After losing by identical 5-4 scores on Friday and Saturday at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, the Dodgers won a game by the same score.

The Dodgers, after taking a day off, open a three-game series in San Francisco against the Giants on Tuesday. The Giants lead the tightly-packed AL West with a 7-5 record. The Dodgers are 7-6. Tuesday's probable pitchers: Darren Dreifort (0-1, 6.75) of the Dodgers vs. Shawn Estes (0-1, 6.20) of the Giants.

SUNDAY'S VICTORY: Three relievers combined for four hitless innings after Kevin Brown was forced out of the game as the Dodgers avoided being swept by the Padres.

Brown, who gave up four unearned runs against his former team in the bottom of the second, was part of the Dodgers' three-run rally in the top of the sixth. But he was removed for a pinch runner after getting hit on the left arm by a pitch thrown by Padres' reliever Rodney Myers (0-1) that loaded the bases.

Brown (1-1) suffered a contusion on his left elbow and is listed as day-to-day. He allowed five hits over five innings and lowered his ERA to 0.69.

"I thought it was OK when he first hit it," Brown said. "I took a couple of steps and the nerves kicked in. I don't think it's gonna be a problem. There's a bruise and it's sore, but it's all right."

Jeff Shaw rebounded from his first blown save on Friday by striking out of the side in the ninth for his fourth save. After taking a 4-1 lead in the second, the Padres managed only one hit over the final seven frames against Brown, Matt Herges, Mike Fetters and Shaw.

WHO'S HOT: Left fielder Gary Sheffield hit his fifth and sixth home runs on Saturday. He's hitting .359 with 11 RBI. In his five prior games to Tuesday, Sheffield has gone 8-for-15 (.533) with eight runs scored, five home runs, nine RBI and five walks.

WHO'S NOT: The Dodgers aren't getting much offensive production out of Tom Goodwin (.188, 6-for-32) and Marquis Grissom (.115, 3-for-26), who have been sharing time in center field.

POWER SURGE: Alex Cora's home run on Sunday was the Dogers 10th in their last five games. The Dodgers continue to lead the majors in homers with 25. The team they play this week, the Cardinals, were second with 24 through Sunday.

STREAK ENDS: Eric Karros' eight-game hitting streak ended Sunday when he went 0-for-5. During his streak, Karros batted .323 (10-for-31) with three home runs, four runs scored and five RBI. Overall, he's hitting .216.

April 13

Give Clark some credit

The Dodgers decimated San Francisco pitching, hitting 11 home runs in a three-game series. They hit a Dodger Stadium-record 10 home runs in two days, five in each.

Slap hitter Mark Grudzielanek, who had 10 home runs in his best season, hit five homers in the first week of 2000. The Dodgers had back-to-back home runs in three straight games at this early point of the campaign.

Could there by a common link to this phenomenon on the Dodgers? San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker thinks so.

"You can see the influence of (hitting coach) Jack Clark in those guys,'' Baker said. "Jack knew how to hit. You could shoot a bazooka and not get it by Clark.''

Dodgers manager Jim Tracy confirmed Clark's role in the early power production.

"He's got us to where we're hitting down and through the ball and not trying to lift it,'' Tracy said. "We're concerned with driving the ball now.''

Sure enough, the testimonials about Clark's impact on the team were flowing.

Said Shawn Green: "Jack's helped me quite a bit. He's helped me get my swing back. I'm swinging down and through instead of trying to hook everything.''

Said Grudzielanek to the Los Angeles Times after leading the National League in home runs at one point this season: "He believes I have a lot of power that I could use that I don't use. He told me, 'You've got a lot of power. You can definitely hit some home runs.' It's not that I'm trying to do it or anything like that, it's just that I'm understanding some of the things he's telling me to work on and, really, early in the count, get a pitch and drive it. Not swing too hard, but really go after it.''

Grudzielanek, who had never homered in more than two consecutive games previously, hit five home runs in a streak four games.

When the Dodgers hit 10 home runs against the Giants in two games, it was the first time the Dodgers had hit at least five home runs in back-to-back games since June 29-30, 1996. Those games were at homer-friendly Coors Field in Colorado, where they hit six in each game.

