Kevin Brown is saying that his bruised left shoulder felt noticeably better than a day earlier. Brown, however, is still a longshot to start Friday. "If he feels something there," manager Joe Torre said, "then we're not going to take a chance." Because Brown said his shoulder hurt too much yesterday to even play catch, it's hard to picture him progressing to the point at which the Yankees would let him pitch Friday. Besides, Brown's replacement, rookie Chien-Ming Wang, has pitched better anyway. Brown hurt his shoulder diving to catch a throw behind him while covering first in the fifth inning Sunday in Minnesota. He said yesterday his back stiffened up, too. "I felt a couple of different things at that time and it just got worse and worse," he said.