"As far as mysteries in baseball go, this one ranks up there with how Bob Uecker was able to hit Sandy Koufax.

Why can't Matt Cain beat the Dodgers?

Cain was an All-Star last year. He woke up Tuesday with an earned-run average of 2.72.

But as the pitcher of record in the Giants' 4-2 loss at AT&T Park, his career record against the Dodgers fell to 0-8.

The Dodgers made Cain throw 105 pitches in only five innings, pounding him for four runs and seven hits. They drew three walks.

James Loney was the first to get to Cain, hitting a two-out single in the first inning to drive in Andre Ethier and put the Dodgers ahead, 1-0. ( Manny Ramirez was injured on the play, as he overran second base and clumsily slid back to the bag.)

The Giants tied the score in the bottom half of the inning when Andres Torres scored on a sacrifice fly by Pat Burrell, but the Dodgers rallied for three runs in the fifth inning, which began with consecutive singles by Rafael Furcal and Russell Martin.

Furcal and Martin scored on a single by Loney, who scored on a single by Casey Blake.

The Dodgers led, 4-1, at that point.

With Jonathan Broxton and Hong-Chih Kuo unavailable and the bullpen short on arms, the Dodgers got a lengthy start from rookie John Ely, who ate up seven innings and held the Giants to a run.

The seven-inning start was the second in a row for Ely, who appears to be over the rough three-outing stretch in which he was charged with 15 runs in 142/3 innings.

Still, Manager Joe Torre couldn't avoid using Ronald Belisario, who pitched for the third consecutive day. Belisario recorded the final out."