In Search of Ace, Dodgers Go Bust

Cradling a defining moment Wednesday, the Dodger season grimaced. It cried for help. It was escorted from the field.

It sits today in a dugout filled with doubt, teetering on the edge of a plunge filled with history, unable to find anyone strong enough to stop the fall.

A Penny saved was a Penny burned.

The Dodgers’ best chance to stop their September bleeding walked off the mound in the fourth inning Wednesday in tatters of his own.

Brad Penny, in his first start since injuring his arm Aug. 8, was hoping to show his exhausted and jittery teammates that he could carry them the final rocky yards to October.

Instead, he has probably disappeared until February.

During three innings of walks and wild fastballs, he showed he wasn’t ready.

Then, during the chilling moment when he walked off the mound with a recurrence of the irritation of a nerve in his right upper arm, he showed he probably won’t be ready until next spring.

The Dodgers lost to the San Diego Padres, 4-0, while the San Francisco Giants were defeating the Houston Astros and ... well, what once seemed unimaginable has now become as real as the strain on their faces.

What was once facetious has now become a fraction.

The Dodgers’ lead in the West over the Giants, a solid six games just a dozen days ago, has been reduced to one-half game.

The Dodgers’ lead in a wild-card race of which they may soon be members has been reduced to one game over the Chicago Cubs.

Eleven games remaining, and the ball now goes to ... Kazuhisa Ishii?

A pitcher who struggled so bad in his last start, Manager Jim Tracy refused to even comment on him? A pitcher who is so inconsistent, he was dropped from what has lately been one of the worst rotations in Major League Baseball?

“It puts miles on you, playing the way we’ve played lately,” Brent Mayne said Wednesday afternoon, shaking his head.

Those miles have shown in stunning statistics that show the Dodgers have been dropping at a dizzying pace unmatched in Los Angeles history.

They have trailed in 18 of 20 games this month.

Think about that.

Their starting pitchers have a 6.70 earned-run average this month.

Think about that.

They are 9-11 this month and have dropped five games in the standings.

This is the definition of a baseball freefall, the sort of which can only be stopped by an ace starting pitcher.

The Dodgers don’t have one.

The sort of stress that is quietly overtaking this clubhouse is the sort that can only be quelled by a five-run victory that involves no comebacks, no drama, nothing more strenuous than watching your pitcher throw grounders.

The Dodgers have none of those in their future.

This scenario is the precise reason Paul DePodesta traded for a starting pitcher like Penny ... and why it was so frustrating for Dodger fans that he was unable to then trade Penny for Randy Johnson.

Now they have neither.

“You long for a laugher,” said Mayne. “You’re just waiting for your pitcher to shove it at the other guys, take the pressure off you for just a little while.”

They were looking for that on Wednesday.

“It would be a shot in the arm, definitely,” said Tracy before the game. “Not only for tonight, but for the remainder of the season. It would be a huge shot in the arm.”

It felt like a shot, all right.

A shot to the ribs.

Penny took the mound on a clear, warm night at Petco Park, the sort of weather one finds in spring training.

Which is exactly how he looked, like spring training, throwing fastballs on 22 of his first 24 pitches, apparently disheartened by two curves that went into the dirt.

He struck out two of the first four hitters but it was obvious, if he kept throwing only fastballs, even 97-mph fastballs, those hitters would eventually catch up.

Three innings later, Phil Nevin did, launching a fastball into the left-field seats for a two-run homer. The next two batters also hammered the ball, accounting for another run in an outburst that ended only when Ramon Hernandez foolishly tried to turn a double into a triple.

Penny faced only two more batters, walking Rich Aurilia to start the fourth inning, then coming off the mound after throwing a ball on his fifth pitch to Jay Payton.

Not that the Dodgers were affected by his loss, but their offense had two hits in the six innings after he left, failing to show the patience that might have eventually worn down Jake Peavy.

Amid the quiet postgame clubhouse, Jayson Werth searched for signs of life.

“Hey, we’re still in first place, you know?” he said.

Feel free to look at your watch.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.