DODGERS NOTEBOOK : GAGNE WON'T COMMIT TO RETURN NEXT YEAR.

Greg Gagne said Saturday that he is not yet ready to commit long term to Los Angeles or the Dodgers, with whom he opted for a one-year deal, rather than two years in November.

The Gagne family, including wife Micki and three children, have settled in a Century City condominium, where the children are taught by a private tutor. Greg Gagne was raised in a small Massachusetts town and played in the small markets of Minnesota and Kansas City before signing with the Dodgers as a free agent. He makes his offseason home in Somerset, Mass.

Part of his resistance to a multi-year contract was his unfamiliarity with a city the size of Los Angeles, the National League and the West Coast, he said at the time he signed. Those issues have not been resolved, said Gagne, though the Dodgers have been home for only 31 days since spring training.

``I don't have to make that decision until the end of the year,'' said Gagne, on the disabled list with a sprained left ankle. ``Right now I'm just worrying about trying to get healthy again.''

He said that he will talk to his family in the offseason, and they will help determine the course of his career.

``I just want to play baseball,'' he said. ``We got a good team and I'm not helping. I'm hurting the team not being out there.''

Gagne is eligible to come off the disabled list on June 2 in New York.

Stolen moments: Eric Karros stole his ninth career base Friday night, though he has never once received a steal sign. Some baserunners have green lights to run. Karros' is red. And flashing.

However, with two out in the fifth inning and Delino DeShields hitting, Karros broke for second, with the thought that if he were thrown out, DeShields would lead off the sixth.

``If I do stuff like that, I've got a good reason for getting thrown out,'' Karros said.

Notes: Brett Butler, who had cancer surgery Tuesday in Atlanta, was discharged from Emory University Hospital on Saturday. Biopsy results on the lymph nodes removed from Butler's neck are expected today or Monday. . . . Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza has thrown out only 7 of 42 runners attempting to steal, and none of the last 20.