Dodgers Go Quietly Again, 7-1 : Baseball: They get only six hits as the Astros drop L.A.’s record to 14-21, the same as last season’s after 35 games.

In the quiet of the Dodger clubhouse after a 7-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Saturday, 5-year-old Blake Butler tugged at Manager Tom Lasorda with this question:

“Why is it so quiet in here?” Brett Butler’s son asked.

Lasorda, who was preparing a salad at the food table, looked down at Blake. His face softened.

“Because we lost,” he said.

But the quiet had little to do with Saturday’s loss at the Astrodome and everything to do with the entire season, which so far has been a loss. The Dodgers have the same record, 14-21, that they had last season after 35 games. Yet somehow this season seems worse, because this team was supposed to be better. In a word, potential is what keeps the players both frustrated and believing they will go on a winning streak and turn the season around.

“Last season it was different because of the injuries and a lack of depth of talent,” said Orel Hershiser, who gave up six runs in six innings to drop to 4-4.

“This year we have more depth of talent and until (Darryl) Strawberry went on the (disabled list), we haven’t had the injuries. This year we have more potential.”

But as Hershiser pointed out, unrealized potential has its limits.

“It’s the worst label you can have,” he said. “It means you are not playing up to your ability.”

The Dodgers have had moments when they escaped mediocrity, but such moments don’t add up to a winning season.

Even Butler, who has been the most consistent in the field and, until recently, at the plate, misplayed a couple of balls in center field Saturday, which led to three runs. He offered no excuses and had only questions for the state his team is in.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said. “What needs to be done? Why did we swing the bat decently and then boom, it’s all gone? Why do I hit well in April and suddenly my wheels fall off in May? It’s a process as a player and as a team and when you get going, you try to hold it as long as you can.

“The difference this year is that we have guys out there who want to play, not like last year, when I would question that to some degree. . . . Our time is going to come, we will break loose and somebody is going to have to pay.”

Hershiser and Astro starter Mark Portugal (4-2) kept the game scoreless through the first four innings. But during the fifth, Luis Gonzalez led off with a high fly ball to deep center field. Butler lost the ball in the sunlit dome shortly before his head hit the wall. The ball bounced off the wall, then off of his head and Gonzalez had a triple.

It was the first time in his 12-season career that a ball hit him in the head.

“Look at the bright side of it, it could have broken my nose,” Butler said.

Andujar Cedeno followed with a double and by the end of the inning the Astros were ahead, 2-0.

With the Astros ahead by 3-0 and two out in the sixth, Cedeno hit a two-run triple to center field. Butler, who couldn’t get back fast enough to catch it, said he should have played deeper. Hershiser gave up a homer to Craig Biggio to lead off the seventh and was replaced by Roger McDowell.

“The guys are just trying too hard,” Lasorda said. “They are all wanting to do so well. You can see if for yourself. “

The Dodgers squandered scoring opportunities during the fifth and eighth innings. Mike Piazza hit a solo homer during the seventh, but the Dodgers had only five other hits.

“It’s tough to win when you score two runs in two games and give up 16,” Lasorda said. “That’s one of the problems.”

Perhaps the most telling description of the Dodger season came in his office an hour after the game. Other than his salad, his postgame meal remained on his desk, untouched.

“I can’t eat,” he explained.