Padres 6, Dodgers 4

Some players bristle when you approach them after a loss to ask about a play they might have been involved in that might have cost the team the game. Tonight, there were two such players for the Dodgers, center fielder Juan Pierre and reliever Rudy Seanez, and, as we all expected, they both handled themselves with complete class. These are two of the most professional, standup guys around, guys who understand the reason we approach them after such games is to be fair to them, to give them a chance to tell their side of what happened. Pierre, who lost Khalil Greene's first-inning popup against the low cloud cover above the stadium and allowed it to drop several feet behind him, said, ``I take full responsibility for this loss. I have to try to make that play.'' Of course, there were about a hundred reasons why the Dodgers lost this game, and no matter how much he tries to take full responsibility, Pierre's gaffe was only one of them. Seanez came on to start the sixth inning and promptly hit the first batter he faced, Adrian Gonzalez, who came around to score the tiebreaking and eventual winning run. Afterward, Seanez said this: ``That was the game.'' Of course, it wasn't the game. Not by itself, anyway. Not on a night when the Dodgers had 12 hits -- including 10 off one pitcher -- and only scored four runs. ... Dodgers fall to 70-64 and remain four back in the NL West, but they also fall to four back in the wild card.