Brown Not Himself in 8-0 Loss to Mets

He has been the National League’s top starter this season, dominating batters while making the game look easy.

Until Friday night.

Something strange happened to Kevin Brown against the New York Mets, who pounded the right-hander during a rare poor performance in an 8-0 victory over the Dodgers at Shea Stadium.

The defending league champions briefly distracted fans disappointed about their disastrous start, chasing Brown (5-2) after four shaky innings and winning for only the 10th time in 19 home games.

Brown gave up nine hits, including Robin Ventura’s sixth home run, and five runs.

It was Brown’s shortest outing since Aug. 14--a 1 1/3-inning stint in the Dodgers’ 11-2 loss to the Florida Marlins at Pro Player Stadium.

The Mets took command in a four-run fourth, staking Al Leiter to a 5-0 lead in his first start since April 20 and stirring cheers for a change in a crowd of 37,502.

Leiter, activated before the game, tossed six shutout innings. The left-hander gave up four hits with six strikeouts and one walk, and Turk Wendell gave up one hit in three innings for his first save.

Gregg Olson gave up the Mets’ final two hits and three runs in the eighth after Giovanni Carrara worked three perfect innings in relief of Brown.

Brown simply didn’t have it and offered no excuses.

“I just wasn’t sharp tonight from square one,” said Brown, whose earned-run average rose from 1.09 to 1.86.

“Location was terrible and they took advantage of it and put the ball in play. I couldn’t make the ball do what I wanted to tonight. It was just a matter of making a lot of really bad pitches.

“I tried to make the adjustments. I just didn’t get the job done, that’s all there is to it.”

With Brown out of sync and batters struggling again, Manager Jim Tracy removed his top pitcher because the Dodgers were finished.

“You may see that twice, three times all year long,” Tracy said of Brown’s early exit. “If you’re not scoring runs, there’s no sense in letting a guy continue to pitch in a situation where you’re going to have to hit a lot to get yourself back into the game.

“You just allow the man the time that he needs to regroup and get back out there and be ready to go for us five days from now. He wasn’t sharp, and it’s the first time all year that he hasn’t been sharp.

“Brownie didn’t look like he was in his rhythm that we’ve seen him be in, and that happens once in a while. Rather than continue to have him throwing pitches, when it was looking like we weren’t going to mount much of a threat tonight . . . why do that?”

A night after the San Diego Padres embarrassed the Mets, 15-3, they took out their frustration on Brown and the Dodgers.

The East’s last-place team batted around in the fourth, getting six hits and adding to the Dodgers’ difficult trip.

They fell to 1-3, had only five hits and dropped to second in the West.

They have been shut out twice in four games and have scored only eight runs--seven in Wednesday’s 7-2 victory over the Montreal Expos.

And an opposing starter overwhelmed them again.

Montreal got three quality starts in taking two of three at Olympic Stadium, and Leiter continued the disturbing trend for the Dodgers.

Leiter had been on the disabled list because of a strained left elbow, but he quickly joined a long list of pitchers who have appeared in top form against the Dodgers.

“Both teams are playing bad, and coming off a loss like they did [Thursday], we didn’t capitalize on it,” Gary Sheffield said. “Getting Leiter back enthused those guys and he pitched very good.

“He kept the ball in and away, but all in all you’ve just got to keep going. It’s a long season and we have to put this behind us.”

Tracy hopes they will soon.

“We’re not hitting collectively, it’s not a matter of one guy,” said Tracy, whose team is batting .192 (25 for 130) on the trip. “You have two choices in this case.

“You look yourself in the mirror and you say, ‘Hey, I’m tired of it. We’re going to get busy and do something about it.’ Or you continue to squander.”