DODGERS BATS CONTINUE THEIR SILENCE IN LOSS.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

The bullpen has put up a phenomenal succession of zeroes. The starting staff continues to chew up innings, and keep games close.

In a plot line that has become numbingly familiar, however, the Dodgers offense lags far behind.

Again. Still.

``We've got five wins,'' manager Bill Russell said on the occasion of the team's third loss, ``but we can swing the bats better and be more consistent with our hitting. We have a lot of talent going up to the plate, but we're just not bunching our hits.''

Instead, the Dodgers bunch handle-hop grounders and harmless fly balls, and the result Tuesday night was a 5-3 loss to the New York Mets before 27,318 fans at Dodger Stadium.

``You see glimpses of what it's supposed to be,'' said center fielder Brett Butler, who was back in the starting lineup one day after receiving antibiotics to treat a painful throat infection. ``We just haven't done it.''

No disputing that point.

The Dodgers, befuddled on this night by New York's Bobby Jones (2-0) - he went eight innings on five hits - saw their team batting average slump to .223.

Jones and Greg McMichael - who got the side in the ninth for his first save of '97 - pitched to the minimum number of batters over the final 5-1/3 innings.

For a change, the Dodgers didn't strand a lot of baserunners. But it was not a welcome change; they didn't have many.

It left Russell hinting strongly that he will shake up the lineup for tonight's homestand finale with the Mets - a measure not commonly seen when a season is barely a week old.

``We're doing everything we can,'' said Russell. ``We're going to score a lot of runs. . . . Our pitching is so good, it's going to keep you in every ballgame. It's just a matter of the hitting catching up. It's going to happen. I just can't tell you when.''

This game's output could be summed up simply: In the first inning, Raul Mondesi connected for his third home run of the season, and in the fourth, the single of Mike Piazza and double of Todd Hollandsworth were followed by the two-run triple of Greg Gagne.

And that was it. After Gagne's hit, the Dodgers sent 16 men to the plate and headed back to their dugout with 16 outs. The only man in that progression to hit safely was Eric Karros, in the sixth, but he was wiped off when he tried to leg out a double on the potent arm of New York left fielder Bernard Gilkey.

The Mets, by contrast, struck early against Dodgers starter Ismael Valdes (1-1), scoring twice in the first inning and twice more in the fourth. First baseman John Olerud did most of the damage in his first career look at Valdes, going 4 for 4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

Amid all of this, about the only reassuring news for the Dodgers offense was the condition of Butler.

He knows that every time he coughs or rubs his throat - or visits a doctor - teammates and fans fret over his future as a ballplayer. And perhaps his life.

But Butler declared Tuesday that his latest throat episode was merely an infection, perhaps brought on by kissing his wife, who has been fighting a persistent bug. His affliction, he emphatically insisted, is in no way related to the throat cancer that brushed him back in 1996.

And he seems determined to demonstrate as much with his play.

Butler, one night after returning from the doctor's office to put in seven innings of work in an extra-innings victory, laid out in the outfield for what was ruled to be a dramatic catch of Todd Hundley's drive to right-center in the seventh inning.

Video replays showed that the ball took a little hop off the grass before settling into the webbing of Butler's glove, but, ``I'll take it,'' he said. ``It was close.''

Butler's running dive - as well as his expressed desire to play Monday night and to be in the starting lineup Tuesday night - did not suggest caution or fear about his medical condition.

``I don't feel the dull pain - like a toothache - I had before,'' he said. ``That tells me it was an infection and, with the antibiotics, it's settled down.''

Butler understands that news of his doctor's visit might have caused teammates initial alarm, but he admitted that he has grown weary of constantly trying to dispel concerns about his health.

The slightest throat incident, he said, ``is magnified because of what did happen last year. I try to downplay it as much as I possibly can, but the fact of the matter is, it's hard to do (because of the media attention). There are times when you get tired of it.''

He noted that his throat pain Monday was on the left side of his throat, whereas his tumor last year was removed from the right side. ``Obviously, it crosses your mind,'' Butler said of any immediate concern that the cancer had returned, ``but the doctors told me for it to come back on the other side is rare.''

SLOW STARTERS

The Dodgers have fallen into first-inning holes in three games this season, including Tuesday night's. The score in each game after one inning of play:

Date Score Pitcher

4-8 N.Y. 2, Dodgers 1 Valdes

4-5 Pitt. 2, Dodgers 0 Park

4-4 Pitt. 2, Dodgers 0 Astacio

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: The Mets' Lance Johnson safely steals second as Wilton Guerrero is late with the tag.

Associated Press

Box: SLOW STARTERS (see text)