Dodgers’ Best Is No Match for Best of the Mets: Viola : Baseball: Predominantly left-handed lineup runs afoul of left-handed pitcher again. L.A. loses, 4-2.

With a left-hander taking the mound--and a premier one at that in Frank Viola--the Dodgers tried to present their best lineup Friday night, including sore-shouldered Darryl Strawberry and a gimpy Kal Daniels.

But they and their teammates proved to be little trouble for Viola, who pitched a complete game six-hitter to win, 4-2, and lower the Dodgers’ record against left-handers this season to 5-9.

Before a crowd of 47,974 at Dodger Stadium, the sixth sellout in 17 games, the Dodgers fell into a virtual tie for first with Atlanta in the National League West.

The Dodgers staked Mike Morgan to a 1-0 lead in the second, but two-run fifth and eighth innings by the Mets broke up a pitching duel between Morgan (4-3) and Viola (5-1).

With the Mets in town, the game was enlivened by the surprising presence of Strawberry, who suffered a separated shoulder only two days earlier. The Mets tested him early, when Dave Magadan singled to right field in the first and tried to stretch it only to be gunned down on a strike from Strawberry.

However, Strawberry was held hitless by Viola, and when he walked was picked off trying to steal. Daniels, trying to shake off a groin injury, was hitless in four at-bats, striking out three times.

“Just one of those nights we didn’t come up with a win,” Strawberry said. “When you get an injury like that you try not to think about it. I’m still playing, that’s the important thing. The sun will come up tomorrow and we’ll go out and try to score some runs for whoever’s pitching.”

Gary Carter got a rare start and homered just inside the left-field foul pole in the ninth inning for the only earned run off Viola.

But it was hardly enough to rattle Viola, who kept the Dodgers at bay despite what he says was less than his best stuff. “I didn’t have much of a change and I had no fastball,” he said. “But I had a helluva slider. I got away with some bad pitches. It’s easy to pitch when you have all your pitches. The test is when they aren’t all there.”

The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Carter reached first on Howard Johnson’s throwing error and Jeff Hamilton doubled him home.

Morgan, who came into the game leading the NL in earned-run average, faced the minimum 12 batters through four innings before the Mets got to him for a leadoff single by Hubie Brooks, a walk to Johnson and a double by Kevin McReynolds that scored both.

The pitchers matched four-hitters into the eighth when Tommy Herr led off with a single and was knocked in by Vince Coleman, who slashed an opposite-field double just inside the left-field foul line. Gregg Jefferies singled in Coleman for a 4-1 lead and Morgan was removed. He has pitched into the seventh inning in all seven starts and his ERA is still an impressive 1.87. “It’s a pleasure to catch a guy like him. He threw one heck of a game,” Carter said.

Still, Morgan rarely seems to get an easy one. “The game was a matter of inches,” he said. “(Coleman’s double) was on the line. I was right there with (Viola) until the eighth.”

Viola put down a budding Dodger rally in the fifth, stranding runners on second and third bases by striking out Brett Butler. In doing so, Viola said with a grin, he invented a new pitch. Said Met Manager Bud Harrelson: “He really had ‘em off balance. (Catcher) Rick Cerone said he threw a change-slider.”

The next inning, Viola gave up a leadoff single to Juan Samuel, then withstood three hard line drives to left field by Strawberry, Eddie Murray and Daniels. Viola wasn’t hit hard again until Carter’s home run in the ninth. “I thought I was throwing pretty good, but Rick said I got away with a terrible changeup,” Viola said.

The Mets’ third victory in a row lifted them to within 1 1/2 games of Pittsburgh in the NL East. “We came in thinking (win) two of three,” Harrelson said. “Now we’re thinking three of three.”