Dodgers still crash even as Yasiel Puig soars

• Puig electrified Dodgers fans at the beginning of the week%3B Dodger depression back by the end
• Puig%27s first week in the bigs%3A .464 batting average with four HRs and 10 RBIs
• Injury-plagued Dodgers still in last place and 8 games under .500 after Sunday%27s 8-1 loss to Braves

LOS ANGELES – Puig-mania arrived at the beginning of the week, and it was electrifying. But by the end of the weekend, Dodger depression was back.

Rookie sensation Yasiel Puig, since his arrival last Monday, has done enough – throwing out runners with his cannon arm, belting homers with his sweet swing – to make Los Angeles Dodgers fans believe they have the Cuban version of Mike Trout, the young superstar down the freeway in Anaheim.

But after an ugly 8-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, the underachieving Dodgers are still in last place, eight games under .500, with an ever-expanding disabled list and an ever-growing list of problems.

Start with a punchless offense -- aside from Puig, 22, who went 3-for-5 on Sunday to finish his first week in the big leagues at .464 with four homers and 10 RBIs.

This is how unimpressive the Dodgers lineup was Sunday: In the first inning, the Dodgers got a lead-off single from Puig and loaded the bases with no outs, then came at Braves starter Mike Minor (8-2) with a Mediocrity Row of Scott Van Slyke (.234 at the time), Luis Cruz (.136) and Skip Schumaker (.280), who came into the game with 28 RBI combined. The rally produced one run – on a two-out swinging bunt by Schumaker. A few innings later, it was 8-1 Braves.

Aside from Puig teaching everyone how to hit, there appear to be no magic solutions on the horizon as the Dodgers open a three-game home series Monday night against the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks.

"We've got to score runs," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "It's going to be the same group of guys. We've just got to be better."

The bright side is that the Dodgers have the top of their rotation – Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu – set to go against Arizona.

Dodgers emergency starter Matt Magill, up and down between Class AAA and L.A. this season, gave up nine walks and four home runs in six innings in a 7-2 loss to Colorado on June 2. Sunday, it was six walks and one home run in 3 2/3 innings.

Magill was pitching only because Dodgers starters are dropping faster than their fans' pennant hopes. On the disabled list are Ted Lilly (joining the DL Sunday with a neck sprain), Josh Beckett and Chris Capuano.

Van Slyke-Cruz-Schumaker were hitting 4-5-6 only because season-long slumper Matt Kemp and fellow outfield starter Carl Crawford are on the DL, and struggling Andre Ethier and nearly invisible shortstop Hanley Ramirez (five starts all season) were unavailable due to injuries.

"We've been juggling," Mattingly said of the difficulty of putting together a lineup and a pitching rotation despite the rash of injuries. "It's been a circus. You've got balls in the air all the time.

"The number of DLs we've had, we just haven't formed any consistency with the team."