DODGERS DON'T MAKE IMPRESSION : SAN DIEGO 1 DODGERS 0.

Byline: Matt McHale Daily News Staff Writer

Kevin Malone was expected to spend his first day as Dodgers general manager flying back to Baltimore to clean out his desk.

Instead, he came to Qualcomm Stadium to inspect the mess at hand.

Malone, named to the position Friday afternoon in Los Angeles, drove to his hometown and saw much more than a 1-0 loss to the San Diego Padres in front of a crowd of 32,830.

Malone witnessed hardluck left-hander Brian Bohanon fall behind after the first two batters of the game and suffer his third loss without a victory in his past five decisions.

Bohanon is a free agent at the end of the season and Malone will have to decide if the team wants to offer a multi-year contract or let him test a pitching-thin market.

Malone also saw an offense that had no answer for Joey Hamilton, who scattered six hits in eight innings before giving way to Trevor Hoffman, who picked up his 48th save.

Malone knew it was too late to ask Hoffman's brother, Glenn, the Dodgers manager, to ask the kid to play nice. He also knows there is a lot of work ahead in rebuilding the Dodgers.

``But I honestly see light at the end of this tunnel,'' said Malone, who was the assistant GM with the Orioles before taking the job.

Maybe in the winter, but not now. The only light is at the end of the season, which has 15 games to go. Then he can start to decide the future.

For the NL West-leading Padres, the future is now. The victory was their 93rd this season, setting a franchise record. They set another mark by winning their 51st game at home. All that adds up to an 18-game lead over the Dodgers, who came in with three consecutive victories and seven wins in their last nine games.

The Dodgers had a chance to tie the game in the ninth after Hoffman struck out Raul Mondesi and Jim Eisenreich to open the inning. Mark Grudzielanek singled, took second on a wild pitch and stole third. But Charles Johnson popped to second to end the game.

``Today didn't really seem different to me,'' Mondesi said. ``(Malone) is not the guy who is going to turn it around. We have to do it.''

With the way Hamilton pitched, it is hard to believe he lost six consecutive starts from May 7 to June 8. One reason is the Padres have scored three or fewer runs in 19 of his 31 starts. But during that stretch, Hamilton gave up 25 earned runs in 38-2/3 innings. He also had 26 walks.

Hamilton was 9-4 over his next nine starts, forcing the Padres to pull him off the market when they were considering trading for left-hander Randy Johnson.

Now there is a chance the Padres could meet Johnson, who is with Houston, in the playoffs. The Astros have the league's best record (95-53) followed by Atlanta (94-54).

Hamilton wasn't as sharp as Bohanon, who allowed just two batters to reach third after the first inning. But Hamilton got Eric Young to ground into an inning-ending double play in the fourth after walking Bohanon to load the bases.

In the eighth, Trenidad Hubbard reached on a drag bunt to second but was thrown out attempting to steal. Hamilton then caught Eric Karros looking at a third strike and retired Bobby Bonilla on a fly ball to center before calling it a night.

For Bohanon (6-10), it was his fifth start without a victory. He was coming off his poorest outing of the season, but also had two certain victories taken away when closer Jeff Shaw allowed late-inning home runs.