Claire at Loss to Explain Offense

Executive Vice President Fred Claire said he, too, is surprised by the Dodgers’ offensive inconsistency, now spanning two seasons.

“I’m surprised we haven’t been able to click in better,” he said. “I felt a lot of our offensive problems last year were caused by [Brett Butler’s absence at the] top of the order and our overall on-base percentage [of .316, the National League’s worst].

“This year, Brett is back with an on-base percentage of better than .400 [and a .345 batting average] and we’re still struggling to score runs, but I still believe we’ll be a good offensive team. I have no doubts about that.

“I mean, we’ve had too short of a sample to draw a true definition, but you’re looking at three proven run producers in Mike Piazza, Eric Karros and Todd Zeile, two maturing and improving players in Todd Hollandsworth and Raul Mondesi and a youngster [Wilton Guerrero] who’s going to continue to get better batting behind Brett.”

April, however, has been another story in some cases.

Zeile is batting .164, Karros .246, a recently struggling Mondesi .254, Guerrero .246 and Hollandsworth a modest .266. Scouts and others contend the Dodgers continue to be handicapped by the absence of a left-handed power hitter in the middle of the order.

“I can’t deny there’s some merit to that,” Claire said. “I think that Todd Hollandsworth is a solid left-handed hitter who is going to get a lot better and a lot more productive, but there’s no question we would be a lot stronger offensively with a major left-handed bat in the middle of the order.”

*

The Dodgers lost consecutive weekend games to the Houston Astros by scores of 2-1 and 3-1 and are averaging 3.5 runs a game and 7.3 runners left on base.

“There’s some flatness out there,” Piazza said of the Dodgers’ play. “We need to kick ourselves in the butt.”

*

Sunday’s loss, coming on a tie-breaking, two-run homer by Craig Biggio off Tom Candiotti in the eighth inning, broke the bullpen’s latest streak of nine innings without an earned run and was the pen’s first loss against four wins.

Said Candiotti, the converted starter who had not allowed a run in eight previous relief innings, “This is definitely the other side of the coin. In three weeks I’ve already experienced the best of it and worst of it.”