This Skid Is Worst Since ’87 : Dodgers: They drop sixth in a row, falling to Phillies, 3-1. It’s Ojeda’s fifth loss when giving up three runs or fewer.

Life is treating the Dodgers so poorly these days that, yes, the angry man jumping on first base and punching his fist into the air Tuesday night was Gary Carter.

“I said, “Gosh darn it!’ ” Carter said.

Just a guess, but his teammates were probably saying much worse as his ninth-inning fly ball stalled at the warning track with Darryl Strawberry on first base, ending the Dodgers’ last hope in a 3-1 defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies.

That makes six consecutive losses for the only first-place team that has not won since the All-Star break.

“If we were going good,” muttered reliever Tim Crews, “Carter’s ball is out.”

Crews should know. He is one of only three active Dodgers who were around the last time they lost more than six consecutive games, a nine-game losing streak from Aug. 26 to Sept. 5, 1987.

The Dodgers are lucky that the Cincinnati Reds have lost eight consecutive games, but their luck is running out. The Atlanta Braves moved into second place Tuesday, 4 1/2 games behind, after their fifth victory in six games.

“We better start shaking things up,” said Bob Ojeda, the starter and loser. “This is getting real.”

But hey, the streak is going to end in today’s 9:30 a.m. PDT game here, right? Isn’t All-Star pitcher Mike Morgan starting? Hasn’t Morgan won six of his nine games after Dodger losses?

“To be honest, I don’t know what I’ll be like,” said Morgan, suffering from a sore right toe that shortened his last start. “For the first time since I can’t remember, I haven’t been able to throw between starts. I have no idea how that will affect me.”

Maybe he should just try pitching on one leg. The Dodgers tried everything else Tuesday night before 28,622 at Veterans Stadium.

--Ojeda, the starting pitcher who has lost five times when giving up three runs or less, tried to think positive.

“In some situations, instead of just thinking groundouts, I was thinking, double plays ,” Ojeda said.

No good. He gave up three runs in six innings but was supported by less than two runs for the ninth time in 17 starts. While he has been on the mound, the Dodgers have averaged 2.1 runs, leading to his 7-7 record.

--Brett Butler and Strawberry tried to think teamwork. Butler huddled with Strawberry for 30 minutes before the game to discuss the benefits of playing hard.

No good. Strawberry left a runner on second base in the fourth inning with a popout, and Butler failed to get a hit for the second time in his last 27 games.

--Tom Lasorda, Dodger manager, tried going against his playbook. In the seventh inning, with Alfredo Griffin on first base and one out, he sent up left-handed pinch-hitter Lenny Harris against left-handed pitcher Terry Mulholland.

No good. Harris grounded into a double play, and the Dodgers didn’t threaten again until Carter’s fly ball.

Mulholland allowed one unearned run and finished with the sixth complete game the Dodgers have seen this season.

“I did not think this team was capable of losing six in a row, I just did not think it would happen,” said Ojeda, who was beaten in the first five innings by rookie Wes Chamberlain’s two-run home run and run-scoring single.

“If somebody told me we would lose six in a row,” said Butler, “I would have bet the farm against it.”

But then, many people would also bet against Eddie Murray falling in a 10-for-77 slump, dropping the average of last year’s major league leading hitter to .253.

Then there is Juan Samuel, who has only 13 hits in his last 56 at-bats while falling out of the National League batting race. Even Carter, who has ably replaced injured catcher Mike Scioscia while starting 16 of the last 17 games, seems no longer immune.

Even though he had two doubles Tuesday and drove in the Dodgers’ only run in the fourth inning, Carter has only five hits in his last 28 at-bats.

And the Dodgers sure could use Kal Daniels, who has missed four games while tending his ailing mother in Georgia.

The combination of all those problems, plus the usual underachieving bullpen that has been tagged with the loss in four of the Dodgers’ last nine defeats, has had side effects such as Butler’s at-bat in the eighth inning.

“It’s the eighth inning, usually I take a couple of pitches, work the pitcher a little try to get something started,” Butler said. “But tonight, for some reason, I felt like I had to swing at the very first pitch. And I missed it.”

It is revealing that the pressing Dodgers were beaten in only 2 hours 23 minutes, their third quickest loss of the season.

“What is happening here is a test,” Ojeda said. “How we react will have a direct effect on how we finish the year.”