Brown Effort Goes to Waste

Look, to say that Kevin Brown isn’t the most compelling personality or loveable guy ... well, that isn’t exactly news.

On the mound, he doesn’t have the charismatic presence or clearly eye-popping stuff of lanky Randy Johnson or diminutive Pedro Martinez.

In the clubhouse, he can be testy, snippy, even rude.

The Dodgers are paying him $15 million a year because agent Scott Boras lured former general manager Kevin Malone into bidding against himself and because he is a tenacious, tested competitor who has been among baseball’s most consistent and successful pitchers.

On Tuesday night, pitching for the first time in 44 days and ignoring the possibility that the muscle sprain in his right elbow could implode at any time, Brown demonstrated his renowned tenacity, giving the Dodgers a huge lift, sending a potential message through the National League West and proving again that being lovable in baseball is secondary to having heart.

Disdaining a minor league rehabilitation start or a relief assignment to test the elbow, the 36-year-old right-hander gave up only two hits as he worked five shutout innings before Giovanni Carrara and Jeff Shaw gave up 2-0 and 3-2 leads in a 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies before a Dodger Stadium crowd of 39,051. The defeat cost the Dodgers a chance to take the National League’s wild-card lead and dropped them 41/2 games behind Arizona in the West, but there was a large measure of solace.

If Brown is truly back, and it will depend on how his elbow responds between starts, there is no question what it means to a rotation that had been operating with four pitchers on the disabled list and what it means to a team still in the thick of the division and wild-card races.

“It’s sort of like putting the crown jewel on our starting staff,” pitching coach Jim Colborn said.

Or as catcher Paul Lo Duca put it: “I don’t think anyone thought we’d still be around. If Kevin is healthy, a lot of people are going to have to think about the Dodgers. I mean, Kevin Brown at 70% or even 65% is a big lift for us. The key is how the elbow comes back, but the bottom line is that we’ll be tough to beat if he’s healthy.”

If healthy, the Dodgers can deal two aces--Brown and Chan Ho Park--at the top of a rotation that includes Terry Adams, James Baldwin and Eric Gagne, with Luke Prokopec moving to the bullpen.

“Kevin is one of the best pitchers of the last decade,” Lo Duca said. “Everyone talks about [Arizona’s] Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, but I’d put Kevin and Chan Ho on a par.”

Who can blame the Dodgers for being a little excited and effusive?

They have battled through spring turmoil, management turnover and ongoing injuries-now second baseman Mark Grudzielanek is out because of a chip fracture in the middle finger of his right hand-to approach September with their playoff hopes still alive.

The Dodgers know that Andy Ashby and Darren Dreifort won’t be back this season, but if Brown is well, it translates to a lot less of the patching that has characterized the rotation in recent weeks. It allows Manager Jim Tracy to solidify bullpen roles, it takes pressure off the other starters and, said Colborn, “opposing teams sort of peak in their intensity against a No. 1 starter, which Kevin is used to over the years, but sometimes those teams may not be quite as intense against the other starters.”

As they play out their shockingly miserable season, the Rockies still present a formidable offensive lineup, but Brown gave up only a first-inning single by Todd Helton and a fifth-inning single by Juan Uribe. He struck out two, walked two and made 68 pitches-24 as he acclimated in the first inning. Brown also delivered a run scoring single, but then his .074 average didn’t figure to suffer from the layoff.

As for his pitching, the Dodgers weren’t sure what to expect.

“I’ll be satisfied if he just does a reasonable job by his standards,” Colborn said. “I mean, we don’t want him to try and do more than his little part, although we know he doesn’t think of it that way. He’s going out to be the No. 1 man as usual, even though that’s probably more than we can expect at this time.”

Not really. Brown delivered five innings of No. 1 style work. His fastball hit 94 mph at times. There was no evidence he was favoring the elbow or that he was concerned about the risk.

The Dodgers owe Brown $60 million over the next four years. The potential playoff reward in bringing him back had to be weighed against the risk of a long-term injury.

“The medical people were confident it was OK for him to pitch,” Colborn said. “Plus, Kevin ... understands any risk involved. It’s the nature of the professional athlete to accept any risk and try to win.”

It’s certainly part of Brown’s tenacious nature, and while the bullpen prevented him from getting a victory in his return, he helped put the Dodgers in position to win. Now the hope is that he can do it again in five days.