DON'T BLAME BROWN FOR DODGERS' MESS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

In the years ahead, when you think of the worst times in Dodgers history, the image that will come to mind will be Kevin Brown - the stony face of a team of big payrolls and little personality and empty autumn.

He is the human symbol of five seasons of frustration.

But he is not the cause of it.

This has not been your fault, Los Angeles should say to Kevin Brown as he stands on the tarmac beside that infamous private jet, bound for the New York Yankees in a four-player trade in the works Thursday.

Don't blame Brown for failing to lead the Dodgers out of the wilderness. Blame the people who bet the franchise on an aging right arm. Blame Fox, the owner that signed the checks, blame Kevin Malone, the general manager who made the deal, blame Scott Boros, the agent who did his job too well.

The Dodgers took the money Mike Piazza wanted and used it to acquire Brown from the San Diego Padres. They gave him a seven-year contract for $105 million.

Then they asked him to earn every penny of his $15 million a year by accomplishing more between the downhill ages of 33 and 40 than he had between the ascending ages of 25 and 32.

He couldn't.

They asked him to pick up the mantle of Koufax, Drysdale, Sutton, Valenzuela and Hershiser when he'd never been a man of such magic.

He couldn't.

They asked him to take them to the World Series backed by a batting order weakened by the imbalanced payroll.

He couldn't.

Blame him?

Kevin Brown came here with one 20-win season under his belt, without a single winning World Series decision, without a Cy Young Award.

Yes, if Brown had accomplished in seven years with the Dodgers what he'd done in the previous seven with Texas, Baltimore, Florida and San Diego, he would have won 114 games, helped the team to two World Series, earned one World Series championship ring, worn blue and white in four All-Star Games and mixed in a no-hitter along the way.

But how many baseball players, even durable ones, are peaking at 35?

Brown wasn't Roger Clemens to begin with and he wasn't about to become one just because Kevin Malone held his breath. Brown never won more than 18 in a season for the Dodgers, he never gave Los Angeles the benefit of his best year in any important statistical category, and he antagonized teammates and reporters and fans with his cold stare.

All Brown did was give the Dodgers the best they got from any of their starting pitchers over these five years, even factoring the 2001 and 2002 seasons, when he broke down physically. He led the Dodgers at 58-32 from 1999 to 2003. He led the league with a 2.58 ERA in 2000.

Now he leaves in a trade for Yankees pitcher Jeff Weaver, two Yankees minor-leaguers and 3 million Yankees dollars. George Steinbrenner will pick up the last two years of his seven-year contract and hope he can replace Andy Pettitte in the rotation. Brown is jettisoned from the Dodgers not because he is a drag on the team but because he is a drag on the payroll.

This is the off-season when baseball teams woke up to the fact that one expensive player can't pitch or bat you to a championship but one expensive player can spend you into a hole.

The Dodgers overpaid for Brown five years ago and hoped he'd grow into his wallet, not the first or the last time they made that mistake.

Then Brown failed to bail out the bad judgment.

Put the blame where it belongs.