Production Has To Begin With Lasorda

Eleven shutouts?

That’s what the Dodgers would have had this season if Eric Karros hadn’t tagged an eighth-inning home run in Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Florida Marlins. Holy bats, Batman. Eleven shutouts.

Did you know that the Dodgers have scored the fewest runs in the National League? Well, they have. They have 302, two fewer than pitiful Pittsburgh. Only one team in all of baseball has scored fewer runs than the Dodgers, that being the Kansas City Royals, with 288.

And the Royals do not have five All-Stars. Nor do the Pirates. They don’t have four .300 hitters in their starting lineups, the way the Dodgers do. The Dodgers have scored 99 fewer runs than the Houston Astros. They have scored 131 fewer than the Angels.

As the astronauts say: “Houston, we have a problem.”

And Tom Lasorda better do something about it.

He could juggle the lineup.

“I’ve already juggled the lineup,” he said Sunday.

Then what’s the alternative?

“I don’t have any alternative,” Lasorda said.

He had better find one. The Dodgers are going to feel like fools if they don’t win their division. Colorado is a three-year-old expansion club, San Francisco is riddled by injuries and San Diego was the joke of baseball. If the Dodgers don’t beat these teams--with five All-Stars--they should be ashamed of themselves.

Coaching third base won’t help Lasorda. Moving batting coach Reggie Smith from the first-base box to the dugout might, so he can sit with the hitters. The Dodgers did this last week.

Hasn’t helped so far. The Dodgers have scored two runs or fewer in nine of their last 13 games. They benched Billy Ashley because he struck out too much. They still have Delino DeShields batting leadoff, even though his average is lower than Ashley’s.

DeShields was the leadoff man again Sunday, even though his lifetime average against Marlin pitching is .211. Raul Mondesi tried to steal second base, even though 23 of 33 runners who tried to steal against Florida pitcher Pat Rapp have been thrown out over the past two seasons.

Scouting reports are for a reason.

Why don’t the Dodgers score? Little things.

“Our run production is very low,” Lasorda said. “We’re playing in Atlanta. We’ve got nine hits. They’ve got two hits. But the score is 1-1 in the ninth, and we get beat.

“We ain’t getting hits when they count.”

Better do something.

“I’ve tried everything,” Lasorda said. “I’ve tried bringing them out early [for batting practice]. I’ve tried letting them alone. We’ve got four .300 hitters and we don’t score runs. It’s a damn mystery.”

The manager himself has to solve it. The buck stops there. Lasorda loses this division with these players, he’s accountable. Nobody expects the Dodgers to win the World Series. They do expect them to beat San bleeping Diego and Colo-bleeping-rado.

It’s up to management. The players have no answers.

“It’s ridiculous to think everybody’s going to hit .350 on this team,” Karros said. “Nobody in his right mind expects that.

“But there’s something else. We don’t execute as well as the Reds, the Braves, the class of the National League teams. And until we do, we’re going to continue to run into trouble.”

The Dodgers have scored fewer runs than the Marlins and Mets, the worst team in the league. Fewer runs than Minnesota, the worst team in the majors.

After dropping two to Florida, Lasorda said, “We ought to beat that team.”

You’d think so.

Then again, if the Dodgers were in the American League West, they would be one game out of last place.