Second chance

The Dodgers are only a game out of first place at the All-Star break, no small feat considering that they’re three games under .500 and are one of the lowest-scoring teams in baseball.

“We haven’t played our best baseball yet,” pitcher Chad Billingsley said.

At least they’re hoping that’s the case.

Playing with any semblance of consistency has been a challenge for these Dodgers, who field a lineup consisting largely of players in their early- to mid-20s. Most of the team’s veterans have under-performed or landed on the disabled list -- or, in some cases, both.

In the penultimate game of the first half of the season, the Dodgers suffered what could turn out to be a back-breaking loss, as closer Takashi Saito walked off the mound with what turned out to be a sprained ligament in his elbow. Like leading hitter Rafael Furcal, Saito will be out until at least late August.

Andruw Jones, who was signed to a $36.2-million contract this winter to provide the Dodgers with a big bat in the middle of the order, was hitting .165 through May 23 and underwent knee surgery.

Juan Pierre was put on the DL for the first time in his career and he remains sidelined along with Brad Penny, who hasn’t looked like himself for most of the season because of shoulder problems that he said started in spring training.

Of the everyday veteran positions players, only Jeff Kent has managed to avoid the disabled list -- and even he has been frequently rested to avoid overburdening a stiff back.

Manager Joe Torre, who signed a $13-million deal in November to replace Grady Little as manager, has admitted that earning the trust of the team’s highly touted nucleus of young players hasn’t been easy.

“You can tell youngsters, if you ever have children, ‘Don’t play with matches,’ but until they burn themselves, they’re not going to necessarily know what you’re talking about,” Torre said.

The Dodgers will be replacing hitting coach Mike Easler with Don Mattingly when they resume playing on Friday in Arizona, and Torre said he hoped Mattingly’s gentle demeanor would make some of his players more receptive to the message that the coaching staff has been trying to deliver.

But Torre also said that there’s no substitute for experience.

“That’s something you can’t rush,” he said. “You can’t force that. Batting practice doesn’t help you. You have to come out here and play the game and be able to make adjustments as you go along.”

The Dodgers’ pitching has been among the best in baseball, but they’ve been held back by the unpredictability of their lineup.

“You like to see it more consistently,” third base coach Larry Bowa said. “That’s what the big leagues is all about. Have a game plan, execute, consistency, work ethic, not getting distracted. Guys who do that are the guys who succeed. Guys who don’t do that have one good game and three bad games.”

The Dodgers rank in the bottom five in the league in runs scored, batting average and home runs.

Though Bowa isn’t bothered by the Dodgers’ low home run total, he’s baffled by the fact that they’re second from the bottom in doubles.

“This is a doubles park,” Bowa said of Dodger Stadium.

Bowa said he was encouraged by the improved approaches of Andre Ethier (.283, 11 home runs, 41 runs batted in) and Russell Martin (.294, 10 homers, 45 RBIs). Matt Kemp (.284, nine homers, a team-high 51 RBIs) has also shown signs of promise.

“Offensively, we have to take it to a whole new level if we want to stay in this thing,” Bowa said.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Help hard to find in an up-and-down season

Biggest first-half surprise:

The performances of middle relievers Hong-Chih Kuo and Chan Ho Park. The two hard-throwing but injury-prone pitchers entered spring training thinking this could be their last season in baseball, as Kuo had his fourth elbow operation the previous year and Park had rarely been healthy since leaving the Dodgers as a free agent at the end of the 2001 season. Kuo has posted a 1.69 earned-run average and Park, who didn’t make the major-league roster out of camp, pitched well enough out of the bullpen to be moved into the rotation when Brad Penny and Hiroki Kuroda were hurt.

Biggest first-half disappointment:

Andruw Jones. He showed up to camp overweight, he couldn’t hit, then, he got hurt. Jones initially wanted to undergo knee surgery in the off-season, but his early-season form was so poor that Manager Joe Torre suggested he get the procedure done in May in part so he could take a mental vacation. To his credit, Jones cut short a minor league rehab assignment upon learning of the injury to Juan Pierre, which left the Dodgers with only two everyday outfielders. But Jones is only five for 32 with 14 strikeouts since being activated on July 4.

At this pace:

Russell Martin will start 140 games at catcher, only three fewer than last season. Martin’s heavy workload was blamed for his decline in the second half of 2007, which is why Torre said he would make a conscious effort to reduce the All-Star’s workload. But Torre has encountered the same problem as Little, as he has discovered that a lineup without Martin doesn’t have much pop. Because Torre occasionally starts Martin at third to relieve him from catching duties -- this has happened six times -- Martin is actually on pace to start more games than he did last season.

Reasons to be excited:

Pitching, pitching, pitching. The Dodgers’ team ERA of 3.64 is the best in the NL and fourth-best in baseball. Chad Billingsley and Derek Lowe anchor a starting rotation that has posted a 2.41 ERA over the last 19 games. Kuroda, a 33-year-old first-year big-leaguer from Japan, appears to be finding a rhythm. If Penny can get healthy, it could help minimize the domino effect that Takashi Saito’s injury will have on the bullpen.

Reasons to be concerned:

Saito and Rafael Furcal are out until at least late August, but there’s no guarantee either will return. “You can’t count on that,” third base coach Larry Bowa said. Saito is 38 years old and has said that his next major injury could end his career. His absence could push Jonathan Broxton into a closing role before he is ready. Furcal, who last played on May 5, had surgery to repair a bulging disk in his back and said he wouldn’t rush his return for the sake of boosting his stock for free agency.

Moves to ponder:

The most pressing needs are at shortstop and in the back end of the bullpen. The Dodgers have little leverage and General Manager Ned Colletti has conceded that making a deal for players at either position could be difficult. Trading for a big bat appears to be a remote possibility.

See you in September:

Playing in a weak division, the Dodgers could very well reach the postseason. If they don’t, they should at least be neck-and-neck with equally inconsistent Arizona until the very end.

“As inconsistent as we’ve been, we still have a chance,” Matt Kemp said.

Based on his team’s raw talent, Torre says he likes his chances.

“We haven’t played any ballclub that I feel we can’t beat,” he said. “We played the Cubs tough, the Mets tough. That’s why the second half, I’m curious.”

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Down the list

Where the Dodgers rank among the 16 teams in the NL:

*--* Record 46-49 (8th) Avg. 253 (12th) Runs per game 4.11 (13th) Home runs 65 (15th) On-base pct. 321 (12th) Slugging pct. 373 (15th) ERA 3.64 (1st) Fielding pct. 983 (9th) *--*

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Los Angeles Times

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Friday: 6:30 p.m., Ch. 9

Saturday: 5 p.m., Ch. 9

Sunday: 1 p.m., Ch. 9