Dodgers Are Given Deadline by Claire : Baseball: If the team continues to struggle into August, wholesale changes may be coming, he says.

There are more than two months left on the schedule but the Dodgers have apparently been given two weeks and two days.

After that, indicated Fred Claire, changes may be coming.

“Right now I have only one thing on my mind, and that is turning it around in 1992,” Claire, the Dodgers’ vice president, said during the All-Star break. “But if we get into August and we are still not in the race, well, we might have to make some decisions at that point.”

In other words, if the Dodgers do not do better on this 13-game trip than in their last 13 road games--one victory during that time--they could come home a different team.

Bob Ojeda may be traded. Kevin Gross may be traded. Several relief pitchers may be traded.

Juan Samuel, if he cannot be traded to a championship contender, may be released.

“I have to keep the club as strong as I can keep it for now,” Claire said. “But that doesn’t mean things won’t change.”

Those who study statistics--and those who understand just plain poor baseball--may wonder why Claire even wants to wait two weeks.

The last-place Dodgers are 13 games behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds.

No Dodger team has ever won a championship after being more than 6 1/2 games out of first place during the season.

Remember last year’s miracle run by the Atlanta Braves, which came after they were 9 1/2 games out of first place at the break?

The Dodgers haven’t been as close as 9 1/2 games behind in a month.

And whatever Claire’s plans, the contending teams may not be content to let the Dodgers wait.

Last week, for instance, the Pittsburgh Pirates inquired about Ojeda. Soon after, they traded veteran third baseman Steve Buechele to the Chicago Cubs for Danny Jackson.

“We already have a good young third baseman in David Hansen,” Claire said at the time, later adding, “Our immediate direction is to try to get back into the race. This is the only 1992 that we will ever get.”

Then there are the Montreal Expos. They have already begun discussing sending a couple of prospects to the Dodgers for Ojeda, who could be lost as a free agent at the end of the season.

During the All-Star festivities, in fact, as least one Dodger scout was nearly swarmed by representatives of opposing teams.

“But the 1992 Dodger team has not yet been established,” Claire said, referring to injuries. “When we are all healthy, which I think is the case now, we are a much better team than we have shown.

“If we play to the level of our talent in the second half of the season, then we are not a last-place team.”

Claire hopes that Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis, who started together in only 24 of the Dodgers’ first 88 games, can improve that figure in the second half.

Even so, the Dodgers went only 11-13 in those 24 games.

Claire is hoping that their appearance will also help surrounding players such as Eric Karros, Samuel and Hansen. He is admittedly looking for a sudden impact.

“If you remember, something like that happened when we made a great run in 1990,” Claire said.

He was referring to a push that moved them from 13 1/2 games out on July 23 to 3 1/2 behind on Sept. 25. Then they were swept in a three-game series in San Francisco--where else?--and finished five behind the Reds.

“That year we had Kirk Gibson step to the forefront for us,” Claire said. “That is the kind of thing it could be this year.”

Unless they can figure out a way to fit Gibson with two new legs, though, the Dodgers are going to need some other hero this season.

Perhaps Strawberry, who in his career has hit 38 more home runs with 108 more runs batted in after the break than before, can show he is still a clutch player.

Maybe Davis can stop throwing his body around long enough to become a full-time Dodger. Maybe Mike Scioscia can hold his body together long enough to remain a Dodger.

Maybe Karros can show that he is rookie of the year. Maybe Hansen can show that Karros and Jose Offerman aren’t the only two young infielders who belong with the club.

Maybe a sound Jay Howell will emerge, once again, as a stopper. Maybe Ramon Martinez will emerge as Ramon Martinez.

Maybe Samuel will forget about wanting to play somewhere else.

Whoever is going to do it, he needs to do it fast. He has two weeks and two days.