DODGERS FRUSTRATED BY REDS : CINCINNATI 2, DODGERS 1.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

Well, it was fun while it lasted - one entire night of clutch line drives, deep blasts and scurrying baserunners. Eight whole runs and 12 hits and a gratifying, one-sided victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

And then, just as swiftly as this offensive formidability arrived for the Dodgers . . . Pffft! Vanished. Relapse. Return to form.

``It's frustrating. It really is. It's a funny game,'' Mike Blowers said Friday night after the Dodgers fell 2-1 to the Cincinnati Reds before 35,197 fans at Dodger Stadium.

Any humor, however, is strictly the gallows variety. Over the last six games, the Dodgers have produced the following output of runs: three, one, zero, three, eight, two. Not too difficult distinguishing the exception from the rule.

``It's definitely something where we have to get clicking,'' said Todd Hollandsworth, who did his part with a pinch single off ex-Angel Lee Smith in the eighth inning. ``It's just a matter of time. Stringing hits together . . . (his voice trailed off). It was something we were doing on the road.''

But it's nothing the Dodgers have done with any consistency this season.

In the latest case, they wasted prime scoring opportunities in the third, sixth and eighth innings. For the night, they stranded eight runners, and six of them were in scoring position.

It left them to agonize - yet again - over what might have been, as they took inventory of their missed chances against John Smiley - a historic nemesis - plus Smith and Reds closer Jeff Brantley.

In the third inning, with runners at first and second, Eric Karros came to the plate with a .455 average on the homestand . . . and tapped back to the mound for the final out.

In the sixth, with runners at second and third with two out, Mike Blowers hit a blazing ground ball to third, but Jeff Branson played it off his chest and threw to first for the final out.

In the eighth, with Hollandsworth aboard with one out, Smith, recently cast off by the Angels, had a somewhat typical sequence: He went to a full count to Mike Piazza, then got a broken-bat groundout to short; he went full to Karros, and walked him (with first base open); he went full to Raul Mondesi, too, then got the Dodgers' resident free-swinger to flail at a breaking ball well off the plate and nearly in the dirt.

Hollandsworth, with a shake of his head, said: ``Mike hits a rocket off the third baseman's chest. Two inches left or right and we're in here talking about what a great win it was.''

Blowers, who later homered to greet Brantley in the ninth, was every bit as miffed. ``I come up with a chance to do something - a hit ties the game,'' he said. ``Sometimes you can do everything right in this game and it doesn't work out. I really felt that a big part of the game was the play Branson made on my ball.''

Such is the plight of the Dodgers in this infuriating season - losing for the third time in four games on this homestand and sifting through the what-ifs as they creep back toward .500 (31-30).

Smiley (5-6), despite being a left-hander facing a predominantly right-handed lineup, hasn't lost to the Dodgers in more than three years. He pitched shutout ball through seven innings.

And on a night when the Dodgers didn't hit . . . they didn't play particularly good defense, either, which surely tested the sanity of Ismael Valdes (6-4), who pitched well enough to win.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--color) Hal Morris slides into Dodger Delino De Shields, preventing him from completing a double play.

(2) Ismael Valdes throws out Curtis Goodwin, but he couldn't do it alone against the Reds.

David Sprague / Daily News