DODGERS' SEASON SLIDING AWAY NINTH LOSS IN 10 GAMES PUSHES L.A. 4 1/2 BACK ST. LOUIS 6, DODGERS 1.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

Half an hour after the Dodgers' latest debacle, a 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in front of a crowd of 43,650 on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, about two dozen young children gathered on the field wearing Dodgers jerseys. The offspring of various players and coaches, they were about to participate in the club's annual family game.

No one could have blamed general manager Ned Colletti and manager Grady Little if they had been watching from the stands, armed with radar guns and stopwatches. After all, the Dodgers' offense couldn't get much worse if it actually was stocked with pre-teens.

This current bunch isn't much to write home about. Or put in the newspaper.

In completing a seven-game sweep of the season series with the suddenly hapless Dodgers, the Cardinals got eight solid innings out of Jason Marquis and just enough from relievers Josh Kinney and Randy Flores to put it away in the ninth. With that, it was evident the players-only meeting the Dodgers held after Saturday night's game had accomplished practically nothing and that Little and Colletti were at a loss in terms of answers.

The Dodgers did make one move after the game, trading all-but-forgotten backup catcher Sandy Alomar to the Chicago White Sox for a Double-A pitching prospect named B.J. LaMura. But that was more about the future than the present and more about Alomar than the Dodgers.

The club plans to activate outfielder Jason Repko today after his longer-than-anticipated, two-month stay on the disabled list. That the arrival of a player who began the season as a fourth outfielder is being greeted with enthusiasm is a telling indication of the dire straits in which the Dodgers find themselves.

``We have missed him for a long time,'' Colletti said. ``At the time he went down (with a sprained left ankle), it might not have been viewed by some people as a major disabled-list move, but we have missed his energy, his exuberance and his play.''

Little said Repko will start in center field tonight against San Diego and has a chance to play himself into an everyday role there, since Kenny Lofton has struggled recently at the fairly simple task of judging flyballs.

At the time of his injury, Repko was hitting .304 and .350 with runners in scoring position. Since the All-Star break, the Dodgers as a club are hitting .133 (11 for 83) with runners in scoring position.

That horrid statistic was never shown more clearly than in the sixth inning, when Ricky Ledee pinch hit for Chad Billingsley (1-3) and lined a leadoff double into the right-field corner. Two batters later, Cesar Izturis reached on an error, moving Ledee to third with one out and third- and fourth-place hitters Nomar Garciaparra and J.D. Drew coming up.

It took Marquis (12-7) exactly two pitches to get Garciaparra to pop up and Drew to ground out, ending the inning and stranding Ledee.

``That is the basis of (the team's struggles),'' Little said. ``Early in the game, we did a good job of working counts and seeing a lot more pitches. But later on, that went away, and our at-bats started to end too quickly.''

The Dodgers (47-52) have now lost five in a row for the fourth time this season and the second time since the All-Star break, and have dropped nine of 10. Worse yet, they now trail division-leading San Diego by 4 1/2 games in a National League West that, shallow though it may be, is threatening to run off and leave them. < In winning all seven of their scheduled games with the Dodgers this season -- all of which have taken place in the past 11 days -- the Cardinals posted a team ERA of 1.04. In 11 games since the break, the Dodgers have scored a total of 17 runs and hit two homers.

They finally broke through in the ninth, but at a time when they trailed by six runs and only after Kinney walked Garciaparra and Drew in succession with one out. Russell Martin, batting fifth for just the second time this season, drove in Garciaparra with a double to the wall in right-center, bringing Cardinals manager Tony La Russa out with the hook.

Randy Flores then took care of Andre Ethier, Jose Cruz Jr. and the game. And it became apparent once again that a season that once held so much promise for the Dodgers is in danger of slipping away, in the most embarrassing fashion imaginable.

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Photo:

Dodgers catcher Russell Martin confers with fellow rookie Chad Billingsley during the Cardinals' four-run fifth inning.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer