Losing Might Be Best, Belcher Says : Baseball: Dodgers still first, but he says they might benefit from time in second after Cardinals sweep.

Any doubt about the existence of a tight pennant race vanished Sunday when 26,027 fans at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium sat in a steady rain during a two-hour delay to boo the Dodgers, whose game was being televised on the center-field scoreboard.

“You know, I’ve been thinking, maybe we need to drop into second place,” Dodger pitcher Tim Belcher said.

“Maybe we need to look like just another run-of-the-mill team in the standings, just like we’ve looked like a run-of-the-mill team on the field.

“You know, maybe that will wake us up.”

They will have to wait another day for that awakening, because even though the Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon, the Braves later blew a second consecutive opportunity to share first place by losing to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5.

Not that Belcher’s idea would work. Measures nearly as harsh were taken before and during the game, and the Dodgers still lost before 35,640 at Busch Stadium.

For example:

--Darryl Strawberry questioned his teammates’ desire and concentration on Saturday night. On Sunday they committed two errors--one by Strawberry and another one by Jose Offerman--and stranded six runners in the last three innings.

--Belcher took the mound with an 0.85 earned-run-average in his last four starts. He gave up four runs, three earned, in six innings.

--Tom Lasorda, Dodger manager, used a pinch-hitter for Juan Samuel in an eighth-inning pressure situation. Kal Daniels grounded out on the first pitch.

--Mitch Webster, batting in front of Strawberry with runners on first and third and two out in the ninth inning, ended the game by attempting a bunt.

“I was just trying to get on base any way possible so Straw could come up,” said Webster, who popped up to relief pitcher Lee Smith.

“I don’t think there was a real good chance of me hitting a three-run (home run) against Lee Smith, do you?”

After Smith caught the bunt to end the game, the Dodgers got their first break of the day.

“When I got to the dugout, I felt like throwing something. But I couldn’t find anything,” Webster said.

The Dodgers cleared the field quickly, perhaps tired of hearing Cardinal fans chanting: “Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!”

With three consecutive losses here, the Dodgers were swept for the fifth time in their last seven road series. They have lost 20 of their last 25 road games, although some players feel that is an irrelevant statistic.

The Dodgers are playing badly enough, they say, to get beat anywhere.

“I stunk today, but I’m not the only one who smells around here,” Belcher said.

“I think if we plan on winning this thing, we had better start pitching, hitting and catching the ball all on the same day. I can count on one hand the number of times that has happened this year. We should be doing that twice a week, but we’ve done it once a month.

“God only knows why we are still in first place. The Braves have been playing well enough to have taken over some time ago.”

The Dodger offense, which has sat around while Strawberry has driven in 10 of its last 15 runs, lost to their second consecutive rookie pitcher, French-Canadian rookie Rheal Cormier.

“The way things are going now, this is not going to come down to a one or two-game thing in the final weeks,” Belcher said. “If we keep stumbling, the Braves will be far ahead of us by then.

“Everybody has always said that it’s inevitable we’ll turn things around. Well, it’s not inevitable anymore. We have to do it right now.”

Belcher was given a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Strawberry’s grounder, but Offerman, who has made seven errors in 20 games since replacing the injured Alfredo Griffin, gave that run back in the bottom of the first.

Offerman bounced a throw to first baseman Eddie Murray that allowed Ozzie Smith to move all the way to second. Smith scored on a ground-rule double by Todd Zeile, who had five hits in 10 at-bats with five runs batted in during the series.

“You know, maybe if the Braves caught us, it would relieve the pressure,” said Orel Hershiser, who will try to halt the three-game losing streak today in Chicago.

“Maybe we could stop talking about it and just fight them.”