Dodgers Stagger Out of Second-Half Gate : Baseball: They adjust uniforms and coaching assignments, but familiar lack of offense is key in 4-0 loss to the Marlins.

The Dodgers knew drastic measures were needed to reverse their fate in the second half, and Thursday night they unveiled their moves.

Let’s see, right fielder Raul Mondesi pulled up his uniform pants nearly to his knees to show his stirrups. It was for good luck, Mondesi explained. So did second baseman Delino DeShields, who previously wore them high in recognition of the old Negro Leagues.

That wasn’t all.

Hitting coach Reggie Smith abandoned his job as the first base coach and remained on the bench to converse with his hitters. Bench coach Bill Russell went to first.

Then there was the fiery team meeting, in which the players vowed to prove to the Colorado Rockies and everyone else in the National League West that the Dodgers are through wasting time.

It took about 10 minutes for the Dodgers to realize they might want to start considering conventional methods. They lost, 4-0, to the Florida Marlins before a paid crowd of 34,308 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers (34-36), who lost for the 10th time in the last 13 games, are five games behind the first-place Rockies with a sobering fact to consider:

Never in franchise history have the Dodgers won a division title or pennant when trailing by five games after the All-Star break.

Little wonder the clubhouse chalkboard blared in large letters: “Everyone in uniform at 3:30.”

Did that mean there would be a rare practice in midseason?

“I think it would be appropriate, don’t you?” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

The Dodgers may have vowed things would be different the second half, but they looked like the same underachieving bunch that wallowed in mediocrity before the All-Star break.

Marlin starter Chris Hammond had as many hits as the entire Dodger team: three singles apiece.

Hammond went three for three at the plate and pitched a three-hitter. It was the second shutout of Hammond’s career; his first came last season against the Dodgers.

Hammond (6-2) was so dominant in his performance that he gave up only six fly ball outs. The top of the Dodger order--Jose Offerman, Roberto Kelly, Mike Piazza, Eric Karros and Mondesi--went two for 19 with a walk, hitting the ball out of the infield only five times.

“It was very frustrating,” Lasorda said. “Very. Without question. . . . He handcuffed us all the way through. He made it look awfully easy tonight.”

There was then a long, uncomfortable pause. Finally, Lasorda looked up, and said: “Well, we didn’t make any errors tonight.”

So much for the good news.

Hammond had a 4-0 lead before he even stepped on the mound. He didn’t allow a baserunner until Marlin shortstop Kurt Abbott booted Piazza’s grounder with two out in the fourth. The only hits he yielded were a single to Karros in the fourth, a pinch-hit single to Mitch Webster in the eighth and a bloop single by Karros in the ninth.

“When you do well against that lineup,” Hammond said, “you know you’ve accomplished something.”

It was no time to diminish Hammond’s performance, but it was the 10th time this season that the Dodgers have been shut out, the most in the major leagues. And despite being a predominantly right-handed-hitting lineup, the Dodgers’ record against left-handers is now 8-13.

And six of those shutouts have occurred when Dodger starter Tom Candiotti has pitched.

“There’s some things you can’t begin to understand,” Lasorda said. “You can’t explain it. How do you explain it?”

Said Candiotti: “Sure, it’s frustrating. But how many times can I keep saying it?”

Candiotti (4-7) knew that he had little chance of winning after the first inning. Pitching brilliantly the last two months, Candiotti yielded more runs in the first inning than he had in his last five starts combined.

“I was just starting to find the feel of [the knuckleball],” Candiotti said, “but before I developed the feel, I gave them four runs.”

Quilvio Veras hit the second pitch of the game over Mondesi’s head for a triple. Chuck Carr hit a run-scoring single. Jeff Conine, the most valuable player of the All-Star game, hit another single.

Candiotti retired cleanup hitter Terry Pendleton on a fly ball to right, but two pitches later, watched first baseman Greg Colbrunn hit a three-run homer into the left-field seats.

Just like that, the game was over, and the second half had begun much like the first.