Kevin Gross

While trying to escape a jam in the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres, Kevin Gross suddenly needed to escape a dark moment in his past. He could not do both, as the broken light dangling from a ceiling outside the Dodger clubhouse at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium confirmed. An angry Gross hurled a chair into that light Thursday, shortly after being warned by umpire Terry Tata about defacing the baseball with his fingernails.

Kevin Gross knows what you are wondering. It is the same thing everybody wonders about him. Yes, on Aug. 10, 1987, while pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, he taped a small piece of sandpaper to the inside of his glove. "Right here near the palm," he says, pointing to the heel of the glove. And yes, he was using the sandpaper to scuff the baseball. He ground the ball into the glove, where the sandpaper would cut the cover. "It was strong sandpaper," he says.

What do the Dodgers need? A left-handed relief pitcher, a left-handed starting pitcher, a second baseman and a leadoff man/center fielder. So what do they do? They spend $6.4 million on Kevin Gross--a mediocre right-handed pitcher with a lifetime record under .500 and an ERA over 4.00. What a Gross mistake. JEFF KASMER Long Beach and FRANK PEARLSTEIN Sherman Oaks

Kevin Gross, a free-agent pitcher with workhorse credentials and an enigmatic inability to win with acknowledged talent, joined the Dodger rotation Monday. Illustrative of a market out of control, Gross, 29, received a three-year, $6.4-million contract despite an 80-90 career record, including 9-12 with the Montreal Expos in 1990. The contract calls for a $650,000 signing bonus and salaries of $2 million in 1991 and '92 and $1.75 million in 1993.

Right-hander Kevin Gross on Monday signed a three-year deal with the Dodgers. Gross, a free agent, was 9-12 with a 4.57 earned-run average in 31 games with Montreal in 1990. Financial figures of Gross' contract were not disclosed by the club, but it is believed to be $7 million over the three years. The Expos moved Gross to the bullpen after he got off to a slow start and he wasn't happy with the shift even though it was only for five games.

Kevin Gross could only wonder if the way he lost his bid for a no-hitter Saturday at San Francisco was really fair. Gross pitched a perfect six innings in the Montreal Expos' 7-4 victory over the Giants, but he walked the first batter in the seventh inning. Will Clark hit a roller to first baseman Andres Galarraga that appeared to be the first out. But umpire Greg Bonin called it foul over the objections of the Expos.

Self-analysis by Dodger players was even less plentiful than their hit total in Friday night's 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. The shrugs and silence just seemed to prove that the only thing worse than playing a game like they'd just played was talking about it. "We beat ourselves, plain and simple," left fielder Kirk Gibson said. "There's nothing more to say. This game was self-explanatory. What's important is that we'll come back tomorrow and beat them."

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Kevin Gross has lost his appeal of a 10-day suspension imposed when sandpaper was found in his glove during a game last month, the National League announced Tuesday. The league said the suspension, "for having a foreign substance on his glove," will begin immediately. Gross had a four-hour hearing last Thursday before league President A. Bartlett Giamatti, who had suspended him on Aug. 11. Giamatti "has denied the appeal . . .

The National League suspended Philadelphia pitcher Kevin Gross for 10 days Tuesday for putting sandpaper on his glove. The suspension was appealed, but Gross admitted having the sandpaper. The right-handed Gross was ejected from Monday night's game against the Chicago Cubs by umpire John Kibler. The glove was sent to the league office along with a ball that Kibler said was clean. "I was caught with sandpaper in my glove," Gross said Tuesday before the Phillies met the Cubs again.