Dodgers Cooking Without Sheffield

The Dodgers are handling life without Gary Sheffield better than they could have expected.

Or dreamed.

The ailing all-star left fielder’s absence hasn’t slowed the Dodgers, who remained hot Monday night in a 5-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium.

After learning Sheffield would not join the club on the trip because of flu, the Dodgers batted around, had six hits and scored five runs in the first inning against Brewer starter Jeff D’Amico before 17,167.

The first four batters had hits, and Adrian Beltre’s two-run home run--his 14th--highlighted the Dodgers’ fast start.

A weakened Kevin Brown (12-5) appreciated the early support.

The Dodger starter worked seven strong innings after being bedridden the first two days of the trip because of a viral infection.

Manager Davey Johnson turned to the bullpen in the eighth, and Terry Adams delivered a scoreless inning.

Closer Jeff Shaw gave up consecutive hits after striking out the first two batters in the ninth, and the Brewers had the tying runs in scoring position with Marquis Grissom at the plate.

But the leadoff batter popped up, completing the Dodgers’ fourth victory in five games.

Shaw got his 22nd save and the Dodgers (69-62) improved to 7-1 with Sheffield sidelined.

Sheffield has been at home in Los Angeles and team officials are uncertain when he will return, but the Dodgers are doing just fine.

“He can’t even walk around the block and he’s lost a lot of weight,” Johnson said of Sheffield, who leads the Dodgers with 40 homers and 96 runs batted in.

“Sheff wishes he could be here to help, it bothers him that he can’t be, but he’s done enough for two seasons already. He’s done so much all year long, now it’s time for us to do something on our own.”

The Dodgers again responded to the task, Brown especially.

“I definitely didn’t feel normal,” said Brown, who gave up five hits and three runs while throwing 59 strikes in 85 pitches. “I’m all right, I’m just a little weak-kneed or jelly-legged, whatever you want to call it.

“The guys did a great job putting runs on the board. It made it a lot easier, no doubt about it.”

Brown’s teammates said he did the best job under the circumstances.

“As sick as he was, and as humid as it was out there, I didn’t know what to expect from him,” catcher Todd Hundley said of Brown, who struck out seven. “He threw hard as usual and had great stuff.

“For him to come off [being sick] like that was incredible. He’s just a gamer.”

The Dodgers pounded D’Amico (10-5) in the first. Shawn Green and Eric Karros had run-scoring singles, and Hundley drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Beltre hit a changeup over the left-field wall.

D’Amico then got into a groove for the Brewers (56-74).

The right-hander gave up only three more hits in seven innings, but still lost for the first time since June 5.

His earned-run average increased from 1.94 to 2.20.

“We’ve been playing pretty good,” Beltre said. “Everybody knows we need Sheff on this team, but it’s a 25-man roster.

“We need everybody on this team to do their jobs. If we all can do the little things until Sheff gets back, that’s going to be good.”