Dodgers Take Beating

The Dodgers lost by nine runs and were off by 76 years.

The 1981 World Series champions were honored Saturday night, but the current edition played more like the worst team in franchise history, the 1905 squad that went 48-104.

Rookies Chad Billingsley, Eric Stults and Tim Hamulack gave up all the San Diego Padres’ runs in the first three innings of an 11-2 loss in front of a sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium that began thinning out not long after settling in.

The fans who stayed sat in stunned silence, and when one man yelled, “Put in Fernando!” his voice reverberated through the stadium.

Alas, Fernando Valenzuela, the 1981 team’s rookie sensation, was busy broadcasting for the Dodgers’ Spanish language radio station and unavailable for an emergency relief appearance.

The only consolation for the Dodgers was that the pathetic performance didn’t count as more than one loss. They still lead the Padres by half a game in the National League West with two games left in the series.

“We’ve got to laugh off a game like that to keep from crying,” Manager Grady Little said.

The problems began immediately. The Padres’ plan was to meddle as little as possible while Billingsley dug a hole. They swung at only four of his first 32 pitches, three resulting in hits and a 3-0 first-inning lead.

Billingsley, who hadn’t pitched since Aug. 27 because of a strained muscle in his left side, needed 40 pitches to get through the first inning and 22 missed the strike zone. A night earlier Greg Maddux didn’t throw his 40th pitch until the fifth inning and needed only 68 to navigate through seven.

Control problems are nothing new for Billingsley -- he walked four or more batters in eight of his previous 14 starts -- but he’d gone at least five innings in all of them. He made considerable progress in three starts before the injury, walking only one each time, and his 1.87 earned-run average since the All-Star break was the best in the major leagues.

“I was behind every hitter I faced and had to come back with a strike down the middle,” he said. “I was rusty. It was a tough learning experience.”

Dave Roberts began the game by striking out, but he made the Padres’ approach clear by taking five pitches in a row. The first swing came on Billingsley’s 13th pitch and resulted in a single by Todd Walker. Adrian Gonzalez doubled to score two runs and Mike Cameron singled to bring in Gonzalez.

Stults, in his first appearance since giving up one run in six innings to the New York Mets, made it through the second without giving up a run despite two hits and a walk.

Then the Padres began treating Stults and Hamulack the way batters did Mal Eason (5-21) and Elmer Stricklett (9-18) back in ‘05, tattooing them for eight runs in the third inning. Mike Cameron’s two-run home run was one of four hits against Stults and Todd Walker and Adrian Gonzalez hit two-run homers against Hamulack.

“For a moment it looked like a doggone driving range out there,” Little said.

The Dodgers might have a difficult decision the next time the fifth spot in the starting rotation comes around. Little could give Billingsley another shot -- chalking this one up to his long layoff -- or he could go with left-hander Mark Hendrickson, who inexplicably struck out eight and gave up one hit in four scoreless innings.

Hendrickson is 1-7 with the Dodgers and lost his spot in the rotation 12 days ago.

The game was so one-sided it was disorienting even to the Padres, who were reluctant to make too much of the victory. They’ve been unable to catch the Dodgers, who have been in first place for 39 days.

“At this point, it’s just another win,” Padres Manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ll have to forget about this one too. We have a day game [today] and we’ll have to be ready to go.”

steve.henson@latimes.com