ST. LOUIS — Under normal circumstances, the Dodgers should be glad to be headed home. These days, however, they've been playing just as badly at Dodger Stadium as away from it.

The Cardinals had the Dodgers lined up for their 13th loss in 17 games by the third inning on Sunday, and put them away with a 12-2 victory at Busch Stadium.

The loss dropped the Dodgers into fourth place in the NL West and there aren't any signs that they're going to be able to turn things around anytime soon.

"We're the same as we've been for a couple of weeks," manager Grady Little said. "We're struggling, struggling, struggling. It's disappointing because there are a lot of people out there that we're depending on and it's just not happening for them."

Starting pitcher Mark Hendrickson was one of those players. He gave up a three-run home run to Ryan Ludwick in the first inning, putting the Dodgers behind early.

"Some of the pitches in the first inning ... maybe I need to tinker with what I do in the bullpen to find a little bit of rhythm when I get out there in the first inning," Hendrickson said. "I'm making too many mistakes early on, putting us behind. That's not good for us right now, given the way we're playing."

It wasn't just the first inning for Hendrickson. Ten Cardinals hitters batted in the third inning, though only nine faced Hendrickson. The merry-go-round type of inning was given its momentum on RBI singles by Ludwick, Aaron Miles, pitcher Anthony Reyes, Brendan Ryan and David Eckstein.

Reyes' RBI came on his first major league hit.

Eckstein's infield single, which scored Reyes and gave the Cardinals an 8-2 lead, was hit right at Hendrickson's head. He got his hands up in time to deflect the ball, losing his glove in the process. The ball hit two fingers from each of Hendrickson's hands.

"I think at that point of the game, he didn't feel anything," Little said.

Though Hendrickson allowed eight earned runs in only 223 innings, the loss wasn't entirely his fault.

Scott Proctor and Joe Beimel allowed two runs apiece in relief appearances. All four pitchers allowed at least one base runner to get on and no one was able to record a 1- inning.

The Dodgers offense came up with another lackluster performance. Rather than taking advantage of Reyes' rough season, the Dodgers made him look like a better-than-average pitcher. Reyes entered the game with a 1-11 record and a 5.66 ERA.

The Dodgers offense consisted of an RBI triple by Andre Ethier and a sacrifice fly by Ramon Martinez. Martinez was in the lineup in place of Jeff Kent, who is in an 0-for-19 slump.

The Dodgers were hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position on Sunday, and 0 for 16 in the three-game series. They have two hits in their past 42 at-bats with runners in scoring position, and three in their past 67.

Little dropped outfielder Juan Pierre from second to seventh in the batting order, earlier this week, hoping that it would shake things up.

It hasn't. Little would not commit to more shakeups but another move or two would not come as a total surprise.

"Something needs to be done because this isn't good enough," he said.