Message Is Lost on Dodgers : Baseball: Pep talk by Lasorda fails to inspire victory as club loses fifth in a row, 9-4. Gooden strikes out 15.

You know those heartwarming baseball stories in which the manager of a slumping team delivers an inspirational pregame speech, then his team beats the bejabbers out of an opponent?

This isn’t one of those stories.

Tom Lasorda provided the inspiration Friday, but the Dodgers didn’t respond. Dwight Gooden pitched one of the worst 15-strikeout games in recent memory, and the Dodgers lost their fifth consecutive game, 9-4, to the New York Mets.

Lasorda, who prefers individual pep talks to team meetings, broke tradition before this first game of a weekend series. The short session behind closed clubhouse doors was as necessary as it was unexpected.

“We were told we have to stop getting beat by mental errors,” Mickey Hatcher said. “We were told to keep going all out, going hard, and not to lose by not doing the little things.”

So what do they do? In addition to a three-run triple by Gooden against Mike Morgan, the Dodgers were hammered by the little things:

--A ground ball that skipped off Lenny Harris’ glove at third base.

--A low throw to first base by Willie Randolph on an attempted double play.

--Alfredo Griffin challenging one of the best left fielders in the league, Kevin McReynolds, on a play at third base.

--Three Dodgers reaching third base with fewer than two outs, only to be stranded.

The Dodgers took a 3-2 lead in the third inning, but those little things added up to a five-run Met half of the third.

“It really looked like we got off in the right direction,” Lasorda said. “Then the roof caved in.”

As a result, the Dodgers are eight games behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds in the National League West. Last season, the Dodgers weren’t as many as eight games out of first place until June 23. Last year, they never lost more than five games in a row and only did that twice.

“More and more, you have to sit back and wonder what is happening,” said Hatcher, who drove in the Dodgers’ final run with an eighth-inning pinch single.

That hit also should have set up a final Dodger rally, as it came with one out and runners on first and third. Except that Griffin tried to take third on McReynolds, who in 1988 led all National League outfielders with 18 assists. He easily threw out Griffin.

“I was trying to make something, but I guess I did it at the wrong time,” said Griffin, who had reached base with a single--his first hit in 12 at-bats. “It had been so long since I was on base, I got all excited.”

Most of the crowd of 34,817 were excited about Gooden, who showed his best strikeout form in five years and the best hitting form of his career.

He finished with the most strikeouts in a game in the league this season, and his most strikeouts since his career high of 16 on Aug. 20, 1985. But he also gave up nine hits.

“This guy could have gotten beat,” Lasorda said. “You look at the game and you see that his performance was very unbalanced, very misleading. He could have easily lost.”

For example, in the first inning Randolph singled and stole second with one out. But Kal Daniels and Eddie Murray struck out.

In the second inning, Scioscia doubled with one out and took third on Harris’ infield single. Griffin and Morgan then struck out.

In the fourth, Samuel hit a one-out double and stole third against catcher Mackey Sasser, who allowed four steals. But Samuel was stranded as Randolph and Daniels struck out.

“The point of the game is that,” Lasorda said. “Not getting those runners home.”

Morgan, who fell to 4-2 while Gooden improved to 2-3, gave up four hits in three innings, but the Mets scored seven runs on four walks, a hit batter and Dodger blunders.

The Mets scored their second run in the second inning when Randolph couldn’t complete a double play on Gooden’s grounder. Gooden’s four runs batted in tied a club record for pitchers.

The Mets’ five runs in the third inning came after Harris couldn’t handle a possible double-play grounder by McReynolds with one out and runners on first and second. Four batters later, Gooden hit his triple.

“A different play here or there, and it could have been a different story,” Morgan said. “It is a game of inches, and tonight we didn’t have the inches.”

Dodger Notes

Kirk Gibson took 40 swings in a batting cage Friday, setting the stage for his first live batting practice next week. He also sprinted through the outfield and on the basepaths. “Our plan was to have him take live hitting when he could run full speed, and he looks close to that now,” therapist Pat Screnar said. Gibson could be back in the lineup for the start of the Dodgers’ first series with the division-leading Cincinnati Reds at the end of the month.

Jay Howell threw a 28-pitch simulated game Friday, and, while he has yet to put stress on his surgically repaired left knee, he said the knee continued to feel good. He will throw another simulated game in Los Angeles Monday, the day he is eligible to return from the disabled list. If he feels well, he could be back on the roster by the middle of next week. “I’ve worked very hard, but it’s also amazing,” Howell said of his rapid recovery.

Jim Gott retired three consecutive class-A batters in his fourth rehabilitation assignment for Bakersfield against Palm Springs Thursday. In seven innings at class A, Gott has given up two runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. While the Dodgers acknowledge that he still does not have full arm strength, Gott’s two rehabilitation innings in Bakersfield against Reno today and Sunday could be his final efforts there and a decision on his status could be made Monday. Also pitching for Bakersfield Sunday will be rehabilitating Dodger Pat Perry.