Dodgers fall to Astros on road

"I'm one to forget the first half," first baseman Mark Sweeney said.

But the Dodgers do have the most expensive disabled list in baseball -- maybe in baseball history -- after losing Juan Pierre for at least a month because of a sprained ligament in his left knee. And as a result, the undermanned Dodgers were overwhelmed by the Houston Astros, 4-1, Monday in the opener of a seven-game trip.

Although it took an MRI exam to reveal the extent of Pierre's injury, it came as no surprise to the Dodgers, who called up triple-A outfielder Jason Repko shortly after Pierre hobbled off the field in the sixth inning of the Dodgers' loss to the Angels on Sunday.

For Pierre, who was on crutches Monday, that marked the first trip to the DL in his nine-year career. But he's not alone, since the Dodgers are also without outfielder Andruw Jones, infielders Nomar Garciaparra, Rafael Furcal and Tony Abreu, pitchers Jason Schmidt, Brad Penny, Hiroki Kuroda and Scott Proctor, and catcher Gary Bennett.

That's half the infield, two-thirds of the outfield and three-fifths of the starting rotation the Dodgers had hoped to take into the second half. It's also a whole lot of money since the combined 2008 salaries of those 10 players is nearly $66.4 million.

And as if that weren't bad enough, the Dodgers were also without team run-batted-in leader Matt Kemp, who woke up Monday with a right eye so irritated he was unable to insert his contact lens.

"A lot of teams go through this," Sweeney said. "You've got to go out there and do your job. Individually and also collectively. Dig deep, because I don't think anyone in the league is going to feel sorry for us."

Maybe they should. After all, things have gotten so bad for the Dodgers that Manager Joe Torre batted Delwyn Young sixth in the lineup because his 115 big league at-bats represented "a little more experience."

"We're a little light right now," he said. "It still comes down to being able to make the best out of what you have. It's frustrating. The thing I have to keep an eye on is to make sure that the mental part of this game stays where we go out there and feel we can beat somebody. That's the most important thing."