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Sport Sections
Tuesday, February 20
Team physician says condition 'not a big deal'


VERO BEACH, Fla. – Los Angeles Dodgers ace Kevin Brown returned to training camp Tuesday, one day after having an irregular heartbeat checked out at a hospital.

Kevin Brown
Brown

"It was just a precautionary measure," Dodgers general manager Kevin Malone said. "We just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything major."

Brown, 36, sat out the first day of full-squad workouts Tuesday because he was tired from the hospital trip, but Dodgers officials said he would return to practice Wednesday.

"It's really not a big deal," Dodgers team physician Frank Jobe said. "He came in saying he had a lot of Cokes and had an arrhythmia of the heart. I have it myself, and a lot of people have it.

"We put him in the hospital just to check it out and he was ready to go. He has a normal heart. He's just going to have to stop drinking so many Cokes."

Jobe said athletes have more of a tendency to develop arrhythmia, an irregularity in the heartbeat. He said exhaustion, dehydration or excessive caffeine can set off the condition.

"There's more of a tendency with people who put stress on their bodies. It really doesn't mean anything because it goes away," Jobe said. "If you checked everybody on the team, you might find some more."

Brown went 13-6 and led the National League with a 2.58 ERA last season.

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