Furcal’s Errors Sink Dodgers

On the surface, the decision appears easy.

The Dodgers have a Gold Glove shortstop in waiting. Their current shortstop leads all major league shortstops in errors. Their third baseman is out indefinitely. So why not move Rafael Furcal to third base and return Cesar Izturis to shortstop?

Reality is not so tidy, and so a bit of drama lurked beneath the Dodgers’ 9-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday at Petco Park.

Furcal committed two errors in the first inning, leading to four unearned runs, and the Dodgers fell into a first-place tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.

The Padres are two games out, the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies three games out. The margin of error is slight in the division, and Furcal has made more errors than every major leaguer except Milwaukee’s Rickie Weeks.

This is not to pin all the blame for Tuesday’s defeat on Furcal. Aaron Sele (3-1) gave up six hits and five walks in four innings, in his first poor start this season. Jae Seo, demoted to the bullpen two weeks ago, gave up three runs in one inning, then left because of shoulder soreness that Manager Grady Little said was not considered serious.

Chan Ho Park (4-3) held his original team to one run and three hits over six innings. Mike Cameron nearly became the first Padre to hit for the cycle, with a double in the second inning, a triple in the fourth and a home run in the sixth.

When Cameron batted in the seventh inning, the crowd rose and cheered in anticipation. Odalis Perez walked him on five pitches and was roundly booed.

Furcal has 15 errors, matching his total from last season. In the first inning, the Padres loaded the bases on a throwing error by Furcal, a single and a walk. With two out, Sele got an apparent inning-ending ground ball, but Furcal bobbled it for his second error. One run scored, and on the next pitch Vinny Castilla hit a three-run double.

“The second error was the result of thinking about the first one,” Little said.

The Dodgers signed Furcal to a three-year, $39-million contract last winter, at a time no one knew how long Izturis might need for rehabilitation after elbow surgery.

The answer: Not much longer. General Manager Ned Colletti said that Izturis is about a week away from returning.

Izturis has played second base and shortstop on his minor league rehabilitation assignment. Colletti said there are no plans to play him at other positions. Little said he would prefer Izturis play some third base too.

“I would like for him to,” Little said. “Whether he would like to, I don’t know.”

With Bill Mueller out indefinitely after knee surgery, the Dodgers have used rookie Willy Aybar at third base. Aybar batted .327 in May but is batting .237 in June.

Furcal said no one has asked him to consider moving to third. Colletti said that decision would be up to Little, who said the move is “not in my mind right now” and said Furcal “has done a good job.”

For now, Little said, Izturis would back up Furcal and second baseman Jeff Kent.

“It’s going to be awfully tough for me to sit here and tell you he’s going to come in and start at any of those positions,” Little said.

And, with the Dodgers playing well, Little said he does not want to disrupt the starting lineup.

“It would be foolish,” he said. “If we were at the bottom of the league and looking up at everybody, you might be more apt to think of those different options.”