Dodgers Sink to New Low

The Dodgers, a team that three weeks ago exuded confidence with the swagger of a champion, suddenly find themselves battered, confused and fearing the future.

“I’m not going to say we’re pulling the panic button,” catcher Mike Piazza said, “but obviously if things don’t change around here, we’re going to have to look toward next year.

“Nobody wants that, but you can’t really sugarcoat it.”

If the Dodgers haven’t been disgraced enough these past 10 days, they experienced the ultimate indignity Monday night, suffering their most lopsided shutout in 32 years, losing, 14-0, to the Atlanta Braves at new Turner Field.

“This is beyond embarrassment,” Dodger center fielder Brett Butler said. “This is what you call an old-fashioned butt-kicking.”

The Dodgers’ only greater shutout defeat since moving to Los Angeles was an 18-0 loss on Aug. 8, 1965, to the Cincinnati Reds. It also was the Braves’ most lopsided victory over the Dodgers since moving to Atlanta in 1965.

“I don’t think anybody’s satisfied with the effort,” Piazza said. “If somebody’s satisfied with the effort, let me know. I disagree.

“What can you say? Obviously, we’re not a very good team right now.”

The Dodgers (11-11), who have lost seven of their last eight games, had such a pitiful performance that the Braves actually appeared to feel sorry for them. They began pulling their regulars in the sixth inning, and almost apologetically, didn’t send runners home to score unless it became necessary.

The entire Brave starting lineup, led by shortstop Jeff Blauser, had at least one hit off Dodger starter Ramon Martinez (five innings, 11 hits, eight earned runs) by the fifth inning. They had 11 players produce hits, eight players drive in runs and eight players score runs.

And the Dodgers?

They never reached third base and had only five hits, including three off Brave starter Tom Glavine (4-0) in seven innings.

“We’re taking advantage of people’s mistakes,” Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones said, “and we’re making them pay for it. That’s what good teams do.”

The Dodgers, who trail the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies by five games in the National League West, still want to believe they will find a way out of this mess, but have no answers.

“This is a good team going through a very rough period right now,” said Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president. “That happens, and this team has experienced that before. I don’t see players making excuses or doing anything but hitting this head-on.

“If somebody tries to make the point that we’re not dealing with a very competitive group of people, they’re not assessing it right.”

This is why the Dodger management believe it’s healthy that the players had a team meeting Saturday night, tempers flared and players feuded.

“If you care,” Claire said, “you get emotionally involved. I sure as hell don’t want them losing games and being passive about it.”

Besides, Claire insisted, it’s absurd for anyone to panic. This is April. There are 140 games remaining in the season. And this is the same team that everyone predicted would win the National League West, if not the pennant.

The Dodgers, Claire said, are not going to make wholesale changes, or even pull off a major trade, on the basis of an eight-game tailspin.

“We have made a commitment to our players,” Claire said. “This is a club we believe in. This is a club I believe in. Players know this organization is committed to them, and we’ll use that to our advantage.”

The Dodgers, if nothing else, are inspired by history. They trailed the San Diego Padres by 6 1/2 games last June 1, and still made the playoffs. They trailed the Colorado Rockies by five games on July 25, 1995, and won the division.

“The good clubs are the ones who can persevere through slumps and get the most out of it,” Butler said, “and this team will do that.

“All you can do is pick yourself up and make somebody pay. And somebody is going to pay. I just don’t know when.”