Brown Learns Joy of Winning Ugly

It was a showdown between West Division powers Friday, the reason interleague play can be captivating.

Unfortunately for the Dodgers and Angels, that game was in Phoenix, where the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks and the first-place Texas Rangers were playing.

What the 49,213 at Dodger Stadium had to settle for was a game between two teams teetering on mediocrity. The Dodgers managed to keep treading water with a 5-4 victory that pushed them one game above .500 (27-26).

Not a moment to celebrate. But, at least for one day, they could claim fewer woes than the Angels.

This was the Angels’ first game since a potential rift in the clubhouse was exposed, as a group of players went to General Manager Bill Bavasi this week to express concerns about Manager Terry Collins’ style. Other players, Bavasi said, were upset by those who complained.

“We are professionals,” first baseman Mo Vaughn said. “We have to do our job every day.”

The Angels seemed to take that to heart early, building a 3-0 lead, only to see the Dodgers score five runs in the fourth--an inning keyed by rookies Angel Pena and Chance Sanford.

Pena drove in the first run with a single and Sanford drove in two more with a two-out single to tie the score, 3-3. Jose Vizcaino, just activated from the disabled list, gave the Dodgers the lead with his first home run of the season.

It was enough for starting pitcher Kevin Brown (6-3), who was yanked after 6 2/3 innings. The Dodger bullpen, shaky of late, held on. Jeff Shaw struck out Darin Erstad with the tying run on third to end the game that looked like a must-see event before the season began.

These are two teams that spent lavishly to become contenders during the off-season, a fact best illustrated in the first inning, when $185 million squared off. Brown ($105 million) struck out Vaughn ($80 million).

Neither team has lived up to expectations thus far.

Bad luck?

Angel pitcher Omar Olivares left Friday’s game because of a strained left hamstring, suffered when he tried to beat out a ground ball in the sixth inning. He was batting only because this was an interleague game and the designated hitter is not used in National League ballparks.

“I’m not going to run soft,” Olivares said. “If I do, I feel like I’m giving up.”

Bad karma?

Dodger shortstop Mark Grudzielanek went on the disabled list Friday because of a broken right hand suffered when he punched a wall in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

“Sometimes it just gets to you,” Grudzielanek said.

Besides Grudzielanek the Dodgers put outfielder Todd Hollandsworth (strained rib cage muscle) was placed on the disabled list Friday. Catcher Todd Hundley will miss this series with a wrist injury and second baseman Eric Young was scratched because of a sore ankle.

Calling Albuquerque.

The Dodgers took a chance on Sanford, a second baseman. All he did was bloop a single over the outstretched hand of Angel second baseman Randy Velarde to score Adrian Beltre and Pena. Vizcaino, who had sat out 14 games because of a strained hamstring, ripped Olivares’ first pitch over the right-field fence for a 5-3 lead.

“This situation has been frustrating because the players injured have been pretty consistent,” Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone said. “Eric Young was playing well and he went down. Todd Hollandsworth was just starting to play well and he went down.

“It’s not an excuse, it’s something that happens. It’s tough to get into a rhythm when you’re always throwing a different combination out there.”

The Angels, playing without Tim Salmon, Gary DiSarcina and Jim Edmonds, would probably prefer Malone peddle it elsewhere. Their disabled list may grow by one--Olivares.

The Angel starter was staked to an early lead, mostly by Troy Glaus, who continued to emerge from his slump. Glaus smashed Brown’s 1-2 pitch into the left-field pavilion for a two-run homer. It was Glaus’ third home run in six games.