The New Guy Can’t Do It All : Dodgers: Butler is drained, and his two-run triple is all L.A. gets as Mets squeeze past in ninth, 3-2.

Brett Butler stood dazed in the middle of the Dodger clubhouse Friday night, still trying to figure out what happened. His body told him he was a Dodger. His mind was too tired to know what to think.

Butler arranged his mother’s funeral in Chicago last week, attended her burial Monday in Los Angeles, arrived Friday in New York, was informed he was traded, shuffled across to the Dodger clubhouse, played for the first time in nine days, and watched his old team beat his new team.

“I can’t even think straight,” Butler said after the New York Mets’ 3-2 victory Friday in front of a paid crowd of 17,710 in Shea Stadium. “It was a weird feeling. It still hasn’t hit me.

“I’ve never gone through such a traumatic time in my life.”

Butler, who spent the last four years with the Dodgers, returned Friday afternoon when the Dodgers acquired him in a trade for minor league outfielders Dwight Maness and Scott Hunter. Butler had no clue about the trade until his wife’s sister paged them at O’Hare Airport to say that she read that the Dodgers were on the verge of acquiring Butler.

Butler’s wife scoffed at the report. Butler laughed. And they never gave it another thought until Butler arrived at Shea Stadium and was greeted with the news he was traded.

He cleaned out his Mets’ locker. Moved 500 feet down the hall. Greeted his old teammates. And played in his first game since his mother’s death on Aug. 9.

The Mets’ fans gave him a rousing ovation when he stepped to the plate in the first inning, but after watching him hit a double, a two-run triple, and make a spectacular running catch, they loudly booed him when he batted again in the ninth.

“I got a chuckle out of it,” Butler said. “I guess it really means I’m a Dodger again.”

Butler’s homecoming was spoiled in the ninth inning by Billy Spiers’ suicide squeeze with one out that scored Ryan Thompson. It left the Dodgers with their second consecutive loss.

“I think maybe we had too much confidence,” said Dodger starter Ramon Martinez, who yielded two hits and two earned runs in six innings. “We figured we would win. This is a team we should beat. We should beat them three out of three.”

Said catcher Mike Piazza: “I think we’re too tight. These teams are playing with nothing to lose, but we’re uptight about it.”

Butler’s arrival left the team giddy, and even those who never met him were taken aback by his presence.

How else can you explain second baseman Chad Fonville’s staunch refusal to change uniform numbers before the game to accommodate Butler--who wanted Fonville’s No. 22--and then Fonville proudly presenting Butler with his number after the game?

“I did it out of respect for the man,” Fonville said. “I didn’t really want to give it up, but I told him, ‘I respect you. You deserve it. Not me.’ ”

Butler, who wore No. 22 with the Dodgers, appeared moved by the gesture and thanked Fonville. Fonville shrugged, and told the Dodgers he’ll now wear No. 3.

“Initially, I was nervous tonight,” said Butler, whose two-out, two-run triple in the seventh tied the game. “Guys were kidding me, saying it’s like I’ve been on the DL for 4 1/2 months or took a sabbatical. It was just weird.

“When I hit my double, [Rico] Brogna says, ‘That’s the way to hit the ball.’ And one time [Jose] Vizcaino gave me a wink.

“These last 10 days, I’ll never forget.”

It began Aug. 9 when the Mets were in Philadelphia for a three-game series. Butler got a telephone call from his sister. She told him that their mother was sick. He needed to come quickly to Chicago.

Everything soon became a blur.

“My mom was still awake,” Butler said, “and I said, ‘Mom, I love you. Hang on. I’ll be there.’

“She gave the phone back to my sister. Thirty seconds later, my mom died.

“I’ve been riding a roller coaster of emotion, and now, I find myself in a pennant race.

“God works in mysterious ways.”