Last At-Bat Is Lost Cause for Dodgers : Baseball: Magadan’s homer is winner for Mets in ninth after Schofield’s dribbler goes for a hit.

It turns out Darryl Strawberry had the right idea by not leaving his hotel room Saturday.

Hanging around a team that needs carrying is no place for somebody with a bad back.

With their offense reduced to a whisper and their defense causing more grumbles, the Dodgers played another game that wasn’t worth talking about.

It wasn’t another one-run loss, but that’s only because there were two runners on base when Dave Magadan hit a two-out home run in the ninth inning to give the New York Mets a 5-2 victory before 39,330.

“The wind will change but, right now, it’s in our face,” starting pitcher Bob Ojeda said.

It was the Dodgers’ seventh loss in eight games, and the sixth time in 16 losses that the game was decided in an opponent’s final at-bat. Only two of their 10 victories have come in that manner.

The game also marked the third time in two games that Dodger pitchers walked home a run. This time it was Ojeda, who walked four of the first seven batters and was trailing, 2-0, after the first inning without giving up a hit.

“Walks are what put a manager in an old folks home,” Dodgers Manager Tom Lasorda said.

Mitch Webster tied it, 2-2, with his first home run in the eighth inning, the Dodgers’ second homer in their last 251 at-bats. But the Dodgers should not have gotten their hopes up.

They were 0-12 in games they trailed after seven innings and are now 0-13.

“These losses kind of stick with you,” Lenny Harris said.

The Mets’ first ground ball slipped out of shortstop Jose Offerman’s hand, leading to a run, and their last grounder stuck in Harris’ glove and led to the loss.

It happened with two out in the ninth inning and Bill Pecota on second base. Dick Schofield hit a slow grounder past pitcher Roger McDowell.

Harris charged and grabbed the ball but could not get it out of his glove in time to throw out Schofield, who was credited with a single.

Three pitches later, every Dodger but McDowell was running off the field after Magadan blasted a two-strike pitch nearly 400 feet, over the right-center field fence.

McDowell stood on the mound, his back to home plate, as if trying to stare the ball back.

In Magadan’s six-year career, it was only his second ninth-inning home run, and 19th homer overall.

“And we shouldn’t have even been on the field, we should have been in the dugout,” Lasorda said, referring to Schofield’s grounder. “You cannot give opposing teams those extra outs.”

Harris, who reached base twice against Bret Saberhagen but was caught stealing each time, said he was fortunate to reach the grounder.

“I was playing him deep. I was surprised I got to it,” Harris said. “I thought I had lost it, then I felt it, then I tried to pitch it over and I was too late.”

McDowell lost for the second time in 16 hours, while John Franco improved to 3-0 by facing only two hitters and getting two ground balls in the top of the ninth inning.

Typical of the Dodgers’ problems Saturday was the absence of Strawberry, who tormented his former team with three home runs in this park last year but has yet to play a game here this season.

After missing Friday’s game and leaving the park early because of a strained back, Strawberry phoned trainers Saturday morning and told him it was difficult for him to move.

They told him to remain at the hotel instead of risking further aggravation by taking a long cab ride when he was not going to play anyway.

Although Strawberry, who injured the back Wednesday, probably won’t play until next week, he said he will come to the stadium today. “It feels a lot better,” he said in a statement. “But it’s still day to day.”

The New York media tittered with the thought that Strawberry was ducking his former team.

Eric Davis, who went hitless in four at-bats against Saberhagen, has only two hits in his last 23 at-bats. He has not had an extra-base hit in more than two weeks.

Eric Karros, receiving his first chance to play against right-handers, has one hit in 10 at-bats against right-handers, with seven strikeouts.

“You lose your leader, it’s hard to pick it back up,” Harris said.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ burden grows heavier.