MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Manny Parra can pinpoint the source of his struggles, but correcting them will take time.

In simple terms, he has failed to consistently throw strikes. As a result, Parra (1-2, 5.79 ERA), who is scheduled to start Wednesday night's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Miller Park, hasn't lasted more than 5 1/3 innings in any of his seven starts this year. The problem isn't his stuff; it's having confidence in his pitches.

"When it's there, it's easy, but when you're struggling a little bit and walking as many guys as I have walked, I'm trying to get that out of my head," said Parra, who has walked 20 in 32 2/3 innings this season.

Hitting a spot becomes more difficult when the thought of giving up a walk consumes your thinking.

"You try as hard as you can to not let things that have already happened bother you," Parra said. "Sometimes when you concern yourself too much, it becomes more of a problem."

The tough thing for manager Ned Yost is Parra isn't the only Brewers starter wrestling with the mental side of pitching.

Carlos Villanueva and Dave Bush have allowed one mistake to multiply into three or four, and what appeared to be a harmless two-out single lead to a four-run inning.

"I need to get a poker face going out there," Villanueva said, "a happy place."

Villanueva, Bush and Parra have combined to go 3-10 with a 6.12 ERA this year.

"We need to get more production out of our starting pitchers," Yost said, who has few other options at his disposal after losing Yovani Gallardo to a torn ACL. "We need to get that ironed out one way or another and get those numbers back down and more consistent."

Pitching coach Mike Maddux believes the problem can be fixed internally.

"We don't happen to need better pitchers. Sometimes we need to pitch better," Maddux said.

He says the way these young starters are going to find success is by looking past the mistakes.

"You can only control the next pitch, you can't undo what's done, the only thing you can do is make every pitch its own game," Maddux said.

Living by that mentality is easier said than done. Experience is the best teacher.

"You have to build and crawl before you walk and walk before you run type-deal," Maddux said.

Just as quickly as a bad pitch or inning can be his undoing, Parra believes a good sequence or inning can put him back on track. That might have happened in his last start, Friday night against St. Louis.

After struggling through the second inning, allowing five straight runners to reach, Parra settled down. After a leadoff walk to Albert Pujols to start the third, he retired the final nine batters he faced.

"The last three innings I finally made the hitters put the ball in play and I got outs," Parra said. "We have something called a swing thought, when you 're going well at something, you always remind yourself to keep doing it so you get back on track. In that last inning, I felt like I found it."

Three good innings is a start. Parra's just trying not to think about it too much.