New Defense Getting Old for Dodgers

It began as a show of confidence, snowballed into perceived arrogance, and by the time the season opened, the expectations became surreal.

The question no longer was whether the Dodgers were good enough to win the National League West, but how soon they’d clinch it.

The Atlanta Braves come into town today for the Dodgers’ home opener, but the Dodgers aren’t talking about a future showdown in the World Series.

After losing again Sunday to the Chicago Cubs, 5-4, on Mark Grace’s two-out, run-scoring single in the ninth inning, the Dodgers (2-5) have the worst record in the National League.

They admit they are playing awful baseball, and perhaps no one feels worse than shortstop Greg Gagne and third baseman Mike Blowers, the two newcomers who were supposed to transform the Dodgers into champions, but made back-to-back crucial errors Sunday in the seventh inning.

“The bottom line is that I kind of helped them win the game, that’s about it,” Gagne said. “I don’t know what’s going on. I feel like I let down the team. I’m not happy at all with the way things turned out.”

The Dodgers, who spent $4.9 million on the new left side of the infield and an additional $1 million to install new turf at Dodger Stadium, figured that Gagne and Blowers would be the least of their problems. Gagne was trumpeted as one of the finest defensive shortstops in the game, and Blowers hit a career-high 23 home runs and drove in 96 runs last year.

Who would ever imagine that Gagne would make four errors in the last three games, leading to nine unearned runs, and Blowers would be hitting .136 with one extra-base hit?

“Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be either one of those guys,” said Dodger first baseman Eric Karros, who ended his zero-for-16 stretch with two hits. “By the same token, those guys are not going to be the reason we win or lose. It’s going to be a collective effort.

“We just haven’t played well as a team. We’re not hitting a lick. There’s no power production from the middle of the lineup. It just seems that everything we can do wrong, we’re doing.”

The Dodgers have already permitted a major league-leading 15 unearned runs, left a major league-leading 64 runners on base, and have only 12 extra-base hits--none by catcher Mike Piazza or Karros.

“Obviously, things are not going the way we wanted,” Blowers said.

The Dodgers still figured to win Sunday when they had a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning after Raul Mondesi’s two-run homer. Starter Ismael Valdes was cruising until he gave up two runs in the fifth, fueled in part when Jose Hernandez’s bouncer caromed off Gagne’s glove for an infield single.

Valdes still had a 4-2 lead in the seventh, but could only watch in horror, wondering if he was back in 1995. Scott Servais led off the seventh by hitting a grounder to Gagne that took a nasty last hop and bounded into center field. Valdes struck out Hernandez, then Rey Sanchez hit a potential double-play ball to Blowers, but Blowers bobbled it for an error.

Pinch-hitter Scott Bullett then hit a soft liner to Gagne for the second out, and it appeared the Dodgers got a huge break when Sanchez was halfway to second base. Gagne hurriedly threw the ball to Karros, but the ball sailed into the Dodger dugout for a two-base error, scoring Servais and advancing Sanchez to third. Brian McRae followed with a single to center, and the game was tied.

Gagne made his second error of the game in the eighth when Luis Gonzalez’s grounder rolled under his glove, but the game was not officially lost until the ninth when the Cubs loaded the bases off three walks by Antonio Osuna and Pedro Astacio, and won on Grace’s single to center.

The Dodgers say they aren’t panicking. Yet, after one week, they never envisioned they’d already be three games out of first place and forced to scramble their pitching rotation. Using Astacio in the bullpen trying to preserve the game, and with starter Ramon Martinez (torn groin) out for the remainder of this month, they may have to bring knuckleballer Tom Candiotti on three days’ rest, although Candiotti has a strained right calf muscle.

“I don’t think there’s anybody here that’s giving up on the season,” said Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president. “I think everybody connected with the team is disappointed, you can’t help it with the results. Today was just the rough end of a rough trip.”