LOS ANGELES — Don Mattingly, a man who knows all about being a Yankee, was taken aback.
When one of the Yankees buses arrived yesterday at Dodger Stadium, Mattingly was surprised with what he saw.
"The guys were walking down from their bus and I didn't recognize any of them,'' the Dodgers manager said of the 2013 Yankees. "It's a little different. I didn't see [Derek] Jeter or Mariano [Rivera] or [Andy] Pettitte. But the Yankees are hanging in there.''
The offensively challenged Yankees hung in there last night until the ninth inning, when Mark Ellis' two-out single off Shawn Kelley scored Andre Ethier with the winning run in a 3-2 victory for L.A at a raucous Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers scored in the first on a Yasiel Puig double and a two-out single by Hanley Ramirez against Andy Pettitte. The Yankees answered against Zack Greinke with a run in the top of the second on a home run by Lyle Overbay. After a Juan Uribe homer put the Dodgers up 2-1 in the second, Overbay's ground out scored Alfonso Soriano in the fourth.
And that was it for the Yankees offense — once again.
It was been a season filled with injuries and Alex Rodriguez's monster issues as a result of the Biogenesis scandal.
But the lineup is beginning to look more like a major league lineup and the Yankees need to get all they can out of veterans like Soriano, Jeter and Curtis Granderson, who could be back as soon as this weekend in San Diego.
Jeter, to protect his right quadriceps, has been told not to run full speed and that hurt the Yankees' offense when he was thrown out twice on balls he might have beaten out.
Robinson Cano also must do more. With his former agent, Scott Boras, looking on from the front row and his new agent, Jay-Z, perched 30 seats to the left of Boras, Cano tried to put on a show but failed. He singled in the first, struck out in the third, swinging wildly on all three strikes, flied to center to the sixth and struck out again in the eighth.
There is no pop to the Yankees. The Yankees went into the night 29th in slugging percentage with a .371 mark, only the Marlins were worse (.336).
"I understand that we are going to have to win games like this,'' manager Joe Girardi said. "It's not a surprise for me. I understand what we have. I think our guys are trying to get good at-bats so I don't get frustrated with them. I know we have to win close games.''
A large group of Yankees came out for early hitting, four hours before the game. That was a tremendous sign of team unity, but also a desperate comment on the struggling offense.
The 55-51 Yankees now trail the first-place Rays by 8 1/2₂games in the AL East. They are 3 1/2 games back in the race for the second wild card, in fifth place in that race.
So many things have gone wrong for the Yankees, not just A-Rod being A-Rod. There have been the failed signings, notably Kevin Youkilis. Still, it's the end of July and the Yankees have a playoff pulse — even if it is a weak one.
Most of all, these Yankees must prove they can beat the good teams and that is so difficult to do with a weak offense. Against the Red Sox, Orioles, A's Rays, Rangers and Tigers, they are a combined 19-31. That tells the real story of this 2013 Yankees team.
A crowd of 52,447 fans showed up and stayed late, the Dodgers 15th sellout of the season. There were celebrities everywhere. This is a much noisier Dodger Stadium than in past years. The new ownership group has turned up the noise in many ways, making this once again a destination point for fans.
Unlike the Yankees, the Dodgers are a team the fans now recognize.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com
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