Daniels: Heart Tests Show No Trouble

VERO BEACH, Fla. —  Kal Daniels said Friday a series of tests detected no trouble with his heart, and he plans to join the Dodgers on the field Sunday.

“Man, I feel great,” the outfielder said from his Warner Robins, Ga., home after undergoing nine hours of tests at an Atlanta clinic Friday. “The doctors told me the only problem I had was that some of the muscles in my heart were overdeveloped, something like that, something real complicated. But they told me I don’t need any medication. They said I don’t need to worry about anything. I’m ready to play ball.”

The Dodgers refused to confirm such results Friday, saying the results had yet to be interpreted.

“We are getting a group of people together to look at the results. . . . I can’t get that information out of there yet,” said Dr. Michael Mellman, Dodger team internist and one of Hank Gathers’ physicians before the Loyola Marymount basketball star died March 4. “As soon as the final determination is made, we will discuss it with Kal and issue a full statement.”

Daniels said the Dodgers were cautious because their Los Angeles cardiologists had yet to examine the results.

“Doctors said they weren’t announcing it because they wanted to clear it through all of their channels,” Daniels said. “But they told me I was fine, and that’s all I needed to hear.”

Daniels said he would begin the 10-hour drive to Dodgertown Friday night and would miss today’s workout because of his late arrival. Mellman said the Dodgers were aware that Daniels was driving to camp, and he admitted that if the results had been negative, Daniels may not have been allowed to travel.

“If we had knowledge of something terrible, he would have been immediately directed toward more tests or treatment,” Mellman said.

“Heck, I was ready to play a couple of days ago,” Daniels said. “It was them who said I couldn’t. Then when I got in there for the tests, doctors said a lot of athletes are being forced to go through this because of what happened to Hank Gathers.”

Daniels, 26, underwent Friday’s exam--which included a treadmill test and echocardiogram to determine heart structure--because of an irregularity discovered during a treadmill test Monday in Atlanta. Daniels said that at the first exam, “they told me I had an irregular heartbeat, and that it was probably no big deal, but they just wanted to be safe rather than sorry.”

If Daniels’ biggest worries indeed are just his knees, prayers would have been answered.

“I’ve just been hoping and praying for the man,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

If Daniels’ surgically repaired right knee allows him to play on opening day as he claims, that will make things easier on the Dodger outfield. Having lost Kirk Gibson perhaps until May, Lasorda will play Daniels in left field and could even bat him leadoff, considering Daniels’ career .407 on-base percentage is second only to Boston’s Wade Boggs’ mark among active players. Daniels has a career .302 batting average in four seasons, with 77 stolen bases.

Lasorda’s physique is in jeopardy. Lasorda has learned that his right knee requires major surgery, yet he said will not undergo an operation. Thus, he will no longer be able to run, and even his daily walks around National League cities have been placed in doubt.

“No operations for me, man,” Lasorda said after learning the results of Thursday morning’s X-rays. “These knees have done me fine so far, and I’ll keep living with them.”

Lasorda admits that he could have trouble maintaining his weight, which dropped last season from 218 to 178 in a highly publicized diet. But he said he would think of something.

“I can always ride a bike,” Lasorda said. “Or, I could just stop eating.”

Lasorda said his knee problems are a result of constant use.

“Like I told the doctor, if you had a truck pounding on its wheels for 62 years, don’t you think after a while it would need new wheels?” Lasorda said. “But I’ll be fine. I’ll live with it.”

Four days into spring training and one of Fred Claire’s off-season rehabilitation projects is hurting. Pat Perry, signed from the Chicago Cubs despite rotator cuff shoulder surgery, felt pain Friday after throwing off a mound Thursday for the first time since his operation on Nov. 9.

“It feels like a toothache,” said Perry, who officials hoped would compete for the left-handed reliever’s spot after compiling a 1.77 ERA in 35 2/3 innings for Chicago last season.

Perry said he threw for 12 minutes, which may have been too much. But he said he couldn’t help himself.

“The competitive nature in an athlete kills you,” Perry said. “I get here, I see all these other guys winging the ball. I think, ‘Why can’t I do this?’ and then I try to do it.”

He shook his head. “Oh well. I guess one day I will be winging it again.”

Charlie Strasser, Dodger assistant trainer, said Perry’s soreness could be a byproduct of a three-week spring training.

“This is what happens in a short camp,” Strasser said. “We have been telling the players to be careful and Tommy (Lasorda) tells them to be careful, but in general, a lot of players just don’t understand their bodies enough.”

Perry’s condition will be evaluated daily. Jay Howell, another reliever, also is ailing. He received an injection in his left knee Thursday for bursitis and felt better Friday.