Latest Dodgers Streak Is History

The Dodgers continued to hark back to a different time Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

Only it wasn’t 1899, when they compiled an epic winning streak as the Brooklyn Superbas, but three weeks ago, when they were in last place in the National League West.

Their starting pitcher faltered, their relievers wobbled and their offense couldn’t keep pace during a 15-4 drubbing by the Florida Marlins that ended a six-game winning streak.

“We’ll never forget about it, not until we’re ready to go home for the winter, but we will turn the page and we will go forward with our business,” Manager Grady Little said after watching five pitchers surrender a season high in runs and 16 hits.

Third baseman Miguel Cabrera hit two home runs and drove in five runs, and Dodgers castoff Cody Ross drove in four runs in only four innings before leaving because of a bruised right knee.

Dodgers starter Mark Hendrickson (1-5) also made an early exit. The left-hander was finished after 2 1/3 innings and 47 pitches after surrendering five runs in his shortest start of the season. Aaron Sele and Giovanni Carrara didn’t fare any better, giving up a combined seven runs in 2 2/3 innings.

“I wasn’t sharp, and I think it just carried over to everybody else,” said Hendrickson, who walked the bases loaded in the first inning and was jeered on his way off the field in the third. “For us, it’s just forget about this game and focus on what we’ve done.”

The Dodgers have won 17 of 19 games but will be unable to match the 1899 Superbas, who won 20 of 21, for the best stretch in franchise history.

Other than the spectator who won a new car during a mid-inning promotion, there wasn’t much to celebrate during a sorry conclusion to a superb homestand in which the Dodgers were 8-2 and built a 2 1/2 -game lead in the division.

Ross’ big output against his former team was bittersweet redemption after the right fielder injured the knee in a fourth-inning collision with second baseman Dan Uggla while chasing Toby Hall’s flare that fell for a single. Ross hobbled into foul territory and dropped to the ground before trainers helped him into the dugout.

Ross has bounced around the major leagues this season. Needing to clear roster space, the Dodgers designated him for assignment and then traded him to Cincinnati on April 24 after he had hit .500 and driven in nine runs in eight games. Ross spent only two games with the Reds before the Marlins acquired him May 26.

Hendrickson had walked the bases loaded with two out in the first inning, prompting a visit from Little, when Ross stepped to the plate. Ross ripped the second pitch for a bases-clearing double, took third on the throw home and scored on Miguel Olivo’s single.

“Oh, absolutely,” Ross said when asked whether it meant something to play well against his old team. “They sent me out. I was the odd man out. They didn’t need me.”

The Dodgers could have used Ross and a clone or two Wednesday. He drove in the Marlins’ fifth run with a single in the third inning, and Cabrera opened his run-producing barrage with a two-run homer in the fourth. Cabrera’s three-run homer in the sixth gave the Marlins a 10-4 lead and sent them on their way to their first victory in six games against the Dodgers.

“We can’t let a day like this make us feel down,” said Hall, who had two hits. “This team’s good. What’s been going on is no fluke.”