1996: DRAMA-FILLED, DREAM UNFULFILLED : DODGERS' SEASON UNINSPIRED AT END.

Byline: Tim Brown Daily News Staff Writer

This, maybe, is what happened when they could no longer touch their inspiration.

Brett Butler, who roared back from cancer, was on their bench but not in their outfield.

Tom Lasorda, whose heart gave before his desire, spent their final weekend back in a hospital bed.

Tim Wallach, their patient, cool veteran, was hitless in October. He needed to tell no one that it was time.

By the end, the Dodgers were worn and weary, perhaps fatigued by a season that was unlike any other. Their catcher, Mike Piazza, commented partway through it that future seasons would bore by comparison.

More likely, the Dodgers never were as proficient as they advertised. While they pitched remarkably and defended capably, they hit only occasionally, and from the front office they received only encouragement when reinforcements were required.

The Dodgers won their 90th game on Sept. 25, with four regular-season games left to play. Today, after a critical series that determined the National League West championship and a best-of-five series in the playoffs, the Dodgers stand on 90 victories. When the final room key is handed out in Vero Beach next spring, there still will be 90 victories.

The reason lies somewhere in the season:

April (14-14): The Dodgers played in a 12-degree wind chill in Chicago that cost them ace Ramon Martinez for five weeks, a period that gave the baseball to Korean Chan Ho Park. He won his first big-league game early this month. Naturally, he is a right-hander. The club later set a major-league record when knuckleballer Tom Candiotti's start was the 454th in a row by a right-hander. Mike Piazza's midmonth double was his first extra-base hit after 21 consecutive singles. Three days later he homered for the first time. Hideo Nomo outpitched Atlanta Braves left-hander Tom Glavine in the home opener, though as everyone would discover, the Braves do October better than they do April. On the month's final day, 38-year-old center fielder Butler announced that he would take a couple of weeks off to undergo a tonsillectomy, which was supposed to relieve the pain from a lump that had formed on the right side of his throat. ``The long-term part of it scares me,'' Butler said that day.

May (15-12): The Dodgers installed Chad Fonville in the leadoff position, the third of seven who would hit there, and sent Butler off to Atlanta for surgery. Three days after the tonsillectomy, with the club in Cincinnati, Butler announced that he was diagnosed with cancer. While in bed, he dictated this public statement to his wife: ``Baseball is at the foundation of my life and always will be. But even more than baseball, my faith in Christ is my strength and at the core of my being. We don't know why things like this happen, but we know that God's will is perfect. My wife and I would ask for your prayers for us and our children at this difficult time. We're not sure where this road will lead us.'' A week later, the club was 5-1/2 games behind the upstart San Diego Padres. Mike Piazza hit his 100th career home run and Tom Lasorda managed his 3,000th major-league game. He managed 40 more.

June (13-14): The Dodgers faced a deficit of 6-1/2 games. By June 24, with a lot of help from the Padres, they had a two-game lead in the West. On that day, Lasorda experienced discomfort in his chest and a day later he was diagnosed with a heart attack. He underwent what turned out to be the first of two angioplasties, about three months apart. His 1,599th career victory came because of Piazza's solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in the final game he managed. Bill Russell, the former shortstop and current bench coach, took over. Among his first experiences was four days in Denver that might live forever in club record books. The Dodgers and Colorado Rockies combined for 122 hits, including 24 home runs, 85 runs and three Dodger defeats. The Rockies stole 10 bases in one game, a 16-15 win that took 4 hours, 20 minutes to play. The outs came easier for Russell once he got out of Denver. For the first time since 1949, the Dodgers turned a triple play, against the Braves.

July (15-11): One day removed from his final radiation treatment, and nearly three months after he left them to battle cancer, Butler visited his teammates at Dodger Stadium. He was at least a dozen pounds underweight and his neck was burned a bright red by 32 doses of radiation. He carried a water bottle to compensate for his lost saliva and to soothe the sores that covered his tongue, mouth and throat. His speech was muffled and his walk was labored. ``Mentally,'' he said, ``it feels good. Physically, I'm at the bottom of the barrel.'' The Dodgers were even with the Padres at the All-Star break, a break for everyone but closer Todd Worrell and game MVP Piazza. Worrell saved his 200th career game. Third baseman Mike Blowers, a noted second-half hitter, had a 19-game hitting streak, then a season-ending knee injury. On July 29, Lasorda retired. The conclusion came at the end of a month in which he said the thought of retiring never crossed his mind. He often said that if owner Peter O'Malley and executive vice president Fred Claire cleared him to resume managing, he would be in uniform the next day. When that time came, he held a press conference to announce he would retire.

August (17-10): The pitching Martinezes - Ramon for the Dodgers and Pedro for the Montreal Expos - had a showdown at Olympic Stadium. Piazza and Eric Karros, on their way to career highs, hit back-to-back homers off Pedro to provide big brother with a 2-1 win. Billy Ashley, his role reduced in a likely Rookie of the Year season for platoon mate Todd Hollandsworth, won a game with a pinch home run off Braves right-hander John Smoltz. Wallach returned to the Dodgers after a stint with the Angels and hit a grand slam in his first game back. Worrell set a club record with his 33rd save. The Dodgers were a game behind the Padres with a month to play.

September (16-11): On Sept. 6, with the Dodgers in the midst of their best baseball of the year, their leadoff hitter is Butler. Four months after cancer surgery, he singled in his third at-bat in among the most emotional moments in club history. Four days later, Butler's hand was broken by a fastball. He didn't play again. As the Dodgers braced themselves for seven games in 11 days against the Padres, Hideo Nomo pitched a no-hitter at Coors Field, in perhaps the greatest hitters' ballpark ever built. On a mound drenched during a two-hour rain delay, Nomo pitched entirely from the stretch after the second inning. The Dodgers took a two-game lead into the final weekend against the Padres. They clinched a wild-card berth in defeat with two games to play, then lost two more. The Padres won the division and the Dodgers entered the playoffs with four consecutive losses.

October (1-3): In three division-series games against the Atlanta Braves, all losses, the Dodgers scored five runs, three earned. The offense, a concern in April, never arrived. ``It's funny how things look good on paper,'' third baseman Blowers said in the postgame gloom. ``But you still have to play the games. We didn't get the job done, so we're going home.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1,2--color) At top, Dodgers hitting instructor R eggie Smith, top left, and Dodgers' best batter Mike Piazza, center, are in a glum mood during the ninth inning of the final game in Atlanta. The club's hitting had practically disappeared. Piazza, above, takes a mighty swing but grounds out.

Associated Press

Stephen Dunn/Allsport