Pujols Pounds Perez in 14th

Good intentions gone awry. That’s the story of Odalis Perez’s season, in his own words.

It certainly was the case in the 14th inning when a pitch Perez said was meant to walk Albert Pujols strayed over the plate, resulting in a home run that gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers on Thursday night at Busch Stadium.

Perez, banished to the bullpen since a disastrous May 2 start at Arizona, already felt disrespected and neglected by coaches and teammates.

Sensing it’s only going to get worse, he sounded off.

“I’ve been treated like trash and I don’t want to be in this situation,” he said. “My confidence isn’t the same anymore. It’s killing me as a professional and it’s killing my career.

“I want to know what I did wrong to these people. I don’t have the answer.”

He said no one has explained why he lost his berth in the starting rotation. Maybe he hasn’t looked at the statistics: His earned-run average is 8.53 in eight starts and 6.79 overall.

He said the reason he isn’t pitching well is that he isn’t pitching often enough. Of course, he’s not pitching often because he isn’t pitching well.

That leaves Perez longing for respect. Or a trade.

“I don’t make those decisions, but if somebody wants to trade me, let me pitch more so other teams can see whether I can pitch well,” he said. “I consider myself a good pitcher. I need to be out there more often.

“I want to be on this team to pitch. I don’t want to be here and not pitch.”

The back of the Dodgers’ starting rotation has been a shambles. Any help the highly paid Perez could provide would be welcome.

The new Busch Stadium was the same old story for Chad Billingsley, who staggered through five innings and is still seeking his first major league victory. This was his sixth start since coming up from triple A, and in one respect it was his best -- he didn’t allow a run in five innings.

But it was a wonder. Battling a mound slicked by a steady drizzle, Billingsley pitched out of bases-loaded jams in the first, third and fifth innings, and stranded 10 despite throwing only 50 strikes in 97 pitches. He walked three in the third but got Pujols to ground out and Scott Rolen to wave at strike three.

Chris Duncan made the third out twice with the bases loaded, although he wasn’t fooled, flying out to deep center in the first and lining out to left in the third. The Dodgers have infinitely more patience with Billingsley than with Perez, whose questionable work habits have eroded any good will.

“It’s youth, and that youth isn’t going to go away in this first season,” Manager Grady Little said of Billingsley. “But he can get through a lot of things with his stuff.”

The Dodgers jumped in front in the third inning when Rafael Furcal got the second of his four hits and Nomar Garciaparra homered, extending his hitting streak to 22 games.

Jim Edmonds answered with a two-run shot in the seventh against Giovanni Carrara and both bullpens clamped down until Perez took over in the 14th. The home run was Pujols’ fifth in 15 at-bats against Perez, against whom he is batting .667. Little said there was no thought of walking the Cardinals slugger, although Perez said the 3-and-1 changeup that ended up deep in the left-field stands for Pujols’ 30th homer was supposed to be outside the strike zone.

“When you go out there with no confidence, things like that happen,” said Perez, who was the fifth reliever used by Little.

One reason managers like the All-Star break is that teams come out of it with a rested bullpen. So much for that. Each of the first four Dodgers relievers -- Carrara, Jonathan Broxton, Joe Beimel and Takashi Saito -- pitched two innings.

Perez should be available tonight because he faced only two batters. He said he will talk to Little about finding a way out of the doghouse.

“It’s hard to come every day and see people say, ‘We don’t believe in you anymore,’ ” he said. “I’ve been here five years. If I’ve done something wrong, let me know.”