DODGERS GO MAD IN DEFEAT LOSS PUNCTUATED BY SPAT BETWEEN PENNY, LOFTON SAN DIEGO 10, DODGERS 3.Byline: VINCENT VINCENT Vital Information Necessary Centralized (movie, The Black Hole) BONSIGNORE Staff Writer Admittedly, Grady Little William Grady Little (born March 30, 1950 in Abilene, Texas) is a manager in Major League Baseball. He guided the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2003, and has been manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2006. has tried everything to lift the Dodgers from their post-All Star break funk. He's juggled lineups and batting orders, presided over team meetings, canceled batting practices and consulted with just about everyone within earshot ear·shot n. The range within which sound can be heard by the unaided ear; hearing distance: listened until the parade was out of earshot. in seeking potential remedies. ``From players to coaches to the clubhouse guys,'' Little muttered before Wednesday afternoon's matinee against the San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. Padres at Dodger Stadium • • [ . ``I'll try just about anything to get us out of this.'' Maybe what's needed is a fiery confrontation between players in the dugout. Check that. Brad Penny Bradley Wayne Penny[1] (born May 24, 1978 in Blackwell, Oklahoma)[2] is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers.[3] Early career and Kenny Lofton Kenneth Lofton (born May 31, 1967 in East Chicago, Indiana) is a Major League Baseball outfielder. He bats and throws left-handed. He currently plays left field for the Cleveland Indians, with whom he has spent 10 seasons during three separate stints. tried exactly that Wednesday against the Padres, shouting at each other inside the dugout after Penny questioned Lofton's hustle on a line drive in right-center field during Penny's third-inning pitching implosion implosion /im·plo·sion/ (im-plo´zhun) see flooding. im·plo·sion n. 1. . Not that it did any good. The Dodgers continued their recent sleepwalk sleep·walk intr.v. sleep·walked, sleep·walk·ing, sleep·walks To walk or perform other motor acts while asleep; somnambulate. [Back-formation from sleepwalking. , 10-3, as the first-place Padres completed a three-game sweep and pushed the Dodgers' losing streak to a season-high eight games. The Dodgers (47-55) have dropped 13 of 14 games to fall further into last place in the National League West, 7 1/2 games behind In sports, the phrase games behind, often abbreviated as GB in tables, is a common way to reflect the gap between a leading team and another team in a sports league, conference, or division. the Padres. And with things going so bad, it seemed inevitable emotions would boil over. Penny was angry at himself for giving up four runs on six consecutive hits in the third, including a two-run double to Padres pitcher Jake Peavy. But he was just as upset at Lofton for letting a liner off the bat of Dave Roberts linger long enough in the outfield for Roberts to race to second for an RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in double. Penny let Lofton know about it as both players reached the dugout at the end of the inning. What followed was some shouting and finger-pointing before teammates stepped in. Both players quickly dismissed the incident afterward and said they've already put it behind them. But it's obvious the recent skid is starting to eat at the Dodgers. ``It just happens,'' Penny said. ``During the course of a season you're going to be frustrated, especially now that we're not playing good. But I talked to Kenny and smoothed things out and everything is all right.'' Lofton said he had trouble locating the ball off Roberts' bat initially. ``That's always the case in the daytime here with those bad seats,'' Lofton said. ``It's just tough to see.'' As far as the confrontation goes, Lofton shrugged it off. ``It was just a little frustration, and it's over with,'' he said. ``When you go through a losing streak A Losing Streak is the third episode of series 2 of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. It was first broadcast on 4 November 1982. Synopsis Del Boy, Rodney, and Grandad are making some sort of cheap perfume just to earn money after Del has been losing most of , guys get upset. That was it. A lot of things happen. ``I'm not going to point a finger at any certain thing. It happened, and it's over. It's personal. We took care of it, and it's over.'' If only the Dodgers could say the same about their losing streak. For what seemed like the umpteenth game in a row, the Dodgers coupled bad pitching with even worse hitting. Adding to the frustration was Peavy, who followed his two-run double in the third with a towering two-run home run in the fourth to give the Padres a 6-1 lead. Penny lost for the third straight time, giving up six runs on nine hits over five innings. ``We're just playing terrible right now,'' he said. ``I'm leaving the ball over the plate. Balls are getting through. It's no fun to give up the big hit. Everything is going against us right now. I think the day off (today) is going to be good for us, to get away from it and come back this weekend.'' The Dodgers' offense did little to help Penny, managing single runs in the first, fifth and eighth. Rafael Furcal continued his recent hot streak, going 3 for 4 with a double and home run. But it was hardly enough on a day Peavy won for the first time since May 28. The Dodgers are off today before starting a three-game home series against Washington. To a man, they think the time off will do some good. ``It's getting pretty hot out there,'' catcher Russell Martin said. ``Maybe some time away will do us good.'' vincent.bonsignore@dailynews.com (818) 713-3612 CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) Right-hander Brad Penny got hit hard Wednesday and had an altercation with fellow Dodger Kenny Lofton. (2) Padres starter Jake Peavy and teammate Mark Bellhorn go after a popfly during their victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer (3 -- color) PENNY (4 -- coloe) LOFTON |
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