Padre Hoyt Is a Hit Against Gooden, 2-0 : Pitcher Gets RBI Single and Shuts Out New York

As if this city doesn’t have enough demented minds, Kurt Bevacqua ran into the Padre clubhouse Monday night, determined to show up 36,677 New York Met fans. He grabbed a large, white envelope, then a red crayon. It took him 10 minutes, but he drew a “K” on the envelope and sprinted back to the dugout.

A few innings later, Padre pitcher LaMarr Hoyt had two strikes on Met shortstop Rafael Santana. Hoyt threw a sidearm breaking ball, a pitch about one-third the speed of a Dwight Gooden overhand fastball. Santana struck out. And Bevacqua brought the sign out.

He paraded around the dugout, hoisting a sign that Met fans usually raise for Gooden, the master of whiff. But this was Hoyt’s night, a night that began in agony but ended nicely.

The final score was 2-0, Hoyt going the distance, Gooden taking the loss. But there was so much more to this game. Not only did Hoyt gain his first victory since April 24, thus ending rumors that he’d lost his control along with his fat in the off-season, but he also had his first major league hit, an RBI single off a Gooden fastball of all things.

Just that he made contact was a surprise. Before the game, Padre players who had seen Hoyt fail to hit batting practice pitches thrown by has-been coaches, held a raffle, betting that Hoyt would never even touch a Gooden pitch. But no one won because nobody predicted he’d get a hit. In the third inning, Hoyt walked around in the dugout and said: “Hey, if I can get a hit, you guys can, too.”

Perhaps more amazing than Hoyt’s hit, however, was his first-inning escape. For the proper perspective, remember that Hoyt had left his last start in the second inning, after giving up eight runs to St. Louis. And it almost happened again Monday, as he gave up a double, a single and a walk to the first three batters he faced.

So the bases were loaded with catcher Gary Carter coming up. The first pitch was outside, and Manager Dick Williams telephoned the bullpen then, asking that Greg Booker stand up and throw. The next pitch was again outside. The next pitch was even more outside, and almost skipped past catcher Terry Kennedy.

So, with the bases loaded and the count 3 and 0, pitching coach Galen Cisco visited Hoyt. And Williams would say later that Hoyt was “one pitch or two” away from coming out. Anyway, Cisco patted Hoyt on the shoulder, and Hoyt threw a cut fastball, a ball that looked to be right over the plate, but sunk at the last second.

Carter, who had been given the hit sign, swung and bounced the ball right back to Hoyt. Hoyt turned and threw home for the force. Kennedy threw to Steve Garvey at first to complete the double play.

Garvey, rejuvenated, pounded the ball into Hoyt’s glove and said: “Finish them off. Go get ‘em.”

And the next batter, George Foster, flew out to Carmelo Martinez on the warning track in left.

Said Hoyt: “I was on pins and needles there for a while. Fortunately, he swung at a pitch he shouldn’t have. I was lucky . . . That was a very big burden off of me, because I’d become quite aggravated . . . I was throwing good pitches, and I wasn’t getting anything but balls.”

Said Carter, who was booed here by these lovely fans: “He just took something off of his fastball, and I was a little overanxious trying to do something with it . . . I just probably messed up. I probably should’ve taken the pitch. I didn’t, and the result was not a good one.

“If you’re an anxious hitter, well, it’s probably a bad way to be.”

So that did it. Although Hoyt was never dominant, he was never in trouble again. Kevin McReynolds, who has hit in 14 straight games, hit Gooden’s first pitch of the second inning over the left-field fence to make the score 1-0.

After Kennedy struck out (Gooden had nine strikeouts, making him the league leader), Martinez timed one of those fastballs perfectly, and doubled down the left-field line. Apparently, Gooden, who was 6-1 before Monday, didn’t have it.

After Templeton struck out (Mets fans held up “K” signs then, inspiring Bevacqua), Hoyt singled on Gooden’s first pitch to him. Hoyt, who was 0 for 16 this year and had never batted while he played in the American League, stood on first base grinning. Apparently, he’d been swinging his arms for leverage at the plate when he should have been using his wrists. He made that adjustment Monday.

And the two-run lead was enough. Although he was behind on the count to 13 of the first 20 hitters he faced, he gave up just four hits. In the eighth, Mookie Wilson hit a two-out single, but he forced Keith Hernandez to pop up behind the plate. Kennedy went back near the backstop, just a few feet from New York fans who were calling him ugly, to make the catch.

Hoyt batted in the ninth, and could have beaten out a bunt had he not jogged to first.

“I didn’t want to be on base,” he said. “I just wanted to get to the dugout and think about pitching.”

The ninth went quickly, three up, three down. By that time, Gooden, who had been pulled after he’d given up nine hits in eight innings, was dressed and gone, avoiding the media barrage. He’s fast all the way around.

But in the Padre clubhouse, Hoyt was there, smiling. Williams, who had been concerned after Hoyt’s last outing, was saying: “This was his best night. He needed this one.”

And then there was Bevacqua, who had noticed that Met fans stood up when Gooden got two strikes on a batter, primed to show their “K” signs.

“If they can do it, so can we,” he said, hoisting his sign one last time.

Padre Notes

Alan Wiggins has spent 24 days in a drug rehabilitation center, which means he could be home in a week or less. And so what happens? The Padres have said he won’t play for them again this year, but doctors could rule that he is mentally fit, which, under the joint drug agreement, would mean he’d have to play (although the Padres can’t be forced to use him). Anyway, it’s currently in the hands of the treatment center doctors, and they may have made their decision already. But Wiggins’ lawyers won’t say. Tony Attanasio, Wiggins’ agent, didn’t return phone messages for two weeks and then said Monday “I won’t talk. I’m not talking. Maybe some time in the future.” Padre president Ballard Smith was unavailable for comment. . . . Meanwhile, General Manager Jack McKeon denied rumors that he had talked to the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles about trading Wiggins. “I haven’t talked to any club,” he said. “I can’t offer him until I know more.” Which, in other words, means nobody wants Wiggins unless the doctors say he can play. . . . New York fans booed two other things Monday night: (A) News that reliever Doug Sisk had been recalled from the minors and (B) The Wave. They objected to fans trying to get it started. . . . Terry Kennedy on Dwight Gooden: “He’s got more natural talent and poise than anyone I’ve ever seen at that age. He’s got a little more than us mere mortals.”