Brown Bemoans Bad Luck

Kevin Brown calls it bad luck.

Eric Karros sees it more as bad baseball.

Sixteen games into yet another season of high hopes, the Dodgers are scratching their heads and trying to find reasons for another disappointing start.

Wednesday night’s 11-4, 12-inning loss to the Atlanta Braves, which dropped the Dodgers to 8-8, was particularly frustrating. Brown gave up only four hits in eight innings, but he ruined his evening with one pitch that Chipper Jones hit for a three-run homer in the third. Closer Jeff Shaw surrendered a ninth-inning homer to Javy Lopez that broke a 3-3 tie.

And Dodger shortstop Jose Vizcaino, known for his defensive play, committed an error that kept the third inning alive for Jones, then mishandled a ground ball in the 12th inning that was ruled an infield single.

Besides the pitching and defensive breakdowns, the offense stranded 15 runners. Truly, it was a team loss.

“It was one bad pitch,” Brown said of his performance. “I slipped. It was nowhere near where I wanted to throw it. I don’t know how I could make a pitch like that on a 3-0 count. It was stupid.

“What else can go wrong? If anybody has got a horseshoe or anything else out there [for good luck], send it. The way we are losing, we can’t buy a damn break. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen before. You’ve just got to go out and keep battling. We are a little snakebit right now. It’s like that old adage: Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than to be good. I’d take a little luck right now. When it turns around, there should be a hell of a lot of good luck waiting for us.”

Although he was angry and frustrated, Brown, hung around, patiently answering every question put to him even though it was after midnight.

Karros, the Dodger first baseman, said more than bad luck is involved in his team’s struggles.

“We haven’t been getting the breaks but that’s not the reason we have won or lost,” he said. “Breaks or no breaks, we are playing like a .500 team. That’s why we are .500 right now.

“But, at 8-8, I don’t think we are mathematically eliminated yet.”

ON DECK

* Opponent--St. Louis Cardinals.

* Site--Dodger Stadium.

* Tonight--7.

* TV--KTLA (Channel 5).

* Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Records--Dodgers 8-8, Cardinals 9-5.

* 1998 record vs. Cardinals--4-5.

* Tickets--(323) 224-1HIT.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ CHAN HO PARK (1-1, 5.29 ERA)

vs.

CARDINALS’ JOSE JIMENEZ (1-0, 2.51 ERA)

* Update--The big question doesn’t have an answer at this point. Cardinal first baseman Mark McGwire, the single-season home run king everyone wants to see, is questionable because of a tight left hamstring. He was removed in the fifth inning of the Cardinals’ Tuesday night game and sat out Wednesday. St. Louis leads the National League Central and has won seven of 10 and six of eight on the road. The slumping Dodgers have lost their last three series.

* Saturday, 7 p.m.--Ismael Valdes (1-0, 4.12) vs. Donovan Osborne (0-1, 4.40).

* Sunday, 5 p.m.--Darren Dreifort (3-0, 3.63) vs. Kent Bottenfield (3-0, 0.98).