LOS ANGELES — With his teams' season circling the drain with two months remaining, Andy Pettitte understands crunch time has arrived.
Yet the veteran left-hander refuses to give in to the belief that the Yankees will be October spectators.
"No doubt it's getting late,'' Pettitte said after the Dodgers hung a 3-2 loss on the Yankees last night in front of a sold-out and vibrant Dodger Stadium crowd of 52,447. "We need to win, but all you can do is stay positive. We got Derek [Jeter] back in the lineup, we got Sori [Alfonso Soriano] back, and I feel better about the way I am throwing the ball and our bullpen has been amazing. Hopefully [tonight] is the day. Hopefully we get on a run shortly.''
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ALL FOR NAUGHT: Chris Stewart, taking a throw from Ichiro Suzuki, tags out Hanley Ramirez to end the third inning, keeping the Yankees within a run after...
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Andy Pettitte (above) gave up a homer to Juan Uribe an inning earlier. The Yankees tied it at 2-2, but lost in the bottom of the ninth when Shawn Kelley gave up a two-out RBI single to Mark Ellis.
Pettitte's seven innings in which he allowed two runs wasn't enough for a victory because Zack Greinke allowed two runs and five hits in seven frames.
The difference was Mark Ellis' bloop, two-out single to left in the ninth off Shawn Kelley that scored Andre Ethier from second with the game-winning run.
The loss dropped the Yankees a season-high 8 1/2 games behind the AL East-leading Rays, who are a half length ahead of the second-place Red Sox. The Yankees trail the Orioles by 3 1/2 games for the second wild-card spot.
The Dodgers, who have won 10 of 11, moved 3 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks in the NL West.
Though Kelley got beat with his best pitch — a slider — catcher Chris Stewart put the game-winning run on his shoulders because he never really gave Robinson Cano a chance to tag out Ethier, who stole second with two outs and Ellis at the plate.
"It was one of the worst throws I have made," Stewart said of the one-hop throw Cano gloved but lost when he went to tag Ethier. "It stinks that it was at that point in the game. I know he is a smart base runner. If I make a good throw and don't rush it there. … I put it on the ground.
"I forced [Cano] to make an unbelievable play.''
Jeter would have needed a large ladder to corral Ellis' soft game-winning hit to left. But even then he would have taken it easy climbing the stairs because he has been instructed to take it easy with his right quadriceps and left ankle.
Jeter grounded out in all four at-bats and ran under control to first in all of them.
"It's tough. You try to make a conscious effort not to do anything stupid but it's difficult to do,'' Jeter said. "I'm trying to do what I'm told. Your natural reaction is to run as hard as you can. I have the whispers coming in my head. I feel weird talking about it.''
There was a time when the Yankees could match any collection of star power in the seats with their mega-watt talent on the field.
Now, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson are on the DL, Jeter is just off the shelf and CC Sabathia is going through the worst stretch of his pinstriped career. Mariano Rivera certainly qualifies as a star, but he never left the right-field bullpen.
Clearly, the Dodgers had more stars than the Yankees and in Hollywood, stars rule. On this night they also won.
george.king@nypost.com
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