If They Don’t Succeed in First, What’s Next?

First place walked out of the Dodger dugout Saturday, hot and sticky and angry.

First place walked across the diamond and into the embrace of an Arizona Diamondback team that wore it like a favorite old glove.

It should have been a surprise, but it wasn’t. First place being no dummy, it doesn’t stick around where it’s not welcome.

As three splendid weeks spiraled into three awful days at Dodger Stadium, first place finally had the mat pulled out from under it.

On Thursday, the Dodgers lost to three errors and a bad umpire’s call. Friday, they lost to great pitching and impatience.

On Saturday, they crumbled under pieces of all of it.

First place waited until Dodger Manager Jim Tracy had his back turned, then followed his sixth-inning ejection with its own defection after the Dodgers had lost a 7-5 decision.

First place could be back as soon as tonight, but it will be two months before anyone around here trusts it again.

“We’ve faced tougher and beaten tougher,” Mark Grudzielanek said.

Maybe. Maybe not.

This is the first time they have lost more than three consecutive games this season.

The first time that this team’s passion and confidence may be injected with traces of doubt.

There are 71 games remaining, enough to fill most of a summer and fall. During that time, the Dodgers’ true personality will be revealed not in how they handle the Diamondbacks, but how they handle this doubt.

“I don’t question how we’ll handle anything,” Tracy said. “I know exactly what I’m going to get, the same thing I’ve gotten all year. Not once have I come in here and not felt like we left it all on the field.”

But not once has it felt like this.

The Dodger bewilderment could be seen Saturday in impatient swings and poor pitches.

The Dodger wows might now be turning to wonder.

They might be wondering, are they really destined?

After all, for the second time in three games, they were hurt by a bad call, and this one was a doozy.

What happened to umpire Bill Hohn on Thursday night--costing the Dodgers the tying run by ruling a fair ball foul--was an honest mistake.

But what happened to umpire Bill Miller on Saturday was a reprehensible lack of hustle and focus.

In the sixth inning, with the Dodgers trailing, 4-2, Steve Finley led off with a walk and tried to steal second.

He beat the throw, but then came off the bag. Cesar Izturis, showing the savvy that has marked his rookie season, continually tagged Finley until he was off the base.

This was clear not only on the replay, but in the dugout.

Yet Miller ruled him safe without following the play to its natural conclusion.

Tracy engendered this series’ first standing ovation after running from the dugout and eventually being ejected for arguing.

But that couldn’t change the three runs that followed.

“It changed the entire complexion of the game,” Tracy said, not to mention his team’s faces.

The Dodgers might also be wondering, do they have enough depth?

While the Diamondbacks were enjoying home runs from backups Rod Barajas and David Dellucci, the Dodgers were again watching Terry Mulholland get hammered while getting little help from their bench.

True, Hiram Bocachica had a pinch-hit homer, but essentially the Dodgers are trying to win a pennant with three players--Mulholland, Bocachica and Jeff Reboulet--who are not part of any rotation.

A team can hide one of those players, but three?

“Our depth is our secret weapon,” Arizona’s Luis Gonzalez said.

“It isn’t if you tell them,” joked teammate Randy Johnson.

Oh, everyone already knows. Even though Arizona has two of the best pitchers in baseball, the biggest difference between these two teams is that depth. Here’s guessing that before the trade deadline, General Manager Dan Evans will do something about that.

Finally, the Dodgers may also be wondering when those fresh legs are going to start slowing down.

Shawn Green has been struggling to catch up with late-inning fastballs. Eric Karros has struggled since the start of July. Brian Jordan has had two hits in 10 at-bats in this series.

And Eric Gagne seems to be working every game whether they need him or not.

He pitched Friday night in the ninth inning even though the Dodgers trailed. And there he was Saturday, warming up in the eighth and ninth innings.

“I wasn’t managing the game at the time,” Tracy said, deferring to bench coach Jim Riggleman. “But I’ve got a former major league manager sitting there and I support everything he does.”

Of course, Tracy was probably still calling the shots from the runway, every manager does. But if he admits it, he could be suspended.

Whoever was the boss, it is risky business stretching the arm of a closer so often during the middle of his first season in relief.

Doubt never responds well to desperation.

First place doesn’t like it much, either.

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