DODGERS O GOOD FOR KUO HRS HELP ROOKIE WIN HIS FIRST START DODGERS 5, N.Y. METS 0.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

NEW YORK -- Hong-Chih Kuo had faced tougher opponents.

There were the two Tommy John surgeries in the minors, costing him all of three seasons and parts of two others. There were the doubts -- some of them his own and some of them emanating from others -- from people who could see the kid might be better off going into accounting or taxidermy.

Anything other than baseball, where he was chasing what was beginning to look like an impossible dream.

``I think the most frustrating thing was we would watch him throw 94 (mph) one day, and then the next day he couldn't even play catch because his elbow hurt so bad,'' said Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, the organization's roving minor-league pitching coordinator during those years.

But Friday night, at a time when he had long since closed the book on his legendary elbow problems and in a game the Dodgers absolutely, positively had to win -- which they did, 5-0 over the New York Mets -- Kuo's defining moment finally arrived.

And if it happened to come against the owners of baseball's best record and inhabitants of one of the game's most intimidating home ballparks, well, that was nothing compared to what Kuo already had overcome in his starcrossed career.

So, with the occasion of his first major-league start happening to fall on Taiwanese Night at Shea Stadium, Kuo -- who was born and still lives in Tainan City, Taiwan -- calmly delivered six shutout innings. While he was there, the Mets got three hits, hit five balls out of the infield and struck out seven times. The Dodgers' bullpen then took over, nailing down a momentous win in front of 52,077.

``He took us deep into that game,'' said Dodgers manager Grady Little, who lifted Kuo after six innings and 90 pitches. ``That was a good, quality start, and he will start the third game in Chicago for us on Thursday.''

Kuo had made 32 mostly erratic big-league relief appearances since last September, and the fact it was him who got the ball to replace the injured Chad Billingsley didn't inspire a lot of confidence outside the clubhouse. But that was OK, because there was plenty of it inside the clubhouse, beginning in the manager's office.

``If we didn't have confidence, we wouldn't have given him this opportunity,'' Little said.

Before Kuo helped the Dodgers (75-66) hold onto first place in the National League West (now a 1 1/2-game lead, after San Diego lost), he himself was helped by two fortunate first-inning developments.

First, there was the two-out throwing error by Mets third baseman David Wright that allowed Marlon Anderson to reach base and two unearned runs to score.

Second, there was a missed call by third-base umpire Bill Miller in the bottom of the inning that went the Dodgers' way.

With Carlos Beltran at the plate, Jose Reyes, one of baseball's fastest players, broke off second. Dodgers catcher Russell Martin threw a strike to third baseman Wilson Betemit, who reached down with his glove as Reyes was diving in and tagged nothing but dirt. But Miller saw it differently and called Reyes out. Kuo, despite subsequently walking Beltran, had escaped the first of only two jams he would get into all night.

Kuo (1-4) didn't give up a hit until Wright's leadoff single in the fifth, which was followed by Shawn Green's single, putting runners on first and second with none out. But on what might have been his biggest pitch of the night, Kuo blew one by Chris Woodward for the first out. Lastings Milledge then grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The Dodgers doubled their lead in the fifth when Rafael Furcal and Nomar Garciaparra each homered off Mets starter John Maine (5-4). Kenny Lofton's two-out double off Darren Oliver in the sixth scored Russell Martin for a 5-0 cushion.

Brett Tomko, Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito pitched an inning apiece to end it, combining to give up just one hit.

With that, Kuo finally could celebrate his first big-league win. And so could everyone else.

``The truth of it is, I think this is an organizational victory because of the people who stuck with him,'' Honeycutt said. ``People like (Triple-A Las Vegas pitching coach) Kenny Howell, (minor-league pitching coordinator) Marty Reed a nd Dr. (Frank) Jobe (Dodgers' team physician). They didn't give up on him.''

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Dodgers' Rafael Furcal reacts after crossing the plate on his fifth-inning homer Friday.

(2) The Dodgers' Nomar Garciaparra rounds third base after his fifth-inning home run off New York Mets starter John Maine on Friday.

(3) Dodgers rookie Hong-Chih Kuo registered his first big-league win on Taiwanese Night at Shea Stadium.

Frank Franklin III/Associated Press

Box:

DODGERS at N.Y. METS

- Tony Jackson