For five silent minutes, Russell Martin leaned back in the chair in front of his locker, his head tilted back and his eyes closed. Andruw Jones was in the batting cage at the time, taking extra hacks.
The Dodgers' inability to score, dismissed only last week with shrugs and reminders that the season was still in its early stages, produced visible signs of frustration after a 1-0 loss to the San Diego Padres on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, including the sight of Martin rising from his chair to violently throw his bath towel into a nearby hamper.
"It's tough, especially coming back from a game when we scored 11 runs," Martin said.
Whatever momentum the Dodgers were able to build in their 11-1 victory the previous night was halted by Padres starter Greg Maddux (2-0), who limited them to two hits over five innings to earn his 349th victory on the eve of his 42nd birthday. The defeat was the fifth in the last six games for the Dodgers, who remained four games behind first-place Arizona in the National League West.
Wasted was a solid start by Chad Billingsley (0-2), who gave up one run and struck out eight batters over five innings, and four shutout innings by the bullpen. Dodgers pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts, including three by Jonathan Broxton, who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth.
The only run came in the fourth, when Jim Edmonds drew a walk to start the inning, moved to third on a double by Khalil Greene and scored on a sacrifice fly by Paul McAnulty.
"We hit some balls hard, but that doesn't count," Manager Joe Torre said. "You have to find holes."
A ball hit by Martin might have come closest to doing so. But his sharply hit grounder up the middle was nabbed by Greene, who threw him out to end the fourth inning with Jeff Kent stranded at second.
"We were probably going to get a run scored on that play," said Martin, who flew out to left to end the game with pinch-runner Matt Kemp on second.
Martin was 0 for 4 and saw his season average dip to .146.
Juan Pierre also looked back at the game and lamented a wasted opportunity in the first inning, when he lined out to second with none out and Rafael Furcal at second.
"In hindsight, if I get Furcal over right there, that could change the whole complexion of the game," Pierre said. "At that time, you don't realize how good it would've been, but that's why when you get chances to do the job, you have to do it."
