Dodgers Feeling Ejected

All it lacked was music and a circle of chairs.

A scene as childish as it was surreal played out in the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ third loss to the San Diego Padres in as many days, this one by a score of 7-2 Wednesday, and it had the managers and plate umpire assuming unfamiliar roles.

Padres Manager Bruce Bochy became the arbiter, explaining a rule to the umpires.

Umpire Rick Reed became the Dodgers’ manager, all but taking the ball from pitcher Brad Penny.

Dodgers Manager Grady Little became irate enough to be ejected for the first time all season.

Only Penny’s behavior was predictable -- he blew up again. This time his rage was understandable, though, because of curious events leading up to the musical chairs, as the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West was cut to one game.

Penny believed early on that Reed was squeezing the strike zone. He walked three in the first inning, and all three runners scored to put the Dodgers in a deep hole.

“I told Reed, ‘You cost me three runs,’ ” Penny said. “And it didn’t get any better from there.”

In the fourth, Dodgers right fielder Julio Lugo tossed his helmet in frustration after stranding a runner on third by grounding out to end the inning. First base umpire Chris Guccione apparently believed Lugo was angry with the call and ejected him.

“There was a lot of miscommunication out there,” Little said.

One inning later Reed called a close pitch by Penny a ball on a full count to Adrian Gonzalez with Brian Giles running from first base. Had it been called strike three, a double play would have resulted because catcher Russell Martin’s throw to second easily beat Giles.

Instead, there were two runners on base and Penny was irate. Little went to the mound to calm him and Reed ventured onto the infield grass to speed up the conference. Second baseman Jeff Kent questioned Reed’s calls while addressing Martin and Reed responded by chewing out Kent.

Little went over to calm Reed, then returned to the mound to finish his discussion with Penny.

“Mr. Little, I think, was trying to make sure his pitcher wasn’t ejected,” Reed said.

However, Bochy recognized that Little technically had made two trips to the mound by leaving and returning, and informed Reed.

After a lengthy discussion, the umpires agreed, meaning Penny could face only one more hitter. Little was ejected after jawing about it with Reed, who then went to the mound to inform Penny that he would take the ball from him.

Once Penny realized he was out of the game and had nothing to lose by letting Reed know his true feelings, he went ballistic and had to be restrained by coaches Dave Jauss and Mariano Duncan.

“Mr. Penny decided to talk about balls and strikes,” Reed said. “He was ejected.”

Penny (13-7) gave up six earned runs for the second start in a row and needed 101 pitches to record only 12 outs.

“It’s hard to get hitters out when they get four strikes,” he said. “They will get you more times than not. My fastball was the best it’s been all year. It makes you more sick than anything.”

As for the game, it was infuriating to the Dodgers as well. They never recovered from the first inning and played sloppy defense thereafter. Lugo couldn’t get the ball out of his glove to make a throw to the plate with the slow Josh Bard scoring from second on a single in the third inning, left fielder Andre Ethier dropped a fly ball in the sixth and Kent and Jason Repko allowed a pop fly to drop between them in the seventh.

The poor play is becoming a disturbing habit against the Padres. The Dodgers are 3-11 against them this season.

“There were misunderstandings and calls we didn’t understand, but that wasn’t the game,” Little said. “The fact is that the Los Angeles Dodgers lost three to the Padres and have to get out of town before somebody gets hurt.”

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Tightened up

*--* NL WEST W-L PCT. GB DODGERS 66-61 520 -- San Diego 65-62 512 1 Arizona 62-65 488 4 San Francisco 62-65 488 4 Colorado 59-67 468 6 1/2

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*--* * NEXT THREE AT ARIZONA Friday, 6:30 p.m., FSN Prime Ticket Saturday, 6:30 p.m., Channel 9 Sunday, 1:30 p.m., Channel 9

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