Light Game of Catch Good Sign for Brown

An MRI of Kevin Brown’s right elbow showed improvement and the right-hander began a throwing program at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

Brown, 36, has been on the disabled list since July 16 because of a severe sprain of the flexor muscle in the elbow. There has been speculation that Brown, who has been on the disabled list two other times this season and is in the third year of a seven-year, $105-million contract, would be lost for the season.

“He played light catch for about eight to 10 minutes and felt pretty good, no problems,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “He’ll continue with that program.”

Brown will play light catch again today, take Thursday off and throw again Friday.

“As of today,” Tracy said, “we’re optimistic that he will be back at some point in time this season.”

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Right-hander James Baldwin, who tweaked an abdominal muscle in his last outing Friday and will miss his scheduled start today, played catch Tuesday and will play catch again today before testing it Thursday with a bullpen session.

If there are no problems resulting from the bullpen workout, Baldwin, who was acquired in a July 26 trade with the Chicago White Sox, will start Saturday against the New York Mets.

Baldwin is 1-1 with a 3.27 earned-run average in three starts with the Dodgers.

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Right-hander Giovanni Carrara will come out of the bullpen to take Baldwin’s turn in the rotation today with a spot start.

“You’re replacing him with a guy in Giovanni Carrara who’s filled about every role on this pitching staff that he can possibly serve, with the exception of going out there and closing a game,” Tracy said.

Carrara, 33, will be making his third start and 30th appearance of the season. In two starts, he is 0-1 with a 2.70 earned-run average. Carrara, who signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers on Jan. 4 before having his contract purchased from triple-A Las Vegas on May 8, has never faced the Expos.

Tracy chose Carrara for the spot start instead of left-hander Terry Mulholland, 38, who has already made four appearances and pitched 4 2/3 innings of relief for the Dodgers since being acquired in a July 31 trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Montreal Expos, the Dodgers optioned outfielder McKay Christensen to triple-A Las Vegas and recalled outfielder Bruce Aven from the 51s.

Christensen batted .341 with a home run and seven runs batted in and stole three bases in 15 games with the Dodgers. Aven was batting .260 with eight homers and 32 RBIs in 86 games with the 51s.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

GIOVANNI CARRARA

(2-1, 2.88 ERA)

vs.

EXPOS’

CARL PAVANO

(no record)

Dodger Stadium, 7

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

Update--Pavano, 25, will be making his season debut for the Expos after recovering from surgery on his right (throwing) elbow last Aug. 22. He last pitched in the big leagues on June 24 of last season and was 8-4 with a 3.06 ERA in 15 appearances when he was sidelined for the season. In a pair of rehab assignments this year, he was 1-1 with a 3.74 ERA in three starts at triple-A Ottawa after going 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA in two starts at Class-A Jupiter. Against the Dodgers, Pavano is 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA in five career starts.