FEELING DODGER BLUE.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

Here's your 2005 Dodgers season in a capsule: They're not good, not getting any better and there's no reason to expect that they will.

They're not good at anything. There's not one thing about them that's special. Not hitting, not power, not speed, not fielding, not pitching.

Nothing that's distinctive.

After another dismal offensive and defensive game Saturday in a 5-1 loss to the Mets, the Dodgers fell to an embarrassing 12 games under .500.

Forget the deceiving ``pennant race'' in the NL West, the Dodgers currently have the 13th best record in the National League.

How far have they fallen since last season? Their current 52-64 record would put them 17 games back of the Dodgers from a year ago at this point in the season (69-47).

That's a hard fall. That's a lot of bad baseball. A lot that has been camouflaged by playing in the worst division in baseball; they entered the weekend six games back of the Padres.

This is a pennant race the way your typical Hollywood starlet is big busted. Sorry, it's fake. It is not real!

The Padres keep bumbling about, giving false hope to an organization that should be embarrassed. Smoke and mirrors masquerade a seriously flawed team and allow weak optimism when reality should be setting in.

They're ready for toe tags, not a dramatic comeback. Ready to slink into September, not to knock at history.

The Dodgers seem utterly incapable of putting a winning streak together. They just can't do it. Since winning 11 of 12 at the start of the season, they've never won more then three consecutive games, and they've managed to do that only three times.

Yet a miserable division continues to give them counterfeit hopes, deceive them into believing that if they could only put a nice streak together they'd be right back in the thick of things.

``If there's ever a time to do it, this would be the perfect time,'' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said before Saturday's 5-1 lost to the New York Mets.

``A run of 10 out of 13, or 12 out of 14 or something like that would take you down toward the end of August and it would be pretty interesting to see where the situation would be as you enter the month of September.''

Then the Dodgers went out and committed four errors and managed only five hits against Jay Seo, a right-hander making his second start since being called up from the minors Aug. 6.

Note to Tracy: The cavalry is not on the way.

The Dodgers are actually relatively healthy now. J.D. Drew remains out, but it's not like he was hitting the cover off the ball before breaking his wrist.

Jayson Werth is back, and still hitting a disappointing .234. Jose Valentin, the failed Paul DePodesta experiment at third, is back and hitting .173. Hee-Seop Choi remains a one-week wonder.

Things are so bad, Tracy batted Oscar Robles - who started the season in the Mexican League - third on Saturday. That would be the spot normally reserved for your best hitter.

They're so bad that last week DePodesta strangely acquired Jose Cruz Jr., who's already failed with two other teams this season. A desperate move.

The killer is, the biggest difference between this season and last isn't the hitting, but the pitching.

The .257 batting average is close to last season's .262 mark, but the 4.55 ERA is well over last year's 4.01 ERA.

The rotation is filled with the average and the disappointing. Brad Penny deserves better than his 5-7 record, but doesn't appear to be a dominating starter, with just 83 strikeouts in 131 innings.

The bullpen, riddled with youth, has been less than average. Yhency Brazoban has converted 21 of 25 save opportunities, but is also 2-7 with a 6.46 ERA and has now lost his closer role.

The biggest loss of the season, of course, has been Eric Gagne. Without the game's best closer, dominoes fell in the bullpen and with the team.

``That has a lot to so with it,'' Tracy said. ``Probably everything to do with it.''

Throughout all this, the region's love affair with the Dodgers has gone undiminished. The team continue to lead the league in attendance at over 46,000 per game.

But the stadium feels dead. It feels a world away from the place that rocked last season. A stadium that often appears almost half empty.

The fans deserve better than a team 12 games under .500. Deserve better than excuses, cursing the fates and blaming injuries.

In Los Angeles the Dodgers are not expected to be mediocre, let alone bad, a team headed toward its first losing season of the new millennium.

As the Dodgers walked off the field after Saturday's loss, organist Nancy Bea Hefley's rendition of ``Tomorrow'' blasted through the loud speakers.

Bet your bottom dollar, it will look a lot like Saturday. A bad team, not getting any better.

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After finishing 24 games over .500 last year the Dodgers cont inue to drop the ball, literally and figuratively, this season.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer