Dodgers See Only Sunshine

It was a rainy, miserable Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

But not for the Dodgers.

For them, the storm has passed with the forced resignation of general manager Kevin Malone.

There certainly may be future storms ahead, but for one night at least, the distractions had dissipated. There was calmness in the front office and victory on the field, the Dodgers defeating the Padres, 3-1, to move back above .500 at 9-8.

On a night when the infield crew spent nearly as much time on the field as the players, the Dodgers also considered themselves fortunate that starter Kevin Brown escaped with nothing more serious than a stiff back, which ended his outing in the seventh inning.

“We didn’t want to take a chance,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “At the time, he felt like he wanted to continue, but he’s the ace of our staff and we have a full season ahead.”

The Padres’ veteran outfielder, Tony Gwynn, had to leave in the sixth after suffering a strained right hamstring.

The rain, which delayed the start of the game a half-hour, appeared to adversely affect Brown, not to mention the crowd of 34,368, which spent the evening running back and forth from their wet seats to the nearest available cover.

Brown gave up a broken-bat single up the middle to leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson, balked Henderson to second and then surrendered a double to right by Phil Nevin, driving home Henderson.

Every time the 23-year veteran steps on home plate, he inches closer to his goal of breaking Ty Cobb’s major-league record of 2,178 runs. Friday’s run left Henderson, who joined the Padres on Tuesday, 66 shy of Cobb.

Brown settled down after the first, which was more than could be said for the weather.

With a light rain sprinkling the field on and off, Brown kept the Padres off the scoreboard, striking out five of seven batters at one point.

It was the kind of night when old bodies don’t respond well to cold weather and a slippery field.

And sure enough in the sixth inning, the 40-year-old Gwynn, after having lined a ball into the left-field corner, grimaced in pain as he rounded first, having suffered a strained right hamstring.

Gwynn limped into second, sliding weakly and too late as Gary Sheffield’s throw to Mark Grudzielanek nailed the veteran.

Gwynn lay on his back for a moment on the moist dirt, staring up into the cloudy sky, knowing his night was over.

The Dodgers’ night, however, was just beginning.

In the bottom of the sixth, they broke through against Padre starter Brian Tollberg, who had held the Dodgers to two hits--a Shawn Green double and an Alex Cora single--to that point.

Tom Goodwin opened with a walk, which was followed by a Grudzielanek single. Sheffield’s single drove home the first Dodger run and Green followed with a run-scoring single of his own.

Brian Lawrence relieved Tollberg and got two outs.

Then the rain returned, severe enough this time to cause a 24-minute delay.

The game resumed at a little before 10 p.m. But Brown’s night was over when he struggled in the seventh, walking Santiago Perez and hitting Damian Jackson with one out.

Tracy had seen enough. He wasn’t about to risk a serious injury to his ace, who had already broken his routine by starting a half-hour after he first warmed up and then having to endure the 24-minute delay.

Brown left, complaining of stiffness in his back and having given up one run in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked two on a night when he threw 96 pitches, 63 for strikes.

Gregg Olson came in and halted the Padre rally by striking out Wiki Gonzalez and getting pinch-hitter Dave Magadan to ground to first.

“We didn’t see him throw like that at any time last year,” Tracy said. “His curveball is back and the velocity is back on his fastball.”

Conditions continued to deteriorate on the field. In the bottom of the seventh, the ground crew had to come out with a bag of sand to rebuild the crumbling mound. Later in the inning, they returned to sand down the area around home plate.

None of this stopped the Dodgers, who added their third run when Goodwin drew his second walk of the game, stole second and scored on a single to center by Sheffield.

Jeff Shaw closed out the Padres in the ninth for his fifth save.