SOMETHING AMISS IN THE BULLPEN.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

In the last few weeks Dodgers manager Jim Tracy periodically spoke about the bullpen's role in deciding the National League West and wild-card winners.

``The bullpen that performs the best may find themselves playing baseball in October,'' Tracy said.

If that prognostication is accurate, the Dodgers are in trouble.

Despite efforts to bolster it with a pair of trading deadline deals, the Dodgers bullpen is statistically the second worst in the 16-team National League.

Of the teams in contention for the playoffs, either the division race or wild card, only the Dodgers' ERA is higher than 4.00 (at 4.61).

The Dodgers begin a season-long 12-game road trip today in Colorado, where their weary bullpen will be tested. They trail Arizona by three games in the division and are two games behind the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card race. In both cases the Dodgers are in third place, trailing division rival San Francisco.

The division-leading Diamondbacks' bullpen is 22-14 with a 3.65 ERA. Second-place San Francisco's bullpen is 20-14 with a 3.99 ERA.

In the wild-card race, the front-running Cubs' bullpen is 19-18 with a 3.73 ERA. St. Louis' bullpen is 15-20 with a 3.94 ERA and Philadelphia's bullpen is 24-24 with a 3.98 ERA. The Cardinals and Phillies trail the Cubs by three and four games, respectively.

``I really think, and I've said this many times before, that over the course of a baseball season there are highs and there are lows, and just like hitters struggle at times, pitchers sometimes struggle,'' Tracy said. ``I think it's important you try to temper that and work around that, and do your best to work around it when it does occur.''

In the last week the Dodgers' bullpen has pitched markedly better, but that hardly erases a season of inconsistency and constant re-working. Since closer Jeff Shaw blew a one-run save in a loss Tuesday to the Rockies, the bullpen has yielded one run and six hits in 14 1/3 innings.

However, that could be nothing more than a hot week for a team that tried to bolster its bullpen at the trading deadline - acquiring right-hander Mike Trombley and left-hander Terry Mulholland and dealing well-liked set-up man Mike Fetters - but hasn't seen the desired results.

``Any time when you change things in the bullpen, there's a transition period,'' Shaw said. ``You see at the beginning of a season guys trying to feel their way in their spot, now, maybe that's what we went through for a week and a half, two weeks. Trying to feel how we're going to do this with two new guys in our 'pen.''

Shaw, who acknowledges he's good for seven or eight blown saves a season, blew three of them in August, by far his worst month of the season. Shaw, with seven blown saves, is tied for the league lead with 38 saves, but he had a 7.59 ERA last month.

Mulholland was hit hard in one-third of his outings, posting an 8.49 ERA despite allowing runs in only four of 12 games. Trombley was acquired to help Matt Herges set-up for Shaw, but his ERA is 4.60, Herges is back in the set-up role and Trombley's availability is in question because of a strained groin.

``You always talk about people having roles, but if you say, `Listen, we have to piece together whatever combination it takes to win,' I think that's the most important thing,'' Trombley said. ``(Tracy) is going to slot us into a situation where we can succeed. But I think people really know their roles, and it's a well-run bullpen.''

The saving grace might be that right-hander Matt Herges, who seems to pitch every other day, seems to have regained his form after two poor months. Herges' velocity is back and his control is much better. In his last eight games, Herges has allowed one earned run on three hits in 7 2/3 innings.

``We have to win to go to postseason so we have to click on all cylinders, not just the bullpen,'' Herges said. ``But the bullpen, definitely, needs to be in tip-top shape.''

The Dodgers also like how their bullpen matches up with the Giants and Arizona. In the last month, left-handers Mulholland, Jesse Orosco and Jeff Williams will be at Tracy's disposal to face San Francisco's Barry Bonds or J.T. Snow, Arizona's Luis Gonzalez, Mark Grace or Steve Finley and San Diego's Ryan Klesko.

Shaw also believes the configuration of the Dodgers' bullpen, with Herges setting up, Mulholland and Orosco as the lead situational left-handers and Giovanni Carrara (2.94 ERA) pitching in middle relief, is better than the Diamondbacks, whose bullpen ERA (3.65) trails only Houston's (3.55) and Milwaukee (3.50) in the league. An intangible might be the Diamondbacks using inexperienced Byung-Hyun Kim to close games.

``I like ours a little bit better than theirs because, if you look about a month ago, their starters never wanted to come out because they were afraid the bullpen couldn't hold it,'' Shaw said. ``Kim's pitched a lot. From middle to end, I like our bullpen a little bit better because we have a couple of things that we can tweak there. They've got Swindell, but we've got Orosco, Mulholland and Williams.''

DODGERS vs. COLORADO

Time: 6:05 p.m., Coors Field.

TV/Radio: Ch. 5; 1150-AM, 1330-AM (Spanish).

Matchup: After inexplicably having Labor Day off, the Dodgers begin a season-long 12-game road trip with three games against the Rockies. RH James Baldwin (2-2, 4.14 ERA) makes his seventh start as a Dodger, and his third against Colorado. He allowed five runs in matching a career-high with 13 hits allowed last week in losing to the Rockies. It also marks the first time Baldwin will experience pitching in the altitude. Rockies LH Denny Neagle (8-7, 5.22) would have a solid season going if not for the Dodgers. He's 0-3 with a 7.43 ERA in four starts vs. the Dodgers. He allowed five runs in seven innings in a loss last week at Chavez Ravine. Wednesday - Dodgers RH Chan Ho Park (13-9, 3.05) vs. Rockies RH John Thomson (2-5, 4.21); Thursday - Dodgers RH Terry Adams (11-6, 4.38) vs. Rockies LH Mike Hampton (13-10, 4.96).

- Brian Dohn

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DODGERS vs. COLORADO (see text)