Kevin Brown improved, might not miss start

By JOHN NADEL
AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) Kevin Brown's strained left groin was much improved Wednesday to the point where the Los Angeles Dodgers' ace hopes to take his regular turn in the rotation Sunday against the Anaheim Angels.

``Feeling that kind of improvement from last night to today, I feel pretty good about throwing Sunday,'' Brown said before the Dodgers faced the San Francisco Giants. ``Hopefully we caught it before it got bad.''

Brown joined Seattle's Jamie Moyer as baseball's only 10-game winners Tuesday night, limiting the Giants to seven hits and one run in six-plus innings. The Dodgers won 4-1 for their seventh straight victory.

Brown, 10-1 with a major league-leading 1.97 ERA, strained his groin running out a grounder to short for the last out of the sixth, and was removed after Edgardo Alfonzo hit a leadoff double in the seventh.

``It could very well have been I did it coming out of the box,'' Brown said.

The 38-year-old right-hander alerted manager Jim Tracy, who had Paul Shuey warming up at the start of the seventh.

``What we feel very good about is we did what we did last night, stopping him at the time we stopped him,'' Tracy said. ``I don't see it as an issue. I expect him to start Sunday.''

Houston ace Roy Oswalt was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday for the second time this season because of a groin injury.

``Hopefully it's not as bad as Oswalt's is,'' Brown said of his injury. ``Maybe we'll dodge a bullet here.''

Brown threw 79 pitches before coming out. He has won his last seven starts and is 9-0 with two no-decisions since losing to San Francisco 5-1 on April 18.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)