Brown Suffers a New Setback

DENVER —  Another Dodger victory, this one an 11-5 pasting of the Colorado Rockies before a crowd of 30,150 on a chilly, rainy and windy Monday evening in Coors Field, was overshadowed by some chilling news back home.

Kevin Brown, the Dodger ace who is on the disabled list because of inflammation in his surgically repaired right elbow, was admitted to Centinela Hospital in Inglewood early Monday night because of a protrusion, likely a bulging disk, in his lower back, a condition that could require surgery and possibly sideline Brown for several weeks, if not the remainder of the season.

Brown, in the fourth year of a seven-year, $106-million contract, experienced such discomfort Sunday that he did not attend the game in Dodger Stadium. He was in so much pain Monday that a team physician suggested he be admitted to the hospital, where an MRI test showed the protrusion.

“I don’t know how he hurt it [or if it was an injury that developed over time], but if he did hurt it, it wasn’t at the park,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “Our main concern is still the elbow. He won’t begin throwing again until the fluid in the back of his elbow dissipates. But he’s in a very uncomfortable state right now [because of his back], and we need to find out what’s going on.”

Dodger General Manager Dan Evans was informed of Brown’s situation early Monday night, when team physical therapist Pat Screnar called to inform Evans that the pain in Brown’s back had reached a point where he couldn’t tolerate it any more at home.

“I have not yet spoken to Dr. [Frank] Jobe [team physician], but [Brown] is going to be examined, either late [Monday] night or [today],” Evans said. “I don’t want to speculate on it because I just don’t know ... the extent of the injury.”

News of Brown’s latest setback--he’s already been on the disabled list twice this season and underwent surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his elbow last September--did little to slow the Dodgers, who won for the sixth time in seven games.

They got a little help Monday night--the victory was all but gift-wrapped by Colorado reliever Jose Jimenez, whose wild throw on a play that didn’t even require a throw enabled the Dodgers to snap a 4-4 tie with two tack-on runs in their four-run eighth inning.

The Dodgers broke the game open with five runs in the ninth, an inning capped by Adrian Beltre’s three-run home run, but that probably did little to ease the pain and embarrassment for Jimenez, whose mental gaffe turned the game toward the Dodgers.

The Dodgers trailed, 4-2, when Paul Lo Duca opened the eighth with a single to right off reliever Todd Jones. Shawn Green doubled to left, moving Lo Duca to third.

Colorado Manager Clint Hurdle summoned Jimenez, and Brian Jordan singled to left, Lo Duca scoring and Green stopping at third, to make it 4-3. Eric Karros then chopped a grounder over first baseman Todd Helton’s head for a double that scored Green with the tying run and moved Jordan to third.

Mark Grudzielanek grounded back to the pitcher, the runners holding, and it appeared the Rockies were one step closer to snuffing the rally when Beltre grounded back to Jimenez.

Jordan broke for the plate on contact and was hung up between third and home. Jimenez ran toward Jordan, and with Karros well on his way to third, all Jimenez had to do was run Jordan back to the bag for an out, because the Dodgers would have had two runners on a base.

But as Karros slid into third, Jimenez inexplicably flipped the ball toward third, and his wild throw sailed into left field, allowing Jordan and Karros to score for a 6-4 Dodger lead.

The Rockies pulled within 6-5 in the bottom of the eighth when Larry Walker blasted his 11th homer of the season off reliever Jesse Orosco, an upper-deck shot that traveled an estimated 481 feet, the ninth-longest homer in Coors Field history.

But the Dodgers loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, as Lo Duca was hit by a pitch, Green singled and Jordan walked, and Karros stroked a two-run single to left-center, giving him four runs batted in Monday, seven in two games.

Beltre, mired in a one-for-14 slump, followed with a three-run homer to center, extending the Dodgers’ string of games with a home run to 11.