DEAD AND BURIED.

Byline: Brian Dohn

From the front offices on the luxury-suite level down the left-field line, hope lingers.

From nearly every other vantage point, the Dodgers' 2000 season is finished. Limited ability and inconsistency have all but closed the lid on the season and probably the Dodgers managerial career of Davey Johnson.

The Dodgers (63-61) entered Wednesday night 8 1/2 games behind San Francisco in the National League West. With 38 games to play, even the `78 Yankees would be hard-pressed to make up that deficit, and these Dodgers are not the `78 Yankees.

Everyone in the organization is clinging to the belief a miracle is on its way. But privately, many of the players acknowledge the season has gone awry and the thought of reaching the playoffs is pure fantasy.

The Dodgers, when all is said and done, have a $98 million payroll and nothing but frustration to show for it.

``There's so many areas that, at one time, fell apart during the season,'' Dodgers second baseman Mark Grudzielanek said. ``There's no question we are where we are because of the way we played.''

No matter which aspect of the game is scrutinized, the Dodgers have looked awesome at times, repulsive at times.

The starting pitching has had depressing stretches. The starters - other than Kevin Brown - went a month without winning a game. And now Brown is struggling: He entered his Wednesday start against the Montreal Expos winless since July 24.

However, it's certainly not all bad. The Dodgers' top three starters - Brown, Chan Ho Park and Darren Dreifort - form the second best trio in the National League. They're 32-20 and their 3.62 ERA trails only the New York Mets' threesome of Mike Hampton, Al Leiter and Rick Reed, who are 32-16 with a 3.61 ERA. Atlanta's Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Kevin Millwood are 38-21 with a 3.80 ERA.

The fourth and fifth spots in the rotation - occupied by Mike Judd, Eric Gagne, Carlos Perez, Matt Herges and the retired Orel Hershiser - are where the Dodgers fall down. That group is a combined 6-22.

``That's the key to being a great club, having everyone in the rotation to where the predictability is pretty good,'' Johnson said. ``You need that to put together a streak. When you win nine, 10 games in a row, that's less pressure on your offense, less pressure on your defense. Probably my greatest disappointment since I've been here is the lack of consistency in the starters.''

Team fielding held up for the first few months. Now, the Dodgers are second worst in the league with 109 errors. San Diego has committed 110.

Team hitting was strong early in the season and manages to break loose now and again. For example, the Dodgers popped six homers and scored 14 runs against the Expos on Tuesday. However, they rely so much on the home run and do so little to manufacture runs, they've had difficulty scoring late in games.

Certainly, they don't hit in the clutch. As a team, they're batting .256 with runners in scoring position. Left fielder Gary Sheffield is hitting .346 in such situations, but Grudzielanek is batting .217, Shawn Green is at .266 and Eric Karros is .254.

The bullpen hasn't fared much better.

Closer Jeff Shaw hasn't allowed an earned run since the All-Star break, but the seven saves he blew before the break (in part because he was injured) cost the Dodgers dearly during a time they were scuffling. An injury to Mike Fetters that offset the bullpen's balance for three weeks was another debilitating obstacle.

And there's the suspension fiasco that still looms. Sheffield's hearing for his appeal of a five-game suspension is Monday in Milwaukee.

``We don't have one part that doesn't work. All our parts work, and they work well, but not at the same time,'' Dreifort said.

The front office revamped the roster in the offseason and then made a few moves during the season to upgrade the talent. Alex Cora is starting much of the time at shortstop, and he's been as solid as a 24-year-old can be in his first significant role in the major leagues.

However, the trading-deadline deals that brought right-hander Ismael Valdes and leadoff hitter Tom Goodwin to the team have meant very little. Valdes couldn't hold a three-run lead in the sixth inning against the Expos on Tuesday, and he's winless in five starts since being re-acquired by the Dodgers from the Chicago Cubs.

Goodwin was brought in to play center field and gives the Dodgers speed atop the order. In his three weeks with the club, he's been reduced to a platoon player with Devon White. In 18 games, Goodwin has three stolen bases.

``The bottom line is you can fragment it and break down the individual aspects of the team, but when you put it all together it didn't equate to enough wins so far,'' said Dodgers general manager Kevin Malone, the shining example of someone who believes hope springs eternal. ``It's exactly like a puzzle and having all the pieces, but they haven't fit together to form the picture. I've been very frustrated with it.

``I know we have the talent. We have a talented group of individual players, but we haven't been the consistent team we need to be for us to be a championship team.''

The lapses are so diverse it's left management and the players wondering how best to fix it - or whether it can be fixed at all.

The unfortunate product of their inconsistency? One six-game winning streak, one five-game winning streak and no others longer than three games.

So while the Dodgers maintain faint, perhaps misguided hope they can catch the Giants before season's end, remember this:

If the Giants, playing some of the best ball in the league, go 18-19 during their final 37 games, the Dodgers would need to go 27-11 just to tie them. And if the Dodgers miraculously pulled out of their five-month malaise and suddenly found consistency to play their best 38-game stretch of the season, it doesn't guarantee they'll get past second-place Arizona.

So, see you next year.

DODGER DOLLAR$ The Dodgers have not lived up to their $98 million payroll. Here's a comparison of their per-dollar stats with the first-place San Francisco Giants, who have a division-low payroll of $55 million.

DODGERS GIANTS

Wins $1,531,250 $739,889

Runs $151,002 $76,495

Hits $87,657 $45,757

HRs $550,562 310,734

CAPTION(S):

drawing, box

Drawing: no caption (gravestone for Dodgers' season)

Box: Dodger Dollar$ (see text)