Dodgers Swept by the Twins

Within 24 hours, the Dodgers got mugged by Francisco Liriano by night and Johan Santana by day. No shame in that.

But after the Minnesota Twins capped a series sweep with a 6-3 victory Wednesday at the Metrodome, the Dodgers sit two games above .500. The Dodgers aspire to October, but for now they’re a mediocre team in a mediocre division of an inferior league.

There wasn’t much suspense Wednesday. Torii Hunter settled the outcome with a grand slam in the first inning off spot starter Odalis Perez, so fans were left to wonder whether Joe Mauer would make an out (he did) and whether Santana would give up a run (he didn’t).

It is stunning when a player admits he gave less than a full effort, but Perez did just that. On the play that preceded the grand slam, Justin Morneau hit what would have been an inning-ending ground ball up the middle.

“If I put more effort into it, I might have made the catch,” Perez said.

But he let the ball bounce past him, he said, expecting to see second baseman Jeff Kent shaded up the middle. Kent raced to his right and made a diving stop but had no play.

“If Kent would have been in another position, he might have made the catch,” Perez said.

He suggested the coaches should have moved Kent from where a second baseman traditionally plays. According to the Dodgers’ scouting reports, Perez said, Morneau loves to hit the ball into center field. According to the chart of Morneau’s ground balls on mlb.com, Kent could have been shaded slightly -- but not markedly -- up the middle.

“I’m not blaming him,” Perez said. “It’s my fault. I take responsibility.”

Perez did little to persuade the Dodgers to give him another shot in the rotation, giving up six runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings, with no strikeouts. He got the first two batters out, then gave up three singles and the grand slam. Of those four hits, three came with two strikes.

“He couldn’t put them away,” Manager Grady Little said.

Little rebuffed a silver-lining question about the three scoreless innings with which Perez followed.

“The game started when the umpire said, ‘Play ball!’ ” he said. “That’s when you’ve got to be ready to go.”

Santana was, pitching seven shutout innings and lowering his earned-run average to 2.59, best in the American League. Mauer got two more hits for the Twins -- he went 11 for 13 in the series and is batting .392 -- and closer Joe Nathan struck out the side in the ninth.

Olmedo Saenz, who got one of the Dodgers’ two hits off Santana, doubled home three runs in the eighth off reliever Juan Rincon. Still, the Twins outscored the Dodgers, 23-7, and outhit them, 40-17. And, in the AL, the Twins are a third-place team.

The Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins are the only National League teams with winning records in interleague play. The Dodgers have lost eight of their last nine interleague games and 15 interleague games in a row on the road.

So, if the Dodgers can’t beat Liriano or Santana in particular or the other league in general, can they beat enough teams in their league to win the division?

“Ask me in September,” Kent said. “I’ll have a better answer. We’ve still got a long way to go.”

General Manager Ned Colletti said he continues to hunt for another pitcher, and perhaps that would help, at least in winning the NL West. The World Series would be another matter entirely.

“If we run into any of these clubs in the World Series, we’ve got ‘em right where we want ‘em,” Little said. “They’ll come into that series totally overconfident.”