Dodger News Isn’t All Bad : Baseball: They lose Strawberry but win a game against the Mets, 2-0, behind Candiotti.

It was a bright night at Dodger Stadium, but another dark day for the Dodgers.

Such are the fortunes of this team.

After watching right-hander Tom Candiotti beat the New York Mets, 2-0, Saturday night before 44,873, the Dodgers learned that outfielder Darryl Strawberry has been put on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to Thursday because of a herniated disk in the lower back.

No surgery is planned at this time.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” said Tom Lasorda, the Dodgers’ downcast manager. “It just breaks my heart to see this. It’s a difficult situation, but we can’t close up shop. We can’t fold our tent. You never know what will happen in this game.”

What happened Saturday was the Dodgers won for only the third time in their last 14 games, improving their record to 12-20. The Mets dropped to 21-16.

Candiotti (4-2) struck out three, walked one and permitted six hits--all singles--in throwing the first Dodger shutout against the Mets since Bob Welch blanked New York and Tom Seaver at Shea Stadium in May of 1983.

Sid Fernandez (2-4) took the loss.

Candiotti’s knuckleball was dancing Saturday, meaning he figured to be tough.

“I had a good one tonight,” he said. “It was in the strike zone, and I felt real comfortable.”

Having failed to beat the Mets in four meetings, the Dodgers had learned at least one valuable lesson: Score first.

New York has scored the first run in 18 games this season and won them all.

The Dodgers took care of that early. With two out in the first inning and Mitch Webster aboard on a single, Eric Davis hit a fly ball deep to right-center field that just made it over the glove of a back-pedaling Bobby Bonilla, bouncing off the wall for an RBI double.

That broke an 0-for-14 drought for Davis, giving him only his fifth hit in his last 45 at-bats.

But it was enough to give Candiotti a lead to work with. And work he did. He had to pitch his way out of trouble all night.

In the third inning, with runners at first and second and one out, Candiotti struck out Willie Randolph and got Dave Magadan on a grounder to first.

In the fifth inning, with runners at first and third and one out, Fernandez sacrificed. That brought Randolph back up in another pivotal spot. This time, the Met second baseman hit a soft liner to second baseman Mike Sharperson.

In the seventh inning, the Mets again got two runners aboard with only one out. This time, catcher Carlos Hernandez bailed out his pitcher by picking Todd Hundley off at first base, blunting the New York rally. Candiotti ended it altogether by getting Dick Schofield on a grounder to third.

The Dodgers added another run in the seventh. Back-to-back singles by Dave Anderson and Hernandez chased Fernandez. In came Jeff Innis to serve up a run-scoring single to center field by Jose Offerman.

Offerman was hitless in his previous 14 at-bats when he connected.

In the eighth, Candiotti had to face Eddie Murray with two on and two out. But Murray, hitless in 12 at-bats against his former teammates, kept that streak alive by grounding to Todd Benzinger at first.

When it was over, Davis talked about Strawberry, his longtime friend.

“We all know what we have to do,” Davis said. “We can’t say one guy is going to lead us because it’s not going to happen. We have to lead one another.

“Hopefully, this will boost our morale. It could be healthy emotionally. We could feed off one another.”

For one night at least, they did.