Cey Hey: Karros Helps Brown

Omar Olivares had about as much luck in getting the Dodgers out at 7 o’clock Saturday night as John Shelby had two hours earlier.

Olivares, Oakland’s starting pitcher, gave up successive doubles by Mark Grudzielanek, Gary Sheffield and Shawn Green in a three-run first inning that sent the Dodgers winging toward a 7-2 win over the Athletics.

Shelby, the Dodger first-base coach, had fared no worse in throwing batting practice.

The first-inning offense and pitching of Kevin Brown (5-2) rendered the rest of the game’s scoring mere window dressing, but Eric Karros’ home run in the sixth made the window gaudy indeed.

The towering shot into the left-field box seats was the 228th homer of Karros’ career, tying Ron Cey for the Los Angeles franchise record.

Karros’ 228th came in 4,670 at-bats, Cey’s in 5,216, but Karros was largely unaffected by the homer.

The only Dodgers to hit more homers--Duke Snider (389), Gil Hodges (361) and Roy Campanella (242)--all played in Brooklyn.

“It’s nice to be mentioned along with guys like Ron Cey and Steve Garvey,” Karros said. “But I’d rather be mentioned with them in world championships.

“I don’t want to say [the home run] was inevitable. . . . When I hit the one that breaks the record, it will probably mean more.”

The beneficiary of the Dodger offensive largesse was Brown, who has to figure it as his due. Both his losses have come when his teammates’ bats were dormant in Dodger shutouts.

Brown worked efficiently, striking out only four but walking only one, and he used only 112 pitches. He also made certain of at least one run when he dumped a single in front of Oakland left fielder Ben Grieve to score Chad Kreuter in the third inning.

The run was largely unneeded, as were the two driven home in the fourth inning by Green’s 11th home run and that scored on Karros’ homer.

Six of those seven runs came in Olivares’ four innings.

The real damage was done in the Dodger first.

F.P. Santangelo grounded a single to left field to lead off, then moved to third base on Grudzielanek’s double into the right-field corner. Sheffield’s two-run double was harder hit, off the right-center field wall, and Green’s was as efficient, if not as stylish, coming when he flipped the ball into left field to score Sheffield and make it 3-0.

“He was pretty much on his game tonight,” A’s Manager Art Howe said of Brown. “We don’t want to give him that comfort zone early.”

It did make Brown’s job easier, but hardly easy.

“It’s not like you can go out there and say, ‘Just throw the ball down the middle,’ ” he said. “Not with the way ballparks are these days, with all of the home runs.”

Still, from there, things were largely in Brown’s hands. He sailed through five innings, keeping Oakland runners no closer to scoring than second base and allowing only five balls to be hit out of the infield.

Then Terrance Long doubled into the right-field corner to lead off the sixth inning and scored with one out on Jason Giambi’s single to center.

That cut the lead to 6-1, hardly something to sweat about but enough to get Brown’s attention. After striking out only one through five innings, he got Randy Velarde and Matt Stairs on strikes in the sixth.

Brown, who owned a 10-5 record against the A’s while pitching in the American League with Texas and Baltimore, got a bit careless against them in the seventh inning, giving up Eric Chavez’s homer into the left field seats on a 1-2 pitch.

“Through five innings, he only had 58 pitches,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “Then when he gave up the homer, he was mad at himself.”

Added Brown: “When I give up a homer, I’m always mad.”

From the seventh, the only question before what was left in the house--and those among the announced 38,621 in their cars, heading for various exits--was whether Brown would finish his second complete game of the season while brightening a somewhat dismal Dodger home record. They are only 14-12 at Dodger Stadium, a more efficient 19-14 on the road.