ANOTHER PROSPECT COMING BILLINGSLEY CALLED UP AS DODGERS LOSE TO PADRES SAN DIEGO 9, DODGERS 1.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- With several of their top prospects already having been brought to the big leagues -- and proven to be big-league ready -- at least a year ahead of schedule, the Dodgers are ready to take a chance on the crown jewel of their celebrated farm system.

Following Tuesday night's game, a 9-1 loss to the San Diego Padres in front of 30,371 at Petco Park, the club purchased the contract of right-hander Chad Billingsley from Triple-A Las Vegas and announced that he will start Thursday's series finale here.

Billingsley, the club's first-round pick in the 2003 amateur draft out of Defiance (Ohio) High School, was 6-3 with a 3.95 ERA for Las Vegas. He has a career minor-league mark of 35-17 in two full seasons and parts of two others. The hope now is that he will provide at least one answer to a starting rotation that, beyond stalwarts Brad Penny and Derek Lowe, is suddenly full of baffling question marks.

Two of those are being addressed by the domino effect of Billingsley's callup. Brett Tomko, who has lost his past four starts and struggled in his past five, will be pushed back to Friday at Oakland, when he will pitch after five full days of rest. And Odalis Perez, whose return to the rotation consisted of a single, hideous start seven days ago against the New York Mets, is a reliever once more.

``Odalis will be a big help for us out of the bullpen,'' Dodgers manager Grady Little said.

In this game, that big help came in the form of two meaningless innings of mopup work. Perez gave up a homer to Eric Young, extending a seven-run deficit to eight. But otherwise, he saved Little from having to use another reliever on a night when a hard-luck Aaron Sele lasted only four innings and a sore-shouldered Jae Seo made an unscheduled exit after the fifth.

To make room for Billingsley on the 25-man roster, the Dodgers optioned Joel Guzman to Las Vegas. To make room for him on the 40-man, they transferred outfielder Jason Repko from the 15- to the 60-day disabled list.

The early-season success of the Dodgers (35-29), which has them in a tie with Arizona atop the National League West, has been largely due to the contributions of rookies Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Willy Aybar and Jonathan Broxton, none of whom has exhibited the slightest bit of awe at his sudden big-league surroundings.

Now, it's the ballyhooed Billingsley's turn.

``We have been waiting for an opportunity to bring him up here,'' Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said. ``The way our starters are going, we have had some inconsistency from our rotation. At this point, we want to see what he can do, so we're going to give him the opportunity to pitch at this level.''

Billingsley is averaging just more than five innings per start, a fact club officials have found troubling. But Colletti and Little didn't find it troubling enough to deter them from pulling the trigger with Billingsley, who has struck out 78 batters in 70 2/3 innings.

``He still has an inning or so when he runs a high pitch count,'' Colletti said. ``But some of that is because (some hitters) can't put the ball in play against him, so you get repetitive foul balls.''

That probably won't be a problem against major-league hitters. The fact Billingsley is a power pitcher might help him avoid the fate that befell Sele (3-1), who pitches more to contact and relies more on his defense. He gave up four unearned runs during a first inning in which shortstop Rafael Furcal committed two errors, one of them on a ground ball that should have ended the inning and gotten Sele out of a bases-loaded jam.

The errors were Furcal's 14th and 15th of the season, but his first in 10 days.

``On the first one, I didn't get my feet (set), and the ball took off,'' said Furcal, whose wild throw allowed Mike Cameron to reach base. ``The second one was a hard ground ball. I tried to get in front of it, but I was in a bad position, and it took a bad hop.''

Little called the errors ``the difference in the game.'' Sele disagreed, at least outwardly.

``That happens,'' said Sele, who gave up five runs (one earned) and walked a season-high five batters over four innings. ``A starting pitcher has to keep the game close, and I wasn't able to do that. (Errors) are part of the game. I just have to make some better pitches.''

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) San Diego's Mike Cameron connects for a three-run home run in the fifth inning.

Sean Haffey/Associated Press

(2) Nomar Garciaparra, right, gets a smile from Padres left fielder Dave Roberts after Roberts robbed Garciaparra of a hit in the first inning.

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press

Box:

DODGERS at SAN DIEGO

-Tony Jackson