Martinez, Daniels Lose It; Dodgers Just Lose Again

The Dodgers’ world, teetering for weeks, was finally turned upside down Sunday.

During Ramon Martinez’s one moment of glory against the Cincinnati Reds, he celebrated by angrily spiking a ball 25 feet into the air, then slamming his glove against the dugout wall.

During Kal Daniels’ moment of ignominy, he led the hostile Riverfront Stadium crowd in jeers.

After a 5-1 loss to the Reds, causing the Dodgers to be swept in a three-game series at Riverfront Stadium for the first time in nearly 14 years, the clubhouse was shaken.

“I stopped halfway to first base tonight after one of my line drives was caught and I chuckled,” Brett Butler said. “I thought, ‘You have got to be kidding me.’ “

He could have been talking about more than the line drive, which came with runners on first and second in the eighth inning.

He could have been talking about an error by Jose Offerman that led to two runs. Or wild pitches that cost two more runs, including consecutive wild pitches by Steve Wilson that allowed Barry Larkin to score from first base in the ninth inning.

As if Tom Lasorda also thought it was a prank, he remained in the dugout until the lights were turned out and the bats cleared away.

But when the Dodger manager finally walked back into his office, his fifth-place team had fallen to a season-worst 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Reds after a series in which they were outscored, 20-5.

“Try disappointed . . . or dejected . . . or depressed,” Lasorda said. “I don’t know which one fits.”

Angry would be the best word to describe Martinez, who took the mound thinking nothing could be worse than the 11-1 defeat suffered by the Dodgers Saturday.

By the time the Reds sent three batters to the plate, he knew he was wrong.

Offerman committed his second error in two games after throwing wildly to first on a routine grounder by Barry Larkin. That scored Dave Martinez from second base. Larkin scored later on a single by Hal Morris.

“I really thought tonight we had to stop this losing . . . then we make a lot of bad plays, the ball is all over the place,” Martinez said. “If we keep playing like this, we don’t have a chance.”

He showed this frustration one inning later after he caught a throw from first baseman Eric Karros to escape a jam caused when Daniels missed a fly ball hit by Joe Oliver in left field for the Dodgers’ second error.

Martinez caught the throw, stepped on first, then spiked the ball high off the artificial turf as he ran off the field, much to the concern of his teammates.

“I wasn’t being mad about the errors, I just really wanted to say something . . . it seemed like everybody was down, I wanted to wake them up,” Martinez said. “We are confused right now. I wanted to tell them, we have to stop playing like this.”

But his teammates still wondered.

“No matter why he did it, it didn’t look good,” said Mitch Webster, who talked to Martinez on the bench the pitcher threw his glove. “I told him, ‘Get that ball back in your glove and keep pitching.’ ”

Lasorda also talked to Martinez, but said he didn’t scold him.

Lasorda did not talk to Daniels, who after striking out for the fourth time against Greg Swindell in the ninth inning, stopped near the Dodgers dugout and spent several seconds exhorting the booing crowd with his hands.

“No comment,” Lasorda said.

Explained Daniels, a former Red who is always booed here: “(The crowd) wanted me to put my head between my tail like a whipped puppy, but I wouldn’t do it. I wanted them to know, my head is still up.”

Such a task is difficult for the entire team after the results of the three-day nightmare were tallied.

--Errors, wild pitches, dropped balls and passed balls cost them 15 runs, an average of five per game.

--They had as many errors as runs (five).

--They had more wild pitches (four) than extra base hits (three).

--Their relief pitchers allowed three times as many earned runs (12) as the Reds starting pitchers (four) in 9 1/3 fewer innings.

“I know we have to do something to stop this,” Lasorda said. “And believe me, right now, I will try anything.”