BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : The Ghosts of Offerman Haunt Fonville : Dodgers: Shortstop who had committed only two errors since early September makes a costly one in fourth inning.

It was a routine grounder, the kind Jose Offerman so often turned into an adventure.

Except this time it was Chad Fonville who played the role of the Dodger shortstop who couldn’t shoot straight.

Lovable, personable, Chad Hustle. The pint-sized player who jolted the Dodger offense with his electric play since replacing Offerman and his 35 errors in the lineup back on Sept. 2.

Only this time Offerman was on the bench, spitting sunflower seeds, when Fonville fielded Ron Gant’s hot grounder and short-hopped the throw past first baseman Eric Karros.

The play would become backdrop in the larger picture, the Dodgers’ 5-4 divisional playoff loss to the Reds at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, but it loomed large.

Dodger starter Ismael Valdes had retired the first 11 Reds he faced before Gant reached with two out in the fourth.

The inning should have been over. The next batter, Reggie Sanders, promptly whacked a Valdes slider over the center-field fence to give the Reds a 2-1 lead.

Though the Dodgers would ultimately manage only four runs on 14 hits, and strand 11 runners, Fonville understood the import of his mistake.

After the inning ended, he flung his glove against the dugout wall and stormed up the clubhouse tunnel.

“You must have known how he felt,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “He felt really bad. It was an easy play. He made a throwing error, and it cost us. Errors are only bad when they hurt you.”

And this one did.

But rather than sulk, Fonville seemed intent on doing everything possible to make up for his egregious error.

He ended up the night four for four, with a sacrifice, and scored the Dodgers’ third run ahead of Karros’ homer after he singled to center in the ninth.

It was the first ball Fonville had hit out of the infield.

After his error, he beat out a grounder to second in the fifth, reached safely on a hit-and-run grounder to short in the seventh, and added his single in the ninth. He also set up the Dodgers’ first run in the first when he sacrificed Brett Butler to second. Butler later scored on Karros’ double.

Fonville was on a mission.

“I guess you could say that,” he said afterward. “I made an important error, they ended up with two runs out of it. I was trying to redeem myself. I knew the error was bad.”

Fonville prayed that his error wouldn’t matter.

In the bottom of the fourth, Karros tied the score, 2-2, with a home run.

“That took the pressure off a bit,” Fonville said. “We got guys on base, we just couldn’t get them in.”

Four hits and a cloud of dust weren’t enough.

“Four hits don’t mean nothing,” Fonville said. “We lost. I’d rather have no hits and win than four hits and lose.”

Fonville had made only two errors since replacing Offerman in early September. His boyhood idol was Ozzie Smith, the wizard.

What would Ozzie think?

“I just threw it away,” Fonville said. “I had a lot of time and threw the ball away.”

The season wasn’t supposed to end like this for Fonville, and maybe it won’t, although it will take a three-game sweep by the Dodgers in Cincinnati to prevent an early homecoming.

Fonville was baseball’s feel-good story of the summer, a 24-year-old pickup from Montreal who scratched and clawed his way into the lineup. His attitude and energy have been as incredible as his speed to first base batting left-handed.

Karros, who made a desperate swipe at Fonville’s throw, refused to indict the shortstop on a night when there was plenty of blame to go around the clubhouse.

“He had nothing to do with this loss,” Karros said. “It cost us two runs, but it’s not where the game was won or lost. Chad has been doing it all year long. We lost the game because we couldn’t get guys in when we had the opportunities. Chad did his part.”

Even Valdes, the pitcher victimized, blamed himself for hanging a slider to Sanders.

“I should have concentrated more myself,” Valdes said. “It was a high pitch. I should have thrown something else outside.”

And while Dodger fans may not soon forget Fonville’s blunder, they should not forget one man’s frantic desire to right his wrong.

“I was down about it, but I came back,” Fonville said. “I got on base, tried to make something happen. The guys said, ‘Don’t get down, we’ll get it back.’ I kept my head up.”