Matt Kemp, who had batted first in each of the Dodgers' previous nine games but who entered the day hitless in 14 at-bats over the previous three, was dropped to fifth. He responded by drawing a walk and stretching that hitless streak to 15 at-bats when he flied out in the fourth, but he later drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and singled in the seventh.

Martin has a .380 on-base percentage and a team-leading 67 walks. Kemp had a middling .339 OBP and just 38 walks.

"Maybe with the on-base percentage of Russell, it will give them a little different look at the plate," Torre said. "Matty has just been anxious, and it's not a punishment to hit him fifth. You don't want to keep going back to inexperience, but when you're leading off and a table-setter, you have to be selective. He has been a lot more selective (in recent weeks), but if you lose that or get away from it a little bit, it works against you."

The rest of the lineup remained fairly unchanged, with Manny Ramirez batting third ahead of Jeff Kent for the second consecutive game. Martin became the sixth different player to start a game in the leadoff spot this season for the Dodgers, a team that used only three leadoff men -- Rafael Furcal, Juan Pierre and, for one game, Tony Abreu -- all of last season.

Martin also became the first Dodgers catcher to bat in the leadoff spot since Paul Lo Duca did so on Aug. 11, 2001.

DIAMONDBACKS 9, DODGERS 3: Nomar Garciaparra committed two key errors, the first of which proved to be the pivotal moment in the Dodgers' season-worst eighth consecutive defeat Friday. With the Dodgers leading 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, runners on first and second and nobody out, Garciaparra fielded a grounder from Augie Ojeda and, in an attempt to get a force at second, threw the ball into right field. Arizona went on to score three runs in the inning.