Offensive Woes Continue for Puzzled Dodgers, 4-1

SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers trudged out of the visiting clubhouse Thursday afternoon, still believing there must be some explanation for this mess.

How can a team with this much talent continually look so bad, losing their fifth consecutive game, 4-1, to the San Diego Padres.

The Dodgers (23-21), who have lost eight of 11 games, are amid their worst losing streak since May 16-21, 1995--the last time the Dodgers lost five in a row.

“It’s not even worth trying to explain,” first baseman Eric Karros, “because there is no explanation. It’s beyond explaining.

“All I know is that it can’t get any worse.”

Then again. . . .

If the Dodgers can lose seven of 10 games on a trip that included seven games against the three worst teams in the league, imagine what may happen with the Atlanta Braves in town for a three-game series.

“We’ve got to kick somebody’s butt sometime,” Dodger third baseman Todd Zeile said. “Throw that in the paper. That’ll send some fear up their spine.”

Well, either the Braves (32-13) will figure the Dodgers are due, or they’ll be at the team hotel drawing straws to see who gets to pitch against them.

The Dodgers, who claimed that their season would be a waste if they didn’t reach the World Series, have struggled so severely offensively that they’ve resorted to counting the times they hit the ball hard.

The offense has fallen apart. They are last in the major leagues in runs scored and have the fourth-worst on-base percentage.

Instead of getting their act together on the road against the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and Padres, the Dodgers’ troubles only worsened.

Manager Bill Russell used eight lineups during the trip, but it made no difference. The Dodgers hit only .237, scored 32 runs (16 via homers), walked only 19 times and struck out 64 times. They also hit .172 with runners in scoring position.

“It wouldn’t matter if we were playing the ’27 Yankees or the worst team ever assembled,” Zeile said. “It’s not a matter of competition. We’re just playing bad baseball.

“We’re spending a whole lot more time on the field than in the dugout.”

The Padres (19-25), who had only one victory against a winning team all season, defeated the Dodgers for the seventh consecutive time. The beleaguered Padre rotation yielded a 2.45 earned-run average in the three-game sweep, their first over the Dodgers at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium since 1988, while the Dodgers led for only two of the 29 innings.

Zeile produced the lone Dodger run with his leadoff homer in the second. The only time the Dodgers had a baserunner on second with less than two outs also was in the second inning. The moment ended abruptly when Padre catcher Carlos Hernandez picked Greg Gagne off of second.

Their only other threat to reach second with less than two outs occurred in the sixth when Karros hit a line drive off the left-field wall, only to have Trey Beamon throw him out by 15 feet.

“I was just running blindly,” Karros said. “I should have known I would have been thrown out by 50 feet.”

The Dodgers also should known it would be one of those games when Padre starter Joey Hamilton hit a solo homer off Hideo Nomo (5-3) in the fifth inning for a 2-1 lead. It was Hamilton’s second career homer.

The Dodgers had one last attempt to pull the game out in the ninth, with two runners aboard and two outs, but pinch-hitter Mike Piazza flied out to right, ending the game.

* IT’S NUTS: Peanut vendor Richard Aller, who has worked at Dodger Stadium since it opened, was fired for buying . . . peanuts. A1