BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Dodgers Might Be Too Down : Game 2: L.A. wastes opportunities in second consecutive loss to Reds and now must win three in a row at Cincinnati.

The Dodgers slowly packed their bags in the quiet of their clubhouse Wednesday night, wondering if they should just go ahead and pack them for the winter.

No one was openly conceding that the season is over, but after losing, 5-4, to the Cincinnati Reds in front of a paid crowd of 46,051 at Dodger Stadium, they find themselves on the brink of elimination with little optimism of survival.

The Dodgers not only trail, 2-0, in the best-of-five series in this first round of the National League playoffs, but they face the grim prospect of having to beat the Reds three consecutive games in Cincinnati.

No team has lost the first two games at home and come back to win a best-of-five series.

The Reds guarantee it won’t happen this time, either.

“We know they’re not going to come back in our back yard and beat us three straight,” outfielder Jerome Walton said. “No way.

“It’s over.”

It could be a game that will haunt the Dodgers all winter, trying to figure out how in the world Brett Butler and Chad Fonville can outhit the Reds by themselves, and first baseman Eric Karros can hit two homers and drive in four runs and still lose.

“By all rights we should have lost that ballgame,” Red Manager Davey Johnson said. “They just couldn’t deliver the punch to put us away. Hey, I’ll take it.”

Certainly, there were plenty of theories why the Dodgers lost, ranging anywhere from right fielder Raul Mondesi being ejected while walking to the outfield, to Manager Tom Lasorda not bringing in closer Todd Worrell in the ninth, to Lasorda not pinch-hitting for starter Ismael Valdes in the sixth.

“You can say this or that,” Lasorda said, “but you don’t have to look for any reason why we didn’t win. You saw the game just as I did. The opportunities, my God, how many did we let get away?”

The Dodgers outhit the Reds, 14-6, but they stranded 11 baserunners, with all-star catcher Mike Piazza having a game that he couldn’t wish upon his worst enemy.

Piazza went 0 for 5, stranded eight baserunners and threw away the ball on a pitchout that led to the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

“I’ve got no excuses,” Piazza said. “It’s just very disappointing. It was not a good night for a lot of us.”

The Dodgers found themselves in a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning. The Reds had scored two unearned runs in the fourth inning when Fonville made a two-out throwing error and Reggie Sanders followed with a two-run homer. Karros, however, led off with a homer in the bottom of the fourth, tying the game.

The Dodgers, behind the brilliant pitching of Valdes, appeared on the verge of putting the game away in the seventh. Butler and Fonville singled, bringing up Piazza and bringing the crowd to its feet.

Dave Burba, who relieved John Smiley at the start of the seventh, quickly got ahead with two quick strikes, but three pitches later, he was staring at a full count.

With the runners going, Piazza lined out to left, leaving Butler and Fonville to retreat to their bases.

Burba walked Karros on five pitches, loading the bases for Tim Wallach, who hit a high chopper to third baseman Jeff Branson. Branson threw it into the dirt to catcher Benito Santiago, who snared the ball for the forceout.

With two outs, it was left up to Delino DeShields. Burba fell behind 2-0, and then 3 and 1. Burba then threw a ball high in the strike zone. DeShields thought it was ball four. Umpire Bob Davidson called it strike two.

“That . . . ball was high,” Lasorda said. “I’ll tell you that.”

Now, with everyone running, DeShields swung for the first time, and hit a foul popup to Branson. It left the fans booing, Lasorda cursing, and the Dodgers sensing they had just let the game slip away.

Mondesi, who was standing in the on-deck circle, walked by Davidson on his way to home plate. Davidson, the umpire who called the Aug. 10 forfeit, said that Mondesi cursed him. Mondesi was immediately ejected.

It was the last break the Reds needed. Mariano Duncan hit a one-out single in the eighth, and with two out, tried to steal second. The Dodgers called a pitchout, but Piazza’s throw sailed to the left of the bag, and Duncan was safe.

It came back to haunt the Dodgers when Barry Larkin hit a 3-and-2 blooper into right field off reliever Antonio Osuna, giving the Reds a 3-2 lead. The Reds broke it open with a three-run ninth off three relievers--none of them Worrell.

“I wasn’t going to bring Worrell in that situation, no way,” Lasorda said.

The Dodgers made it interesting in the ninth when Fonville led off with his fourth hit. Piazza struck out, but Karros hit a two-run homer into the left-field pavilion. But Wallach popped up to Larkin and DeShields flied out to center.

“We can keep playing or throw in the towel and go home,” Wallach said. “I ain’t going to do that, and I don’t think anybody else will do that.

“They said you’ve got to win three. They didn’t say where or when.”