Teammates Still Supporting Park

Players rallied around embattled starter Chan Ho Park on Thursday, saying his heart should not be questioned in the wake of a disastrous relief appearance.

Several Dodgers said that Park was put in an untenable situation in the seventh inning of Monday’s 6-4 loss to the San Diego Padres, when he faced five batters and failed to record an out.

The right-hander had last pitched in relief April 25, 1997, against the Florida Marlins.

“He probably was a little out of his element when he got brought into that situation,” said Chad Kreuter, Park’s primary catcher. “I was surprised. It would be untrue to say that I wasn’t.

“I was surprised I was going into the game. I snapped my neck around, looked down at the ‘pen and saw he was warming up. I was very surprised.”

Gary Sheffield expressed disappointment that Park has been criticized publicly.

“He’s not a relief pitcher,” the left fielder said. “He’s a teammate of mine, and I would [play] with him any day. It just hurts to hear people talk about a guy that’s this important to this team.

“He’s helped more than anybody. Without him, we wouldn’t even be close. To criticize him is like criticizing [right fielder Shawn Green] or to criticize myself. That’s absurd.

“He’s definitely not the problem, I can tell you that. We’ve got to rally behind this guy. We’ve got to back this guy. We’ve got to support this guy. We can’t talk down to him and about him. We’ve go to encourage him.”

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The Dodgers plan to shut down starter Kevin Brown if they drop out of postseason contention, Manager Jim Tracy said.

“If we’re in a position where we fall out of the race, we won’t continue to pitch him,’ Tracy said of Brown, who has a torn muscle on his pitching elbow and might undergo surgery after the season.

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Although their initial experiment produced poor results, Tracy and pitching coach Jim Colborn might revert to a four-man rotation.

Tracy said a decision would be made after the series against the Diamondbacks. Brown would be the next starter to pitch on short rest in a four-man alignment.