DODGERS GO INTO THE TANK FORMER TOP PROSPECT HELPS D'RAYS BEAT L.A. TAMPA BAY 9, DODGERS 4.

Byline: TONY JACKSON 

Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Just beyond the right-center field wall in the depressing warehouse the decade-old Tampa Bay Devil Rays had always hoped they wouldn't have to play in this long, there is a small, transparent tank stocked with cownose rays on loan from the nearby Florida Aquarium. In the first inning Sunday, as they swam along minding their own business, they suddenly became victims of a home invasion.

"At least I didn't kill a devil ray," said the Dodgers' Luis Gonzalez, whose two-run homer splashed down directly into their tank. "I don't have to worry about any activists coming after me."

Even if Gonzalez had conked one of them on the head, it's hard to imagine the poor critter would have been in any worse shape than these Dodgers as they prepare for their most important week of the season so far.

Fresh off losing two of three to the woebegone Devil Rays -- a fate that was sealed with a 9-4 pounding in front of 18,248 at Tropicana Field -- and becoming the first team to be beaten by star-crossed right-hander Edwin Jackson since they traded him almost 18months ago, the Dodgers will more or less limp into a four-game series at Arizona that begins tonight. It will be followed by a three-game set with San Diego starting Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

Those would be the two teams the Dodgers are looking up at in the National League West. The two teams they might be looking up at for a long, long time if they don't figure out how to get an occasional clutch hit.

"I'm not really even thinking about it right now," Dodgers center fielder Juan Pierre said. "I'm just thinking about how we let this series get away."

Not that anyone should have been surprised by that. The Dodgers did manage to take two of three from Toronto at the start of this trip, but that was an aberration for a club that went 5-10 in interleague play this season and now has lost 23 of 27 in American League parks over the past three years.

They finished this series by stranding 15 baserunners in a one-run loss Saturday night and grounding into three spirit-crushing double plays in the finale -- a game that didn't get out of hand until a rare, seventh-inning implosion by reliever Joe Beimel.

"That means nothing," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "Your momentum is usually as good as your next day's starting pitcher. That is what they always say, but it has pretty much been proven to be true."

If it is true, then the Dodgers (42-33) should be in good shape. Brad Penny, who would be having a Cy Young-caliber season if Jake Peavy had gone into taxidermy, was supposed to pitch against the Devil Rays. But Little juggled his rotation so his ace could start the opener of this monumental series with the Diamondbacks, who will face the formidable quartet of Penny, Chad Billingsley, Derek Lowe and Randy Wolf.

Hong-Chih Kuo (1-3) -- who gave the Dodgers a decent, 52/3-inning effort and struck out a career-high-tying eight -- will open the Padres series, probably against Peavy.

"It's not do or die, but you want to play well," Gonzalez said. "Obviously, these next two teams are the teams we are chasing right now, and everything is bunched up. Going into the (All-Star) break, you want to be, if not in first place, then certainly within striking distance. What that does is kind of tell each team where they're at and what they need at the break. Every year, just before the (July31) trading deadline, everybody kind of re-evaluates what they want to do at the All-Star break to make a second-half push."

Although that break remains two weeks away, the Dodgers will reach the real halfway mark (81 games) after Saturday night's game with the Padres. By then, with six of these seven games gone, the Dodgers could be pulling away, could be holding on for dear life or, more likely, could be about where they are now, give or take a half-game or so.

But no matter where they are headed, they can scarcely afford to lose to pitchers like Jackson (1-8), who entered the day with a big-league mark of 0-8 and a 6.92ERA since Jan. 15, 2006. That was the day the Dodgers finally gave up on their one-time top pitching prospect and dealt him to the Devil Rays, along with minor-leaguer Chuck Tiffany, for the long-forgotten duo of Danys Baez and Lance Carter and a minor-league catcher.

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The Dodgers' Juan Pierre reacts after he was called out attempting to steal second base against Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Steve Nesius/Associated Press