DODGERS' OFFENSE STAYS AWOL : VANLANDINGHAM THROWS NO-HITTER THROUGH 7 INNINGS SAN FRAN 6, DODGERS 0.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

Through the first three months of this baseball season, San Francisco Giants pitcher William VanLandingham felt he was making important progress if he could simply produce the occasional no-hit inning.

The right-hander with the interminable name arrived at Dodger Stadium Sunday with nine losses and an ERA of 6.22. But there he encountered a Dodgers team that has lapsed - abruptly, thoroughly - back into its trademark punchlessness. And the resultant turn in this young man's fortunes was enough to prompt motion sickness.

VanLandingham no-hit the Dodgers through seven innings, losing the bid when Raul Mondesi whistled a single through the hole at short on the first pitch of the eighth, and the Giants went on to record their second straight shutout of the Dodgers, a 6-0 victory before 42,862 fans.

``It's not something you go out and look to do,'' VanLandingham said of the no-hitter, an achievement the Giants haven't experienced since John Montefusco throttled Atlanta back in 1976. ``If it happens, it happens. The important thing is the team getting a win.''

He added, as if in state of wonder, ``Pretty much everything was working tonight.''

And, correspondingly, absolutely nothing was happening for the Dodgers.

This extended their scoreless streak to 21 innings, during which they've managed just seven hits while striking out 19 times. The trend is particularly troubling since it follows a stretch of offensive prosperity that accompanied Bill Russell taking over for Tom Lasorda as interim manager.

``An offense that was doing a lot of things right, the last two games just hasn't,'' said Russell. ``We have to get back to our game.''

He seemed genuniely bewildered about the the abrupt fall-off in production, saying, ``I guess that happens. I wish we had an answer. We just haven't been hitting well collectively the way we had been when we were going good.''

Actually, the Dodgers haven't been hitting at all. Or fielding with any competence. Or pitching with any consistency.

The defense committed three physical errors Sunday and one mental one. One of the official errors was crushing, since it occurred on a double-play ball to second baseman Delino DeShields in the Giants' four-run sixth inning. DeShields seemed to pivot for his throw before cleanly gloving Barry Bonds' grounder, and instead of two outs and a runner at third, the Dodgers faced no outs, bases loaded. Ouch.

Also in that inning, catcher Mike Piazza fielded an outfield throw two full steps behind home plate as Bonds bore down on him. This resulted in the ball hitting Bonds, who scored, before it could reach Piazza's mitt.

The collapse of the defense is anything but reassuring - the Dodgers have committed eight errors in four games since the All-Star break.

It undoubtedly flustered pitcher Chan Ho Park, who was pressed into this game at the last instant when scheduled starter Tom Candiotti experienced soreness in his right elbow while warming up.

Park (5-3), who said he had exactly 15 minutes notice for his eighth start of the season, breezed through the first five innings, striking out six and pitching two-hit ball. But he came apart in the sixth on a home run (to Marvin Benard), a walk, a Matt Williams single, DeShields' error, a run-scoring balk . . . well, you get the idea.

``Maybe watching him,'' Park said of VanLandingham, ``he teach me, to be more relaxed, to have more concentration.''

True, VanLandingham, who turns 26 on Tuesday, was the picture of unflappability in this one. Through the first seven innings, he allowed only one baserunner, on a second-inning walk to Todd Hollandsworth. Along the way, he started 19 of the 22 batters he faced with a strike.

In the eighth, he started Mondesi with one, too, and it became the night's first hit. Mike Blowers followed with another single to roughly the same spot. And two batters later, VanLandingham (5-9) was gone, forced to share the two-hit shutout with three relief pitchers.

Afterward, Mondesi refused to speak with reporters. But others talked of what they encountered.

``He was getting first-pitch strikes. He was getting ahead of everybody,'' Hollandsworth said of VanLandingham. ``Plain and simple.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Barry Bonds scored on this play in the sixth inning after the ball hit him on an outfield throw that Mike Piazza misplayed.

(2) Dodgers shortstop Greg Gagne bobbles the ball but manages to throw the Giants' Barry Bonds out at first.

David Crane / Daily News