Don’t Look Now, but It’s 2003

The end came quietly, the scrappiness transformed into a surrender, the taste simply awful.

I’m not much with math, but I do know a virtual elimination when I see one.

This was it.

On a smoky Tuesday night in a half-empty stadium, the Dodgers ended a rebirth season with all the energy of a wake.

The Dodgers were losing, 1-0, to the Colorado Rockies at the same time the San Francisco Giants were beating the San Diego Padres, 12-3.

That dropped them three games behind the Giants in the wild-card race with five games to go.

Impossible? Don’t listen to me, listen to them.

Last week, after beating the Giants when a loss would have dropped them three games behind, pitcher Odalis Perez said, “If we didn’t win this game, we were finished.”

Today you can take him for his word.

Perez was ready Tuesday against a sorry Rockies’ team that was playing without its two best hitters.

He was, seemingly, the only one.

After hitting smartly for much of the season, the Dodgers began this last-gasp week by swinging for the fences.

They might as well have been swinging for the golf courses and hunting lodges.

Eight batters swung at the first pitch.

Nine batters had finished their at-bats by the second pitch.

Not coincidentally, only three batters collected hits.

Alex Cora, one of the most inspirational players on this team because he always played to his strengths, flied out to center field three times. Um, no, fly balls are not his strength.

Paul Lo Duca, one of the team’s best contact hitters, came to the plate in the eighth inning with the tying run on third base and two out ... and struck out on three pitches. Including a bad-ball bunt attempt.

Adrian Beltre came to the plate with the tying run on second and two out in the ninth ... and struck out on three more pitches.

After which, organist Nancy Bea Hefley played, “Season in the Sun.”

Downstairs, even the fluorescent clubhouse lights seemed dim.

“This is a tough one to take,” said Manager Jim Tracy.

In the next room, Perez, who gave up five hits in eight innings, was having an even tougher time changing last week’s spin.

“Yeah, it’s hard, we are down,” he said, pausing. “But, you know, baseball is a crazy game.”

It certainly is.

After taking victories from surprised teams all summer, the Dodgers essentially end their season by losing to a team that tried to give it to them.

The Rockies started the game without stars Todd Helton and Larry Walker--Helton was back in Denver with his wife for the expected delivery of their first child while Walker was reportedly curled up with flu (and an 0-for-12 lifetime mark against Perez).

The Rockies ended the game without Denny Stark, a rookie who was inexplicably removed by Manager Clint Hurdle after seven innings even though he had allowed but one hit and thrown only 93 pitches.

It was no surprise that, against two Rockies’ relievers, the Dodgers threatened in each of the last two innings.

But it was also no surprise that, given the severe tightening of their grips, the Dodgers could not make good on their threats.

“It’s something we have talked to guys about in spring training, it’s not like we’re just bringing it up in the 157th game,” said Tracy. “But we just hit the ball in the air too much.”

The game ended, the crowded silently filed away, the Giants kept scoring runs against San Diego, and thoughts turned to what could have been.

What if Kevin Brown had not bullied the Dodgers into rushing him back this spring? What if Dan Evans had not traded top prospect Ricardo Rodriguez for Paul Shuey, allowing Rodriguez to perhaps take Brown’s place in the rotation?

What happened to Omar Daal and Andy Ashby this fall? Did they fade at the same time as Shawn Green’s big swing? Why didn’t more hitters seize the moment like Brian Jordan?

And what will happen now?

Because he was dealt last winter in the middle of a long-term deal, this off-season Jordan can demand a trade.

It would be a risky move that could tie him to a sorry team for several years. But, because the Dodgers cannot afford to lose their new leader, it also could be a profitable move.

Assuming Jordan stays, can the Dodgers afford to pay for another bat to help him and Green?

Can they survive with a center-field platoon of Dave Roberts and Wilkin Ruan?

Will Adrian Beltre spend the entire season as an adult? Will Eric Karros and Mark Grudzielanek, both in the possible final years of contracts and both difficult to move, somehow become kids again?

With the exception of running Daal out of town, the starting rotation will not change. Perez, Hideo Nomo and Kazuhisa Ishii are keepers, while Brown, Ashby and the returning-from-injury Darren Dreifort have huge contracts.

But doesn’t the bullpen have to change? Another arm to get to Eric Gagne?

One moment it’s a hot night. The next moment, it’s a hot stove.

The Dodgers went from 2002 to 2003, during an evening they barely moved.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.