DODGERS NOTEBOOK: ANDERSON HAS SETBACK ON HIS ELBOW.

Byline: TONY JACKSON 

Staff Writer

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Dodgers utility man Marlon Anderson, who thought he had fully recovered from arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow some four months ago, suffered a slight setback while taking batting practice on Wednesday.

Although Anderson is expected to return well before the start of the season, the injury will sideline him for at least the next few days.

"We'll watch him closely and not let him push it too much," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "He is a veteran player. He just needs to be reminded that (today) is March 1, not April 1. We'll back him off a little bit and ... make sure he has plenty of time to heal."

Later, the Dodgers managed to avoid what would have been their second notable injury on the eve of Grapefruit League play. Left fielder Luis Gonzalez was hit in the right wrist by a pitch from rookie Mike Megrew during an intrasquad scrimmage, but wasn't seriously hurt.

Gonzalez stayed in the game to run, eventually scoring on Fernando Tatis' three-run homer. But Gonzalez left the field immediately thereafter.

"It was my time to leave anyway," Gonzalez said. "I'm kind of old school. I don't baby my body. I'm not one of those guys who goes in and ices down. If I come off the field, it's because I'm hurt, really hurt. But this was no big deal."

Anderson joins closer Takashi Saito as the only Dodgers players this spring to be placed in the dreaded "day-to- day" category. Besides those two and reliever Yhency Brazoban, who still is rehabilitating from Tommy John surgery last summer, this has been an injury-free camp.

Lowe down: Right-hander Derek Lowe, slated to start the Dodgers' season opener at Milwaukee on April 2, pitched two shaky innings in the intrasquad, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits and a walk. The veteran sinkerballer couldn't even get out of the first inning, which was stopped after fivebatters because Lowe had reached his one-inning pitch limit, but he did manage to record three outs in the second.

"I look at it and assess where the hits were," said Lowe, who gave up almost all of them on well-placed ground balls. "I don't really count it as my first (spring) start until I can go four or five innings and get into the flow of the game. As a pitching staff, we all know what we need to work on. All these guys have great track records, so on this team, you really don't look at results much."

Senior member: Just three springs ago, Olmedo Saenz was a struggling veteran in camp with the Dodgers on a minor-league contract, hoping to make the club.

Now, one general manager change, one managerial change and about a gazillion player changes later, the backup corner infielder is the team's longest-tenured member.

"It means a lot to me to have been here for four years," said Saenz, 36. "The Dodgers are a team with a lot of tradition, and I'm proud to have been a part of that."

Saenz made himself an indelible part of that tradition Sept.29, delivering a dramatic, score-tying, RBI single in the top of the ninth inning of a game in San Francisco that the Dodgers went on to win..

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