Dodgers’ Glass Half Full, but What’s It Filled With?

7:11 p.m.: The game between the Dodgers and Padres begins in Dodger Stadium.

7:17 p.m.: The Padres score a run, and that’s the ballgame.

Tell me you weren’t thinking the same thing if you subjected yourself to another night of this offensive torture.

When it came time for the Dodgers’ response to the Padres’ overwhelming 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, the Micro Manager decided to set the offensive tone of the evening by topping his batting order with Jason Romano, who came into the game hitting .105.

Now maybe you and I would want to start the game off with someone who averages more than one hit every 10 official at-bats -- especially at a time when the Dodgers need all the offense they can get -- but as the Dodgers have patiently been trying to explain to us all week, they know so much more than we do.

Romano is now hitting .100 after opening the Dodger attack with an out.

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IS IT time to panic? I asked Manager Jim Tracy before Wednesday’s game.

“No,” Tracy said, and I guess if you top your lineup with Jason Romano, a better question would have been: Is it time to surrender?

Romano is hitting .095 after flying out with the tying run at second.

Do you feel this team’s chances for success are slipping away? I asked Tracy.

“No,” he said, and did I mention he had Cesar Izturis batting second?

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MIKE KINKADE has just hit a homer, proving there is no quit in the Las Vegas 51s. It’s the 50th homer of the season for the Dodgers, putting them only 73 behind the league-leading Gary Sheffield Braves.

As you can see, I’m trying to dwell on the positive rather than the negative, as the Micro Manager said he does every day of his life. He says the Dodger glass is half full. I say the Dodgers are batting Romano leadoff, but the good news is he’s certainly due to get a hit.

Now maybe the Dodgers will come back to win this game against the last-place Padres. But right now we’ve played five innings, the Dodgers have one run, two hits and Romano is hitting .090 after striking out with the go-ahead run at second.

This has become everyday Dodger baseball, and besides being a big bore, it’s an indication the Dodgers have more interest in selling a manageable payroll to a new owner than paying the price to mount a competitive offensive attack.

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SHAWN GREEN HAS hit a home run into the empty right-field seats -- I guess people got tired of waiting for him to homer. It’s 2-2 -- the glass is half full -- it has only been a week since the Dodgers scored as many as two runs in a game.

A win might appease the gnashing of teeth, but still the Dodgers don’t get it, have no grasp of the unrest among Dodger fans and now Brian Jordan, Dave Roberts and Fred McGriff are all limping. It’s time to do something besides make every pitcher who throws against them a Cy Young candidate.

Bogey Boy, you know, Dan Evans, the Dodgers’ clueless GM, said before Tuesday’s loss, the fans “know we’re doing all we can to improve this team.” I disagreed and put it to an e-mail referendum. The response was overwhelming, one-sided, and oh Bogey Boy, here’s a sampling:

Gilda Sebenick: “My husband and I left [Tuesday’s] game in disgust after the first Padres’ home run. Why? Because we knew that unless Hideo Nomo pitched a shutout we had no chance of winning. We are seriously considering returning the rest of our tickets because if management doesn’t care about this team, why should we? Odalis Perez was 100% correct -- whether his teammates like hearing it or not.”

John Rea: “Someone in the Dodgers should have the guts to admit 1) they aren’t going to increase the payroll while trying to sell the team, and 2) the team is in a rebuilding mode with no realistic expectation of competing for the pennant until the lingering effects of the Mike Piazza trade and Sheriff Malone’s financial blunders have dissipated. In about another 10 years.”

Baghdad Bob: “I don’t think it’s right to accuse Mr. Evans of being in denial about the Dodgers’ situation.”

Pablo Lopez: “I’m sick and tired of reading about Mr. Evans saying it’s not time to panic. Well, he better start because he’s about to lose another fan.”

Jeremy Sloss: “I have to say, these days the games are becoming so bad I can’t watch.”

Paul Lysgaard: “I couldn’t have said it better in regards to Bogey Boy. Denial is a terrible disease. If it weren’t for our pitching, we’d be cuddling with the Tigers.”

Brian Gallo: “Evans states the fans support the Dodgers front office. OK, ask him to place his picture on Dodger vision around the sixth inning with his title, ‘Dodger General Manager.’ Let’s see how much the fans support him.”

Who knows, maybe the noise would wake up the Dodger hitters.

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THE DODGERS have two men on, and Romano is due up. The Micro Manager sends in Alex Cora, hitting .229, to pinch-hit. He grounds out. I prefer to look at it as if the glass is half full. This keeps Romano’s batting average from dropping to .087.

It’s still 2-2, a victory for those who want to see Eric Gagne pitch. Imagine what the Dodger team batting average might be if forced to hit against Gagne. He mows the Padres down. The Dodgers need one run to make him a winner.

What do you think happened? Worse than you could imagine: Rock Bottom.

The Padres score two off Gagne in the 10th. The Dodgers need two to tie now. You laugh. They score one. That’s pretty good, if you look at the glass, and it’s half full.

T.J. Simers can be reached at

t.j.simers@latimes.com.