BROWN'S REIGN IS LONG ENOUGH START-AND-STOP PERFORMANCE STOPS PADRES IN WET ONE DODGERS 3, SAN DIEGO 1.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

The thought of a dominant Kevin Brown on the mound to start a nine-game homestand against three of the National League's weakest teams had to bring a smile to the Dodgers' faces Friday night.

Brown came through with his third consecutive strong performance since returning from a strained Achilles tendon, and Gary Sheffield drove in two runs to lead the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory on a cold and rainy night at Dodger Stadium in front of 34,368, few of whom were there at the end.

Brown (2-1) survived an unlikely pitchers' duel with Brian Tollberg that lasted into the middle innings and left the game with one out in the top of the seventh after sitting through a 24-minute rain delay in the bottom of the sixth. Brown came out in favor of Gregg Olson after he walked Santiago Perez and hit Damian Jackson with a pitch.

The delay seemed to bother Brown, who left the game after complaining of stiffness in his back. But Olson got the Dodgers out of the jam when he stuck out Wiki Gonzalez, and pinch-hitter Dave Magaden grounded out to first. Brown finished with six hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

``It wasn't worth taking a chance in that situation,'' manager Jim Tracy said. ``We didn't want to go any further with the conditions the way they were.

``When he told us that he had the stiffness, we were not going to let him go any further.''

Sheffield gave the Dodgers a two-run lead in the bottom of the seventh when he singled home Tom Goodwin from second. The Dodgers bullpen, which faltered twice in a three-game series against the Padres in San Diego last week, came through this time. Mike Fetters pitched a perfect eighth and Jeff Shaw earned his fifth save.

``The bullpen came in and picked me up,'' Brown said. ``I was just trying to make do with what I had.''

Tollberg matched Brown for more than half of the game. He gave up just one hit through four innings but finally fell apart in the sixth and did not record an out. Goodwin led off with a walk, his first of the season, and Mark Grudzielanek extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single to left.

Sheffield then ripped a single to left-center to score Goodwin, and Shawn Green drove home Grudzielanek and chased Tollberg from the game with a sharp single to left for a 2-1 Dodgers lead.

Brian Lawrence replaced Tollberg and got two outs before he loaded the bases with a walk to Chad Kreuter. Then the game was stopped. After the break, Lawrence got Alex Cora to fly out to left to end the inning.

Tollberg struggled in the sixth inning, but his performance earlier in the game was impressive. His stuff was far from overpowering, but Tollberg did a good job of keeping the Dodgers off balance.

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Photo:

(color) Friday's game between the Dodgers and Padres was delayed several times because of rain at Dodger Stadium.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press