Phillies’ Sweep Dream Is Dodger Nightmare

On a trip the Dodgers insisted would make or break their season, they passed the breaking point Thursday night with a 7-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies before 24,932 at Veterans Stadium.

Tomas Perez and Placido Polanco hit three-run home runs against struggling left-hander Odalis Perez in a six-run fifth inning, and starter Brandon Duckworth limited the National League’s worst offense to four hits and one run -- on Adrian Beltre’s ninth homer -- in seven innings to help the Phillies complete a three-game sweep of the reeling Dodgers.

The Dodgers (54-53) dropped to 1-5 on the nine-game trip -- assuring them of a losing record beginning the final three-game series against the powerful Atlanta Braves.

They trail the NL wild-card-leading Phillies (60-47) by six games, and also are behind three other teams.

“This is a huge trip for us, and we’ve obviously put ourselves in a corner,” center fielder Dave Roberts said. “Now we’re going into Atlanta to face one of the best teams in baseball, and we’re looking at a situation where you have to win two out of three.

“Actually, we need to sweep them. And to be honest about it, with the way we’ve been playing, that’s a tall task.”

Manager Jim Tracy still maintains the Dodgers are capable of rebounding, but players seemingly are less certain.

“Realistically, it’s definitely going to be tough,” right fielder Shawn Green said. “We all knew how huge this trip was, and it’s obvious we haven’t played well.

“We’ve put ourselves in such a hole, not only do we need to have two incredible months now, we need help from a lot of teams. That’s where it is.”

Perez (6-9) took a no-hitter into the fifth but was chased after recording only one out as the Phillies batted around.

He said he “couldn’t feel the ball” in a light rain in the inning. Tomas Perez hit his second homer and Polanco connected for his ninth.

“It’s getting tough,” said Perez, whose earned-run average increased from 4.43 to 4.70. “We have a lot of teams in front of us. If we want to win, everybody has to cooperate and start doing the right things. Because if we don’t do it, we are done.”

At the very least, Tracy expects the Dodgers to continue fighting until the regular season ends.

“I’ve been here since 2001, and the one thing that I can definitely hang my hat on, with any group of people that I’ve had in here, is the fact that we don’t quit,” Tracy said. “We play for 27 outs ... and we’ll continue to do it until the last day of the season here in September. I can guarantee you that.”

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Yo, Adrian

Another possible reason for the Robin Ventura trade: to motivate Adrian Beltre, who homered Thursday. Beltre was in a slump last season when the Dodgers acquired Tyler Houston on July 23 and talked about platooning him with Beltre. Houston got four hits in his first game with the Dodgers, and Beltre went on a tear at the plate to keep his job. A look:

*--* AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG OB% SLG% Before trade 357 36 85 14 2 10 37 238 288 373 After trade 230 34 66 12 3 11 38 287 325 500

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-Houston Mitchell