Dodgers’ Juan Uribe doesn’t like how he’s playing

Juan Uribe might be smiling in the clubhouse every day, but the $21-million infielder said he’s hurting inside.

“I’m not happy with how I’ve played,” Uribe said. “I haven’t played the way I wanted to play. I haven’t helped the team the way I would have liked. When you come to a new team, this isn’t what you want to happen.”

In the first season of his three-year deal with the Dodgers, Uribe is batting .204 with four home runs and 28 runs batted in in 77 games.

“It’s been a tough year,” he said. “I’ve never had to endure something like this. Whenever I start getting into a rhythm, I get hurt or something happens.”

The latest something is a tight left groin that required him to undergo an MRI exam Tuesday. The exam revealed inflammation.

Uribe missed three games in late April with tightness in the same area. He landed on the disabled list the next month with a strained left hip flexor.

“In life, things like this happen,” he said. “But I can’t put my head down. I have to keep going forward. I have to continue to work hard. That’s the only thing I can control.”

Uribe said he continues to try to make adjustments at the plate and that he hasn’t given up on salvaging his season.

“We still have two months,” he said. “There’s still a lot of baseball to be played. In baseball, anything can happen. I still have confidence in myself. That’s important. When you think you can’t do any better, that’s when you’re in trouble.”

One house too many?

The Dodgers have been cited for failing to properly maintain a property near their old spring training home in Vero Beach, Fla.

An inspection last month by the Indian River County’s code enforcement board found the Dodgers to be in violation of property-maintenance and trash codes.

The 3.4-acre parcel, which includes a vacant house, is in a residential area and has become the target of complaints from neighbors, according to code enforcement chief Roland DeBlois.

“Some neighbors are concerned it’s a nuisance to look at, an eyesore,” DeBlois said.

DeBlois said the enforcement board will notify the Dodgers of the violations.

“If they eventually do not come into compliance, they could be fined — essentially a lien on the property,” DeBlois said. “I know they filed for bankruptcy, so I don’t know how that would affect this.”

The Dodgers declined to comment.

Short hops

Even though the Dodgers faced a right-hander in Jhoulys Chacin, James Loney was out of the lineup. Juan Rivera started in his place at first base. “This is a bottom-line business, right?” Mattingly said. “He has a 30 RBIs and we have trouble scoring runs.” … If or when Casey Blake is activated from the disabled list, he could return as a bench player, according to Mattingly. Blake has been sidelined with neck problems since July 3.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com