DODGERS NOTEBOOK: DALY: NO DECISIONS UNTIL AFTER SEASON GM'S MEETING IN JULY DEFINING MOMENT.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

Looking to tame the circus atmosphere that's engulfed the Dodgers for the last few months, Dodgers brass held an impromptu press conference Wednesday to state no announcements regarding the future of manager Davey Johnson or general manager Kevin Malone would be made until after the season.

Bob Daly, the managing general partner, CEO and chairman of the Dodgers, also said he wouldn't speak about the standing of either Malone or Johnson. But the briefing didn't dispel that neither Johnson's nor Malone's jobs were in jeopardy.

``When the season is over, (president and COO) Bob (Graziano) and I and other people will sit down and make an evaluation on the player personnel, and that goes for everybody in our organization that we want to sit down and talk about,'' Daly said. ``It won't be the Monday after (the season). It may be a week, it may be two weeks, it may be three weeks. I can't tell you the exact amount of time. But we're going to make a full evaluation, meet every day and talk. That's where we are.''

Most of the swirl around the Dodgers centered around Johnson's future and his likely imminent firing. But the Dodgers' process became more convoluted when it was reported Monday in the Daily News that Malone's job was in jeopardy.

Daly, flanked by club president Bob Graziano, said he would wait until the end of the season to gather and process the information before decisions are made.

``It is a distraction for me and it is for Bob,'' Daly said. ``We're going to have to make our evaluation, make our decision, at the end of the year. That's going to be our decision and we're going to have to live with our decision because that's what we get paid to do.''

The press conference is just the latest attempt to quell the mayhem of an organization seemingly careening out of control, but it's been going this way since the first week of July when Daly drove to San Diego to speak with Johnson. During that pregame meeting, Daly told Johnson the club needed to play with more energy and intensity.

That was compounded when Malone lashed out at Johnson's managing style at the All-Star break.

``Anything that I caused, I caused because I wanted to light a fire under everybody,'' Daly said. ``The fire was under everybody, including myself, Bob, the manager, the general manager, the coaches and the players. If that fire backfired, I apologize to everybody for it, but the truth of the matter was, it was done to motivate people to move a little faster and get everything going.

``If I contributed to it, I take full responsibility. I don't know whether it backfired or not. It wasn't intended to backfire. It was intended to be a pep rally. It was intended to be a positive.''

Daly said he didn't know whether it caused a problem, though it's widely thought of throughout the organization as the defining moment of the season.

``Let me just say this: It wouldn't have caused me to have a problem because people have said this my whole life,'' Daly said. ``Everywhere I've worked, people have said, `C'mon, you need to do a little bit more, you've got to do a little bit more.' That's how you get successful. People have always pushed me to go further. If it backfired, maybe I didn't know the personalities, maybe I didn't know the dynamics. Chalk it up to inexperience.''

--Odds and ends: While Rome burns, there are things taking place on the field, and one of them involved Mark Grudzielanek. With lefty Randy Johnson pitching and a shortage at shortstop because of the ailing Kevin Elster, Grudzielanek was shifted from second base back to his natural position of shortstop so lefty-hitting Alex Cora didn't have to face Johnson. That allowed rookie Hiram Bocachica, making his first career start, to play second base. . . . With days off today and Monday, Dodgers manager Davey Johnson has settled on his starting rotation. Rookie Eric Gagne will pitch Friday against San Diego, and Luke Prokopec will throw in relief if needed. Kevin Brown goes Saturday and Chan Ho Park pitches Sunday.