Loss Is a Matter of Not Pitching In

Talk about a streak stopper.

Dodgers pitchers had given up no more than five runs in any game as the team won 17 of 18 games, a stretch in which the staff posted a 2.37 earned-run average.

Starter Mark Hendrickson surrendered five runs in the first three innings Wednesday, and by the end of the Florida Marlins’ 15-4 victory at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers had yielded as many runs as they had in their previous seven games.

“You can put a finger on exactly why you get your brains beat there one day; you just make a lot of bad pitches,” Manager Grady Little said. “Fortunately, throughout the month of August we’ve been making a lot of good pitches and getting good results. Today, it just kind of caved in on us there and started snowballing a little bit.”

Hendrickson gave up five hits and walked three in 2 1/3 innings but was hardly the only culprit. Aaron Sele gave up two runs in 1 2/3 innings and Giovanni Carrara gave up five runs in one inning.

“The thing that really kind of bothers me is, if you’re going to get beat, get beat making them earn it,” said Hendrickson, who gave up four runs in the first inning after walking the bases loaded. “The fact that I walked the bases loaded, that really hurt. After that, it was time to play catch-up and we just never could quite get it back.”

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Former Dodgers third baseman Norihiro Nakamura would have loved it. Plumbing problems in the Dodgers clubhouse Tuesday night led to a loss of water pressure and a smelly backup in the showers, forcing players to bathe at home after a victory over the Marlins.

Nakamura was known for ignoring the customary practice of showering in the clubhouse after games, preferring to wait until he reached home or his hotel room.

“A lot of times when things happen like that, you just have to deal with them,” said Little, who had not endured a clubhouse lacking working showers since winter ball in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. “There’s nothing you could prepare for it and nothing you can do but try to get it fixed.”

The water was back on Wednesday morning.

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The Dodgers’ traveling secretary has briefed players on new airline security procedures following the recent exposure of a terrorist plot to blow up planes using liquid explosives brought aboard as carry-on items. Although the Dodgers travel by charter, they are subject to the same security screenings that the Transportation Security Administration conducts on regular airline passengers.

The Dodgers are scheduled to depart this evening for San Francisco.

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Julio Lugo started at shortstop, the fifth position he has played in his last five games. Lugo had a tough day at his preferred position, making two errors, but shrugged off the miscues as “a matter of just missing the ball. When you miss it, you miss it. It could have happened in right field, it could have happened in left field, it could have happened at third.” ... The Dodgers lost for the first time with Wilson Betemit as their third baseman and are now 14-1 with him in the starting lineup.