DODGERS NOTEBOOK: PARK UNDER WATCH WITH BACK, HIP PAIN.

Byline: Matt McHale Daily News Staff Writer

Chan Ho Park awoke Wednesday with more discomfort than he had after leaving Tuesday's home opener, but he said he expects to make his next start Sunday against the Houston Astros.

Park, forced to leave the Dodgers 9-1 victory against Arizona with a stiff lower back, said the pain has spread to his hips. It has forced him to skip today's between-starts throwing session, but he expects to throw Friday in the bullpen and remain on schedule.

``I can pitch with the pain, but I don't expect there to be any by then,'' said Park, who left Tuesday's game after the sixth inning.

Park, 24, first experienced discomfort Tuesday during pregame stretching. He got loose in the bullpen, but the pain returned when he hit a third-inning double. When he raced to cover first on Andy Stankiewicz's grounder to end the sixth, Park he had trouble reaching the bag.

Park, who allowed seven hits and one unearned run Thursday, is being treated with ice and electronic stimulation but did not undergo an MRI.

``With a power pitcher the legs have to be strong,'' pitching coach Goose Gregson said. ``That is what we will find out on Friday. He got a little banged up yesterday (Tuesday) and certainly don't want to rush him back at this point, but we think he will be fine.''

Cedeno reinjured: Roger Cedeno, the projected Opening Day center fielder until straining his right hamstring during an early exhibition game, reinjured his leg Tuesday diving for a ball in a minor-league-camp game in Florida. Cedeno, who was placed on the disabled list during the final week of spring training, was playing in a scrimmage for the Dodgers Class-A club in Vero Beach.

``We were told he was about 95 percent, but that five percent has kept him from being here,'' manager Bill Russell said. ``That puts him back again because he had so little spring training.''

Cedeno was coming off foot surgery when he came to Florida and had little chance to workout during the winter in his native Venezuela. Spring training was designed to rehab the toe, but the club was ready to start him in center after three partial seasons with the big club.

The Dodgers say they will wait several days before deciding Cedeno's future, which will include a rehabilitation assignment. He will remain in Florida, where the Vero Beach Dodgers open their season today.

In Cedeno's absence, the Dodgers have gone with Trenidad Hubbard and Thomas Howard in center this season and started Mike Devereaux for the first time Wednesday night.

Hall out: Darren Hall, who allowed a game-winning three-run homer Saturday in Cincinnati, was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a partial tear in his right rotator cuff. The injury was discovered during an MRI exam Wednesday at Centinela Hospital Medical Center.