Dodger Hit Charade

The Dodgers threw their broken record of an offense on the turntable again Monday night, and to the surprise of absolutely no one who has been watching this feeble collection of bats, it wasn’t a hit.

The latest no-name to be turned into a Cy Young Award candidate by the Dodgers was Oliver Perez, a 21-year-old left-hander who blanked them for eight innings to lead the San Diego Padres to a 7-1 victory before 20,657 in Qualcomm Stadium.

One day after being shut down by Arizona rookie right-hander Andrew Good in a 2-1 loss Sunday, the Dodgers managed only five hits against Perez, who baffled them with his variety of arm angles and breaking pitches and a crisp fastball.

The Dodgers were 15-5 against left-handers entering the game, but all they could muster against Perez was Paul Lo Duca’s meaningless home run to lead off the ninth, a shot that prevented Perez from registering his first career shutout and complete game.

The Dodgers are 2-12 in their last 14 games, a brutal stretch in which they’ve scored 27 runs, an average of 1.9 a game, and hit .211 (100 for 474) with seven homers. They were tied with San Francisco atop the National League West on June 21 but are now in third place, 7 1/2 games back.

The Dodgers rank last in the National League in batting average, last in runs, last in hits, last in total bases, last in home runs, last in runs batted in, last in walks, last in slugging percentage and last in on-base percentage.

And if not for the struggling Padres, who have a lot more trouble with the rest of the league than they do with the Dodgers -- San Diego swept a three-game series in Los Angeles last week -- and the fourth-place Colorado Rockies, only two games behind L.A., the Dodgers would be in last place in the NL West.

“Let’s be honest, we have no Dave Roberts, no Fred McGriff, no Brian Jordan,” Manager Jim Tracy said, referring to his injured leadoff batter, cleanup hitter and No. 5 hitter. “We have some young kids in the lineup, we get five hits, two from a guy [Lo Duca] who made the All-Star team ... that’s it.”

There was no white flag being hoisted in the manager’s office as he spoke, but perhaps this was Tracy’s way of saying the Dodgers, with all their injuries and slumping hitters, don’t have enough offense right now to remain in contention.

But General Manager Dan Evans reiterated that a trade for another bat won’t be a magic elixir.

“We’ve got to get out of this and hope we can add someone when we’re playing better,” Evans said. “We can’t be looking for someone to bail us out.”

Dodger pitchers have bailed out the hitters all season, but right-hander Andy Ashby couldn’t Monday night. Ashby (2-5) appeared in control through three innings, blanking the Padres on two hits, but he fell apart in the fourth.

San Diego first baseman Ryan Klesko, whose leadoff homer sparked a six-run seventh inning in a 7-1 victory over the Dodgers last Tuesday, lined Ashby’s first pitch of the fourth over the wall in right for his 19th home run of the season.

Sean Burroughs singled to right-center, Rondell White hit a check-swing RBI triple into the right-field corner, and Brian Buchanan singled to center for a 3-0 lead. Ramon Vazquez singled to right, and Miguel Ojeda hit a broken-bat RBI single to right for a 4-0 lead. Perez capped the rally with an RBI groundout to make it 5-0.

The Dodgers made a little noise in the fifth when Wilkin Ruan tripled to right with two out and pinch-hitter Chad Hermansen and Cesar Izturis walked to load the bases. But Jolbert Cabrera popped to third for the final out, and the Dodgers were done.

Just for good measure, the Padres tagged Dodger reliever Steve Colyer for two runs in the sixth on RBI singles by Ojeda and Mark Loretta.

“To give up five runs in one inning is embarrassing. I didn’t give us a chance to win,” Ashby said. “... I don’t know whether it was a lack of concentration or what, but I didn’t make pitches.”

Perez made good pitches until the ninth, when Lo Duca homered and Perez was pulled in favor of reliever Scott Linebrink.

“He has good stuff, he threw the ball well,” Lo Duca said of Perez. “It seems like everybody’s throwing the ball well against us right now.”