Dodger Honeymoon Ends for Strawberry in Sweep : Baseball: Butler tells him to shape up as Expos win, 3-2 and 7-4. Right fielder acknowledges diminished intensity.

Darryl Strawberry’s poor play, which has been defended and excused by most everyone in the Dodgers’ organization this season, finally has worn thin.

His three-month honeymoon ended Sunday in the second game of a doubleheader sweep by the Montreal Expos when Brett Butler walked over to him in the outfield during a pitching change.

The smallest Dodger put the biggest Dodger in his place.

“Brett told me I had to start getting mad,” Strawberry said. “He told me I had to start getting mean.”

What Butler graciously didn’t tell him is that the rest of the team agrees, particularly after Strawberry’s seemingly apathetic play led the Dodgers to a set of embarrassing losses, 3-2 and 7-4, before 25,368 at Olympic Stadium.

The victories gave Montreal its first four-game sweep of the Dodgers in the Expos’ 23-year history. Also, for the first time in Expo history, they have swept their six-game season series at home from the Dodgers, who have won here once since 1989.

The Dodgers came here after the All-Star break with the best record in baseball. The Expos had the second-worst record in the National League.

“You never want to get swept, especially by a team that shouldn’t be sweeping,” said Tim Belcher, the starter and loser in the second game.

“Last week, anybody would have told you, no way are the Expos going to sweep the Dodgers. . . . But it happened.”

Sunday’s results were about as predictable as Strawberry’s performance with runners in scoring position, a situation in which he is hitting .187 this year.

He was hitless in five such at-bats Sunday, which helped cost the Dodgers a victory in the first game. In the second game he helped the Expos with lackadaisical fielding, which gave the them a lead they never lost.

In the fifth inning, with the score 3-3, Marquis Grissom lined a single to Strawberry with quick Delino DeShields running from first base.

While Strawberry slowly picked up the ball, DeShields kept running. And running. By the time Strawberry threw it to second baseman Juan Samuel, DeShields was rounding third. He scored the Expos’ fourth run ahead of Samuel’s throw.

“Butler was yelling, but I didn’t hear him,” Strawberry said. “I went for the ball and didn’t see DeShields.”

Those looking for signs of disappointment in Strawberry when he returned to the dugout after the humiliation were disappointed. His blank expression never changed, his casual body language was not altered.

They haven’t been in a season in which Strawberry has batted .224 with eight home runs and 30 runs batted in. He has one homer since May 31, and only two of his home runs have been hit later than the sixth inning.

Many hoped Strawberry’s recent 15-day stint on the disabled list would change him, but since then he has gone eight for 37. This season at Olympic Stadium, he went two for 22 with 12 strikeouts.

And Strawberry, who is being paid $20.25 million over five years, rarely has been denied a request of the Dodgers.

When he asked Manager Tom Lasorda this weekend to move him from third to fifth in the batting order indefinitely, Lasorda agreed.

But once again, Strawberry’s happiness did not translate into success.

In the first game, against pitchers Oil Can Boyd and Jeff Fassero, Strawberry came up three times with runners in scoring position and failed all three times. Twice he ended the inning with a runner in scoring position, including a strikeout with Juan Samuel, representing the tying run, on second base in the eighth.

“I have no idea what it is, I wish I knew,” Lasorda said. “This is a guy who hit 37 home runs last year. Did he forget how to hit?”

The general consensus in the clubhouses Sunday was that Strawberry, with a softer personality after returning home to Los Angeles and becoming a born-again Christian, has forgotten how to compete.

“He seems more laid-back. He’s not as aggressive as he used to be,” the Expos’ Boyd said. “A lot of players like him who have found faith, that takes the edge off you. I would like to see Darryl kick it in full gear.”

“You know what I don’t see anymore?” asked Dodger catcher Gary Carter. “I don’t see that anger in his swing. I don’t see that feeling in his bat speed. In New York, you could watch him from the dugout when he swung and it would be Whooosh! Not anymore.”

Strawberry agreed that he is struggling with his newfound faith, which he says has put him at a peace that has been difficult to disturb.

“I have not had any anger or frustration for a long time,” he said, shaking his head. “When I get frustrated, I see the plate better. I have more concentration, and I don’t have that now.

“My whole life just feels different, and it’s been difficult to deal with. I’ve got to get used to how I feel. I’ve got to get over this.”

Strawberry warned that his old personality might not resurface in the near future.

“I may be going through this the rest of the year. . . . I’ve never lived through a season as a believer, so I just don’t know,” he said. “But I know that this won’t last my whole career here. I’ll be fine, I know it.”

The Dodgers seemed to follow Strawberry’s lead in both games Sunday, and were fortunate that they lost only a half-game in the standings to the Cincinnati Reds, who also lost a fourth consecutive game.

In the first game, the Expos won with three unearned runs in handing Ramon Martinez only his second loss since May 30. They scored two runs in the third inning after shortstop Alfredo Griffin mishandled a grounder.

They scored again in the fourth inning after Carter threw wildly to second base in hopes of catching a stealing Andres Galarraga, even though Carter had no chance to get him. The batter, Eric Bullock, had walked.

In the second game, Belcher blew a 3-0 lead by giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings, leading to his second consecutive loss.