BROWN SUFFERS DEFEAT, BOOS; DODGERS ACE OUTDUELED BY SAN DIEGO'S ASHBY : SAN DIEGO 3 DODGERS 0.

Byline: Brian Dohn Daily News Staff Writer

Without question, Kevin Brown will remember his return to San Diego. And he'll remember it for all the wrong reasons.

The awesome fielding that backed Darren Dreifort the day before seemingly stayed in Arizona while the rest of the Dodgers' game ventured back to California.

Brown gave up three runs in 6-1/3 innings while Padres right-hander Andy Ashby baffled the Dodgers in a 3-0 win Friday at Qualcomm Stadium.

It was not a pretty night for Brown, who spurned a six-year, $60 million contract offer from the Padres in favor of Los Angeles' $105 million deal.

Brown, who helped the Padres to the World Series a year ago, was booed lustily when he took the mound, when he batted twice and, especially, when he was taken out of the game with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

``You hear them, but it's no different than playing at Atlanta or in Houston in the playoffs,'' Brown said. ``That's their prerogative. I can't do anything about that. I play for the Dodgers. I don't think they're real popular down here.''

The fans were so revved up in hopes Brown would collapse that a few even made a paper mache pinata of Brown and repeatedly hit it with a stick in the stands behind home plate.

``I didn't know what the reaction would be, but I didn't think it would be like that,'' Padres left fielder Tony Gwynn said. ``He made a decision good for him and good for his family, so I can't fault him. That's why I was surprised.''

What began as a nice duel turned in favor of Ashby in the fourth inning. Though the Padres didn't score, it was the first of four straight innings in which the lead runner reached base.

Brown (1-1) worked out of the fourth, but the Padres chipped away with singles runs in the next three innings.

Dave Magadan singled to lead off the fifth , moved to third on Chris Gomez's single and scored on Quilvio Veras' sacrifice fly to center field. It gave the Padres a 1-0 lead.

Gwynn, who had three hits, doubled to lead off the sixth inning and scored two batters later on John Vander Wal's single to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. But Brown dodged further trouble when he struck out Ashby with the bases loaded to end the inning.

In the seventh, Veras lined a single to left to set up the third Padres' run. He was erased on Reggie Sanders' grounder, but the inning was extended when second baseman Eric Young misplayed a potential inning-ending double play grounder. Wally Joyner followed with a double to score Sanders to put the Padres ahead 3-0 and chase Brown from the game. Brown struck out nine and allowed two earned runs on 10 hits.

Ashby (2-1) allowed five hits - the Dodgers didn't get two in an inning - and struck out eight.

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Photo: (Color) The Dodgers couldn't solve San Diego's Andy Ashby or muster any multi-hit innings.

Denis Poroy/Associated Press