Dodgers come to aid of the Padres in 4-2 loss

Reporting from San Diego — 

The seventh inning of a 4-2 defeat to the San Diego Padres on Monday was a microcosm of the increasingly dismal season for the Dodgers.

With the Dodgers trailing by a run that inning, Andre Ethier faced Mike Adams with runners on first and second. The slumping All-Star struck out. The threat was over.

In the bottom half of the inning, another out-of-form All-Star, former closer Jonathan Broxton, served up a leadoff double to pinch-hitter Aaron Cunningham.

The reserve outfielder later scored on a sacrifice fly by David Eckstein to hand the Dodgers’ stalled offense a two-run deficit.

The Dodgers dropped nine games behind the Padres in the National League West and 91/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card race. And for the first time since May 12, the Dodgers have as many wins as losses on their record.

That the Padres had lost their previous 10 games didn’t matter. That NL earned-run average leader Mat Latos had to be scratched because of stomach flu didn’t, either.

“We couldn’t get a lead,” Manager Joe Torre said. “To me, that was important, if we could get them on their heels.”

Emergency starter Tim Stauffer, who started only one other game this season and was 8-14 with a 5.03 ERA in his 32 career starts, held the Dodgers to a run over four innings and exited the game with a 3-1 lead.

The Dodgers were one for eight with men in scoring position. They left nine men on base.

“You would hope that when you get guys on, you can get them in,” Ryan Theriot said. “The name of the game is hitting with runners in scoring position.”

Torre cautioned that the postponement of Latos’ scheduled start might not be a negative for the Padres. Torre recalled managing the 1982 Atlanta Braves, who were in a 2-19 rut when Pascual Perez got lost on his way to the park and missed his scheduled start.

The day marked the start of a 13-2 stretch for the Braves, who went on to win the NL West.

One more thing: the Dodgers are scheduled to face Latos on Tuesday.

Lindsey gets chance

John Lindsey, who spent 16 seasons in minor and independent leagues, was spending his first day as a major league player with a big smile on his face. He was 33 years and 219 days old.

That morning, he flew first class for the first time in his life, doing so with his four teammates at triple-A Albuquerque who were called up to the Dodgers with him — Russell Mitchell, Chin- lung Hu, John Ely and Jon Link.

Of the moment he was told by triple-A Manager Tim Wallach that he was being called up, Lindsey said, “My knees kind of buckled up.”

Short hops

With the Dodgers failing to produce many runs in recent games, Torre tinkered with the middle of the lineup, batting James Loney third and Casey Blake fourth. Ethier was dropped to fifth. … Injured catcher Russell Martin’s season officially came to an end, as the Dodgers put him on the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on their 40-man roster to accommodate their call-ups.