PIRATES Lofton: Bucs must spend to compete

The Dodgers won 7-4 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers expected nothing less than a three-game sweep of the plummeting Pittsburgh Pirates -- and that's exactly what they got.
Nomar Garciaparra hit his 200th home run, Rafael Furcal and Ramon Martinez each had two RBIs, and the Dodgers took over sole possession of first place in the NL West with a 7-4 victory Sunday that extended Pittsburgh's losing streak to 11 games.
"You feel for teams like that, but that's just the way this game goes," Dodgers center fielder Kenny Lofton said. "I mean, I was in Cleveland early in my career when we weren't that good and people didn't care. So you've just got to have to try to get better, and it has to start somewhere.
"If you want to win, you've got to spend some money. And if they don't want to, it's going to be tough."
Another sweep
The Pirates were swept in a series of three or more games for the seventh time this season and sixth time on the road, dropping their record to 26-51 -- the second-worst in the majors.
They would have to go 55-30 the rest of the way to avoid their 14th consecutive losing season.
"The most frustrating thing is probably the way we've lost -- when we've been in games and then shot ourselves in the foot, either defensively or with our situational hitting," shortstop Jack Wilson said. "This last week has just been really bad baseball on our part. Obviously it's been a tough stretch, but it's not the end of the world. We've got three months of baseball left, and any day we can turn it around."
Pittsburgh is 171/2 games out of first place in the NL Central and 25 games under .500, its low-water mark in both categories. The losing streak is the team's longest since 1955, when it dropped 11 straight and finished 60-94.
The 1939 Pirates lost 12 straight, the team's longest skid since 1900.
The franchise record for consecutive defeats was set by the 1890 Pittsburg Alleghenies, who had lost several of their key players that year in a bidding war with the upstart and short-lived Players League.
No easier
It doesn't get any easier for manager Jim Tracy's club. The Pirates' next 10 games are against the White Sox, Tigers and Mets -- all of whom have winning percentages over .600.
The next three pitchers they are scheduled to face are Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras, who are a combined 25-8 for Chicago. Contreras has won his last 16 decisions in the regular season for the defending World Series champs.
"We know what's in front of us and the situation doesn't get any easier," said Tracy, who managed the Dodgers the previous five seasons. "But there's nobody in the American or National League that's going to feel sorry for us, that's for sure. We have to go out and play competitive baseball and find ways to win games."
Wilson is looking forward to the three upcoming series. And why not? The Pirates have nothing else to lose.
"You want a test like that to see how good you can be, and that's by playing the best," Wilson said. "That's what we're going to do in the next week, so I think we'll be up for the challenge. But you've got to bring your 'A' game against teams like that."
Keeping it close
Dodgers right-hander Brad Penny (8-2) pitched five-plus innings for the win, allowing four runs and six hits. He was lifted in the sixth with a 1-0 count on Jose Castillo, after Joe Randa's leadoff homer narrowed the gap to 5-4.
But Garciaparra led off the seventh against reliever Damaso Marte with his ninth homer of the season, Russell Martin made it 7-4 with his second run-scoring groundout, and Takashi Saito pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save.
Kip Wells (0-2) gave up five runs and nine hits in five innings in his second start after missing the Pirates' first 71 games while recovering from surgery to repair a blocked artery in his pitching arm. The right-hander, who had an NL-worst 18 losses last season, lost his first outing at Kansas City after blowing a 4-0 lead.