Brown’s Tendinitis Flares Up

Kevin Brown aggravated the tendinitis in his right Achilles’ and had to be helped off the field Friday night in the third inning of the Dodgers’ 2-2 10-inning exhibition tie with the New York Mets.

After giving up a leadoff double into the right-field corner to Desi Relaford, Brown started to run toward third base to back up a potential play when he pulled up lame at Holman Stadium.

“It’s a burn [sensation],” Brown said, adding that he has been battling the nagging injury since opening camp.

“I irritated it the first week here on a big hole out on the field,” he said. “It’s been back-and-forth the whole time.”

Team physician Phil Schrank said Brown will have an MRI today, “just to confirm that there’s nothing crazy going on in there. But his tendon’s definitely intact, it’s not a tear.

“Like any other tendinitis, you use it the wrong way too quickly, it flares back up on you.”

Brown said pushing off the mound doesn’t irritate the Achilles’, rather, it’s when his toes bend back while running that it locks up.

“Pitching’s no problem,” he said. “It’s the deep stretch when you go to run that it’s a problem.”

Brown said it’s too early to think about his status for opening day and is focusing on treating the injury and taking rehabilitation day-to-day.

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Jesse Orosco, 43, has had a less-than-stellar spring, going 0-3 with a 7.20 earned-run average in six outings. Still, the non-roster invitee has realistic hopes of making the Dodger 25-man opening day roster as a left-handed reliever.

“If I had to rely on spring training to make a job, I’d probably have been out of baseball 15, 20 years ago,” Orosco said. “I’ve never had good spring trainings. I just go out there and get my arm ready for the season without hurting my arm.”

Notes

The Dodgers reduced their roster to 39 players after assigning five non-roster invitees--catcher Brian Johnson, infielders Keith Johnson and Andy Stankiewicz and outfielders Brent Cookson and Chris Prieto--to the minor league camp. Outfielder Jeff Barry and infielders Jeff Branson and Phil Hiatt will remain with the major league club for the duration of spring training but won’t be part of the 25-man roster. . . . The Dodgers are also thinking of putting infielder Dave Hansen on the disabled list to start the season, clearing a roster spot. Hansen fractured the middle finger on his left hand on March 2.