Met Rookie Jacome Shuts Out Dodgers : Baseball: Left-hander gives up six hits while winning, 3-0, in his second major league appearance.

He has been forced to look in his imaginary book again, in the back pages--anywhere--trying to find a cure for the Dodgers’ hitting woes.

Although hitting instructor Reggie Smith thinks he has identified the problem, the solution still eludes him, and it showed Thursday night in the Dodgers’ 3-0 loss to the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium.

“I have to come up with something,” Smith said.

Before 38,194, the Dodgers were beaten by another left-hander, this one Jason Jacome, a minor league call-up who replaced Dwight Gooden on the roster and pitched a complete game in his second major league appearance. Jacome (1-1) held the Dodgers to six hits, dropping the Dodgers to 9-16 against left-handers. But it isn’t only lefties the Dodgers are having trouble against.

“There’s a lot going on in the players’ minds right now, other distractions,” Smith said. “Some will say that they are trying to stay focused, but if that’s the case, then they are not focused. Because if you try, then you aren’t.”

With a probable players’ strike looming, Smith thinks the pressure of staying in first place is taxing some of the players. He believes they are thinking about how they have to maintain the division lead, rather than playing with abandon. Thursday’s loss dropped the Dodgers’ lead over second-place Colorado to three games, their slimmest margin since June 27.

Meanwhile, the team’s hitting, which has led the league most of the season, now ranks fifth. During the 11 games of this home stand, the Dodgers are hitting .234 and averaging 3.2 runs a game. Neither Tim Wallach, Eric Karros nor Mike Piazza is hitting above .176 in those games.

“We are not executing, not getting on, not getting runners over and hitting too many fly balls,” Smith said.

“We have had meetings and they are aware of what they need to improve and they are working on it, but it’s hard being a first-place team over a 162-game haul.

“I know what it’s like (facing a work stoppage)--I have gone through four of them. But in ‘81, we were just playing, we didn’t know what was going to happen. We didn’t know that you needed to be in first place (in case of a strike). These guys do.”

The slump isn’t team-wide, as Raul Mondesi’s three-for-four performance indicated Thursday. And Wallach singled in his first two at-bats. But only one Dodger reached third base--Cory Snyder in the seventh.

Karros, though, says he doesn’t believe his slump is caused by outside distractions. “I can’t speak for everybody, but speaking on my behalf, that’s not the problem,” he said. “I’m just not hitting the ball well, and when I do hit it well, I hit it at somebody. Tim (Wallach) and Mike (Piazza) haven’t been swinging well lately either, and you can’t have three guys not swinging well. I have got to get out of it as soon as possible.”

In the first inning, it appeared the Dodgers were breaking out. Mondesi, who batted third in place of Piazza, who had the day off, and Wallach hit consecutive singles, but were stranded when Karros grounded out.

“When things start going wrong nothing phases me, I’m the type of guy who keeps my composure,” said Jacome.

“I have been watching Bret Saberhagan for a while now and I have learned from him.”

Tom Candiotti (6-4) held the Mets to six hits but was beaten in the fourth inning, when the Mets scored three runs on a homer by Todd Hundley, two singles and got a couple of breaks, including a walk to Joe Orsulak, who eventually scored on a comebacker that went off Candiotti’s palm and chest.

“If I would have fielded it cleanly, we would have gotten out of the inning, but in the end, it wouldn’t have mattered,” Candiotti said. “You have to tip your hat to the other pitcher. You know, I was out there reflecting back to my second major league start, when I threw a shutout (for Milwaukee) against the Angels, and the other pitcher was Tommy John. I’m happy, well not happy for him, but he did a good job.”