BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJORS : Valenzuela Joins Hard-Luck Phillies

Fernando Valenzuela, who left the majors this season to pitch in Mexico, returned to the big leagues Friday when he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Valenzuela, 33, who will report to the Phillies on Monday, will make his debut Tuesday against Florida and will go again next Sunday against the Dodgers, General Manager Lee Thomas said. The left-hander was 10-3 for the Jalisco Cowboys of the Mexican League.

Valenzuela was 8-10 with a 4.94 earned-run average in 31 starts for Baltimore last season. He was 149-128 with a 3.45 ERA in a 13-year career that started in 1981, when he won the Cy Young Award and rookie-of-the-year honors with the Dodgers.

Philadelphia has lost starters Curt Schilling, Tommy Greene and Ben Rivera to the disabled list.

DODGERS

Smith Knows Way Around a Cockpit

It wasn’t that long ago that batting coach Reggie Smith, then the Dodger right-fielder, was hanging upside down over the Marina in an open cockpit by-plane, practicing aerobatics. Smith, who along with teammates Don Sutton and Rick Monday, had a pilot’s license, describes those days as his daredevil years. “I remember one time Sutton crash-landed at Van Nuys airport--he forgot to put the landing gear down,” Smith said.

Smith came one hour short of getting his aerobatics rating in 1978, but he acknowledges that if he were playing today, the club would forbid the activity.

“The Dodgers knew I flew, but they didn’t know about the aerobatics,” Smith said.

With an off-day in Houston Thursday, Smith had hoped to go to NASA and establish a contact or two to help fulfill another dream--to fly a military jet. But bad weather prevented him.

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First baseman Eric Karros was a late scratch, but the cause is up for debate.

“We think his shoulder is hurting, but he doesn’t want to admit it,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “The trainers think there is something there. So we thought we would rest him.”

Karros said: “My shoulder is giving me no problems.”

Henry Rodriguez started at first and Chris Gwynn in left field.