THE WEEK AHEAD / THURSDAY-SATURDAY AT ANGELS

Schedule: 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 1 p.m. Saturday.

* Television: Fox Sports West Thursday, Channel 5 Friday, Channel 11 Saturday.

* Radio: XTRA (1150), KWKW (1330), all three games.

* Pitching matchups: Kevin Brown (9-6, 3.53 ERA) vs. Chuck Finley (5-9, 5.66) Thursday; Ismael Valdes (7-7, 3.36) vs. Omar Olivares (8-6, 3.28) Friday; Chan Ho Park (5-7, 6.52) vs. Steve Sparks (4-5, 4.68) Saturday.

* Last series: The Freeway Series got a bit more serious when the teams met last month at Dodger Stadium. In the second game of the series, Chan Ho Park delivered his karate kick to Tim Belcher, prompting a bench-clearing brawl. The fight overshadowed the series itself, which the Dodgers won two games to one.

SUNDAY-TUESDAY AT PITTSBURGH

* Schedule: 3 p.m. Sunday, 4 p.m. Monday, 10:35 a.m. Tuesday.

* Television: Fox Sports West 2 Monday and Tuesday.

* Radio: XTRA (1150), KWKW (1330) all three games.

* Last series: The Dodger starters were unimpressive in their June 15-17 series with the Pirates, although Los Angeles managed to take one of three games. In the opener, Kevin Brown gave up eight runs--four earned--and the Dodgers lost, 11-1. In the second game, Carlos Perez attacked a water cooler after giving up four runs in 3 1/3 innings, but Adrian Beltre’s seventh-inning RBI single lifted the Dodgers to a 6-5 victory. In the final game, Chan Ho Park was rocked for 11 hits and seven earned runs in an 8-3 loss.

* About the Pirates: The Pirates won their last three games in Minnesota before the All-Star break to climb within one game of .500. The challenge in the second half will be finding a leader to replace catcher Jason Kendall, who is out for the season after breaking his ankle against Milwaukee.

HISTORY LESSON

A look back at Dodger All-Star history:

1962 (Game 1): The Dodgers’ Maury Wills scored the National League’s first run in the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie. He scored again in the eighth and was named MVP in a 3-1 NL victory in Washington.

1974: First baseman Steve Garvey wasn’t even on the ballot, but won a starting spot in a write-in campaign. He singled and scored in the first. In the fourth, his double drove home the tying run. Garvey was named the MVP in a 7-2 NL victory in Pittsburgh.

1977: Don Sutton pitched three shutout innings in Yankee Stadium and was named the MVP in a 7-5 NL victory.

1978: Garvey singled home two runs in the third. He then tripled to lead off the eighth and scored the go-ahead run on Goose Gossage’s wild pitch. Garvey was named the MVP in a 7-3 NL victory in San Diego.

1996: The Dodgers’ Mike Piazza belted a 445-foot home run to lead off the second inning in Philadelphia. He had an RBI double, off the Angels’ Chuck Finley, in the fourth. Piazza was named the MVP in a 6-0 NL victory.

Source: Dodger records