DREIFORT ACES YET ANOTHER EXAM : DODGERS 3, NEW YORK 1.

Byline: Brian Dohn Daily News Staff Writer

It's a curious thing. For the first 45 starts of his career, everyone wanted to know what was wrong with Darren Dreifort.

Suddenly, everyone is trying to figure out why everything is so right with Dreifort.

Contemplation about moving him to the bullpen has been replaced with talk of how dominant Dreifort can be. The latest example came in Dreifort's latest masterpiece. He allowed four hits in eight innings of a 3-1 win against the Mets to end the Dodgers' losing streak at four games Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Raul Mondesi added his 29th homer of the season.

``He's learning himself,'' Dodgers ace Kevin Brown said. ``He's comfortable. It's him learning on the mound.''

At one time, Dreifort was one more dismal start away from being in the bullpen. Now he's 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA in his last five starts and on the fast track to being one of the few nice surprises in an atrocious season.

Not too long ago, Dreifort was 8-11 with an ERA near 6. Now, he's 13-13 with a 4.84 ERA and trails only Brown for the club lead in wins (16).

``I always knew he was a great starting pitcher,'' Dodgers manager Davey Johnson said with a wide grin. ``He shut down a good hitting club. He never tried to really overthrow. He was completely smooth the whole way.''

Early this season, Dreifort would reach his pitch count by the fifth inning. Against the Mets, he threw 100 pitches in eight innings before giving way to Jeff Shaw, who notched his 32nd save.

But it goes way beyond just the 70 strikes he threw and the confidence on the mound. No longer does Dreifort throw every pitch with maximum velocity.

He's also regressed to his days of academia at Wichita State. Dreifort has taken to studying hitters more and talking to other pitchers and catchers during games he's not starting.

``You're sitting there for days and discussing things with the other pitchers, and when someone gets a hit, everyone runs over to the catcher to see what pitch was thrown,'' Dreifort said. ``The first game of a series I might spend talking to the bullpen guys, the way to pitch certain guys. Mike Maddux is a great guy for that. He makes mental notes and writes things down, and he's easy to approach and (bounce things) off.

``It's helped a lot. Going into a game, it's going in and taking an exam. If you prepare yourself, you're going to pass or you're going to fail. You have to give yourself a chance to pass.''

The Dodgers hierarchy, as well as catcher Todd Hundley, also said they've noticed Brown's impact on Dreifort.

Brown has a tendency to bear down with runners on base, particularly when they're in scoring position. Dreifort has started to do that and it showed in the seventh inning against the Mets.

Ex-teammate Roger Cedeno doubled to right with one out and scored on pinch-hitter Matt Franco's two-out double to right-center as the Mets pulled within 2-1. Dodgers second baseman Eric Young tried to keep pinch-runner Shane Halter close to the bag, and though Dreifort paid attention, his focus was instead on batter Ricky Henderson, who lined out.

``You learn a lot just watching (Brown) pitch, just his competitiveness,'' Dreifort said. ``He's a guy where you can just watch him and sometimes he'll get himself into a jam, and all of a sudden, one, two, three strikeouts, or a strikeout and a double-play ball.

``That's kind of like, you bear down for one out, but the other thing is you're less concerned about the runner and you're less concerned about everything but the batter.''