DODGERS PITIFUL AGAIN : VALDES SHELLED IN REDS VICTORY CINCINNATI 9, DODGERS 4.

Byline: Tim Brown Daily News Staff Writer

The clubhouse isn't what it once was. Inside, the team that once sought to measure itself against the defending World Series champion, instead can't stay with its own division. It can't stay with the wild-card race.

The Dodgers, who promised results in August, when it counted, they said, instead are one of the teams being left behind. They are 2-1/2 games back in the National League West, and in third place, with a 59-56 record.

They lost again Friday night, this time to the Cincinnati Reds by a 9-4 score at Riverfront Stadium, where they played their newly-adopted distracted style of baseball.

A pennant race only a year ago doesn't appear to have made much of an impression on the Dodgers, who could use some of that perspective right now. If they know what they're doing here, then they must be pacing themselves.

``You don't know what's going through their minds out there,'' said manager Bill Russell. ``You put them out there and hope they learn from their experience.

``They just have to do the job. Until we get some production from the players, we're putting a lot of pressure on the pitchers, day in and day out.''

The Dodgers made three more errors against the Reds, for 13 in seven August games and a slovenly 36 in 26 games since the All-Star break. All three were in the first two innings, when the Reds scored five runs and pelted Dodgers starter Ismael Valdes (11-6) with line drives.

Valdes, this time, was not above the defense. He lost for the first time since June 18 because his pitches were lousy and because he could not defend himself against the result. Three Reds reached base with deflection shots off Valdes, who set those up with pitches that ballooned to the plate.

For Valdes, it was less a battle than it was a surrender. He lasted 4-1/3 innings, during which he allowed eight hits, three walks and eight runs, six of them earned.

``What can you say?,'' Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza said. ``Obviously he didn't make good pitches when he needed to, and he got hit around a little bit.''

Ramon Martinez pitched five innings Wednesday night in Pittsburgh in what turned out to be a 12-2 defeat. Dodgers hitters have no chance in the past two scenarios, since they ordinarily have little chance against four or five runs.

The club has lost 5 of 7 games in their precious August. Along with their airy defense, the Dodgers have batted .164 with runners in scoring position. Once again they managed to hit themselves out of a second-and-third, none-out situation with no runs.

Mike Busch hit a two-run homer in the second inning and rookie Todd Hollandsworth hit another in the third, and then the Dodgers had three more hits.

This is middle-of-the-pack baseball, at best.

``I don't think it can get too much worse,'' said Delino DeShields. ``It can only get better.''

Perhaps the experience of last season, when the Dodgers coasted until the very end, has been lost in a deluge of distractions.

``It's a different team,'' DeShields said. ``You look around, it's a different ballclub. We still got a chance. It's not like we're 10 games out and playing like sh--. We just gotta kick ourselves in the ass and start playing ball.''

Eric Karros said the club is not buckling in the strain of the stretch drive.

``I don't think there should be any kind of pressure,'' he said. ``We still got 40-some-odd games (47) left. If we're feeling the pressure now, we're going to be in trouble. I don't think anyone here can say they're playing at the level they should be playing. Right now, you can't exclude anything - pitching, defense, offense.''

When Piazza went into his slump - he was 0 for 3 Friday and his batting average has fallen 23 points to .340 - the Dodgers' collapse swept up the last straggler. It will be utterly complete if the pitching continues as it has recently, and the bullpen has been used 20 times in August alone.

``It seems like everybody is looking for somebody else to do something, and things aren't getting done,'' Piazza said. ``Hopefully, we can find the desire to go out there and play. We have to regroup and try to find some sort of way to get it done.''

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Photo

Photo: Lenny Harris slides under the tag of Dodgers secondbaseman Delino DeShields in the Reds' two-run first inning of their 9-4 Victory.

Associated Press