Zito Shows L.A. to Its Seat

Brett Tomko’s season has had the arc of a Barry Zito breaking ball.

Fine for a while, then a shockingly steep descent.

Tomko continued his monthlong slide, giving up five runs in five innings to a depleted Oakland Athletics lineup, and the Dodgers lost, 7-3, Friday night at McAfee Coliseum.

Meanwhile, Zito’s season has had the arc of one of the six home runs given up by Tomko in his last four starts: up, up and away.

The left-hander equaled a career-high with 11 strikeouts while walking none in eight innings. He won his sixth decision in a row and improved to 8-3.

Jeff Kent doubled twice and Kenny Lofton and Olmedo Saenz drove in Dodgers runs with singles. Otherwise Zito was dominant. His noon-to-cocktail-hour curve -- scouts slang for a pitch that breaks downward like hands on a clock moving from 12 to 6 -- gave the Dodgers fits.

Especially the rookies. Left fielder Matt Kemp had his most difficult game since his three-strikeout, one-error debut May 28, striking out three times on cutters and changeups. Catcher Russell Martin saw mostly curveballs, striking out twice and popping out.

“There’s a good chance they haven’t seen a curve like that since they started playing pro ball,” Manager Grady Little said. “They probably haven’t seen a curve like that since they played Wiffle ball in the backyard, to tell you the truth.”

The victory was the eighth in a row for the Athletics. The Dodgers remained in first place by one game in the National League West because the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks lost. The San Diego Padres are tied with Arizona.

“They are hot, and I’m not,” Tomko said of the Athletics. “That’s not a good combination.”

It didn’t even help the Dodgers that outfielders Mark Kotsay and Milton Bradley were out of the lineup. The same shoulder pain that sidelined Bradley on Thursday could keep him out through the series against his former team.

Kotsay was a late scratch because of back spasms, but his replacement, Adam Melhuse, doubled and singled twice against Tomko, whose earned-run average climbed to 5.45.

“It’s frustrating, as anyone can imagine,” Tomko said. “It’s a very humbling game.”

Tomko (5-6) continues to throw 93 mph but continues to get hit hard. The Athletics piled up nine hits against him, including a two-run home run by Eric Chavez in the fifth and back-to-back doubles by Dan Johnson and Jay Payton to lead off a two-run fourth.

The blast by Chavez came on a changeup, one pitch after Kemp couldn’t reach a foul fly in the left-field corner and one batter after Kemp got a poor jump on a soft line drive single by Melhuse.

Kemp said he wasn’t sure of how close he was to the wall on Chavez’s foul.

“If I’d have known where I was I might have caught it,” he said. “I saw the wall and slowed up and lost the ball.”

Tomko had an extra day of rest and threw three times between starts instead of the usual one time. He spoke to his trusted sports psychologist, Alan Jaeger. Martin said Tomko’s changeup was better and his velocity was good.

So what’s the problem?

“For getting pounded for a month, my head is where it needs to be,” Tomko said. “You can’t beat yourself up. You have to stay positive. My approach is good. I’m just not executing what I need to.”

It was small consolation for the Dodgers that first baseman Nomar Garciaparra had two hits to become the National League leader with a .354 batting average in his second day since having enough plate appearances to qualify.

And it was inconsequential that Kent’s doubles gave him 486 and a tie with Lou Brock and Billy Herman for 54th all-time.

Tomko was too hittable and Zito, well, for the most part he was the opposite. That’s usually the case when the opposing manager and Zito’s third baseman make references to plastic balls that dance in the wind.

“He looked pretty unhittable,” Chavez said, “It was like he was throwing Wiffle balls up there.”