Now Is Not the Time to Panic

And so in the time it took Kevin Brown to say, “Ow!” the Dodger season has shrunk from 26 weeks to two.

Two weeks to figure out if this team can remain in contention with three right arms tied behind its back.

Two weeks to decide if a white horse should be summoned, and at what price.

Two weeks to recognize old Dodger mistakes, and avoid stepping in them.

The only thing certain is, two weeks is not enough time to acquire the one thing they need most, a permanent general manager.

Not that we miss Kevin Malone, but at least we could have somebody to blame if the coroner arrives before the horse.

The announcement Monday that sore-elbowed Brown will not pitch again until at least late August backs the Dodgers into a corner in a way that the fading Arizona Diamondbacks and flaky San Francisco Giants have not.

Sixty-nine games left. The division title and wild-card spot clearly within reach. Yet their starting rotation includes two guys called up from the minor leagues, a middle reliever, and now maybe even Something Carrara.

“It’s been a devastating year,” acknowledged Dave Wallace, Dodger interim general manager.

Wallace has said he doesn’t want to be the permanent boss. If he gets the Dodgers out of this mess, he may not have a choice.

The Dodgers like Wallace because he is a longtime field hand who understands the game is about more than last night’s box scores or tomorrow’s headlines. This situation will test that understanding.

The reasoned thinking is that the Dodgers cannot make the playoffs when the sky is falling.

The reality is that the sky has been bouncing off their shoulders for nearly four months and they haven’t collapsed yet.

The reasoned thinking is that, before the trading deadline July 31, they need to trade for another pitcher.

The reality is, trade what?

They can’t trade a position player like Gary Sheffield or Mark Grudzielanek without giving up on the season, so it would have to be a young pitcher, which is far more chilling.

Trade away a future ace for this year’s wild card?

One Dodger (Eric Gagne) to the Colorado Rockies for another Dodger (Pedro Astacio)?

Didn’t they try that last year by sending away Todd Hollandsworth for Tom Goodwin?

Here’s guessing Gagne could do as well as 6-10 with a 5.25 earned-run average, which is Astacio’s mark, lousy this year even at Coors Field.

Or maybe the Dodgers would send a young arm to the New York Mets for Glendon Rusch, a guy who would be pitching for his third team in three years.

Do you really want your white horse gasping for air?

In recent years, in attempts to find the missing piece for teams that were missing many pieces, the Dodgers have traded the likes of Pedro Martinez and John Wetteland and, on a lesser scale, Ted Lilly.

A team playing in one of baseball’s great pitchers’ parks has to stop trading good young pitchers.

The future can no longer be sold for a questionable present.

Having watched these Dodgers spend most of the last four months navigating a tightrope from which they should have long ago tumbled, I say there is only one thing they can do.

Nothing.

Keep walking, and don’t look down.

It has been fun to watch, and has already been memorable no matter what else happens.

The guy on the white horse must be them.

“We’ve made that message clear in the clubhouse,” Wallace said. “We’re going to give these guys a chance. This is not a panic mode.”

Contending teams that need one player to win a championship, they panic.

As Wallace said, the Dodgers are not one of those teams.

Even if they add a top starting pitcher, what are the chances that Brown, 36, will come back strong this year from a injury that is only slightly less severe than the one that finished teammate Andy Ashby?

And even if that new starting pitcher leads them to the playoffs, what are the odds that this young rotation can get them past the first round? Here’s guessing Luke Prokopec and reliever Terry Adams and Gagne and whoever else is throwing personal-high innings will be exhausted by then.

Would Dodger fans be willing to give up one or two top prospects for the right to get swept in October and be in trouble next spring?

‘Sure, we’d like to add some pieces,” Wallace said. “But not at a stiff price.”

That price would be paid next year. Darren Dreifort will probably miss the season, Ashby will be closely monitored after his recent surgery, and Brown is questionable.

Which leaves free agent Chan Ho Park, who suddenly might wonder if he wants gobs of money from a team for which he must win 25 games if they are to have a chance.

“You know, we are going to be playing baseball after this year,” Wallace said.

Here’s guessing the fans, weary of those quick fixes that have been busts, will remember.

Here’s hoping the Dodgers do the same.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.