It’s More Than Minor Dodger Blip

The words sound empty, a cliche instead of an answer: I tried to do too much, he tried to do too much, we tried to do too much. Just what does that mean?

Jason Repko provided an answer on Friday. With no chance to throw out a runner at home plate, he threw anyway -- from right field, over the catcher’s head, to the backstop on the fly.

“That,” he said, “was stupid.”

The Dodgers endured an entirely predictable defeat on Friday, 6-0 to the Chicago White Sox and their ace, Mark Buehrle. For the first time this season, the Dodgers have lost four consecutive games, this one so one-sided that Chicago Manager Ozzie Guillen had time to catch a White Sox beat writer on the Kiss Cam between innings and gesture at him to pucker up.

If the Dodgers lose tonight -- with Elmer Dessens, in his first start in two months, against two-time All-Star Freddy Garcia -- they’ll fall below .500 for the first time since opening day. Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said he had no reason to call a meeting.

“I’d address them if I saw a lack of effort,” he said. “I don’t see a lack of effort.”

Put a quality pitcher against a lineup mostly rated triple A, and what do you see? In the sixth shutout of his career, Buehrle walked none, facing five batters over the minimum.

“When you look at our lineup and how many young kids we had in there, he took advantage of a lot of youth,” Tracy said.

Tracy did not intend to slight Buehrle, whose command and repertoire can make even veterans look foolish. The Dodger lineup included only two players -- Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew -- with more than 500 at-bats in a major league season. Three had no home runs this season -- Jayson Werth among them -- and a fourth has one. The injured include Cesar Izturis, Milton Bradley and Jose Valentin.

The result included no extra-base hits, Mike Rose hitting into two double plays, Antonio Perez getting picked off and Repko trying to will something good with two poor throws home, one up the baseline and the “stupid” one, to the backstop on the fly.

Trying to do too much?

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Repko said. “I wanted to get an out so bad, I forced something that had no chance of happening. I put pressure on myself to do good, and I try too hard.”

Rookie starter D.J. Houlton did the same thing, opening the first inning by walking the first hitter and hitting the second. Both men scored, but Houlton settled down to pitch six innings, giving up four runs. He has earned a spot in the rotation, Tracy said.

Injuries generate little sympathy, particularly from the Dodger youngsters Tracy suggested were overmatched on Friday. The Cubs are winning without Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, after all.

“Obviously, we do have some injuries, but that’s never an excuse,” infielder Mike Edwards said. “When you look at the guys we’re missing, the consistency is not going to be there. But everybody here has paid their dues and deserves to be here. We have an opportunity to be a very good team. It’s a matter of getting things going.”