Dodgers Talk Back to Mets With Shutout : Baseball: Candiotti goes nine innings, batterymate Prince hits first home run in 3-0 victory.

They were nothing more than simple but powerful acts of vengeance, with two Dodgers wanting nothing more Thursday night than to shame their critics.

Starter Tom Candiotti, angered by talk that he might be washed up, pitched his first shutout in three years, leading the Dodgers to a 3-0 victory over the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.

His batterymate, catcher Tom Prince, took his turn at revenge by making Met Manager Dallas Green wish he never opened his mouth. Green was the one who made the comment Wednesday night after Prince’s first career triple: “If you can’t get Tom Prince out. . . . We’re not talking Babe Ruth here.”

Prince was told of the comments, read them for himself, and promptly went out and homered, doubled, drove in two runs and threw out two baserunners.

“My father used to tell me,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said, “ ‘Don’t spit in the air, it might come down and hit you.’ ”

Said Prince: “I’m not going to change his opinion. The only way to change his opinion is to play.”

Candiotti, who yielded only five singles, and Prince enabled the Dodgers (13-14) to complete their first three-game sweep at Shea Stadium in 20 years--since Aug. 8-10, 1975. The paid crowd of 13,728 also witnessed the first time the Dodgers achieved consecutive shutouts since Aug. 17-18, 1992.

“The greatest thing that ever happened to us is winning these three games,” said Lasorda, whose team was on a six-game losing streak. “Gentlemen, we were in a storm and had to get the ship straightened out. And we did.”

Still, perhaps nothing was more gratifying to the Dodgers this series than seeing Candiotti’s knuckleball dancing back to form. The Mets managed six fly ball outs in the game. The only player to have much success was second baseman Jeff Kent, who managed to get hit by two of Candiotti’s knuckleballs.

“I was totally baffled up there,” said Met first baseman Rico Brogna, hitless in four at-bats. “I had no clue. . . . Hey, how did those guys lose as many games as they have with that pitching?”

Candiotti began the game with a 1-3 record, yielding a team-high 6.75 earned-run average and .320 batting average.

It didn’t matter to his critics that Candiotti, 37, has been bothered by tendinitis in his right shoulder, or that a few defensive lapses this season turned a 1-2-3 inning into a five-run disaster. He was being ridiculed, scorned and finally became flustered by some of the comments he heard on the air.

“I talked to [Dodger broadcaster] Rick [Monday] about it, asking for his advice,” Candiotti said. “He told me that just happens when you’re not pitching good. He said, ‘Just be big about it. If anyone’s shoulders can handle the burden of criticism, you can. You don’t have to say a word to anybody, just pitch like you can.’

“So I did.”

Prince, meanwhile, called up 10 days ago, has earned a starting job until all-star catcher Mike Piazza returns. In the last two games, Prince has caught two shutouts, thrown out all three baserunners trying to steal, and doubled, tripled, homered and driven in three runs.

Little wonder why the Dodgers giggled about Green’s comments during the game, wondering what he was muttering while watching Prince’s third-inning home run land in the left-field seats.

“Obviously, it came back to haunt them,” Dodger first baseman Eric Karros said. “You should always let a sleeping dog lie.”