The silence of the bats

CINCINNATI -- About the only thing quieter than the Dodgers’ bats during Wednesday’s game was the team’s locker room at the Great American Ball Park afterward.

And with reason: After rolling over in a 1-0 loss to Aaron Harang and the Cincinnati Reds, the Dodgers have lost six in a row, nine of their last 10 and 11 of 13. But not only haven’t they won in a week, they haven’t even led in their last six games.

And they haven’t even scored in their last 28 innings.

“It’s real frustrating,” said outfielder Matt Kemp, briefly averting his gaze from the floor. “You hear the clubhouse now? It’s kind of silent.”

Kind of? Most mortuaries are more joyous. But then maybe the Dodgers were observing a moment of silence in remembrance of their offense. Or their pennant hopes, both of which appear beyond reviving.

“We’re in it bad right now,” Manager Grady Little said.

Historically bad, in fact. The last time the Dodgers were shut out in three consecutive games was in the 1966 World Series. Only one current Dodger -- reliever Roberto Hernandez -- was alive then.

But wait, there’s more.

Colorado, which won Wednesday to drop the Dodgers into fourth place in the National League West, scored 16 runs in the first four innings against Milwaukee. The Dodgers haven’t scored 16 runs this month.

And it has been a week since they’ve had a hit with a runner in scoring position, going one for their last 43 (.023) with a man on second or third.

As a result the team that led the division 11 days ago woke up this morning just one spot out of the division cellar.

“I don’t know if there are any answers,” second baseman Jeff Kent said. “If there are answers, then we’d fix the problem. You can color it and talk about it all you want, but I don’t know if you can really put your thumb on an answer or the reasons why.”

It has gotten so bad, in fact, Little said his team would have been overmatched Wednesday against Dick Pole, the Reds’ 56-year pitching coach, who hasn’t thrown anything other than batting practice in nearly three decades.

“Just prior to the game when I saw Harang and Dick Pole walk out of their bullpen,” he said. “And either one of them could have shut us out tonight.”

For the record it was Harang who held the Dodgers to four hits in eight innings. And while Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley wasn’t nearly as dominant, giving up six hits and four walks in five innings, he was nearly as effective, holding the Reds to one run, on Ken Griffey Jr.’s third-inning single to center. To the struggling Dodgers, however, that one run looked like 10.

“It kind of did,” Kemp said. “But we’re one big hit away from going off again and getting in that groove.”

Kemp nearly supplied that in the eighth inning, following James Loney’s leadoff double by ripping a bullet up the middle. But second baseman Brandon Phillips backhanded the ball inches off the ground and turned what appeared to be a game-tying hit into a rally-killing double play.

“That’s just how it’s going right now,” Kemp said. “When everything’s going good, good things happen. When everything’s going bad, you do something good and the other team does something to bring you back down.

“It’s real frustrating.”

Little, who rested outfielder Luis Gonzalez on Wednesday, probably will give third baseman Nomar Garciaparra (one for his last 12) the day off today. And with rookie left-hander Phil Dumatrait starting for Cincinnati, Little was also toying with the idea of starting Olmedo Saenz and Delwyn Young.

And while that might not be enough to break the Dodgers’ drought, Little is sure that’s coming.

“It will happen,” he predicted. “Once we score one run, we’ll be off and running. Somebody’s going to have to pay for this rut we’ve been in. Some pitchers around the league are going to have to pay.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com