"I think we need to make sure we have the patience to take an at-bat one at a time," he said. "I think frustration sets in, not that that's an excuse. It can't be. We have to go out and play the game and give ourselves a chance to be successful."
The affliction isn't exclusive to the young. "I think it's overall now. We're getting frustrated. We're not having as quality at-bat as we're capable, young or old or whatever," Torre said.
Individually and collectively, they seem to be looking for something to happen. If they don't make it happen, another year will go by with hopes falling and ticket prices rising.
"We're waiting for us to become consistent at what we do and it's not just rallying for five runs late in the game. It's how you play the entire game," Colletti said.
"It's tough to measure against a guy like [Carlos] Zambrano, who's one of the best in the game. But you look back, take the at-bats early in [Saturday's] game, they weren't good at-bats. You say, is there a thought process? And that's got to get better.
"It's part of the process of having young players, especially as many as we do. It's incumbent upon myself, it's incumbent upon Joe, it's incumbent upon the coaching staff to continue to implore them to be as good as they can be and to take every at-bat seriously."
Some players have leaped past the young/old divide. Russell Martin quickly lost the "kid" tag, not that he had it long. Chad Billingsley is developing nicely.
The only divide left is between unproductive and even less productive. After 63 games, no excuses apply anymore. Those who don't learn and improve will be gone -- and if they don't move forward, Colletti could be gone too.
Asked whether his frustration over the long development process would make him more -- or less -- inclined to trade a youngster, he paused.
"I think it's early yet to say that, but it's something that I'm not against doing," he said. "If we get to the point where we can definitively improve ourselves, we'll do it. If it means a young player or two young players, it'll happen. At the same time I can't be rushing to judgment on them or using frustration as my guide, because you can easily get frustrated by watching."
Andre Ethier, hitless in three at-bats Sunday, said the team is "figuring things out here. . . . Things like this will make this team better. Facing the adversity we're facing right now, we have a better chance of being a better team at the end of the season."
He expected today's bus ride to San Diego would be tough. In that respect, it would be like the Dodgers' season -- long, tedious and headed somewhere they don't particularly want to go.
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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com.
To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.
