Trickle Against Mets Doesn’t End Drought : Dodgers: New York’s Cone stops L.A. on three hits for a 5-1 victory. The Braves pull within 4 1/2 games of NL West lead.

It is as if those tiny zeros glowing over the Dodgers’ shoulders for four days are beginning to blind them.

The right-field scoreboard that showed the Dodgers with no hits after nine innings Friday and no hits after nine innings Sunday blinked ominously again Monday.

One run. Three hits.

The result was a 5-1 loss to the New York Mets before 43,093 at Dodger Stadium and another strong performance by an opposing right-handed pitcher, this time David Cone. Cone walked one and struck out seven for his 10th victory and third complete game.

Coupled with a doubleheader sweep by the second-place Atlanta Braves of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers’ lead has been cut from six to 4 1/2 games.

Manager Tom Lasorda’s remedy? Before today’s game, they will not hit. No early batting practice, no regular batting practice, nobody in the tunnel cages, nobody within spitting distance of the bat rack.

Even Lasorda, who has thrown curveballs to rookie Dave Hansen at 3 p.m. for six of the past seven days, is giving it a rest.

“You watch, nobody is even going to touch a bat,” Lasorda said. “Everything will stop. We’ll see if that can change it.”

When the Montreal Expos’ Mark Gardner pitched nine no-hit innings against the Dodgers on Friday before losing in the 10th, the Dodger slump was merely considered unusual. After all, they are the fifth-highest scoring team in the National League.

But suddenly, it has become unsettling.

If not for a bunt single by Brett Butler, a single by Mike Scioscia and a ninth-inning pinch-hit home run by Chris Gwynn on Monday night, the Dodgers would have been no-hit over nine innings in three of their last four games.

The statistics are numbing: The Dodgers have three hits in their last 60 at-bats, an .050 average. They have hits in only nine of their last 36 innings.

Before Gwynn’s second pinch-hit homer, they had two hits in their previous 18 innings.

“It is really funny, to have it happen so quickly like that,” Gwynn said.

Juan Samuel, whose average has dropped below .300 for the first time since the second week of the season, has one hit in his last 11 at-bats. Kal Daniels is in an identical slump.

Darryl Strawberry, who is finally being booed here, has two hits in his last 13 at-bats.

Even Butler, despite his bunt hit, has only two hits in his last 14 at-bats.

Butler typified the night when, after striking out on a 3-and-2 pitch in the sixth inning, he thrust his bat into the air in anger.

“I just do not strike out on that pitch,” Butler said.

“While Dennis Martinez was just great, I think with Gardner and Cone, it was a combination of two good pitchers and us getting ourselves out.

“I think we get impatient, then we get disgusted with ourselves. Having no batting practice, that will be good.”

Cone was backed by 10 hits, nine against starter Tim Belcher. Their attack was highlighted by Kevin McReynolds’ three-run home run, but all they needed was Gregg Jefferies’ run-scoring grounder in the first inning and his run-scoring double in the eighth.

Before Monday night, the Mets had one victory in their last six games and were seven games behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates in the East. Cone had given up a personal-high eight earned runs to the Dodgers on July 18 at New York’s Shea Stadium.

Today, the Mets are 5 1/2 games behind the Pirates and talking about changing attitudes.

“We’ve really been down, we’ve been accused of throwing in the towel, there’s been borderline dissension,” Cone said.

“Considering where we were yesterday, this is probably the biggest turnaround of the year.”

Belcher is without a victory since June 23 and has a 5.90 earned-run average in his last five starts.

“All I had tonight was a hard time,” Belcher said, shaking his head. “I’m as bad as I’ve been all year.”

Vince Coleman, who returned to the lineup last week after sitting out more than a month because of a strained left hamstring, lined Belcher’s second pitch of the game to left field for a single. Dave Magadan then hit a grounder to right field on a perfectly executed hit-and-run play to move Coleman to third.

Jefferies then hit a bouncer to shortstop Alfredo Griffin, who went for the sure out at second while Coleman scored. Eleven pitches, one run.

Seven innings later, Jefferies followed Coleman’s single and a bunt with his looping double to left. After Howard Johnson was walked intentionally, McReynolds sealed the victory with his second three-run homer in his last four games against the Dodgers.