Claudio Vargas is back in uniform after a lengthy stay on the disabled list. Dodgers coach Ken Howell played seven years in the major leagues, but he had never seen anything like the sight that greeted him at Petco Park on Friday: More than four dozen journalists, notebooks and cameras at the ready, were crowded on the warning track, waiting for the Dodgers -- or waiting for one Dodger, at least -- to step on the field for batting practice.