Will Dodgers have patience for work-in-progress DeWitt at second?

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This is going to be more difficult than imagined, or if you’re a Dodgers fan, than hoped.

Blake DeWitt, second baseman, is a long way from being a finished product. Right now, it looks to still be in the design stage.

It doesn’t seem like it should be this hard, converting from third to second. There’s more ground to cover at second, but more time to react.

Only right now, DeWitt looks less confident at second than a teenage boy asking a girl to a first-date prom.

This is going to require more patience than anticipated, more from fans, Joe Torre, teammates, media.

During the spring, there were moments when DeWitt gave you pause with his defense at second. But in reality, it seems he’s been tested more in the first two games of the season than the entire spring.

And maybe we were guilty of falling in love with his bat and admiring his perseverance so much that we overlooked the warning signs.

Of course there is the possibility it’s just early-season nerves, that it will pass shortly, that he will calm down in the days to come.

But for the moment, he looks lost at second. Uncertain and timid, his defensive self-assurance a long way from fruition. He just looks uncomfortable. Soft hands are only in his imagination.

In the bottom of the 10th, as soon as Lastings Milledge hit his bouncer slightly up the middle from second, you just knew DeWitt was going to boot it. Couldn’t you just feel it?

He tried what appeared a simple backhanded glove of the ball only to drop it. A good throw might not have gotten Milledge, but we’ll never know: his pulled James Loney off the bag.

After Ramon Ortiz walked the bases loaded, Ronny Cedeno laced a single to center and the Pirates had a 4-3, 10-inning victory.

It’s not that this loss has to be placed at the feet of DeWitt -- the Dodgers missed prime scoring opportunities in the ninth and 10th -- it’s just that his future at second is dependent on him convincing Torre & Co. that he can handle a big-league second-base assignment.

With Jamey Carroll and Ronnie Belliard around, you hope the Dodgers have enough patience to give him a real chance.

Because right now, this is looking like a difficult transition.

-- Steve Dilbeck