Dodgers’ losses are mounting

HOUSTON -- The Dodgers don’t top the league in anything, haven’t led their division since the fourth game of the season and don’t even have a winning record with half of the season gone.

“I’m one to forget the first half,” first baseman Mark Sweeney said.

But the Dodgers do have the most expensive disabled list in baseball -- maybe in baseball history -- after losing Juan Pierre for at least a month because of a sprained ligament in his left knee. And as a result, the undermanned Dodgers were overwhelmed by the Houston Astros, 4-1, Monday in the opener of a seven-game trip.

Although it took an MRI exam to reveal the extent of Pierre’s injury, it came as no surprise to the Dodgers, who called up triple-A outfielder Jason Repko shortly after Pierre hobbled off the field in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ loss to the Angels on Sunday.

For Pierre, who was on crutches Monday, that marked the first trip to the DL in his nine-year career. But he’s not alone, since the Dodgers are also without outfielder Andruw Jones, infielders Nomar Garciaparra, Rafael Furcal and Tony Abreu, pitchers Jason Schmidt, Brad Penny, Hiroki Kuroda and Scott Proctor, and catcher Gary Bennett.

That’s half the infield, two-thirds of the outfield and three-fifths of the starting rotation the Dodgers had hoped to take into the second half. It’s also a whole lot of money since the combined 2008 salaries of those 10 players is nearly $66.4 million.

And as if that weren’t bad enough, the Dodgers were also without team run-batted-in leader Matt Kemp, who woke up Monday with a right eye so irritated he was unable to insert his contact lens.

“A lot of teams go through this,” Sweeney said. “You’ve got to go out there and do your job. Individually and also collectively. Dig deep, because I don’t think anyone in the league is going to feel sorry for us.”

Maybe they should. After all, things have gotten so bad for the Dodgers that Manager Joe Torre batted Delwyn Young sixth in the lineup because his 115 big league at-bats represented “a little more experience.”

“We’re a little light right now,” he said. “It still comes down to being able to make the best out of what you have. It’s frustrating. The thing I have to keep an eye on is to make sure that the mental part of this game stays where we go out there and feel we can beat somebody. That’s the most important thing.”

Well, that and maybe some runs. The Dodgers, who struggled offensively with Pierre and Kemp in the lineup, scoring a run or no runs in four of their last six games at home, had almost no chance against Houston’s Roy Oswalt without them. Oswalt (7-8) struck out nine in six innings, getting Repko, Pierre’s replacement, three times.

In fact, the Dodgers would have been shut out again if Oswalt hadn’t followed Andre Ethier’s one-out first-inning double by hitting Russell Martin and Jeff Kent with two-strike pitches to load the bases. James Loney then flied out to left field to drive in Ethier.

The Astros answered immediately as Lance Berkman tied the score with a booming two-out home run in the first inning. Starter Eric Stults (2-1) retired the next eight batters before Houston went ahead to stay in the fourth on bases-loaded singles by Mark Loretta and Brad Ausmus.

“It’s [time] for us to step up,” Martin said. “We have a lot of guys that are getting opportunities right here. We’ve got to get it done. I don’t know how to put it any other way.”

--

kevin.baxter@latimes.com