CAN'T SHEA MUCH ABOUT L.A. PITCHING THIS TIME, ARMS FAIL DODGERS IN LOSS TO METS NEW YORK 6, DODGERS 5.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

NEW YORK - Pitching made the Dodgers respectable while the offense went through stretches in which it had trouble getting to second base, let alone across home plate.

The starters and bullpen shared equal billing in keeping the Dodgers from becoming flops the last two weeks as the offense sputtered, which is what made their 6-5 loss Sunday to the Mets at Shea Stadium ironic.

The offense rallied for five runs in the eighth, keyed by pinch hits from Dave Hansen and Marquis Grissom, only to have the bullpen fritter away a two-run lead and lose on Tsuyoshi Shinjo's single into center field with two outs in the ninth.

Bizarro.

``It's a little (ironic), and that's why it's so shocking,'' said Hansen, who drove in a run with his double in the eighth. ``That's baseball, of course, but it would have been so good.''

Mike Fetters allowed two runs in two-thirds of an inning and Terry Adams (2-2) yielded Shinjo's hit as the Mets won two of three in the series.

The Dodgers (24-20) have lost four of the first six on their nine-game road trip, which stops next in Colorado, but they remained atop the National League West because both Arizona and San Francisco lost.

``No excuses, Terry Adams should have never been in the game,'' Fetters said. ``I do my job, we hand it over to our closer and the game's over. Today I (stunk), bottom line. I'm going to have days like that. Everyone's going to have days like that. Am I totally (ticked) off? Yeah, because we should have won that game, but I'm not going to try and dwell on it because I have to do it again tomorrow. I just didn't have it.''

The Mets rallied against a Dodgers bullpen that rates as one of the best in baseball, coming in with a 4.24 ERA and a track record for holding leads. The Dodgers are 21-1 when they lead after eight innings, and they were within two outs of doing it for the 23rd time.

The bullpen is also one that doesn't issue many walks - slightly more than three per nine innings - or give away bases. Fetter and Adams did both. Fetters walked the leadoff batter in the eighth before eventually yielding a two-run single to Lenny Harris. It was equally bad for Adams.

Desi Relaford led off the ninth with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Mike Piazza's fly to right field. Robin Ventura was intentionally walked, but Adams was poised to get out of the inning when he struck out Joe McEwing. Instead, Shinjo hit an Adams slider through the middle to score the winning run.

``We don't care what day it is, comeback or no comeback, we don't want to lose,'' Adams said. ``You hate to beat yourself. I don't mind losing games if they beat me, but you hate to beat yourself.''

The free bases and ill-timed pitches weren't limited to the Dodgers' bullpen. Chan Ho Park was touched for three runs - all in the second inning - in six innings, but manager Jim Tracy thought the right-hander could have pitched better.

Park ignited the Mets' rally by walking Todd Zeile to begin the second, and gave up two-strike, run-scoring hits to Rey Ordonez, Rick Reed and Timo Perez.

``We win as a team, we lose as a team,'' Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros said. ``Whether it's offense, pitching, defense, whatever, like I said, we win as the Dodgers and lose as the Dodgers.''

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Photo:

The Mets' Todd Zeile is out at home Sunday on the force play by the Dodgers' Chad Kreuter (21).

Louis Requena/Associated Press

Box: METS 6, DODGERS 5