Grissom Begins Suspension

With his wife Daphne due to have a baby this week and the Dodgers facing three right-handed pitchers over their next five games, Marquis Grissom dropped his appeal on the six-game suspension he was hit with on July 12 and began serving it with Wednesday night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Grissom, who was also fined $3,000, will be eligible to play again Tuesday at Milwaukee.

“I was planning on missing some time then [when she had the baby], so I just decided to go ahead and get it done now after talking it over with my agent and seeing what’s best for the team and for myself,” Grissom said.

“[The Dodgers] were going to give me two days [off] and then I’m not going to be available for the next two days because my wife’s having the baby, so that will knock out four days, so I might as well take it right now.”

Grissom was hit with the sanctions after making contact with plate umpire Marvin Hudson in a heated argument on July 4.

“I just want to get it over with,” Grissom said. “I’ll be back sometime in the Milwaukee series so to wait that long [on an appeal], things may not change. I’ll still miss a few games here, playing the righties . . . it works out best.”

Talking publicly for the first time since severely spraining the flexor muscle in his right elbow in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh, Kevin Brown admitted Wednesday that he was afraid the injury was much worse.

“I was definitely concerned it might have been completely torn,” Brown said. “The thought was there [with] the way it felt. I knew it wasn’t good, but the question was, how bad was it?”

Brown, 36, was put on the disabled list Wednesday, retroactive to Monday, for the third time this season. And while the Dodger medical staff has suggested four weeks off, Brown is waiting for his time on the disabled list to expire July 30.

“It’s just a matter of playing it by ear at this point, take the two weeks and kind of go from there, see where it’s at at that point in time,” Brown said.

His contract purchased from triple-A Las Vegas on Wednesday to take Brown’s spot on the roster and in the rotation, Dennis Springer arrived at Dodger Stadium bearing gifts--three oversized catching gloves.

The 36-year-old knuckleball specialist always travels with them to better help his catchers knock down the fluttering pitches.

“Whenever somebody goes down . . . hopefully you have some guys in triple A that you can have the confidence in to bring up,” Springer said. “Right now, I’m that guy and hopefully I can come up and do the job. I’ve got a little bit of experience so hopefully I know a little bit of what it takes.”

Springer was initially going to start Friday at Colorado, but Dodger Manager Jim Tracy did some number crunching and didn’t like what he saw in regards to knuckleball pitchers in Denver’s high altitude.

TODAY

DODGERS’

DENNIS SPRINGER

(0-0, 0.00 ERA)

vs.

BREWERS’

JAMEY WRIGHT

(8-5, 3.06 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 1 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports Net 2. Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

Update--Wright, the Brewers’ opening day pitcher, dropped a 1-0 decision to the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine on April 2 when Gary Sheffield, who was hearing more jeers than cheers at the time, homered in the sixth inning. Sheffield has feasted on Wright’s pitching in his career, batting .471 with three home runs and five runs batted in. Wright is 2-2 with a 1.65 earned-run average in five career appearances at Dodger Stadium.