Dodgers can't get a streak going

"We need to put something back-to-back here," he said earlier this week. "That's the problem right now. We're not winning enough to get the feeling that we're coming to the ballpark expecting to win. We're hoping we're going to win."

Thursday the Dodgers came to the ballpark hoping to string together consecutive wins for only the third time this season. But a bit too much Edgar Gonzalez and not enough hitting in clutch situations dashed those hopes as the Arizona Diamondbacks took a 6-4 victory at Dodger Stadium.

A night after pounding unbeaten starter Dan Haren, the Dodgers couldn't solve the winless Gonzalez, who held them to three runs over 5 1/3 innings. But he got some key help from the Dodgers, who were only two for nine with runners in scoring position, loading the bases with one out in the sixth and not scoring, then hitting into an inning-ending double play with the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the seventh.

"We had plenty of opportunities," Torre said. "We had the right guys at the plate, we just didn't deliver. There are a lot of things we have to improve on."

In fact, about the only fight the Dodgers showed all night came in the top of the ninth when Torre and second baseman Jeff Kent were ejected for arguing a call with umpire Andy Fletcher from an inning earlier.

"I challenged the call and I got thrown out for it," said Kent, who pulled his foot too early on a force play, according to the umpire. "It's just a shame."

That wasted an impressive if -- what else? -- inconsistent performance by right-hander Chad Billingsley, who struck out a career-high 12 while pitching a season-high six innings. But he also gave up a season-high five earned runs and put Arizona in front to stay with a fifth-inning wild pitch that scored Chris Young.

The fifth inning was also Billingsley's undoing in his last start, when he cruised into the fifth with a 1-0 lead but, three walks and two singles later, left trailing 4-1. However the offense has been consistently inconsistent behind Billingsley, with the Dodgers scoring only five times in his last three starts.