BATS, DUGOUT QUIET IN LOSS : DODGERS CAN'T SOLVE TRACHSEL CHICAGO 2, DODGERS 0.

Byline: Tim Brown Daily News Staff Writer

Bill Russell stood out in front of the Dodgers on Tuesday night, where Tom Lasorda stood - and likely will stand again - for going on 20 years. They changed managers, if only temporarily, and that didn't change the goal one bit.

``I know Tommy was listening to the game and hoping, like the rest of us, for us to score some runs,'' Russell said in his first game back after a five-year demotion. He managed two games in Lasorda's place in 1991. He was 1-1. Make that 1-2.

The Chicago Cubs defeated the Dodgers 2-0 before an announced crowd of 37,448 at Dodger Stadium. Lasorda listened from a room at Centinela Hospital Medical Center, where he is undergoing tests for the cause of severe abdominal pain.

Russell spoke to Lasorda before the game.

``He sounded very good,'' said Russell, among the candidates to replace Lasorda when he retires. ``He said he was feeling well and anxious to get back.''

He did not speak to Lasorda during the game.

``I told them if that phone was ringing in the dugout,'' Russell said with a grin, ``I wasn't going to answer that.''

The Dodgers were shut out for the fifth time, this one by Cubs right-hander Steve Trachsel (6-4), who mixed pinpoint curveballs and fastballs to limit the Dodgers to six hits. Six days ago, Trachsel pitched eight innings against the Dodgers at Wrigley Field and allowed five hits but three runs.

Hideo Nomo (8-7) gave up four hits and had nine strikeouts in eight innings. However, the Cubs scored single runs in the third and fifth innings, the second of which was unearned.

Afterward, many of the Dodgers commented on the unusual silence in the dugout.

``It was kind of quiet on the bench tonight,'' Billy Ashley said. ``That's Tommy. It's kind of different going to the plate and you don't have anybody cheering out instructions. It's like an empty feeling.''

Even Nomo noted, ``I think it's a lot quieter.''

He added, ``Personally, I'm really worried about him.''

Among the ballpark's most overworked employees - on what was a cool evening - was the visiting bat boy, who every couple of innings was asked to run Trachsel's warmup jacket out to first base. Because Trachsel was there, winning the game from the plate as much as he did from the mound. Oddly enough.

A career .224 hitter after last season but batting .037 after 27 at-bats this season, Trachsel lined key singles in each of his first two at-bats, each time in the midst of run-scoring innings for the Cubs.

He singled in the third with none out and Jose Hernandez at first base. Hernandez scored when Brian McRae, the leadoff hitter, lined a single on a ball that Dodgers third baseman Mike Blowers appeared to have a chance to catch. The Cubs led 1-0.

In the fifth inning, Scott Servais grounded to Dodgers shortstop Greg Gagne, who sailed his throw into the Cubs' dugout instead of to first base. Servais was awarded second base, which was all hit-machine Trachsel needed. With one out, he hit a sinking liner that right fielder Todd Hollandsworth reached but could not catch. It bounded out of his glove - for what was scored a hit - and Servais scored. The run was unearned, courtesy of the error by Gagne, his second in as many games. It was 2-0, Cubs.

In a mildly surprising development, Nomo struck out Trachsel in the eighth inning.

Trachsel did most of the rest, though it might have been the Dodgers' usual meek offensive game. At times, it is hard to tell.

The Dodgers had one runner reach third base, and he stopped when he should have scored.