Trail and Error for Dodgers

Falling behind early is like spilling syrup on your tie at breakfast and leaving the house late for work. The morning is off to a bad start and the rest of the day is a mad scramble to turn it around.

The Dodgers have put themselves in this predicament four times in their last five games. It’s no surprise that all four were losses, the latest one by a 4-2 score to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

This time they fell behind, 3-0, in the first inning and were unable to mount much offense against Javier Vazquez, who gave up home runs by J.D. Drew and Jeff Kent but struck out nine in eight innings.

“We have the capability of winning these games if we don’t fall too far behind,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “We just didn’t have enough baserunners.”

Several remarkable comebacks have camouflaged the fact that the Dodgers (13-6) are putting themselves in a hole too often.

On Thursday they trailed, 5-0, after five innings against the San Diego Padres. On Friday it was 9-0 after five innings against the Colorado Rockies. On Saturday it was 7-0 after two innings against the Rockies.

And this time Derek Lowe (1-2) was victimized early. He walked leadoff batter Craig Counsell on four pitches, then gave up a single to Alex Cintron. With one out, Troy Glaus hit a booming double to right-center, scoring both runners.

Shawn Green, making his first appearance at Dodger Stadium since being traded during the off-season, was greeted by more cheers than boos. Lowe tried to work him inside, but missed three times before Green singled on a full count to left to bring in Glaus.

“You really want to beat the team you used to play for,” Green said. “I was thinking it could be a special day, and it was.”

The most exceptional performance was turned in by Vazquez (2-2), who was acquired in a trade during the off-season after turning down a chance to come to the Dodgers. His changeup was particularly effective.

Besides Drew’s third homer in the fourth and Kent’s sixth homer in the seventh to culminate a 10-pitch at-bat, the only hint of a Dodger rally came in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Ricky Ledee walked and Cesar Izturis singled with two out, giving him 500 hits in his career and 11 multi-hit games this season.

However, the Dodgers came up empty when first-base umpire Greg Gibson ruled pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz went too far on a check swing for strike three. The Diamondbacks (12-8) pulled within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Dodgers in the National League West.

“This was a big game for us,” Green said. “The Dodgers have been playing well and we are getting closer to them.”

Tracy described Lowe as “almost unhittable” after the first inning, but the Diamondbacks padded their lead to 4-1 in the seventh by exploiting what might be the right-hander’s only glaring weakness -- holding runners on first base. Counsell singled, stole second and scored with two out on a single by Luis Gonzalez.

Six runners have stolen successfully against Lowe, who rarely throws to first or uses a slide step to quicken his release.

“I’m very frustrated with myself for Gonzalez’s hit,” Lowe said. “If I’d kept it a two-run game, we had a chance.”

Had the Dodgers not fallen behind early again, perhaps the last Diamondback run wouldn’t have loomed so large.

“We’ve proven we can come back, we do it a lot,” Dodger pitcher Odalis Perez said. “But it’s not going to happen every day. It is easier to play when you score first.”