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BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Wallach’s Back Not Ready

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Third baseman Tim Wallach rejoined the team Saturday from his two-day rehabilitative stint in Tucson, but he still is experiencing back pains and will not be activated from the disabled list today.

“I’ve been frustrated,” Wallach said, “but I’m real frustrated now because I’m supposed to come off (today), and I’m not ready.

“I don’t know where we go from here.”

Wallach, who has two bulging disks and a herniated disk in his back, still is hoping to avoid season-ending surgery. Yet, the Dodgers realize that Wallach’s back condition probably will prevent him from being an everyday player this season.

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“It’s something we’re going to have to live with,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I really don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Wallach, the National League’s comeback player of the year last season, played five innings Thursday night in Tucson when he began feeling discomfort. He was unable to play at all Friday night.

“I don’t know what to say,” Wallach said. “This stuff’s getting old, I know that.”

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When the Colorado Rockies intentionally walked Raul Mondesi for the second consecutive game to face Mike Piazza, people wondered if that had happened before to Piazza.

“The last time was back in A ball,” Piazza said. “Nobody knew who I was in those days.

“I got a little pumped up when that happened, but with the way he’s swinging the bat, I’d do the same thing.”

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Just how crazy was the Dodgers’ 17-11 victory over the Rockies?

--The Dodgers had one player (Tom Candiotti) get thrown out at first base on a hit to right field, and another reach first base on a strikeout (Piazza).

--The Rockies, who had one extra-base hit through the first five innings, hit four home runs in a span of nine at-bats in the sixth and seventh innings, two of them pinch-hit homers.

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--The two teams had seven half-innings when they scored three or more runs, and only one in which they scored one run.

--Dodger right fielder Henry Rodriguez, who had one hit in his first five games, had a career-high four hits. And infielder Jeff Treadway hit his first triple in two years.

--The Dodgers used three left fielders in the game--but not Billy Ashley.

“We’re not giving up on (Ashley),” Lasorda said. “He’s going to get the opportunity because he’s earned it. I’m not going to say this guy can’t hit after nine games, but’s struggling right now.”

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The Rockies have received 147 extra media requests for today’s game, with Hideo Nomo pitching for the Dodgers, and have hired four interpreters. . . . Larry Walker, who threw out Candiotti at first in the second inning, has thrown out four players on potential hits: pitchers Tim Wakefield, John Burkett and Candiotti, and shortstop Tony Fernandez.

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