MARLINS FRUSTRATE DODGERS : FLORIDA 3, DODGERS 1.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

Much is being made of the multinational force that is the Dodgers' pitching rotation.

Japan's Hideo Nomo is expected to build on last season's rookie-of-the-year heroics. Mexico's Ismael Valdes is coming off a season in which he finished fourth in the league in earned run average. America's (or, as he jokes, Italy's) Tom Candiotti consistently keeps his ERA around 3.00. Korea's Chan Ho Park is showing early promise. And the Dominican Republic's Ramon Martinez, once he recovers from a groin injury, likely will be the anchor of the group.

The Dodgers had better hope this rainbow coalition lives up to its billing. The way this team is going at the plate thus far this season, it may desperately need every overpowering pitch from that group.

The Dodgers' offense once again was little more than a rumor Friday night at Dodger Stadium, as the Florida Marlins' John Burkett flirted with a no-hitter in a 3-1 victory before 40,343 fans.

Burkett (1-1), whose no-hit bid ended with Brett Butler's clean single to center to lead off the seventh, settled for a career-best two-hitter that featured nine strikeouts. The right-hander was perfect through the game's first 11 outs and didn't allow a ball to be hit out of the infield until the fifth inning.

Sound familiar? It should. The Dodgers, 5-7 on the season, have been held to one run four times, and have been limited to four or fewer runs on six other occasions.

The Dodgers also hiked their runaway lead in National League strikeouts to 102 in 12 games.

``I definitely knew I had a no-hitter going,'' Burkett said. ``But after I lost the no-hitter, I said, `That's that, and let's go win the game.' ''

He did, in fact, continue to keep the Dodgers in check, with one notable exception.

In the eighth inning, Raul Mondesi blasted a home run into the left-field corner. It curled around the foul pole and carried into the second deck. Mondesi became only the second player in Dodgers history to perform the feat - Frank Howard, in the 1963 World Series, was the other.

Burkett, as Atlanta's John Smoltz had three nights earlier, relied heavily on his fastball, and the Dodgers either couldn't catch up to it or couldn't find it - six of the whiff victims went down looking at the third strike.

``For the past five days I've been thinking about establishing my fastball for this game,'' Burkett said, ``and I think I accomplished that.''

Meanwhile, Valdes (0-1) entered this game having not allowed a home run in his first two starts of the season, spanning 14 innings. But the Marlins turned that trend on its ear.

They produced solo home runs in the first, second and fourth innings to account for all of their runs. Gary Sheffield, who had been one of the few productive hitters during the team's recent offensive slump, accounted for two of them, going to left field in the first inning and to right-center in the fourth. Greg Colbrunn provided the other.

For Tom Lasorda, it was particularly aggravating that Burkett's effort occurred on a night when the Dodgers' manager toyed with his lineup in an effort to revitalize it.

Left fielder Todd Hollandsworth was yanked from the lineup just before batting practice and replaced with Milt Thompson. And struggling third baseman Mike Blowers was bumped down a notch, from sixth in the order to seventh.

``You have individual slumps and team slumps,'' said Lasorda. ``Your job is to derail them. It's like a snowball rolling downhill. The farther it goes, the bigger it gets.''

Lasorda advanced the opinion that both players were pressing - Blowers to justify his acquisition from Seattle in trade this past winter, Hollandsworth to claim the left-field job as the latest in a string of Dodgers rookie sensations.

It's obvious something is amiss, as neither player is getting much accomplished at the plate. Hollandsworth flied to left in a pinch-hit appearance in the sixth, extending to 11 at-bats his hitless streak and lowering his average to .125. Blowers, 0 for 3 with two strikeouts on the night, has one hit in his last 24 at-bats.

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