GAGNE MAY BE TEETERING: Pitcher Eric Gagne is with the Dodgers and because of that, Carlos Perez is at triple-A Las Vegas and Ramon Martinez is now with the Pittsburgh Pirates after getting released.

Thus, Manager Jim Tracy has had to do some explaining as to why Gagne was picked to pitch in the Dodgers rotation over the two veterans.

"The message we're trying to send is that we're not only looking for consistency from him, but also peace of mind. We want Gagne to be where if does not throw well in a game, he isn't wondering if it will be his last. We don't want him to feel as if there's a gun held to his head, and one bad outing will send him to the minor leagues.''

Gagne had his one bad game on April 8, when the San Francisco Giants won 8-3 at Dodger Stadium. Gagne (0-1, 5.73) gave up two-run home runs to Russ Davis and Benito Santiago and six runs overall in six innings.

Gagne might be under a microscope of sorts because Perez is on a rehabilitation assignment in Las Vegas that will end in about a month. At that point, if the Dodgers don't trade Perez, they must put him on the major-league roster. Otherwise, Perez, who is earning $7.5 million this season, can become a free agent while keeping virtually his entire Dodger salary.

General manager Kevin Malone said he thinks Perez can help the team. The question is: how? Perez has been a starting pitcher virtually his entire career, meaning Gagne's job might be in jeopardy.

When asked if Gagne was a concern, Tracy responded: "Not at this time. That would be totally contradictory to how we've been trying to establish him in the major leagues. You don't want him to think start-to-start that it's the last one he's going to get. I don't think when you're trying to develop a young man into a major-league pitcher you want that weighing on his shoulders.

"But then consistency is obviously very important at the major-league level," he said. "At some point, you hope he gets going and becomes a very consistent pitcher. The ball's in his court.''

Meanwhile, Perez is not exactly making a case for himself. He made two rehabilitation starts for triple-A Las Vegas and they weren't pretty. Perez has nine innings and allowed nine earned runs, on 13 hits and three walks while striking out six.

PROKOPEC DOWN UNDER MAJORS Rookie pitcher Luke Prokopec, who made the opening day roster because ace Kevin Brown was suffering from a strained Achilles' tendon, was sent down to triple-A Las Vegas when Brown was activated April 10.

Prokopec went down despite giving the Dodgers' best pitching performance of the season, before Brown's season debut the day Prokopec left. In his only start, the Australian Prokopec went a-waltzing through the Giants lineup, pitching six shutout innings on April 6 before giving up a run to the Giants in the seventh. He allowed just four hits, no walks and struck out seven.

"I can't complain too much,'' Prokopec said in his thick Aussie accent. "I got a start in the big leagues and pitched a good game. I'll take that over a kick in the teeth any day.''

"Quite frankly, it really doesn't surprise me knowing the individual, his competitive nature and the way he accepts challenges,'' manager Jim Tracy said.

DOMINICANS KICKED OUT: Major League Baseball voided the contracts of two Dominican players in the Dodgers organization after they were found to have doctored their birth certificates to make them appear younger.

Alexis Arias and Arismendy Cuello, who had been playing in the Dominican Summer League, are no longer members of the Dodgers organization and will not be able to sign with a major league team until at least June, according to the commissioner's office.

Arias, 22, who had been signed in 1998, presented himself to be 20 with a doctored birth certificate. He had batted .266 with six home runs and 27 RBIs for Santo Domingo last season. Cuello, 24, signed in 1997, had tried to pass himself off as a 20-year-old before a commissioner's office investigation made the discovery. Cuello, a right-hander, was 16-2 with a 2.50 ERA the last three years for Santo Domingo.

"There's no wrongdoing on part of the Dodgers,'' said Derrick Hall, vice president of communications. "Fortunately, there is now a process in place than enables Major League Baseball to verify proper birthdates.'' Hall went on to say the Dodgers would not try to re-sign the two players.

The Dodgers, you might remember, were found by the commissioner's office to have signed Adrian Beltre under the minimum age of 16. For that, the commissioner's office fined the Dodgers $50,000 and ordered them to pay Beltre $48,500.

COFFIN CORNER?: Pitcher Darren Dreifort took ground balls at third base during pregame practice recently, but don't worry, the Dodgers haven't run out of third basemen. Yet.

