Mondesi Cleans Up

The much- hyped duel between Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson, the anticipated battle between two of baseball’s most intense, dominant and richest pitchers in Monday’s National League opener at Dodger Stadium, would ultimately require the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks to employ six pitchers each and leave Brown listening on the radio in the clubhouse with what he called “chill bumps” when it ended.

It ended with Raul Mondesi, who had hit a two-out, three-run homer in the ninth to tie the score, hitting a two-out, two-run homer in the 11th to win it for the Dodgers, 8-6.

If premature to label it a tone-setter for the 161 games that follow and the first step for Mondesi in fulfilling the expectations that have long been his promise and burden, it was definitely a dramatic comeback and conclusion to a game in which neither Brown nor Johnson pitched up to their capability--with Brown, the Dodgers’ $105-million man, leaving to boos from a crowd of 53,109 in the sixth inning.

“I’d have booed myself,” he said later. “I was pretty . . . out there. That’s not the way I wanted to pitch.”

Make no mistake, however. He was not suffering those “chill bumps” because of that, but because of the exciting finish that he credited with illustrating the Dodgers’ character.

“You never want to pitch badly, and I pitched badly, but when your teams wins,” he said, “it makes it that much easier to swallow.”

A man who tolerates the media at best, Brown made no excuses and patiently answered similar questions from waves of reporters representing newspapers from coast to coast--attracted by the matchup between the two most coveted free-agent pitchers of last winter.

Brown signed a seven-year contract with the Dodgers, while Johnson rejected the Dodgers, Angels and Texas Rangers to sign a four-year, $52.4-million contract with the Diamondbacks, insisting it had only a little to do with the fact that his new home in suburban Phoenix is only 20 minutes from Bank One Ballpark and a lot to do with his belief that the second year expansion team, given $118.9 million in off-season improvements, have just as good a chance of reaching the World Series as the Dodgers, Angels or Rangers.

Johnson was still saying that after his bullpen blew a 6-3 lead in a manner that must have awakened memories of his late-inning experiences with the Seattle Mariners last year.

“That’s just part of the game,” he said. “I’m sure that down the road I’ll pitch a game that I should lose but will end up winning. What goes around comes around.

“I think we sent a message today and it’s important that we do that. We won’t back down to anyone--Los Angeles and Atlanta included.”

While Brown’s contract includes 12 cross-country flights on a private jet for his family, Johnson and his family flew to Los Angeles from Phoenix on Sunday in a commercial shuttle, sitting in coach.

In Game 1 of last year’s Division Series between the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros at the Astrodome, Brown and Johnson staged a spectacular duel that the Padres won, 2-1, on a four-hitter by Brown and Trevor Hoffman.

This one bore no similarity except for the tenacity of the two starters in pitching out of a series of predicaments.

Johnson was better. He delivered 125 pitches in seven innings, striking out nine but walking six while giving up five hits and two runs.

“I felt like I kept the Dodgers at bay and put us in position to win, but I think I’m capable of being a little sharper and I’ll have to do that if I’m going to be successful,” Johnson said.

Brown made 111 pitches in 5 2/3 innings, giving up 10 hits and five runs while striking out seven and walking two.

He gave up two home runs to Bernard Gilkey, who had one extra-base hit in 101 at-bats with the Diamondbacks last year, and a three-run homer to Jay Bell in the sixth, prompting his departure.

Brown, who had never given up three homers in a game, felt the ball was carrying “abnormally well” and didn’t think Bell’s drive was going to be anything more than a long fly out.

Gilkey hit fastballs in bad locations.

“Some days you get by with bad pitches and some days you get hit,” Brown said. “I didn’t get by with anything today.”

While Johnson said his opening day start with a new team created a lot of anticipation and he battled to stay calm and focused, Brown said he approached it as if simply another game. Neither his pitching adversary nor his contract was on his mind, he insisted.

“I don’t think about contracts when I’m on the mound,” he said. “I always put pressure on myself, but not for monetary reasons. I want to do well, it’s that simple. I’d go about it the same way if $5 was at stake.”

Manager Davey Johnson, who got five hitless innings from his bullpen and had only Dave Mlicki left (“he was going to have to pitch until his arm fell off,” Johnson said), felt Brown’s stuff was fine but questioned his pitch selection. Asked about that, Brown shrugged and said, “Hindsight is easy. You can always look back and say I should have done this or that. I just didn’t pitch well. I’ve had bad games before and will probably have another down the line, as much as I would like to think that I won’t.”

Said pitching coach Charlie Hough: “The stuff he had today will win a lot of games. He didn’t have his outstanding control, that’s all, and it cost him a lot of pitches. The hype may have been part of it. A big part of his game is his aggressiveness. He goes at people, so I don’t know if [he had too much adrenaline today.] The only time he talked to me was to ask what time it was when he was warming up in the bullpen.”

Brown didn’t have to ask later. Those “chill bumps” told him that Mondesi had again been up at the right time.