DODGERS HIT LOWE POINT LOSS TO CUBS DROPS L.A. TO .500 CUBS 9, DODGERS 5.

Byline: Tony Jackson Staff Writer

During his pregame media session, Dodgers manager Jim Tracy was asked by an out-of-town writer how he has dealt with his club's losing ways over these past six weeks. In his typically sunny response, Tracy pointed out, among other things, that the Dodgers were still above .500 and hadn't been swept in a series in more than a month.

The key words being ``were'' and ``hadn't been.''

But after a 9-5 loss to the the Chicago Cubs in front of a bobblehead-induced, sellout crowd of 54,093 on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers officially dropped to the break-even mark for the first time since the second game of the season, when they beat San Francisco to go to 1-1. The visitors, meanwhile, completed a three-game sweep, making them the first team to do that to the Dodgers since Arizona the final week of April.

On the mound for the Dodgers was Derek Lowe, the closest thing they have right now to a staff ace. On the mound for the North Siders was John Koronka, a rookie who was making his major-league debut in place of the injured Mark Prior and whose minor-league credentials were unimpressive, to say the least.

Lowe, pitching on his 32nd birthday, never found anything close to a groove, and wound up getting tattooed for a career high-tying 13 hits over 5 2/3 innings. He was charged with six earned runs, four of them in a second inning in which he came tantalizingly close to escaping a second-and-third, none-out jam by striking out Michael Barrett and Koronka in succession, only to serve up a gopher ball to Neifi Perez that put the Dodgers in a 4-0 hole.

A key play in that inning had been a grounder to first by Todd Hollandsworth to drive in the first run. Olmedo Saenz fielded the ball, and Lowe ran to cover. But Saenz, thinking he could beat Hollandsworth to the bag, eschewed the feed to Lowe. Hollandsworth won the race by a step and then stole second, all of which loomed large given that Perez's homer came with two outs.

After finally getting out of that inning, Lowe walked into the dugout, picked up a stool and fired it against a wall in disgust. But the stool won the fight, leaving a small gash on Lowe's right wrist, and the game was held up for several minutes in the top of the third while Dodgers trainers worked to literally stop the bleeding.

Lowe then returned to the mound and attempted to figuratively stop the bleeding, but that was a lost cause. He gave up another run in the fifth on three consecutive hits, the last one an RBI double by Todd Walker. The Cubs got to Lowe one more time in the sixth, chasing him from the game when Derrek Lee drove in Perez, again with a two-out hit.

Saenz's mistake wasn't the only one made behind Lowe, and it wasn't the only one involving Hollandsworth, the 1996 National League Rookie of the Year while with the Dodgers. He was on second with one out in the fourth when Koronka hit a bouncer to third. Hollandsworth wandered too far off the bag and appeared to be caught in a rundown, but the rundown never materialized. With Jeff Kent standing on second, Dodgers third baseman Antonio Perez opted to hold the ball and try to win a footrace with Hollandsworth, who slid safely back into the bag.

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 4 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe had a rough outing against the Cubs Wednesday, giving up six runs.

(2) The Dodgers' Olmedo Saenz watches his two-run homer against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) DODGERS vs. MILWAUKEE

- Tony Jackson

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC