Dodgers’ Loss Made to Order

How fitting that the Dodgers’ line score Sunday night read 1-2-3, as in one run, two hits, three errors, because that’s exactly how eight of the nine innings went for the Dodger offense in a deflating 2-1 loss to the New York Mets before 45,496 in Dodger Stadium.

Nine times the Dodgers came to bat against Met left-hander Tom Glavine and relievers Grant Roberts and John Franco, and eight times the Dodgers were set down in order, another futile offensive effort that prevented the Dodgers from gaining ground in the National League wild-card race and marked the 33rd time this season they’ve been held to one run or less.

For the second straight night, the Dodgers took the field knowing Philadelphia had lost, and for the second straight night, the Dodgers failed to cut into the Phillies’ wild-card lead. With wins over the lowly Mets the last two nights, the Dodgers would have been one game out today; instead, they are still three back.

“Believe me, it’s frustrating,” said center fielder Jolbert Cabrera, who broke up Glavine’s perfect game with a two-out double in the fifth and scored on Cesar Izturis’ RBI triple, the only Dodger hits. “Everybody in this clubhouse knows that. There’s nothing you can do about it now.”

The Dodgers seemed to have snapped out of their season-long offensive funk, averaging 4.6 runs in 14 games from Aug. 2-16, but they’ve regressed in the past week -- in their last four games, they’re hitting .162 (19 for 117) with five runs, no home runs and six walks (two intentional).

The fact that Izturis, a .247-hitting shortstop with 31 runs batted in, has driven in four of the Dodgers’ last five runs says something about Izturis -- the kid is hot -- and plenty about the rest of the Dodgers.

The first five batters in the Dodger order -- Rickey Henderson, Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green, Fred McGriff and Adrian Beltre -- combined to go 0 for 18 Sunday night.

Glavine, who is 3-0 with a 1.05 earned-run average in his last four starts, was good Sunday night, but he wasn’t exactly baffling, by his own admission.

“I kept throwing the same pitch over and over and over again and kept getting outs,” said Glavine, who gave up one run and two hits in a seven-inning, 85-pitch effort to improve to 9-11.

“I had a good sinker with good action, and they kept hitting it into the ground. I must have thrown 60 sinkers tonight.”

Dodger starter Kevin Brown also had a nasty sinker, one to match his disposition -- the right-hander made a quick exit from the clubhouse and was in no mood to speak to reporters after giving up two unearned runs and seven hits in eight innings to fall to 12-7.

Brown, who has an NL-best 2.15 ERA, committed a costly error in the fourth that keyed New York’s two-run rally. Jay Bell had singled to center with one out, and Jeff Duncan followed with a dribbler to the right side that was too far in front of the plate for Lo Duca, the Dodger catcher, to handle.

Brown charged and fielded the ball, but his off-balance throw sailed past first and down the right-field line. Bell scored from first on the error, and Green’s throw from right field skipped past Lo Duca for an error allowing Duncan to take third.

The Dodgers pulled their infield in, but Marco Scutaro, a journeyman second baseman who was designated for assignment by the Mets on June 26 and had two stints with triple-A Norfolk this season, grounded an RBI single through the shortstop hole for a 2-0 lead.

Glavine retired the first 14 Dodger batters before Cabrera lined a two-out double over Roger Cedeno’s head in right in the fifth.

Izturis slapped an RBI triple into the right-field corner to pull the Dodgers within 2-1, but Glavine intentionally walked No. 8 batter Alex Cora to pitch to Brown, who struck out.

“We scored three runs in three games of this series,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “We didn’t lose any ground, but the tough part is, we had a chance to pick up a few games [in the wild-card race] and didn’t.

“I don’t see any drop-off in our pitching, and our defense is usually good. If we hit, we win. It’s that simple.”