DODGERS ARE BLOWN AWAY WHITE SOX 6, DODGERS 0.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

CHICAGO - In baseball, youth has two distinct forms.

Mark Buehrle, the talented Chicago White Sox left-hander and strike-throwing machine, is young in a good way, a way that suggests he will continue to dominate for years to come. The Dodgers meanwhile are young in a bad way, a way that suggests their disabled list is flooded with too many valuable veterans while their lineup is weighed down by too many overmatched neophytes.

On Friday night, those neos were putty in the hands of the savvy Buehrle, who pitched the sixth complete-game shutout of his still-budding career. The Dodgers, meanwhile, who fell 6-0 to the White Sox in front of 28,870 at U.S. Cellular Field, were treated to yet another harsh lesson in the vagaries of on-the-job-training at the major-league level.

While one of those rookies, right-hander and Rule 5 draft choice D.J. Houlton, pitched just well enough to earn at least one more start in next week's critical series at San Diego, he also pitched just poorly enough to ruin any chance the Dodgers had of hanging in against Buehrle. Houlton walked four, including major-league stolen-base leader Scott Podsednik twice on a night when Podsednik stole three bases. Houlton didn't retire the leadoff man until the sixth.

Mostly, though, Houlton took another step forward in his third start in place of the injured Odalis Perez, all but cementing himself as the official fifth man in the Dodgers rotation even after Perez's anticipated return sometime in the next couple of weeks.

After getting all the run support he needed in the first inning, Buehrle went to work against a Dodgers lineup stacked with right-handed hitters that included three rookies, two players who began the season as projected backups and only four members of what would be the Dodgers' everyday lineup if everyone were healthy.

Buehrle scattered eight hits without a walk. It was right on the cusp of being unfair.

``I don't like to say it's unfair,'' said Dodgers rookie right fielder Jason Repko, who went 0 for 4. ``We all went out there with the intention of getting hits, scoring runs and winning. I looked at his record, his ERA, and we take motivation from that. It makes you go into it wanting to do well. I wouldn't say it's unfair, but it's tough.''

The assumption is that even if the hopelessly youthful Dodgers couldn't beat Buehrle, they could at least take something from being beaten by him.

``I don't know what you take from it, other than this guy's a great pitcher,'' Dodgers hitting coach Tim Wallach said. ``But I would never say it was unfair. Injuries are hurting us, and we're beaten up. But these guys are getting some experience, and they're going to be better for it once we get everybody healthy again.''

Well, they're certainly not any worse. Despite dropping their fourth game in a row to fall to .500, the third-place Dodgers (33-33) remained only 2 1/2 behind division-leading San Diego in the National League West and one behind second-place Arizona. With seven games against the Padres in 10 days beginning Monday, the Dodgers have plenty of opportunities to catch them.

What the Dodgers really need to catch is a good break or two, to offset the maddening slew of injuries they have dealt with all season.

One of the few bright spots has been Houlton (2-1).

``Because of the way he has handled himself and the way he has pitched ... he will get another start, no question about it,'' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. ``He made it through six innings. You would have liked to see them score fewer than four runs off him, but we just didn't manage a whole lot of anything offensively facing Mark Buehrle.''

The Dodgers never got a runner past second base against Buehrle (8-1), and only got one that far all game. They had just eight hits, including two each by Jeff Kent and rookie Mike Edwards and one each by Antonio Perez, J.D. Drew, Jayson Werth and rookie Mike Rose. Buehrle also recorded 11 groundball outs, including a pair of double-play grounders by Rose.

``(Buehrle) definitely took advantage of several of the young players we had in our lineup,'' Tracy said. ``He executed his pitches, used both sides of the plate and mixed in some offspeed stuff. He took several of our young hitters right down the path he wanted them to go down. ... But the key with young players is experience and at-bats.''

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 4 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Chicago White Sox starter Mark Buehrle, right, celebrates after throwing an eight-hit shutout against the Dodgers Friday.

(2) Jermaine Dye (23) is congratulated by teammates after hitting a solo homer against the Dodgers Friday.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Box:

(1) DODGERS at WHITE SOX

- Tony Jackson

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC