Dodgers Lose Game and Drew

One wayward pitch at the halfway point of the season may have altered the way the Dodgers do business the rest of the season.

Center fielder J.D. Drew, hit by a pitch in the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 10-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday night, left the game in the seventh and was diagnosed with a broken left wrist, and although estimates are preliminary, he may be out for six weeks or more.

Drew, one of three Dodgers hit by Arizona lefty starter Brad Halsey (5-7), will see hand specialist Norman Zemel on Tuesday.

“The X-ray showed a clean break, one of those unfortunate things,” a somber Drew said. “I broke my hand in 2001. It took six or seven weeks to get going again.”

Drew, who had been eight for his previous 15 before the game, was recovering from a sore left knee that had him sit out five games from June 22 to 26.

“It’s tough, I definitely had a good rhythm,” said Drew, who signed a five-year, $55-million free-agent contract with the Dodgers in December. “Then when you have an injury like this, you don’t really think about it when it happens. But when you come back, six weeks from now, you can’t pick up where you left off.

“We’ve had a roller coaster of injuries. This just adds to it. You hate that something like this happens, but it’s out of your control.”

Kind of like how the game spun out of the Dodgers’ control in the first inning.

Rookie right-hander D.J. Houlton (4-2) gave up a single, three doubles and a home run while facing nine batters in the first, and before the Dodgers even had a chance to pick up their bats, they were already down 5-0.

The sellout crowd of 55,868 at Dodger Stadium -- the second-largest regular-season crowd in stadium history, topped only by the 55,891 on opening day this season -- showered the Dodgers with hearty boos, early and often.

And why not? The Dodgers, who have lost 14 of their last 19 games, have finished half of their season with a record of 38-43 and find themselves in third place in the National League West, 6 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres.

But perhaps the loudest jeers came when the postgame fireworks show ended prematurely and the public-address announcer apologized for the gaffe but still asked the fans to head for the exits.

The second half of the season begins with the Dodgers expressing the desire for a new corner infielder or outfielder.

“We have a handful of things going on, discussions with a handful of clubs,” General Manager Paul DePodesta said.

“Maybe we need to chart a different course. Not in terms of if we buy or sell, but what kind of player we’re looking for.”

The Dodger farm system is considered rife with talent.

“We have an awful lot of players, guys I feel would be good trade chips,” DePodesta said.

The Dodgers are already without key injured players in outfielders Milton Bradley and Ricky Ledee, third baseman Jose Valentin and pitchers Eric Gagne, Odalis Perez and Wilson Alvarez.

Shortstop Cesar Izturis, named to the National League All-Star team on Sunday, has a tight right hamstring that kept him out of the weekend series against the Diamondbacks (41-42).

“We’re frustrated,” said second baseman Jeff Kent, who will start in the All-Star game. “I’m going to give you a poor-me story right now -- there’s just a lot of things going on that aren’t going our way.

“We don’t have a rhythm, because we can’t keep guys in the lineup.

“We’re OK still, but there is just dog-piling on us right now and I’m frustrated, as you can tell.”

Said Dodger catcher Jason Phillips, who had a two-run home run in the fourth inning: “I don’t know if it’s karma, fate, but it’s definitely not going our way.