Dodgers Prefer the Big Picture : Baseball: Despite a 6-5 loss to Pittsburgh, players feel as though they experienced ‘Happy Trails’ after a successful trip.

Not that the Dodgers’ perspective on this season has changed, but they were mostly smiles Wednesday on their last day in Pittsburgh, saying they couldn’t wait to fly home and play the Cincinnati Reds.

And this is even though they had just lost to the Pirates, 6-5.

And this is even though the last time they played host to the Reds, one game contained a bench-clearing incident and another featured an earthquake.

This is what happens when you get six victories during a nine-game trip that was supposed to involve only embarrassment.

“Hey, we were supposed to be buried right now,” Brett Butler said. “And we aren’t.”

The Dodgers have grown confident in 10 days, able to overlook that the trip ended with consecutive one-run losses. And that the division-leading Reds are the hottest team in the league.

“We are all going back home feeling good about ourselves,” Bob Ojeda said. “Six and three on this kind of trip? It’s a beautiful thing.”

When the Dodgers can’t wait to see the Reds for four consecutive games, you know something odd is happening.

“If there was ever a time for them to come to Los Angeles, it is now,” Todd Benzinger said. “We are playing good, and we have watched them beat other teams for the last nine or 10 games without being able to do anything about it. Now we have our chance.”

The Dodgers’ good feelings did not diminish the fact that their Midwestern tour ended with as much mystery as magic.

--When will it be safe to say that the old Ramon Martinez has returned?

Five days after pitching his first shutout in 10 months, Martinez lasted only three innings Wednesday, giving up five runs, three earned, and five hits.

The Pirates turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead in a matter of six pitches by Martinez in the third inning. It happened on a two-run single by Jeff King, a run-scoring single by Steve Buechele and a run-scoring fly ball by Mike La-Valliere.

Martinez was visibly upset when he was removed for a pinch-hitter in the fourth, but it was probably just as difficult for Manager Tom Lasorda to watch him work.

“I thought it was kind of early for me to leave,” said Martinez, who suffered his first loss since opening day. “I thought if I could have stayed in, I could have gotten my rhythm back, which was my problem.”

--When will it be safe to trust the Dodger defense?

Jose Offerman’s error began the third inning, in which Martinez gave up a walk and three hits for two runs. It was Offerman’s fourth error in 10 games.

The Dodgers committed two errors Wednesday, to give them 10 in nine games.

“I’m talking about hitting cutoff men and turning double plays and everything. . . . We’ve done an adequate job defensively, but we need to be even better,” Dave Anderson said. “Especially with our big guys out, on nights we aren’t scoring many runs, we can’t afford to give many away.”

--When will it be safe to throw a fastball to Anderson?

The Dodgers’ veteran infielder is so hot, he led the Dodger comeback Wednesday with a two-run home run on his first pinch at-bat of the season.

That gives him three home runs in his last 17 at-bats.

Before this season, he averaged three home runs every 364 at-bats.

“I guess they’ll be checking my bat here shortly,” Anderson said.

When he hit his homer off Jerry Don Gleaton in the seventh inning, it closed the gap to 6-4.

The Pirates had already added to their lead in the sixth with a run on two singles sandwiched around a walk and a bunt against reliever Steve Wilson.

Looking for their sixth comeback victory in 11 games, the Dodgers scored in the ninth after pinch-hitter Mitch Webster drew a walk and took advantage of Butler’s single, a grounder by Mike Sharperson and a throwing error by Jose Lind.

But Stan Javier, who started in place of Kal Daniels because of the beating Daniels’ knees take on artificial turf, struck out to end the game. Stan Belinda, the Pirates’ struggling reliever, recorded his first save since May 5.

“It was a good trip for me, a good trip for all of us,” said Eric Karros, who batted .289 on the trip with two homers and seven runs batted in. “And now, with the Reds coming in, it’s really going to get good.”