ANOTHER LOST CHANCE EVEN WITH BROWN, DODGERS CAN'T BEAT CUBS CHICAGO 5, DODGERS 4.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

This was the week the Dodgers were supposed to start making their move.

They had home games and bad teams on the schedule. They had Kevin Brown pitching Wednesday night against the Chicago Cubs before heading to Atlanta to face the mighty Braves.

But nothing this season has fit cleanly, especially their 10-inning, 5-4 loss to the Cubs in front of 39,753 at Dodger Stadium that turned on a bases-loaded walk by Antonio Osuna.

``We are throwing it away,'' said Mark Grudzielanek, who popped out with the tying run at third in the 10th. ``We are playing at home and we should be winning these games, but we are just throwing it away.''

Brown struggled early and left after six innings with a sore right-side muscle. Todd Hundley broke an 0 for 19 slump with a monster home run, but made two throwing errors and struck out with the winning run at second in the ninth. The Dodgers stranded five baserunners in the final two innings.

But even more surprising is the home-field advantage - or, lack thereof - that the Dodgers have been hoping will carry them to the National League West title. They play 19 games at home in September, including 13 of the last 16. But so far, they are just 27-26 at Dodger Stadium.

They dropped two of three to the lowly Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend and split the first two games with the Cubs, who have won 13 of 19 after an awful start. With Wednesday's loss, the Dodgers are 5 1/2 games behind the division-leading San Francisco Giants, who beat Milwaukee.

Today they fly to Atlanta where they begin a weekend series. They will face Kevin Millwood, Greg Maddux and the white-hot Andy Ashby, who is undefeated since coming over from Philadelphia.

Against Chicago, the Dodgers tied the game in the eighth on a pinch home run by Dave Hansen off Jon Leiber, who had retired the previous 14 batters. For Hansen, it was the 10th of his Dodger career, a franchise record. But with a chance to win in the ninth, they couldn't score after Shawn Green opened with a double and Gary Sheffield was intentionally walked.

In the bottom of the inning, the Cubs loaded the bases against Osuna, but first baseman Eric Karros appeared to save the game by diving to stop Gary Matthews Jr.'s liner and throwing to the plate to force Sammy Sosa for the second out.

But Osuna (2-5) walked Jeff Reed to force home the winning run.

Tim Worrell (2-3) pitched the ninth to earn the victory. After putting runners at the corners with no outs, Rick Aguilera struck out Devon White and got Grudzielanek on a pop to second. Green walked, bringing up Sheffield, the NL leader with 35 home runs.

Sheffield, who took a called third strike and hit into an inning-ending double play earlier, nearly won it with a liner that was foul by several feet. Two pitches later, he fouled out to Mark Grace to end the game.

``If we put the ball in play the run scores,'' Dodgers manager Davey Johnson said. ``That's what makes this game so maddening.''

Brown entered the game 10-4 with a 2.34 ERA, but found himself trailing 1-0 just three batters in when Sosa drove a double into the gap in left-center for his league-leading 102nd RBI.

Hundley tied it in the second with a mammoth home run off Leiber. It was his first in 19 at-bats and it landed 449 feet from home plate.

But Hundley also was critical in the Cubs' third inning, when two throwing errors eventually led to three runs.

It didn't help that Brown was not on his game. Brown, who experienced some shoulder discomfort last month, felt his side tighten in the fourth inning. Pitching coach Claude Osteen said Brown wanted to pitch the seventh.

``He had thrown 101 pitches after six and it wasn't worth taking a chance,'' Osteen said.

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Photo: (color) The Dodgers' Alex Cora, right, was shaken up as a result of this collision with the Cubs' Eric Young.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer