BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Getting Rock Hard the Webster Way

Although Mitch Webster was astonished by his home run against Bret Saberhagen Saturday--it was his first homer since last July 23--his power is not surprising, considering his off-season conditioning program.

For the first time in his career, Webster did not lift weights in a health club. He was too busy lifting 50-pound rocks while building a retaining wall around his property in Great Bend, Kan.

“By the time I finished every day, I couldn’t have picked up a weight,” said Webster, who ranks among the Dodger leaders with seven runs batted in, even though he has started only three games.

Webster said it took him three months to build the wall, which was 200 feet long and four feet high. He nearly crushed his fingers several times while laying the boulders, but he said it got him in great shape.

“I admit I feel real good right now,” Webster said. “Those rocks got real heavy after a while. Sometimes it was all I could do to roll them down a hill.”

Mike Scioscia and Jay Howell should return to the lineup in the next couple of days. Scioscia, who has missed four games because of a strained back, said it felt good catching and throwing Sunday and hopes to hit today in Montreal. “I don’t anticipate any problems, so we’ll see what happens,” he said. Howell, who has been out since the start of the season with bursitis in his right shoulder, was rested Sunday after a strenuous throwing session Saturday and expects to be activated from the disabled list today or Tuesday. . . . Kip Gross made his Dodger debut Sunday, giving up a run on Dick Schofield’s second homer in the seventh inning. . . . Schofield and Dave Magadan, who each had important fly balls against Tom Candiotti Sunday, said Candiotti did not throw them knuckleballs. Candiotti said he may have thrown fewer knuckleballs because he was pitching to Carlos Hernandez for the first time, “But I threw a lot of them. They just didn’t move so much because there wasn’t as much wind,” he said.

Eddie Murray, who will return to Dodger Stadium this weekend for the first time since signing with the Mets as a free agent last winter, went hitless in seven at-bats against the Dodgers this weekend with three strikeouts. . . . When Hernandez threw out Howard Johnson attempting to steal second base in the eighth inning Sunday, it was the first time in eight steal attempts that Johnson has been caught. It was the fourth time Hernandez has thrown out a runner in 12 attempts. . . . Billy Ashley, a top outfield prospect, hit his ninth home run for double-A San Antonio Saturday night while collecting his 26th runs batted in. Both figures lead the Texas League.