PHOENIX -- Tony Abreu hit a first-inning home run for a 1-0 Dodgers lead Sunday, reason enough to stop the game and mark the occasion with a rousing ceremony, but Matt Kemp never moved from the on-deck circle some 20 yards away.
Abreu circled the bases, and while he should have been greeted by a high five, enthusiastic handshake or energetic pat on the back from his teammate at home plate, Kemp remained in his own little world.
"How come?"
"What kind of question is that?" Kemp said later, his answer once again a reminder of an attitude that threatens to sabotage potential for great success. "If you had been on the field you would have heard me say, 'Good job.' You got to come with better questions than that."
Just an hour or two earlier, the clubhouse atmosphere becoming more uneasy by the hour, Manager Grady Little had summoned Kemp and James Loney to his office for a closed-door chat.
When the door opened, General Manager Ned Colletti joined the group for another closed-door session.
I wouldn't be surprised, though, to learn Kemp did all the talking.
It's become increasingly apparent in the last few days that the Dodgers have more problems than their lowly station in the standings, or as Derek Lowe put it, "The tension here is getting to the point where we have two different teams in [the clubhouse]."
Lowe, after spending a good deal of time criticizing his own inconsistent performance this season, added, "The last two or three weeks we haven't been on the same page as a team, and you can see what happens when that's not the case."
The Dodgers' collapse down the stretch, Lowe said, "wasn't because of a string of bad luck; it's just not a lot of people pulling together in here."
The other day Jeff Kent responded to a reporter's question about the state of the Dodgers, and he said everybody was at fault for the team's demise, while also indicating the kids didn't feel the same urgency as the veterans when it came to capitalizing on a winning opportunity.
The next day Loney struck back, saying of Kent, "Who said he was a leader?"
Luis Gonzalez, who has done everything he can to remain positive knowing this will be his final week in a Dodgers uniform, refused to bite his tongue Sunday, taking offense to Loney's rebuke.
"Look at the back of his bubble-gum card, and all those numbers compiled over the years, which tell you how consistent [Kent] has been," Gonzalez said, "and consistency is what gets you respect in this game."
