It seems clear that neither Saito nor Baez should have been the first options in this situation - despite how few pitches they used in their recent outings, you'd prefer not to have your top relievers even warm up on a third consecutive day - and a 5-0 lead gives you time to avoid facing that decision. Though I was no fan of the acquisition of Carter and don't remotely believe he is one of the top 11 pitchers in the Dodger organization, there is no faulting Grady Little for thinking that a five-run lead in run-dry San Diego was a good time to get something out of Carter.

The hook for Carter might have been one batter slow - I might have taken him out after he gave up two straight hits to start the inning. Where things get ugly is when Baez came in as Plan B after Carter walked Mike Piazza, showed he had next to nothing, and we found there was no Plan C.

Given how much Baez had worked recently, there was little reason to think he was going to get better as he threw more pitches - and certainly, there wasn't much time for him to get better. Baez should have been out of there after he walked Khalil Greene to force in the Padres' second run. That Baez was allowed to walk two batters with the bases loaded seems somewhat ridiculous.

I say that with full knowledge that Little didn't have many attractive options in the bullpen to choose from. But this is the thing in these situations: Your odds of winning with a clearly struggling pitcher are less than they are of trying out a fresh pitcher. Put it this way: if Carter hadn't been in the game already, I'd have rather seen Carter in there than the fading Baez, the way he was pitching.

Hamulack got the Dodgers out of the ninth inning, but almost inevitably, couldn't get them out of the 10th.

Overall, I think that to see this game as Little's loss - or for that matter, any single Dodger's loss - would be a mistake. The Dodgers are starting to let people earn their way in and out of jobs. Saito has become the setup man after starting the season in Las Vegas. Jason Repko is pushing Jose Cruz, Jr. As unimpressed as I've been by Carter, I don't think he's as bad as he's shown himself this month. But that's not good enough, not with Jonathan Broxton sizzling in Las Vegas. I'd rather take my chances on Broxton's major league control problems to get his strikeout pitch than see Carter's dejected face after another poor outing. That's the next move that has to be made.

The Dodgers are 2-8 in one-run games - 10-5 in all others. The downside is the team has wasted opportunities; the upside is they are better than their record indicates. My mantra remains that this team will get better as the season progresses.

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Padres starter and ex-Dodger Chan Ho Park made two great full-count, runners-on pitches Sunday - one that busted in from the middle of the plate nearly to Jeff Kent's hip to strike out the Dodger cleanup hitter in the third inning swinging, the other a breaking ball to get J.D. Drew in the top of the fifth.

Earlier, Park also knocked down a scorcher - losing his necklace in the process - with two on and two out in the second inning off the bat of Lowe. When, after Drew struck out, San Diego shortstop Greene made an extraordinary, infield-in, backhand stab of a Kent line drive to record the second out of the fifth inning, there was every reason to think that the Dodgers were in trouble despite leading, 1-0, that they had wasted too many opportunities.

Two pitches over the high middle of the plate later, it was 5-0 Dodgers. A single by Nomar Garciaparra to drive in two, a homer by Bill Mueller to drive in two more. And all seemed well ... until we realized that Mueller's blast would be the last hit the Dodgers would have.

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Kent was 0 for 5 in this game, but he did contribute. He made a fine over-the-shoulder, sun-challenged catch of a pop fly to right field. He also worked Park for 24 of the 99 pitches Park through in five innings - double his share. The batter following Kent, Garciaparra, reached base all three times against Park (though once was leading off an inning).

I've seen Kent hit two absolute bullets on the current road trip - today, and in the ninth inning against Houston on Thursday. Kent has also had some bad at-bats, and isn't hitting the ball for much distance. But he doesn't look as hopeless at the plate as does Rafael Furcal, who hasn't been able to hit the ball more than 200 feet in ages.

* * *

Update: The Dodgers made the exact move I suggested, only with two different pitchers. Joe Beimel has been called up and Kuo has been optioned, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

Carter's lack of minor league options plays into why he is still on the roster, but for now it seems that the ejection seat blew on the wrong guy. Carter's role is still a "topic of discussion," Dodger general manager Ned Colletti told Gurnick - so perhaps Carter will meet the same fate that Tyler Walker of the Giants met last week - banishment to Tampa Bay (Carter's former team).

Little had this to say about Carter after today's game.

"Carter was coming off a great game in Houston [tossing two scoreless innings], and we thought the wheels were back on track ..."

To review, Carter walked two of the first four hitters he faced in that game. He finished his outing strong, but there was no reason to be more optimistic about Carter than Kuo, who allowed a popup, a walk, a single, an intentional walk and a sacrifice fly.

The shift from Kuo to Beimel won't make much difference in the short term. But the Dodgers right now have a completely unreliable arm on their staff in Carter.

* * *

There's more about Repko's potential ascension to the starting lineup in Gurnick's sidebar.. Today, Repko got his hit by reaching down at a sinking pitch from Park and pulling it with some effort into left field. I wonder how long he'll continue to be such a pull hitter, and whether he'll need to adapt sooner or later.

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Drew failed to reach base today for the first regular season game in, you know, like 10 months.