Sad Dodger Tale: On the Road Again : Baseball: They have played poorly away from home and open a crucial four-city trip with a doubleheader at Pittsburgh.

PITTSBURGH — They had just lost four consecutive games in Montreal to start the second half of the season but, what the heck, their problems weren’t anything a fast exit to another country couldn’t cure.

This is what the Dodgers thought as they bumped along in their bus toward Dorval Airport on July 14, headed for Philadelphia.

But as the bus approached their charter jet, they gawked at a sight that made them wonder. Hmmm, maybe we do have a wee problem here .

They were looking at the rented truck hauling their equipment. It had stalled on the runway, the victim of a head-on collision.

With an airplane.

“We looked out at that big dent in the truck and we thought, ‘This is nuts!’ ” Gary Carter said. “We thought, ‘Maybe somebody really did put a hex on us.’ ”

The Dodgers will take the field at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium today hoping not to beat the Pirates, but that hex.

With a one-game lead over the Atlanta Braves and 29 games remaining, they are commencing an 11-game stretch that probably will decide their championship hopes, because not one of the 11 games is at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers have lost 21 of their last 26 road games. During that time they have blown 17 leads and a 106-day lead in the National League West.

They have been swept in five of their last eight road series, with each series being at least three games.

They have not won the first game of a road series in nearly five months, since April 15.

“Then look what we do at home!” Carter exclaimed. “It’s got to be some sort of spell. You got a better reason?”

Said Mitch Webster: “I’ve got a reason. We lose on the road because the other team always has last ups.”

Darryl Strawberry pondered the various theories and shrugged.

“You ask me, I think it’s more of a mental thing,” he said.

Little wonder.

The hex began when the San Diego Padres’ Paul Faries, a .155-hitter who was between trips to the minor leagues, beat them with a bunt July 4 in San Diego.

The hex has continued for seven weeks, with its latest indication coming in the Dodgers’ most recent road game Aug. 27 in Chicago. They lost their lead in the NL West because they could not get more than three hits against tender-shouldered rookie pitcher Frank Castillo.

Between the first and latest loss of this slump, they have been witnesses to a triple play, a rainout in a roofed stadium and St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Bob McClure’s first run scored in his 18-year major league career.

“It’s gotten to the point where, basically, we can’t even think about it anymore,” pitcher Bob Ojeda said.

But before they boarded that flight Thursday, the Dodgers probably could not help but think that, as bad as their road life has been, it could get worse.

“Every year, it seems like everybody has one trip where all you do is bounce around,” Webster said. “I guess now it’s our turn.”

Eleven games. Ten days. Four cities. Two time zones. Twenty bus rides. Five plane rides.

Eight starting times, from 1:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., including games featuring your basic 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. starts.

The trip begins with a doubleheader today against the Pirates, the team with the best record in baseball. The trip ends with three games in Atlanta, all sellouts. In between there are stops in Cincinnati and Houston for two games each.

After a night game in Cincinnati, they are scheduled to arrive in Houston at 1:45 a.m. Two days later they arrive in Atlanta at 1 a.m.

“And by the time we get used to the time differences, it will be time to come home,” Chris Gwynn said. “I’ve spent a lot of nights on the road staying up till 5 a.m., just staring at the TV.”

Ojeda, who does not enjoy flying, says his palms sweat from takeoff to touchdown. This could be one trip when they are never dry.

AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Three Rivers Stadium

Today, Saturday, Sunday

“Knowing what the atmosphere there is going to be like, this series will be a real delight,” said Webster, who played briefly for the Pirates this year.

The Dodger problems here will begin as soon as they step onto the field. It’s not real grass.

This slow, veteran team has lost 16 of its last 20 games on artificial turf, which is probably the best reason for its ineffectiveness on the road.

“I can already feel it,” Strawberry said of the strain that turf places on his legs and back.

Because of the Dodgers’ age, they feel this strain more than most. Kal Daniels, with surgically repaired knees that are stiff and ache when he attempts to play a day game after a night game on turf, is the most vivid example.

“The first two or three days will be fine. Then it will hit, and everything will hurt,” Strawberry said. “Of course, this time of the year, you just suck it up. You have no choice.”

The Dodgers also will be hit with the sudden time change, especially with today’s doubleheader beginning two hours earlier than normal, at 2:30 Pacific time. This is one reason that they and other West Coast teams often appear sluggish on the first day of an East Coast trip.

“The time zone thing doesn’t hit you until the day after you travel, but that is always when you play your first game,” Gwynn said. “You try to keep your same sleep patterns, so you go to bed real late and the next thing you know, you’ve got to get up and go to the park.”

Because the Dodger pitchers have held the Pirates to a .217 average in eight games this year, perhaps the offense can afford to wake up late this weekend. All except streaking Eddie Murray, who is batting .167 against the Pirates.

AT CINCINNATI REDS

Riverfront Stadium, Sept. 9-10

The Dodgers have played well here, winning five of seven games. Some of that is because, while the rest of the league looks at the Reds as bickering former champions, the Dodgers cannot forget the frustration they felt while furiously chasing them during the final month last season.

Also, perhaps, Daniels and Lenny Harris cannot forget the frustration of playing for the Reds.

Daniels is hitting .385 against the Reds this year, and .325 against them since being traded to the Dodgers in 1989. Harris, who came to the Dodgers in that trade, is hitting .317 against his former mates since the deal.

“No, I don’t feel I need to show them anything,” Harris said, smiling. “Because I’ve already shown them.”

Not that this series will be uneventful. The last time the Dodgers were in town, Alfredo Griffin fractured his cheekbone when Barry Larkin walked into him while leaving the field.

AT HOUSTON ASTROS

Astrodome, Sept. 11-12.

Forget Pittsburgh. This is the stop that worries the Dodgers most.

In winning only two of seven games against the last-place Astros in Houston this season, the Dodgers have been beaten by a triple play, by Rafael Ramirez’s pinch hits on consecutive games won by rookie pitcher Dean Wilkins.

Is is any wonder that the last time here, Daniels doused the Astros green mascot in water?

AT ATLANTA BRAVES

Atlanta Fulton County Stadium

Sept. 13-15

As if the players don’t already have enough incentive to win here, in what could be the biggest series of the season, there’s also the matter of bragging rights.

Brett Butler and Jay Howell live in Atlanta during the off-season. Butler is already hearing chiding from friends, and Howell has already been frustrated while purchasing tickets for a local youth organization that he wants to send to one of the already sold-out games.

“My wife already told me, ‘Brett, you guys have to win this thing, or we will never live it down,’ ” said Butler, whose team has won five of six games here. “And she sounded pretty serious. Talk about incentive.”