Dodgers Waiting for Bat Delivery

These are dangerous times for the Dodgers as they try to hold on atop the National League West.

They’re 9-11 in their last 20 games and were swept in a three-game weekend series at St. Louis, capping a 6-7 trip. The Dodgers are 3 1/2 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants, who gained three games in as many days while sweeping the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks.

Third baseman Adrian Beltre has not received much help on offense recently, and the Dodgers play host to the formidable Cardinals this weekend. As the Dodgers begin a 10-game homestand tonight against Arizona, they acknowledged things are getting too close for comfort.

“We’re not playing our best right now, we’re not swinging the bats great, and it’s not a good time to be playing this way,” Beltre said. “We know we’ve still got a lot of work to do, and those guys [the Giants] are getting closer to us.

“We’re getting down to the end, and we need to start playing better. But there’s no reason to panic, because we’ve got a good team. We believe in ourselves and we’ve still got the lead, we’ve just got to start playing like we’ve been playing all year.”

Well, at least until recently.

Beltre hit .400 with six home runs and 14 runs batted in on the trip, but no other everyday player made a significant contribution. The lack of production was especially frustrating for the Dodgers during the series at Busch Stadium.

Larry Walker, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Edgar Renteria combined for four hits in 27 at-bats with one RBI, but the Dodgers couldn’t salvage a win in the series. And Pujols and Renteria sat out Sunday’s 6-5 victory in 11 innings.

“It’s kind of tough,” said Jose Lima, who pitched seven strong innings in a 3-0 loss in the opener. “You come in to face an offense like those guys, you hold them down and we got nothing in return. You know that’s not going to happen a lot against those guys, so it makes it real tough if you don’t get anything out of it.

“But our guys have been doing the job all year, and we know they’re going to start swinging the bats like that again.”

The Dodgers were overmatched against Cardinal starters Matt Morris, Jason Marquis and Woody Williams.

Morris dominated in a two-hit, no-walk, 11-strikeout performance in the opener, Marquis worked seven scoreless innings and Williams gave up two runs in seven innings. The Dodgers had 22 hits in 109 at-bats (.202) in the series.

“They found ways to beat us, which is what a great team does, and they have a great team,” closer Eric Gagne said. “But there’s no reason to panic.

“We know we can play better because we have. We were swept, but it’s not like we’re [trailing] in the division. It’s still [3 1/2 ] games.”

In five games this month, the Dodgers are batting .193 with a .241 on-base percentage. They said they must do more offensively.

“I was very pleased with the way we pitched” against the Cardinals, Manager Jim Tracy said. “What we didn’t do is we didn’t hit well enough.

“We’re a better offensive team than what we showed, but we left a lot of runners standing out there. We just didn’t get big hits.”

A win against the Cardinals would help the Dodger psyche, players said.

“Oh, man, they’re good, and it’s pretty special watching those guys play,” Lima said. “When you’ve got that lineup ... I mean, Reggie Sanders is hitting seventh! Are you kidding me? He’s got 21 home runs. You see Larry Walker on the bench. I bet you everybody in the league looks over at who’s on deck for them.

“I’ve faced a lot of ballclubs and I’ve faced a lot of great hitters, but this is the best lineup I’ve faced in my life, two through seven. A lot of guys fear the Yankees because of the name and the tradition. But you can pitch to the Yankees. These guys, man, they’re something.”

For now, though, holding off the Giants is the Dodgers’ chief concern.

“We can’t get ahead and start thinking about the playoffs,” Shawn Green said. “We just have to focus on trying to win the division.”