Dodgers Dejected, Ejected

An already awful trip for the Dodgers got even worse Saturday as Manager Jim Tracy and two players were ejected -- including one after the game had ended -- for arguing strike calls in a 6-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field.

Tracy and first baseman Paul Lo Duca were ejected in the eighth -- and pinch-hitter Jeromy Burnitz after he made the game’s final out.

The Dodgers (54-55) dropped to 1-7 on a nine-game trip that ends today, falling below .500 for the first time since May 6.

“There were some calls there that were obviously questionable ball-strikes,” said Tracy, ejected for the fourth time this season and eighth time in his Dodger managerial career.

“But we won’t sit here and point the finger at someone.”

Players pointed at home-plate umpire Joe West.

West ejected Lo Duca after a called third strike, and then tossed Tracy following a heated discussion. But it was West’s ejection of Burnitz that capped one of the most frustrating losses of the Dodgers’ disappointing season before a sellout crowd of 47,506.

With two out and All-Star closer John Smoltz on the mound, West called a third strike on Burnitz. Burnitz followed West and shouted as they walked off the field, triggering the rare occurrence of a player being ejected after a game.

“It can happen,” West said. “You can throw him out before the game, after the game.... I mean, you could say I’m putting you on report.

“It makes no difference. He shouldn’t be following an umpire off the field after the game. I told him that.”

Burnitz expressed confusion.

“He was telling me, ‘You’re tossed,’ ” said Burnitz, also frustrated about calls in Friday’s 2-0 loss. “I told him, ‘The game’s over. You can’t toss me.’ ”

Burnitz also admonished the other members of West’s crew before entering the Dodger dugout, pointing and shouting as he held his bat by the barrel.

Although he might face disciplinary action, Burnitz believed his conduct was justified.

“I just told them to go look up the word integrity,” he said. “That’s all I said. It makes it hard when things happen in crucial situations and things are tight.

“Whoever wants to talk to me about [his on-field behavior], that’s fine. I’ll pursue it to the nth degree if possible.”

Lo Duca was similarly frustrated about West’s actions and the Dodgers’ performance on the trip.

“I turned around and said, ‘You know you missed the pitch,’ and that’s when he threw me out of the game,” said Lo Duca, tossed while he walked back to the dugout.

“It’s real frustrating. It seems like everything is not going our way, but I think we’re compounding it too. The Braves are going to hit. They’ve got a great lineup.”

The Braves (73-37) have the major leagues’ top record and the National League’s most-productive offense, providing more frustration for the Dodgers, who have lost five in a row.

Gary Sheffield drove in the Braves’ first two runs with groundouts, and Chipper Jones’ bases-clearing triple in the fifth against Andy Ashby (2-9) staked Mike Hampton to a 5-0 lead.

The Dodgers chased Hampton (8-5) and pulled within 6-4 in the seventh on consecutive two-out, run-scoring doubles from Cesar Izturis and Mike Kinkade, and Rickey Henderson’s RBI single.

But reliever Ray King struck out pinch-hitter Adrian Beltre to end the rally. The left-hander worked a perfect eighth and then turned things over to Smoltz.

Smoltz needed only 12 pitches to strike out the side, throwing three to Burnitz. The right-hander got his major league-leading 42nd save and second in less than 24 hours, leaving the reeling Dodgers with another bad memory.

Trying to avert back-to-back three-game sweeps, they face 15-game winner Russ Ortiz in the final game of this series. A loss would drop the Dodgers to 1-8 on what players described as a make-or-break trip.

Regardless of today’s outcome, this is the Dodgers’ worst road performance since going 1-10 on a trip to Cincinnati, Atlanta, Houston and San Diego in their 99-loss season in 1992.

“This obviously isn’t what we came out to do, but we’ve got to show up tomorrow,” Lo Duca said. “I don’t know if you can say it’s starting to get embarrassing, but ... We’ve got to start playing for ourselves.”