Dodgers Batter Old Teammate : Baseball: Tim Belcher is down. They help keep him that way with an 8-4 victory over the Reds.

Those Dodger fans who wonder whatever happened to Tim Belcher are not alone.

A man in Cincinnati is also wondering the same thing: Tim Belcher.

“I’m dumbfounded. I don’t know what to try next,” Belcher said Tuesday, looking blankly across his Cincinnati Reds clubhouse. “I stink, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

The Dodgers knew what to do, pounding their former teammate for seven runs and nine hits before the end of the fourth inning in an 8-4 victory before 31,413 at Riverfront Stadium.

Winning consecutive road games for the first time since May 31-June 1, the Dodgers added a chill to a dark six weeks for Belcher.

In his last eight appearances, seven of them starts, Belcher is 1-5 with a 6.81 ERA.

Considered one of the staff aces in a championship race for the first time in his career, Belcher is having trouble remembering what he has thrown.

When asked to talk about the Dodgers’ four-run first inning, which included two bunt singles and a bases-clearing double by Eric Karros, he shrugged.

“The only pitch I recall is the double. The rest is a blur,” said Belcher, 9-11 with a 4.08 earned-run average. “I just don’t know what I’m doing sometimes.”

He will not want to be reminded that, after walking leadoff hitter Jose Offerman, Belcher hesitated on Brett Butler’s bunt and both runners were safe.

Then he charged in front of third baseman Darnell Coles’ on Lenny Harris’ bunt, picking up the ball without a chance to make a play, and the bases were loaded for Karros.

“He was a little too aggressive on those bunts,” said Mitch Webster, who later contributed his fourth home run. “Tim is such a competitive guy. . . .”

Belcher’s personality on the mound is the reason some Dodger officials, who watched him for five years, could rationalize trading him and John Wetteland for Eric Davis and Kip Gross in a celebrated transaction last winter.

Even Belcher wondered if he would have trouble under different pressures. Now he knows.

“I said the day of the trade it would be more difficult here than in Los Angeles,” Belcher said. “And I cannot say that hasn’t been the case.”

He talked about the uniqueness of playing within driving distance of his family and friends in his central Ohio hometown. He talked about being in a new role.

“Playing in what appears to be an ideal situation isn’t always so ideal,” Belcher said. “Here I am looked at with (Greg) Swindell and (Jose) Rijo as a guy from whom a lot is expected. I never experienced that in L.A., where I was always an underclassman behind (Orel) Hershiser and those guys.”

The Dodgers, who collected a season-high 15 hits for a second consecutive night, knew they were looking at a different pitcher.

“He looked frustrated. He really never misses that far outside like he was missing tonight,” Lenny Harris said. “I think he was trying to do too much.”

Karros is doing too much, period. The Dodgers have scored 20 runs in five days, and he has driven in nine of them after adding a run-scoring double in the fourth inning to finish Belcher.

Karros, with 16 home runs and 61 runs batted in, is a lock to become the first Dodger rookie to lead the team in RBIs since they moved to Los Angeles in 1958.

“I’m just going to keep doing the same things every day, because as quick as I can get hot, I can go ‘boom’ and drop,” Karros said. “I have proved over the years that I can drop with the best of them.”

Karros was helped by Offerman’s three hits--a single, double and triple.

Offerman had two chances to become the first Dodger to hit for the cycle since Wes Parker in 1970, but he flied to center and struck out. He was helped by a day off Monday after 34 games in a row.

Bob Ojeda allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings and picked up his first victory since July 3.

“The Dodgers beat Tim Belcher tonight, pure and simple,” Belcher said. “I don’t know what to try next.”