WEATHER OR NOT, DODGERS AREN'T HOT L.A. FALLS BELOW .500 AFTER LOSING TO ARIZONA, THANKS TO MYRIAD MISCUES ARIZONA 8, DODGERS 3.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

PHOENIX - The triple-digit desert temperatures aside, the air- conditioned comfort of Chase Field is a far cry from the giant humidifier that is St. Louis' Busch Stadium, where the Dodgers had spent the previous four days sweating, dragging and losing.

But alas, it will take more than artificial climate control to cure what ails this club.

The Dodgers stink, and it isn't just from toiling in the hot weather. And after their latest indignity -- an 8-3 pasting by the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of 23,518 on Monday night -- they had the losing record to prove it.

Yes, for the first time in more than two months, the Dodgers are below .500. They are winless in five games since the All-Star break. And when it comes to playing sound, fundamental baseball, they offer precious little reason to believe that any of that will change any time soon.

How else to explain the fact that Diamondbacks right-hander Enrique Gonzalez pitched deep into the seventh inning on just 92 pitches? This is the same Gonzalez who threw 77 pitches at Dodger Stadium on July 4, when he lasted just four innings and got torched for seven runs. But then, these Dodgers are a different team at home, where they are 28-18, and on the road, where they are 18-29.

Consider the following:

Trailing by a run with the top of the order coming up in the fifth inning, the Dodgers allowed Gonzalez (3-2) to retire the side on five pitches, with Rafael Furcal grounding out on the first pitch, Kenny Lofton popping up on the first pitch and Nomar Garciaparra flying to center on the third pitch.

Still trailing by a run with Shawn Green on first and none out in the bottom of the sixth, Lofton, for the second time in the past two games, initially broke in on a ball that wound up taking its first bounce behind him for an extra-base hit. This one rolled to the deepest part of the centerfield wall, and Orlando Hudson legged out an easy triple, while Green could have jogged home.

Two batters later, Gonzalez hit a sharp grounder to Garciaparra to score Hudson from third, but the Dodgers failed even to get the out at first because reliever Joe Beimel inexplicably failed to cover. That left Garciaparra standing 15 feet from first base as the Arizona pitcher crossed the bag with his third hit of the game.

After Andre Ethier led off the seventh with a single, snapping a string of 10 consecutive batters retired by Gonzalez, Russell Martin stepped into the box and hacked at Gonzalez's first pitch, rolling it to short for an easy double play.

Finally, with runners on first and second and none out in the eighth, Saenz went after the first pitch from reliever Brandon Medders and, of course, hit a tailor-made, double-play bouncer to second.

Textbook baseball, it wasn't.

At least Dodgers first base coach Mariano Duncan was spared the agony of watching most of it. He was ejected in the bottom of the first inning by third-base umpire Angel Hernandez.

When Diamondbacks third baseman Chad Tracy checked his swing on a two-strike pitch from Aaron Sele (6-3), the Dodgers appealed to Hernandez, who ruled Tracy didn't go around.

Duncan voiced his displeasure from the visiting dugout, and he must have done it really loudly, because the visiting dugout is on the first-base side of the field. Hernandez, one of the game's least popular umpires among the players, quickly gave Duncan the boot.

Dodgers manager Grady Little came out to argue. After several minutes, Little returned to the dugout. That was when a livid Duncan bounded onto the field in the general direction of Hernandez. The rest of the crew stepped in to restrain him, and Little soon returned to guide Duncan off the field. But as he was leaving, Duncan ripped off his cap and fired it in the general direction of Hernandez.

Hernandez, for reasons known only to himself, immediately picked up Duncan's cap, carried it to the railing beyond the Diamondbacks dugout and tossed it to a fan in the front row.

The rest of the Dodgers simply had their hats handed to them. Again.

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Arizona's Shawn Green scores ahead of a throw to Dodgers catcher Russell Martin in the second inning.

(2) Arizona's Eric Byrnes is congratulated by Enrique Gonzalez, left, and Jeff DaVanon after hitting a home run.

(3) Dodgers coach Mariano Duncan argues with second-base umpire Rob Drake in the first inning and was soon ejected after.

Khampha Bouaphanh/Associated Press

Box:

(1) DODGERS at ARIZONA

-Tony Jackson

(2) Yannich advances