LOST BOYS OF SUMMER

By JASON REID

June 29, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN DIEGO —

The standings don’t lie. The Dodgers woke up Monday to the cold fact that they are in last place in the National League West.

Two months removed from the high expectations of an off-season spending spree, the Dodgers haven’t scrapped their ambitious goals--but they’re not talking or thinking about them much these days.

Instead, when they begin a three-game series tonight against the San Diego Padres at Qualcomm Stadium, what’s on the line is last place.

That’s not what an $80-million payroll was supposed to buy, but here they are, 7 1/2 games behind first-place Arizona amid one of the worst months (8-15) in the team’s Los Angeles history.

One of the only things they haven’t seemed to lose is hope.

“When you’re fighting to get going, you just have to accept that it’s going to be hard,” said left fielder Gary Sheffield, among the few Dodgers who have fulfilled expectations. “When you’re ahead of everybody and playing great, that’s when every thing is easy. There’s no challenge in that because everybody feels good when you’re going good.

“The test is what you do, how you handle your business, when you have obstacles. You need to work harder to overcome obstacles, whether you’re talking about baseball or in life. Right now, we’re facing a lot of obstacles. Our character is being tested now, but you see how we responded [against the Giants]. That’s what we have to keep doing.”

Winning two of three in San Francisco over the weekend didn’t keep the Dodgers from falling into last place because the Padres have won 10 in a row. But the showing did buoy spirits.

In addition to another strong outing from Kevin Brown, Carlos Perez had one of his best starts and Todd Hundley had two home runs in the second game, including a game-winning, three-run homer off all-star closer Robb Nen.

The Dodgers then staged a series of rallies before coming up short in the series finale, and in their minds at least, hope springs eternal.

“Look at what we did,” said closer Jeff Shaw, who saved the victories. “We came up here, we got the first two and we swung the bats well and [almost] came back [on Sunday].

“There have been a lot of things we haven’t done as well as we could. We haven’t been nearly as consistent at times as we need to be, but you have to feel good about this. We played the way we know we’re capable of playing every game. We played about as well as we have all year, and that’s encouraging.”

For the moment at least, that seems to be enough to allow the front office to stand pat. Their options are seemingly limited by the constraints of having a lot of players on multiyear contracts that may be difficult to move.

In addition, some likely candidates for a deal have been injured and other players are having subpar years.

Shortstops Mark Grudzielanek and Jose Vizcaino have both spent time on the disabled list, eliminating a surplus at one position that the team could have looked at. Pitchers Perez, Darren Dreifort and Chan Ho Park have struggled, as has the much-criticized Hundley and center fielder Devon White.

The Dodgers aren’t the only ones who see a glimmer of hope, however faint.

Sparky Anderson, who managed World Series champions in each league at Cincinnati and Detroit but now an out-of-baseball observer, is optimistic about the Dodgers’ chances.

“I still think they are going to win it,” he said. “They’ve had a few injuries. They haven’t had a real run yet. I still believe they will get that run and everything will come back to order.”

Others aren’t so sure.

Another former manager in both leagues sees it differently.

“I think they are overrated,” he said. “They were overrated from the start.”

The Dodgers realize that until they turn it around, skeptics will continue to have fun at their expense--no pun intended.

“A lot of guys have struggled at times, me included,” second baseman Eric Young said. “You’ve got to be honest about that, but you also have to take a look at the guys that we have on this team. We can get hot, just like we did [against the Giants]. It’s only one series, but the important thing is that it brings back that feeling for us that we had earlier in the season.

“It lets you know that we can put together those big innings, we can rally against the best closers. When you’re trying to build something, that’s a good feeling to have. So you don’t focus on [last place]--you focus on getting back to where you want to be.”

And that definitely remains the Dodgers’ focus.

Staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this report.

* CUBAN PROSPECTS LOST: Dodgers are fined for signing two Cuban players, who are granted free agency. Page 5

JUNE SWOON

The Dodgers are mired in one of the worst months in their L.A. history:

July 1968: 7-20, .259

June 1979: 7-20, .259

June 1992: 9-18, .333

Sept.-Oct. 1992: 10-20, .333

Sept.-Oct. 1986: 11-21, .344

August 1987: 10-19, .345

June 1999: 8-15, .348