TURBULENT START COSTLY FOR DODGERS SAN FRAN. 5, DODGERS 3.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

Milton Bradley has developed a bad reputation around the leagues because of several on- and off-field incidents, but it seems an umpire's temper, not his own, cost Bradley on Saturday night.

Bradley was ejected by home-plate umpire Sam Holbrook at the end of the first inning, and the Dodgers sorely missed Bradley's bat in the later innings as they were held down by San Francisco starter Jerome Williams and lost 5-3 to the Giants in front of 54,820 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers' winning streak against the Giants ended at four games, as they had only one run and three hits through eight innings against Williams.

Bradley's loss was felt, as his replacement, Jason Grabowski, went 0 for 3 and stranded two runners in scoring position, but it seemed Bradley wasn't entirely responsible for his own departure.

With two outs in the first, Bradley took a called third strike. He lingered at the plate, but Holbrook made no effort to walk away, as umpires traditionally do to avoid conflict. First-base coach John Shelby came over to pick up Bradley's bat, and the exchange didn't appear heated but Bradley got tossed.

``I never yelled and I never cursed,'' Bradley said. ``I asked him if it was a strike and he said it was a good pitch. They always say, 'It's a good pitch.' I wanted him to tell me if it was a strike.

``He said, 'It was a good (expletive) pitch, right on the black.' ''

What apparently got Bradley tossed was a reference to a close play in the seventh inning of Friday night's game. Bradley grounded to third and was called out on a close play at first, by Holbrook.

``I asked him 'Do you have a grudge from last night?' and he wouldn't answer,'' Bradley said, adding that he was thrown out after making that comment.

Bradley said he had no history with Holbrook before Friday.

``He stuck around too long,'' Holbrook said. ``I gave him two warnings and told him to move along.''

Bradley had an incident last July, when he was with Cleveland and tossed his bat and helmet toward home-plate umpire Bruce Froemming after what Bradley believed to be a poorly called third strike.

When asked if he thought Holbrook had a short fuse, Bradley said, ``Obviously.''

Bradley might not have made a difference in the game, but the Dodgers needed some type of additional offensive burst. They trailed 3-0 after a poor first inning from starter Jeff Weaver (1-2) and were down 5-1 in the ninth before Juan Encarnacion's two-out, two-run home run chased Williams.

Williams (3-1) allowed three runs on five hits, walked two and struck out five and was one out from his second career complete game. Matt Herges, a former Dodger, got the final out for his sixth save.

The Dodgers' first run came in the second inning, when Shawn Green was hit by a pitch, moved to second on Paul Lo Duca's single and to third on a fielder's-choice groundout.

Green then scored on Adrian Beltre's sacrifice fly.

Besides that, and Encarnacion's home run, it was a strong outing for Williams, but a bizarre one for Weaver (1-2), who looked as though he wouldn't get out of the first inning.

Ray Durham led off the game with a home run on Weaver's fourth pitch, and two outs later Michael Tucker hit a bases-loaded double into the right- field corner to give the Giants a 3-0 lead.

But Weaver struck out Neifi Perez, then rebounded brilliantly and allowed only three hits and two walks over the next six innings. Weaver ran into trouble in the eighth, when he loaded the bases on a single and two walks, and A.J. Pierzynski blooped a two-run single to left against Dodgers reliever Tom Martin.

Weaver allowed the five runs on seven hits, walked five and struck out six. He even got Barry Bonds to ground out to shortstop in the fifth inning. Bonds, who homered twice off Weaver last weekend, was intentionally walked and scored in the first and walked in the third and eighth.

The crowd was the ninth-largest to ever watch a regular-season game at Dodger Stadium.

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com