Columnist Dean Juipe: Dodgers no longer seem so elite

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2003 | 9:33 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

For a team with money and resources and habitually high expectations, the Los Angeles Dodgers are now immersed in several consecutive seasons of mediocrity.

They haven't won a division title since 1995 and won't be winning one this year either.

They're 55-55 heading into tonight's game with Cincinnati, placing them very much out of the NL West lead and but a distant contender for a wild-card playoff berth.

Dodger Blue, once a rallying cry if not a proud call to arms, has devolved into the Dodger Blues.

Critics and fans alike are bemoaning the franchise's slide. And a team once so beloved that it boasted an army of followers as far away as Las Vegas, is, today, scorned as an underachieving collection of misfits, castoffs and injury-riddled discards.

The criticism extends to the Dodgers' Triple-A team at Las Vegas, which is stocked with what may be nothing more than borderline talent. While many of the 51s have seen a stint or two with the Dodgers this season, none of them seems to be going up and making the type of positive impact that assures their continued presence in the majors.

They're afraid in LA that the well has run dry.

They're also ready to cut ties with general manager Dan Evans and, perhaps, third-year manager Jim Tracy. Hitting coach Jack Clark was fired Monday, only to be replaced by Mr. Personality, George Hendrick of the 51s.

Evans doesn't come across as too shrewd, as last week's acquisition of a faded Robin Ventura exemplified. Ventura, 36, came to the Dodgers from the Yankees having hit .213 with one home run since June 1; he's 1-for-8 since joining his new team.

Who knows what Evans was thinking, but Ventura is well past his prime and is not going to be the answer for any team in need of hitting. And the light-hitting, run-starved Dodgers badly need hitting, standing last in the league in batting average, on-base percentage, hits, walks and home runs.

Without a single .300 hitter in their lineup, the Dodgers could use some of the players they let go. No fewer than four ex-Dodgers -- including run-producing machine Gary Sheffield in Atlanta -- are hitting .300 or better for other teams.

The Dodgers lack power and they lack speed. They don't drive in runs in bunches and they don't manufacture them, either.

Before scoring eight runs Sunday, they had accounted for only 12 runs in their previous nine games. Guys such as Shawn Green and Paul Lo Duca, to a lesser extent, are not producing runs as they once did when Sheffield was among them.

They're also missing the type of uniformly strong pitching staff that once intimidated opponents with its variety and depth. Heck, LA hasn't had a 20-game winner since 1990.

Reliever Eric Gagne remains a dominant closer -- his 35 saves and 1.70 ERA are outstanding -- and the team ERA of 3.10 is decent, yet this is a staff better known for its outlandish salary than its guile and smarts.

The Dodgers have lost 27 of their past 39 games and only the threat of a complete housecleaning may interrupt the decline.

If almost everyone employed by the team feels his job is in jeopardy, it's only apropos.