Little Says Navarro Is Caught in a Bind

The Dodgers rallied behind embattled catcher Dioner Navarro on Sunday, when Manager Grady Little said Navarro’s inability to throw out runners reflects the inability of the pitching staff to hold those runners on base.

Navarro threw out 19.5% of runners trying to steal last season, and he is 0 for 10 this season. Sandy Alomar Jr., the veteran backup, has thrown out one of 10.

“The pitchers aren’t allowing the catchers enough time, the majority of the time,” Little said.

And the more that happens, Little said, the more “you catch yourself trying to rush your throws to make up for it.”

Navarro had two hits and an intentional walk Sunday. He’s batting .220, with a team-high 12 strikeouts in 50 at-bats. As a rookie last season, he batted .273, with 21 strikeouts in 176 at-bats.

“There’s still a long way to go,” Navarro said. “With the job I did last year, I proved to them I can play at this level. Hopefully, I’ll put up good numbers this year too.”

General Manager Ned Colletti said the Dodgers have not considered replacing Navarro with triple-A catcher and top prospect Russell Martin.

“He’s a young player,” Colletti said of Navarro, “and sometimes a young player takes a little longer to get his feet on the ground and get settled.

“There’s nobody here who doesn’t think he’ll hit. I don’t hear anybody complaining about how he’s calling games. And stopping the running game is more than one person’s responsibility.”

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Jae Seo did not survive the fourth inning of Saturday’s 5-4 loss, and he is 0-2 with a 7.64 earned-run average in four starts this season, but Little said “it’s not time yet” to consider skipping Seo’s next turn.

“If we think about changing our rotation after every bad outing a starter has, we’ll be scrambling the whole year,” Little said.

Little said he did not believe Seo’s participation in the World Baseball Classic has caused his struggles, since the problem is poor command of his pitches rather than poor arm strength.

Some WBC starters are off to a rocky start, including Oakland’s Esteban Loaiza (0-3, 8.35), Atlanta’s Jorge Sosa (0-3, 10.45), Baltimore’s Bruce Chen (0-3, 7.84) and Rodrigo Lopez (1-1, 7.20) and Pittsburgh’s Oliver Perez (1-2, 6.75).

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Colletti declined to comment on a report -- on his team’s website -- that the Dodgers were close to trading outfielder Cody Ross to the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers designated Ross for assignment last week. ... The Dodgers lead the majors with 20 stolen bases. The last time they were first in the National League in steals was 1970, when Willie Davis had 38, Maury Wills 28 and Manny Mota 11. ... First baseman Nomar Garciaparra and center fielder Kenny Lofton got the day off. ... Closer Eric Gagne is scheduled to start his throwing program Friday, three weeks after elbow surgery. June 1 remains a rough target date for his return. ... Luc Robitaille and Rick Monday threw out the ceremonial first pitches, Robitaille in honor of his recent retirement from the Kings and Monday in honor of the 30th anniversary of his rescue of an American flag from protesters trying to set it afire in the Dodger Stadium outfield. The hockey player threw a strike; Monday missed high and outside.