Mets Win a Dodger Giveaway

Any residual euphoria from the rousing Dodger extra-inning victory an evening earlier disappeared quickly in a thoroughly characteristic 5-1 loss to the New York Mets on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

Like flour, sugar and eggs in a batch of cupcakes, the ingredients of so many Dodger defeats were in abundance.

There was the impotent offense squandering an early opportunity, then going silent for an interminable stretch.

There was the starting pitcher giving up early home runs and the defense making costly mistakes.

And, as always, there was the opposition stealing bases whenever it desired.

That rookie Dioner Navarro could belt his first career home run for a walk-off victory one night and the Dodgers could sleepwalk through nine innings the next day is telling.

Momentum doesn’t carry over. Heroics aren’t sustained. No wonder the Dodgers haven’t won more than three games in a week since April.

General Manager Paul DePodesta said he does not expect to pick up anyone on waivers or make any more deals such as the one that brought struggling outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. to the Dodgers four days ago.

“You never know what’s going to be out there,” he said. “But at this point, I don’t anticipate anything happening.”

The Mets stole four bases against catcher Jason Phillips and pitchers D.J. Houlton, Elmer Dessens and Jonathan Broxton. It was the first game behind the plate for Phillips since July 28, when Ryan Freel of Cincinnati stole five bases. The last time Phillips caught against the Mets -- the team he played for the last two seasons -- was July 23 when they stole five bases.

He has been working with catching coach Jon Debus to eliminate a hitch in his throwing motion, but improvement wasn’t evident. Clearly frustrated, the normally affable Phillips declined to talk afterward.

“I hope you guys aren’t waiting on me,” he said to reporters. “You’re wasting your time. I don’t have anything to say.”

With that, he threw his towel into a nearby basket. If only his throws in the game had been as accurate. Jose Reyes, who leads the National League with 41 stolen bases, stole second in the third and seventh innings.

In the fifth, the Dodgers called a pitchout and Phillips threw so quickly that Reyes stopped and got into a rundown. But first baseman Olmedo Saenz couldn’t catch a throw from shortstop Cesar Izturis for an error and Reyes dashed to second.

Reyes was disruptive to more Dodgers than Phillips. The normally sure-handed Izturis made errors on two ground balls by the Met shortstop and admitted that he rushed because he knew Reyes was running.

“I should have stayed back and made a routine play,” he said.

The fourth Dodger error came on a throw by Phillips when 39-year-old Gerald Williams stole third in the ninth. The ball sailed into left field and Williams dashed home.

The Mets scored enough to win in the second when Ramon Castro and Williams hit home runs on consecutive pitches against Houlton, who has given up 11 homers in 83 innings.

The Dodgers have given up 133 home runs and hit 116. Only four NL teams have given up more, and three -- Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Chicago -- play in small ballparks.

“I threw a curve to Castro and should have stayed with the fastball,” Houlton said. “Then I threw a fastball to a fastball hitter, Williams. It was poor pitch selection.”

Meanwhile, Met starter Jae Seo (4-1) made excellent pitches. In his second start since being promoted from triple A, he gave up five hits in eight innings and gave up a run only in the seventh when Saenz doubled to score Oscar Robles.

Seo started the season in the Met rotation but lost his spot when Kris Benson came off the disabled list. He added a cutter and a split-finger pitch during his stint in the minors.

The best Dodger opportunity came in the first when Izturis and Robles singled to put runners on first and third with one out. But Jeff Kent, who leads the majors in hitting with runners in scoring position, bounced into a double play.