The Dodgers did, however, lose infielder Tim Bogar to the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right hamstring. The club purchased the contract of Phil Hiatt to replace Bogar on the roster, and Hiatt was in the starting lineup at third base Thursday night.

Third base has been the hot corner for injuries on the Dodgers. Previously, Adrian Beltre was placed on the disabled list after having surgery to close a leaking wound in his large intestine. Also, Dave Hansen is on the DL after fracturing the top knuckle on the middle finger of his right hand in the first day of spring training. Beltre isn't expected back until late May and Hansen may be out two or more weeks.

Hiatt, 31, came to the Dodgers with 140 games major league experience with Kansas City (1993, '95) and Detroit (1996). In those game, he batted a cumulative .212 with 11 home runs and 49 RBI. Last year at Triple-A Colorado Springs (Rockies organization), Hiatt batted .310 with 36 home runs and 109 RBI.

BROWN DOWN: Perhaps no Dodger wants to forget the 2000 season more than Kevin Brown. The Dodgers, however, didn't exactly clean the slate in Brown's season debut Tuesday (April 10), when they lost, 2-0, to Curt Schilling and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Brown pitched superbly in the game, allowing just three hits, no walks and one earned run, while striking out eight. Yet he took the loss in the game when Schilling shut out the Dodgers on two hits.

The game was eerily similar to many of Brown's games in 2000, when he went 13-6 with a National League-leading ERA of 2.58. Brown had 14 no-decisions last season, eight of which he gave up zero or one run.

"It would have been a lot better, obviously, if we had won the game,'' an agitated Brown said after his debut. "It would have been nice if I had pitched as well and we still won, but that wasn't the case.''

POWER SURGE: The Dodgers had never hit at least five home runs in back-to-back games at Dodger Stadium until they did so April 6 and 7 against the San Francisco Giants.

Strangely, not one of the home runs was hit by Gary Sheffield, who led the Dodgers last season with 43 home runs.

"That's a good sign,'' Sheffield said. "It's great to sit back and watch. I'm content with everything the way the games have gone. The most important this is, when the games grow close, we've come through big.''

DOUBLING UP: When Shawn Green and Eric Karros hit back-to-back home runs off the Giants' Livan Hernandez in the second inning April 7, it marked the third consecutive game the Dodgers had achieved the feat.

The day before, Marquis Grissom and Mark Grudzielanek hit back-to-back home runs off San Francisco's Shawn Estes in the fourth inning. On April 5, Tom Goodwin and Grudzielanek led off the Dodgers' first with home runs off Arizona's Brian Anderson.

The last previous time the Dodgers had hit back-to-back home runs in three consecutive games was in 1996 -- June 29-30 at Colorado and July 1 against San Diego.

CELEBRATING E.K. DAY IN L.A.: In Los Angeles, the city fathers saw fit to honor first baseman Eric Karros for his leadership and community service, declaring April 6 "Eric Karros Day. He was given a proclamation signifying the occasion.

Karros celebrated his day by hitting a milestone home run in the Dodgers' 10-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.

The home run was Karros' first of the season and 243rd of his career, moving him into third place on the franchise's all-time list ahead of Roy Campanella. He trails only Duke Snider (389) and Gil Hodges (361).

After the game, Roy Campanella's wife, Roxie, congratulated Karros for his milestone home run, just as she did last year when Karros tied Roy Campanella's homer mark.

"I'm just so happy because. ... there's no better person than Karros,'' Roxie Campanella said. "He has a good disposition, he plays well and he thinks right.''

STREAK PUT IN PARK: Pitcher Chan Ho Park's consecutive shutout innings streak ended at 33 on April 7, when the Giants scored two runs in the second inning at Dodger Stadium. But even if he pitched three more consecutive shutouts, he would not have tied Orel Hershiser's official major league record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistician of Major League Baseball, Hershiser would keep his record because he achieved the feat in one regular season, 1988. In that season, Hershiser won the National League Cy Young award after leading the Dodgers to the world championship.

Park, however, could have established a major league record for consecutive shutout innings stretching across two seasons, according to Elias Sports Bureau.