LOS ANGELES — First, the good news: The Giants have plenty of talent to challenge the Dodgers once more.

Now, the bad news: It's assembled at Single-A San Jose. So check back in 2011 or so.

For the current roster under manager Bruce Bochy, the optimism forged in the Cactus League is evaporating like a desert mirage. The Giants haven't hit enough, they haven't pitched enough, and they made one crippling mistake after another that resulted in a 7-2 loss at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night.

The Giants return home exposed after a winless six-game road trip to San Diego and Los Angeles in which they didn't lead at the conclusion of any inning. Even the club's two biggest bundles of joy, Pablo Sandoval and Tim Lincecum, have become significant concerns.

In other words, good seats are still available.

Odds are the Giants won't be this wretched all season. But the difference between their young talent and the Dodgers' rising stars was striking during this series. And the Giants don't have anything like Manny Ramirez providing horsepower in the middle of their lineup, either.

Barry Zito treaded carefully against a good offensive team and even managed to subdue Ramirez, but left fielder Fred Lewis misplayed Matt Kemp's sinking line drive into a triple in the second inning as the Dodgers took a lead they would not relinquish.

If there is one positive the Giants can take out of Thursday's defeat, it's Sandoval's improvement after being moved from fifth to third in the order. He singled to snap an 0-for-15 streak in the third inning, then yanked a run-scoring double in the fifth. Sandoval also made two highlight plays at third base.

Zito, last year's headache, was the least of the Giants' problems. He was charged with six earned runs in five innings, but he didn't get much support from his defense and departed with the club trailing 3-2 in the sixth. Brandon Medders allowed all three of Zito's runners to score.

The Giants entered the game hitting .196 on the road trip, so Bochy put the paddles to his cold and limp team. To get more speed atop the lineup, No. 2 hitter Edgar Renteria exchanged spots with No. 8 hitter Emmanuel Burriss.

Perhaps more significantly, Bochy also had Lewis exchange spots with Sandoval in an effort to get more strikes for his free-swinging third baseman.

Last season, 75 percent of the pitches thrown to Sandoval were strikes. Entering Thursday, it was down to 66 percent — and many of those pitches wouldn't have been strikes if Sandoval hadn't swung at them.

Sandoval averaged 3.11 pitches per plate appearance last season, the lowest in the major leagues. Entering Thursday, his rate was even lower this year — 3.06 pitches per trip.

"It's going to be up to Pablo," Bochy said. "They'll have to pitch to him with who we've got coming up and Pablo will have to take it upon himself to be more disciplined."

Bochy said he made the changes to "break up an offense that's not clicking right now."

The way the Giants are hitting and pitching, they need to play a mistake-free game to win. They certainly failed to do that Thursday.

Burriss made the first mistake after doubling and stealing third in the first inning. With the infield back and conceding the run on a ground ball, Burriss froze on Sandoval's roller to shortstop and got caught in a rundown.