ROOKIE DELIVERS FOR DODGERS HOULTON HELPS L.A. TOP BREWERS DODGERS 2, MILWAUKEE 1.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

Six months after being taken by the Dodgers in the quirky Rule 5 draft and four hours before he was to make his first major-league start, D.J. Houlton scampered through the doors of a Dodger Stadium elevator just as they were closing and leaned casually against a corner, with one foot up on the wall behind him. As the car began to descend toward the clubhouse level, someone asked the rookie right-hander if he was nervous.

``Not at all,'' he said, with a facial expression that seemed to dismiss the very suggestion as utterly ridiculous.

When he finally got to the mound on Saturday night, Houlton looked every bit as relaxed as he had when he had arrived at the ballpark. And if you didn't know better as you watched him work against the Milwaukee Brewers, you would have thought you were watching a crafty veteran.

Houlton, who hadn't thrown more than two innings in any relief outing this season, worked his way methodically and economically into the sixth, giving the pitching-strapped Dodgers all they could have asked for in what eventually became a 2-1 victory in front of 46,287.

Houlton retired the first six batters he faced without a ball leaving the infield, two of them with his own, quick reactions to balls hit directly back in his direction. He then allowed the leadoff man to reach in each of the next four innings, but worked around it each time.

Meanwhile, J.D. Drew and Jeff Kent homered back-to-back for the second time in the past three games, giving the Dodgers all the offense they needed to assure themselves of at least a split of this four-game series that concludes today.

Manager Jim Tracy and third baseman Antonio Perez missed the final two innings. They were ejected by plate umpire Marty Foster after a strikeout-caught stealing double play that ended the seventh inning two pitches after both Perez and Tracy argued that Perez had been hit by a pitch.

As Tracy walked off the field, injured center fielder Milton Bradley stepped out of the dugout clapping for him and shook his hand.

The umpires, clearly agitated, then approached bench coach Jim Lett to complain about something going on in the Dodgers dugout. That something apparently was Bradley, who by virtue of being on the disabled list technically isn't supposed to be on the bench during games, although that rule rarely is enforced.

Eric Gagne, who worked the ninth for his fifth save, was suspended by the league for two games earlier this season after being ejected for arguing from the bench while on the DL. Gagne was told to stay off the bench during games, but didn't comply, leading to the disciplinary action.

The first chink of any kind in Houlton's armor came in the third inning, when he issued a five-pitch, leadoff walk to Damian Miller and wound up paying for it, at least to an extent. Junior Spivey followed with a seeing-eye single.

That brought up Brewers pitcher Victor Santos, who came in hitless in his past 34 at-bats dating to last July, and the Dodgers were so sure he was bunting that firstbaseman Hee-Seop Choi came running almost all the way to the plate on Houlton's first pitch.

That pitch, though, wound up in center field when Santos unexpectedly swung away, driving one through the hole vacated when Kent ran to cover first.

But with the bases loaded and none out, all the Brewers managed was a run on a double-play grounder by Brady Clark.

Jeff Cirillo grounded out to Kent to strand Spivey on third.

Houlton then pitched around a leadoff double by Geoff Jenkins in the fourth, ending that inning with consecutive strikeouts of Lyle Overbay and Bill Hall, and a leadoff single by Miller in the fifth, erasing that by inducing a double-play grounder from Spivey.

Houlton hit Clark to open the sixth.

After getting Cirillo to ground into a force play, Houlton was lifted so left-hander Kelly Wunsch could face the left-handed-hitting Jenkins. Wunsch and Duaner Sanchez got out of that jam by striking out Jenkins and Carlos Lee, respectively.

Houlton (1-0) had thrown 74 pitches, allowed just four hits and done everything he possibly could to earn a second start on Friday night against Minnesota if Tracy doesn't skip that spot in the rotation because of Thursday's off-day.

For the second time in three days, the Dodgers (28-27) avoided falling below .500 for what would have been the first time since they dropped their season opener.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 4 boxes

Photo:

Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent throws to first after getting Milwaukee's Damian Miller on a force play at second in Saturday night's game.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) DODGERS vs. MILWAUKEE

- Tony Jackson

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC