DODGERS ROLL SNAKE EYES, LOSE AGAIN ARIZONA 3, DODGERS 2.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

A week earlier, the ball J.D. Drew hit in the ninth inning would have made it safely into center field. A week earlier, the Dodgers still had that certain swagger and their bats still had that certain magic, especially in the late innings.

That was then. And this, a frustrating, 3-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of 44,486 at Dodger Stadium, was Tuesday night.

With runners on first and second and two outs, Drew hit a rope back through the box that appeared destined to tie the score. But Arizona closer Brandon Lyon got just enough of the ball to deflect it toward second baseman Craig Counsell, who threw to first just in time to nab Drew and end the game.

That gave Lyon his major-league-leading 10th save and set up a possible three-game sweep for the Diamondbacks, something that a year ago would have been inconceivable.

Such is life these days for the Dodgers, a team that just seven days ago had won 12 of its first 14 games, three of them after trailing with two outs in the ninth; already had a comfortable lead atop the National League West; and had taken on such an aura and such a mystique that opposing clubs usually knew the late-inning rally was coming even before it began.

A week later, as former Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling once said, aura and mystique sound like dancers at a nightclub. And the Dodgers bats sound like, well, silence.

``It's something where we're putting ourselves in those situations,'' Dodgers third baseman Jose Valentin said. ``If you want to win, you have to be able to come back. Right now, we're not getting the clutch hits. I know it's early in the season, but you can't keep saying it's early, early, early. Eventually, it's going to be late, late, late.''

In losing for the fifth time in six games, the Dodgers stranded nine baserunners, four of them in scoring position, and scored just two runs for the second game in a row. It wouldn't have been enough to win most nights. It certainly wasn't enough to win after starter Scott Erickson, the closest thing this rotation has to an identifiable weak link, handed the club a 3-0, second-inning deficit that never should have materialized.

After using his vaunted sinkerball to retire the first four Arizona hitters, Erickson fell behind 2-0 to Shawn Green, who fouled off the next pitch before hitting a solo home run into the front row of the right-field bleachers. Erickson then went to 3-0 counts on each of the next two hitters, getting Tony Clark to ground to second but walking Chris Snyder.

Finally, after jumping in front of Luis Terrero 0-2, Erickson hung a slider. Terrero smoked it into the left-field bleachers, and the second-place Diamondbacks had all the runs they would need to pull within a half-game of the division-leading Dodgers (13-7). ``The two-out walk and the 0-2 home run are what cost us the game,'' Erickson said. ``That's about the worst thing I could have done, especially against right-handed hitters. The last thing you want to do is fall behind. The Green home run was one run. But to give up the other two runs with two outs was pretty much unacceptable.''

Although Erickson (1-2) didn't give up another run, he struggled with his control throughout. After dodging a two-on, one-out situation in the fifth, Erickson left for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the inning after throwing 81 pitches, 47 of which were balls.

``I thought Scott Erickson was adequate in the five innings he was out there,'' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. ``But, and I think he would tell you the same thing, I think he would like to have back that 0-2 pitch he threw to Luis Terrero.''

The bottom line was that Erickson left the Dodgers a manageable, 3-2 deficit, and they could do nothing with it against Russ Ortiz (2-1) and four relievers. Hee-Seop Choi had his first career four-hit game, hit his second home run of the season and raised his average from .200 to .260 in a single night. Beyond that, the Dodgers' offense was out to lunch.

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 4 boxes

Photo:

Hee-Seop Choi connects for a fifth-inning single in the Dodgers' loss.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

Box:

(1) DODGERS vs. ARIZONA

- Tony Jackson

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC