Brown Improves, but Injury Lingers

VERO BEACH, Fla. —  Kevin Brown still was limping around the Dodgertown clubhouse Sunday, the restrictive boot that had been prescribed to limit the range of motion on his strained right Achilles’ tendon not having worked.

So after ditching the boot and enduring a massive tape job that ended halfway up his calf, Brown limped outside and played catch for 10 minutes with pitching coach Jim Colborn.

“It’s better than it was yesterday,” Brown said. “I don’t know what to make of it. I walked out there and threw.”

Brown, whose opening day start April 2 against the Milwaukee Brewers is in jeopardy, did not throw off a mound to Colborn.

“I would say that April is far less important to us than May, June, July, August, September and October,” Colborn said. “If there’s a question, it would probably be on the cautious side, the prudent side.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to make sure he’s 110% before we let him out there because I think that kind of injury can nag on. He can pitch but the movement is the problem.”

The discomfort comes in fielding his position, rather than pushing off the mound on a pitch.

Brown, 36, has had a nagging pain in his Achilles’ since his first week in camp after stepping in a hole during drills. It locked up on him Friday night as he attempted to back up third base after giving up a double.

He will skip his next scheduled start Wednesday and throw a side workout off a mound instead.

“We want to be able to control the environment he works in because there is no problem for him to pitch,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “So we want to limit the movement and the running around that aggravates the area.”

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With Brown knocked out of his final spring training start, the Dodgers’ decision to name a No. 5 starter to open the season has been delayed and hinges on Brown’s health.

Initially, Tracy said that whoever starts Tuesday against the Houston Astros would be the fifth starter. But with Brown skipping his final start of the spring the next day, Ramon Martinez will throw Tuesday and Eric Gagne will take Brown’s turn Wednesday against the New York Mets. But Tracy said that because Martinez is pitching Tuesday doesn’t mean he has won the spot.

“We’re lined up to where we can go out at the end of the week and see how the situation is and then be able to make an adjustment at that time,” Tracy said. “So we still have time, a window to work in to make that decision.”

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Left-hander Carlos Perez will start the season on a rehab assignment at triple-A Las Vegas. Perez, who underwent left shoulder surgery Sept. 14, will pitch Tuesday against the Astros and April 1 in Vero Beach against minor leaguers before starting for Las Vegas in the second game of the season April 6 against Tacoma.

“We want him to compete against the best caliber of hitters we can pit him against,” Tracy said.

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Rookie infielder Hiram Bocachica, out since fouling a ball off the inside of his left ankle March 17, ran the bases in a side workout Sunday and should play today at Jupiter, Fla., against the Montreal Expos.

“Right now it hurts a little bit but I think I can handle this pain, play through a little bit of pain,” he said. “They say that I have an old injury with bone chips inside and that’s why this is bad because of the old injury. I don’t remember the last time I hurt my ankle.”

In 14 games, Bocachica, 25, is batting .243 with three home runs and six runs batted in and was named the top rookie of camp Sunday.

Notes

Darren Dreifort won his fourth game of the spring and the Dodgers hit four home runs in their 10-0 Grapefruit League victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday at Holman Stadium. . . . Dreifort gave up two hits in six innings, struck out six and walked one. . . . Chris Donnels and Gary Sheffield hit their third homers of the spring and Shawn Green and Tom Goodwin hit their first. . . . Left-handed reliever Jesse Orosco, 43, walked the lone batter he faced, Ray Lankford, on six pitches and will throw again today in situational relief. . . . Terry Adams pitched two innings of relief and lefty Rule V draftee Jose Antonio Nunez, 22, struck out two batters in an inning.