Fading Dodgers Need to Make a Stand

Grady Little carries a wall calendar in his briefcase, though it isn’t cluttered with birthday reminders, doctor appointments and social engagements.

The Dodgers manager scribbles only one large letter in each daily box, a “W” or an “L.”

In eight games since the All-Star break, the calendar has added more Ls than Lilly-Pilly (an Australian hardwood tree), more even than Llullaillaco (the world’s second-highest active volcano).

The Dodgers fell for the seventh time on an eight-game trip that mercifully concluded Thursday night with a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Everything is going wrong and nobody has an explanation. Some players say others are pressing; others say nobody is pressing. Some say the skid could end with a grand event such as a shutout or walk-off home run; others say a turnaround must come gradually.

The only certainty is that the Dodgers begin a homestand tonight against the dangerous St. Louis Cardinals, who got them started on this slide with a four-game sweep last weekend.

“We’ve got a lot of games coming up at home, and maybe we can regroup,” pitcher Mark Hendrickson said. “It’s a good chance for us to get hot.”

Hendrickson made his fourth start as a Dodger and is still looking for a victory. He kept the team in the game, giving up three runs through five innings, but Carlos Quentin homered in the sixth to extend the Diamondbacks’ lead to 5-1.

“We still had a chance and that was deflating to me and the team,” Hendrickson said. “That home run pitch was the worst curveball of the game.”

It also was the first major league hit for Quentin, a former first-round pick from Stanford who along with Diamondbacks shortstop Stephen Drew and first baseman Conor Jackson are young position players on par with Dodgers young guns Russell Martin, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp.

The Diamondbacks (48-47) came into the series trailing the Dodgers (47-49) in the National League West standings but passed them by winning three of four. Nevertheless, Little aligned himself with those who believe the team is not pressing.

“The effort is there and the intensity is normal for a team going through a spell like this,” he said.

Little shook up the lineup, batting J.D. Drew second instead of fourth and bumping Ethier up from fifth to the cleanup spot. Drew, who hasn’t homered in 126 at-bats, had three hits and reached base four times, and Ethier doubled and singled.

But the rest of the lineup was its usual somnolent self, hitting into four double plays and too often putting the first pitch weakly into play. Brandon Webb (11-3) gave up runs in the second and eighth, but rallies in both innings were snuffed by double plays.

To the Dodgers’ credit, nobody appears ready to blow like Llullaillaco.

“There is a difference between being frustrated and being concerned about it,” first baseman Nomar Garciaparra said. “It’s easy to get frustrated and it’s something we don’t want to do. We are definitely concerned, though.”

Little was asked about holding a team meeting, but he doesn’t think a powwow is necessary to provide Ws for his calendar.

“It’s a shame you have to have team meetings and we’ve had too many,” he said. “We want to make sure we don’t catch ourselves pointing fingers at each other. No one person is going to take over and win a game for us. It’s going to take everybody.”