Dodgers Take Wrong Turn

SAN FRANCISCO — It is far too early for the Dodgers to panic. There are 18 games left in the regular season, including five against San Francisco, and they’re only one game behind in the National League wild-card race after yielding the top spot to the Giants on Tuesday night.

It is not too early for the Dodgers to be very concerned, though--not so much because of Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Giants before 41,325 in Pacific Bell Park but because of the direction these two playoff contenders are heading and the caliber of baseball they are playing.

The Giants have won five games in a row and 17 of 22, and they’re peaking at the right time. They’re getting clutch hits, like Barry Bonds’ two-run single in the first inning Tuesday night, and making superb defensive plays, like first baseman J.T. Snow’s catch of Paul Lo Duca’s first-inning popup into a camera well in foul territory.

Though San Francisco’s bullpen has been shaky in recent weeks, the Giants’ rotation has jelled--right-hander Jason Schmidt (11-7) followed Livan Hernandez’s strong start Monday with a superb 7 2/3-inning effort, giving up two runs and six hits, and striking out six, and left-hander Kirk Rueter, today’s starter, has one loss in his last nine starts.

The Dodgers have lost four straight and five of their last six, and their 19-6 run from Aug. 7-Sept. 3 seems like a distant memory. Their rotation is reeling from the temporary loss of Andy Ashby, who missed Tuesday night’s start because of a blister and an infection on the middle finger of his pitching hand, and the loss of Kazuhisa Ishii--probably for the rest of the season--because of a fractured skull.

Manager Jim Tracy turned to Kevin Brown, the erstwhile staff ace, for some rotation relief Tuesday night, but the Dodger right-hander was rocked for five runs and six hits, including Benito Santiago’s fifth-inning home run, in five innings.

Since scoring 19 runs in a Sept. 2 demolition of Arizona, the Dodgers have scored only 17 runs in seven games since. Third baseman Adrian Beltre, who hit .370 with eight homers, 29 runs batted in and 29 runs in 35 games from July 26-Sept. 3, has one hit, no runs and no RBIs in 26 at-bats, a slump that will probably force Tracy to drop him from the third and fourth spots in the order.

Lo Duca has four hits and no RBIs in 21 at-bats, and left fielder Brian Jordan is seven for 32 since returning from a lower-back injury on Sept. 1. Even leadoff batter Dave Roberts, who hadn’t grounded into a double play in 398 at-bats this season, bounced into a double play in the sixth inning Tuesday, becoming the last major league regular to ground into a double play in 2002.

“There’s too much of the season left to look at it like this is the beginning of the end; that’s not realistic,” Tracy said. “We won’t be downtrodden about this. [Today] is a big game for us, because we’d like [to win and] leave here with a tie. We can’t be discouraged by this. We shouldn’t be when only one game separates the teams.”

Brown’s performance wasn’t all that encouraging. Making his first start since May 26, Brown ran into immediate trouble when he gave up singles to Kenny Lofton and Rich Aurilia to lead off the first and walked Jeff Kent to load the bases.

Bonds, who leads the majors with a .364 average, lined a two-run single to left-center, sending Kent to third. Bonds advanced on Jordan’s fielding error, but Brown escaped the second-and-third, no-outs jam by inducing two infield pops and striking out Reggie Sanders.

Schmidt’s single and Lofton’s double put runners on second and third in the second, and Aurilia grounded to shortstop Alex Cora, who threw home. Lo Duca swiped a tag underneath Schmidt’s foot just before Schmidt stepped on the plate, but umpire Ed Montague ruled Schmidt safe. Replays showed Schmidt never touched the plate.

Kent’s RBI groundout made it 4-0, and Santiago added an insurance run with his 15th homer of the season in the fifth. “I didn’t see the same pop he used to have on the ball,” Santiago said of Brown.

The Dodgers scored twice in the seventh on Shawn Green’s 41st homer of the season and Mark Grudzielanek’s sacrifice fly.

“We’ve lost a couple of games here, we’ve lost four straight, but we can’t panic,” Beltre said. “[The Giants] are playing pretty good right now and we’re not, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to stay hot the rest of the season and we’re not.”