Ishii Has His Share of Issues

There were a couple of eye-catching items in the Dodger Stadium lost-and-found bin Sunday night.

Lost was a baseball game to the Atlanta Braves, who rocked pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii for five runs in the first inning en route to a 7-5 victory over the Dodgers before a crowd of 50,306, trimming the Dodgers’ National League wild-card lead over San Francisco to 3 1/2 games.

Found was a pitcher by the name of Kevin Brown--not the circa-1998 flamethrower who was one of baseball’s most dominant pitchers, but something far more effective than the wobbly right-hander who battled injuries in April and May and looked out of whack in his first two relief appearances in August.

Brown, who underwent surgery for a herniated disk in his lower back on June 11, replaced Ishii to start the second and struck out nine in four innings, giving up two runs and four hits.

He threw 84 pitches, and while his velocity was not vintage Brown--his fastball was in the 91-mph range, a few ticks off his normal 94 mph--his sinker and split-fingered fastball were lively.

Manager Jim Tracy would not speculate on possible changes in the starting rotation, but Brown’s performance, coupled with Ishii’s struggles--the Japanese left-hander has a 9.12 earned-run average in his last six starts--will warrant strong consideration for a switch of Brown for Ishii by next weekend.

“Eighty-four pitches, nine strikeouts, you have to feel good about that,” Tracy said. “That was, by far, the best outing he’s had since coming off the disabled list [on Aug. 15]. It’s a build-up process. You have to give him an opportunity to get his feet wet, but it was awfully good tonight.”

Brown, who has been working out in the bullpen after games so as not to impact his availability for the games, declined to comment Sunday night, but earlier in the afternoon he said he was not frustrated by his limited relief role.

“If I didn’t think I could [return to form] in the role I’m in now, I wouldn’t be doing this,” Brown said. “It’s just a matter of when I’m right, I’m right. And when I’m right, I’ll have a pretty good idea.”

With the exception of two third-inning walks and a subsequent pitch that was smoked for a two-run triple by Mark DeRosa, Brown looked right Sunday night.

“The tempo of his delivery and his release point were pretty consistent,” pitching coach Jim Colborn said. “Some of his pitches were pretty sharp.”

Sharp enough to convince at least one teammate Brown was rotation-ready.

“If we can get him back and see more of what we saw tonight,” Shawn Green said, “it’s almost like we’ve made an acquisition with him out there every fifth day.”

With 32 games left in the regular season, provided there is no work stoppage, the Dodgers, who won two of three from the Braves, can’t afford to be patient with Ishii, who increased his major league-leading walk total to 100 when he issued free passes to two of the first three batters he faced.

Chipper Jones then ripped a three-run homer to left for a 3-0 lead, Andruw Jones doubled and Javy Lopez homered for a 5-0 lead.

“I’d like to have that first inning back,” Tracy said. “There is no defense for walks and home runs.”

Ishii finished the first inning but was pulled in favor of Brown, who struck out the side in the second. The Dodgers stormed back with four runs, two unearned, off Atlanta left-hander Damian Moss in the bottom of the second, a rally that began with Paul Lo Duca’s double, Eric Karros’ infield single and Mike Kinkade’s run-scoring double.

Brave shortstop Rafael Furcal booted Jolbert Cabrera’s grounder, with Karros scoring. Brown’s bunt moved Cabrera to second, Cesar Izturis’ groundout scored Kinkade, and Marquis Grissom’s RBI double pulled the Dodgers within 5-4.

Two walks and one mistake to DeRosa hurt Brown in the third; DeRosa’s two-out, two-run triple gave Atlanta a 7-4 lead. But Brown blanked the Braves over the next two innings, pitching out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth by striking out Chipper Jones and getting Andruw Jones to pop to second.

“Kevin hadn’t pitched in a few days, they scored five runs in the first, so we had to make a change. And we found out some things about Kevin Brown that we’re very intrigued by,” Tracy said.