DREIFORT'S LATEST OUTING `A JOKE' STRUGGLING DODGER ALLOWS CAREER-HIGH 8 EARNED RUNS ARIZONA 13, DODGERS 9.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

PHOENIX - There was another attempt at a comeback, one that fell short and turned a potentially strong, momentum-swinging road trip into one that's created questions about, of all things, the Dodgers' starting pitching.

It was a comeback necessitated by another dismal outing from Darren Dreifort, who is the subject of much debate throughout baseball because of his $55 million contract. Outings like this only stoke the flame.

Dreifort, staked to three-run leads twice, didn't record an out in the third inning. He was smacked around for a career-high eight earned runs as Arizona earned a split of the four-game series with a 13-9 win against the Dodgers on Thursday at Bank One Ballpark.

Dreifort allowed five hits, walked four and was horrific in finding the strike zone, throwing 29 balls in 56 pitches. The Dodgers, who won the first two games of the series, leave trailing the Diamondbacks by three games in the National League West.

``Our guys did a great job today, offensively, defensively, pitching. Everybody picked me up and I'm pretty much (expletive) embarrassed,'' said Dreifort, whose ERA rose to 4.88. ``It's a joke. ... It's just ridiculous.''

The Dodgers led 3-0 after one inning and 6-3 after two, but all that did was make the loss more deflating. The only other time Dreifort failed to pitch at least three innings in a start was Aug. 22, 1998, but for different reasons. Dreifort lasted an inning, leaving after being involved in a fight with Atlanta's Andres Galarraga.

There was no such fight this time, which isn't the first time Dreifort (3-5) was knocked around by Arizona. In his first start of the season, he was booed off the Dodger Stadium mound when he was touched for six earned runs on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings. In three starts this season he's 1-2 with an 11.37 ERA against the Diamondbacks.

Remarkably, Dreifort was worse than Arizona starter Nick Bierbrodt. The Long Beach Millikan High product allowed six runs on five hits in two innings in his major-league debut.

``Eight runs in two innings is unacceptable,'' said Dreifort, who faced five batters in the third inning, all of whom scored. ``We had six runs in the first two innings and I didn't do my job. That's it. I felt pretty good, felt like I was making pitches that I felt needed to be made. They were just hitting them where they needed to be hit.''

There are now concerns about the Dodgers' rotation. Touted as the best in the league but suffering with Andy Ashby and now Kevin Brown on the disabled list, it had a miserable seven-game road trip. Three times the starter failed to pitch five innings - though one of those was Terry Adams' 4 2/3 innings in his first major-league start - and Dreifort and Eric Gagne failed to get out of the third in starts.

Gagne was moved to the bullpen, his previous few outings dismissed mostly to the learning curve of a youngster. However, much lofty expectations are placed on Dreifort, especially given the financial commitment made to him.

The starters posted an 8.63 ERA, averaged 4 2/3 innings per start and put an enormous strain on the bullpen. Twice, manager Jim Tracy resorted to using seven pitchers to win two games. He needed five to survive the series finale with Arizona.

``I couldn't pinpoint anything, other than just not being able to throw strikes,'' Dodgers catcher Chad Kreuter said. ``That's the main downfall. We had what I thought was an extremely tight zone to start off the third inning to (Tony) Womack. Threw three pitches in a row that in my opinion were strikes. I think I have a pretty good knowledge of the zone, and then it just snowballed.''

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Photo:

(color) The Diamondbacks' Steve Finley is tagged out by Dodgers second baseman Mark Grudzielanek on a steal attempt.

Matt York/Associated Press