instead of going all out, I’m learning how to pitch,” he says.

In 12 starts and 82 1/3 innings, Gross has 76 strikeouts and 19 walks, the best ratio of his career. Andy Benes of the San Diego Padres leads the league with 88 strikeouts.

“Kevin used to pump, pump, pump. He is such a competitor and so fierce, he was coming at you all the time,” said Fred Claire, executive vice president. “Now he is changing speeds, getting ahead of the hitter. He’s learning more about pitching then he ever knew.”

Gross, who had a 13-13 record last season, hasn’t had a winning season since 1985. But in seven of 10 seasons, he has pitched 200 innings or more, a factor that figured into Claire re-signing Gross, who is 5-3 with a 3.72 earned-run average, to a one-year contract of $2.7 million for this season.

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Gross, who spends a lot of time in the bullpen when he isn’t starting, staunchly defends the embattled relievers.

“If they don’t get into a game, they have warmed up, and with all of those one-run games, they have a lot of stuff going on,” Gross said of the team’s league-leading 31 one-run games, in which they have a 16-15 record.

“They are getting in and not getting in every night, just doing what it takes to win, and they got worn out. None of us starters have a problem turning the ball over (to a reliever).

“You go down there while they are throwing, and they have some of the nastiest stuff you can see. It’s not that they don’t have good stuff when they get out there, but maybe it’s that one (bad) pitch.”

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Manager Tom Lasorda told coach Reggie Smith last fall that Tim Wallach needed to change his swing.

“The saying, ‘It’s tough to each old dogs new tricks’ applies here,” Lasorda said. “Wallach had hit a certain way for so many years, and he had a lot of successful years that way. But I told Wallach, the greatest golfers in the country keep a coach with them so when they fall into bad habits they can put them back on track.

“I saw the power he displayed at certain times, and he can play the hell out of third base. There was no problem defensively. It was just a matter of offense.”

Wallach, who batted .222 with 62 runs batted in and 12 home runs last season, is batting .274 with 47 RBIs and 15 home runs this season.

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The Dodgers agreed to terms with their No. 1 draft pick, high school catcher Paul Konerko, and he will join the rookie camp at Vero Beach, Fla. The signing went a lot smoother than that of the No. 1 pick last year, when it took Darren Dreifort three months to come to terms. . . . During the second inning, a fire broke out on the roof of a nearby apartment building that was visible from Wrigley Field. There were reportedly no injuries. . . . Dodger photographer Jon SooHoo suggested to Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully that he and the Cubs’ Harry Caray take a photograph together. “OK,’ Scully said, “for the archives.” Scully walked into Caray’s booth at Wrigley Field and Caray quickly got up and posed.