Dodgers Hand Win to Astros

Youngsters attending School Field Trip Day at Dodger Stadium on Thursday afternoon could be excused if they thought they were watching the filming of another remake of “The Bad News Bears.” Or a game on their neighborhood field.

Throws in the dirt, blown rundown plays, balls soaring out of reach. Nothing they haven’t seen before.

But this time it was at the big-league level, watching the Dodgers end a five-game winning streak by self-destructing in a 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros.

“We were a little sloppy out there,” first baseman Nomar Garciaparra said.

More than a little.

* In the sixth inning, Houston center fielder Willy Taveras hit a high chopper down the third base line.

Dodger third baseman Bill Mueller picked it up and fired the ball past Garciaparra, allowing Taveras to go to second. He subsequently scored from there on a single to center by Mike Lamb.

* In the seventh, with one out and Eric Munson on second after a double, Astro pitcher Wandy Rodriguez -- who got the victory to improve to 5-1 -- hit a bouncer to short. Rafael Furcal fielded it and went to Mueller at third. With Munson caught in a rundown, Mueller threw back to Furcal. Enter pitcher Derek Lowe, who took Furcal’s return throw, ran Munson part of the way back to second and then threw to second baseman Jeff Kent.

“You probably don’t want the pitcher involved,” Lowe said.

He wasn’t the problem. The final throw went from Kent to Mueller, who tried to tag Munson on the shoulder, but dropped the ball, allowing Munson to reach third.

* Then came the crusher. With two out, Furcal fielded a routine grounder hit by second baseman Eric Bruntlett, had plenty of time to throw him out, but instead tossed the ball into the dirt in front of Garciaparra. The Dodger first baseman tried to scoop it up but was unable to control it. Bruntlett was safe and two runs -- the winning margin as it turned out -- scored.

Hopefully, the youngsters were taking notes and learning lessons.

“I thought it was an easy chance,” Furcal said. “It happens. We have been playing good. Now we need to play better and forget this. When you play bad like this, you don’t have to remember it.”

Not so easily done, considering that the Dodgers, with a chance to go above .500 for the first time since they were 4-3, instead dropped to 17-18.

Asked if he was thinking about tonight’s series opener against the Giants in San Francisco, Garciaparra shook his head.

“No, right now I’m still thinking about this game,” he said.

Lowe had to be thinking about it as well. He went seven innings and gave up two earned runs, but saw his record drop to 1-2. In his last five starts, Lowe has a 1.57 earned-run average, but an 0-1 record to show for it.

“I don’t really care about the good and bad,” Lowe said when he was asked about the quality of the Dodgers’ performance Thursday. “The main goal is to win. If we do win, it doesn’t matter whose name is next to it.”

Despite their problems in the field, the Dodgers had a chance to get even in the ninth after a Jeff Kent home run had put them on the scoreboard in the seventh inning.

Houston closer Brad Lidge came on in the ninth, but couldn’t finish. With one out, he walked two batters and with two out gave up an RBI single to Willy Aybar, who was called up from triple-A Las Vegas on Wednesday.

After Lidge walked Furcal to load the bases, Manager Phil Garner had seen enough.

“We fought too hard in that game and we didn’t need to lose it,” said Garner, whose team had lost all six previous games of a trip that ended Thursday.

Enter reliever Dan Wheeler, who got Kenny Lofton to hit his second pitch into right field, a fly ball for the final out.

The Astros had finally found a victory on the road, found it in that sloppy Dodger infield.