Now, If They Can Get It Together on the Field . . .

Are the Dodgers, who have lost 10 of their last 13 games, slumping because they’re not cohesive off the field?

“That has nothing to do with it,” first baseman Eric Karros said. “Believe it or not, this team gets along whether people want to acknowledge it or not. Everybody likes to say there are all these cliques [on the Dodgers], but that’s reaching.

“Nobody’s feeling sorry for us, everybody’s trying to kick our [rear ends] right now while we’re down.”

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With the Dodger batters struggling, hitting coach Reggie Smith has been working overtime.

“We can do better,” Smith said. “The hitters have done better in the past and there is no reason to not expect them to do as well as in the past.”

The Dodgers’ first five hitters, Wilton Guerrero, Eric Anthony, Raul Mondesi, Mike Piazza and Karros, had five hits in 20 at-bats with one home run, one double and one RBI in Saturday’s loss.

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Pitcher Darren Dreifort, put on the disabled list May 14 because of an elbow injury, is expected to throw a simulated game Monday or Tuesday when the Dodgers play the Astros in Houston.

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TODAY’S GAME

DODGERS’ CHAN HO PARK (3-2, 3.05 ERA) VS. CARDINALS’ ALAN BENES (4-4, 3.01 ERA)

11 a.m., Busch Stadium.

TV--Ch. 5. Radio--KABC (790), KWKW (1330).

* Update--Chan Ho Park is second in the National League with a .195 opponent batting average. The Dodgers are 5-3 in his eight starts this season and 5-6 in his 11 appearances. Park, who didn’t give up a home run in his first 18 appearances last season, has given up eight home runs this season. He gave up two home runs in a 5-3 victory over the Florida Marlins last Monday at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers have lost four of five games to the Cardinals this season, including the first three of a four-game series. The last time the Cardinals swept a four-game series from the Dodgers was July 7-8, 1987, when they took back-to-back doubleheaders. Alan Benes ranks third in the NL in strikeouts (77) and opponent batting average (.209). Cardinal first baseman John Mabry had three hits in four at-bats with a home run and two RBIs on Saturday’s victory over the Dodgers to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games.