Dodgers’ offense flails on every level in 6-1 loss

ST. LOUIS -- The clubhouse was empty by the time Nomar Garciaparra returned to his locker Saturday evening, nearly 90 minutes after the latest in what must seem like an endless string of Dodgers losses.

After playing nine seasons in Boston and two for the Chicago Cubs, Garciaparra has seen his share of baseball curses. And the Dodgers’ current stroke of bad fortune, he says, hasn’t reached those proportions yet.

But after being held to a run and five hits by the Cardinals’ Braden Looper and four relievers in a 6-1 loss to St. Louis, it might be getting close.

“Right now it doesn’t look good. This is a tough one,” Garciaparra said. “This is a tough stretch.”

How tough?

* It’s been nearly 2 1/2 weeks since the Dodgers have gotten a win from their rotation, once considered the team’s strength.

* The Dodgers have scored fewer than two runs in seven of their last 11 games, losing eight of them.

* In August the team is last in the majors in batting (.222) and extra-base hits (18) and last in the National League in runs (23) and hits (74).

“Can you explain it? No,” Garciaparra said with a pained smile. “Baseball’s a funny game that way. When you’ve been around a while you don’t get too high and you don’t get too low and you don’t necessarily look at all that stuff.”

OK, let’s look at wins and losses then. The Dodgers have dropped 10 of their last 13, getting outscored, 45-19, in those losses. It’s cost them seven games in the standings as they’ve fallen from first place to third, six games behind NL West leader Arizona.

And the drought’s been even longer for starter Derek Lowe, once the ace of the staff but winless since June 22. He pitched decently Saturday, giving up five runs -- three earned -- and seven hits in six innings. But given the Dodgers’ offensive struggles, the game was all but over after Lowe’s fifth pitch, which Rick Ankiel hit into the right-field stands for a two-run homer, the first of two homers for the former pitcher.

“You kind of run out of words,” said Lowe (8-11), who gave up three more runs in a third inning in which the Cardinals were helped by two Rafael Furcal errors, giving him a league-high 17 this season. “It’s been beyond a frustrating year personally. I think we’ve gone down every avenue. But again you can’t feel sorry for yourself and put your head in the sand.

“You have to keep going out there and expect to win. That’s the big thing. You can’t go out there thinking you’re going to lose.”

Garciaparra agrees.

“What can you do?” he asked. “When it comes to teams not scoring, sometimes it’s just luck, sometimes it’s just baseball. “[Is] everybody just striking out? Everybody just horrible at the plate? That’s not the case. Sometimes your team goes through a phase like that.”

The Dodgers had one chance to make noise Saturday, after Garciaparra singled and Andre Ethier doubled to open the fifth. But Juan Pierre popped out, Ramon Martinez struck out and Lowe grounded out to end the threat. A two-out double by Luis Gonzalez finally got them on the scoreboard an inning later, but they got just one hit the rest of the way.

Afterward Ethier as much as suggested the team should hold hands and sing “Kumbaya” to change the mood. Hey, couldn’t hurt.

“We need to rally behind each other rather than start pointing fingers and looking who to blame,” he said. “We need . . . to be there for each other.

“It’s not often that teams go cold altogether. But you see it with players all the time. You have your ups and downs. It’s unfortunate the team as a whole is doing that. That timely hit’s not coming.”

--

kevin.baxter@latimes.com