Dodgers Give In Weakly

Another players meeting didn’t make a difference.

Another quality start was meaningless.

Another game was lost, this one 4-2 to Houston on Saturday, because the Dodgers are as offensive as vanilla pudding. Which is to say, they aren’t. At all.

A lineup this meek won’t inherit anything in the baseball world, least of all respect. Opponents are getting the message that once they take a late-inning lead, the chances of a Dodger comeback are remote.

The Astros went ahead with two runs in the sixth inning to close the door in front of an announced 37,196 in Minute Maid Park.

The Dodgers put together their version of a huge rally in the seventh when pinch-hitter Ricky Ledee and shortstop Oscar Robles singled with one out and Jason Repko walked, bringing up Jeff Kent with the bases loaded.

Tiring starter Roy Oswalt was replaced by Chad Qualls, a middling middle reliever. This was the best situation the punch-less Dodgers could have imagined trailing, 3-1. Kent was three for three in the game and was batting .556 with the bases loaded.

“We had our opportunity and were in the part of the order we’d like to be,” Manager Jim Tracy said.

Ledee scored on a wild pitch, but Kent struck out. So did Jayson Werth, and the probability of the Dodgers scoring again was about equal to that of Brad Penny and Olmedo Saenz locking lips when their faces were shown on the Kiss Cam between innings.

The Astros scored a run in the bottom of the inning against reliever Giovanni Carrara and sent relievers Russ Springer and Brad Lidge to finish off the Dodgers (40-47), who fell seven games below .500 for the first time.

Perhaps the most frustrated Dodger was Jeff Weaver (7-8), who turned in his seventh consecutive quality start and has a 2-2 record to show for it. His earned-run average has dropped from 5.65 to 4.44 during that span, but his intensity level shot up when Tracy told him he would be removed for a pinch-hitter after he gave up two runs in the sixth.

“I didn’t want to come out of the game,” Weaver said. “I respect the skipper and the decisions he makes. Hopefully, next time we’ll have the lead and I can go more than six innings.”

Weaver, in the last year of his contract, might be dangled as trade bait if the Dodgers decide to become sellers at the July 31 trading deadline.

But he’s here now, and although he wouldn’t disclose what was discussed in the pregame meeting, he emphasized that the inexperienced players thrust into prominent roles should feel comfortable enough to contribute by now.

“It takes time for young guys to feel like part of the team,” he said. “We have to deal with what we have here. I would hope the people in here, young or old, continue to get better and take in information and make adjustments.”

The lineup is almost completely different from the one the Dodgers had when they began the season with a 12-2 spree.

The eight position players who started opening day have sat out 153 days because of injury, most in the majors. Washington is second with 140.

“Our problem is we have no room for error,” Tracy said. “We are in a lot of games, but the thing holding us up is that the offensive firepower is not what it needs to be.”

All the clubhouse talk about hanging close to the San Diego Padres in the National League West has been muted by losses the last three days. No matter how weak the competition might be, the Dodgers can’t consider themselves contenders playing under a .400 clip.

The Padres lost to Colorado, 1-0, Saturday and the Dodgers trail them by 6 1/2 games with one to play before the All-Star break.

“We’re looking forward to taking three days off to look at ourselves in the mirror,” Weaver said. “We all need to figure out what we can do to get better.”