National League Roundup : Gooden Throws Five-Hitter Against Cubs for 11th Win in Row

In 1969 the New York Mets won their only world championship. On that amazing team were three of the best young pitchers to come along in many years--Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Jerry Koosman.

Amazingly, 16 years later, all three are still pitching, and pitching well, in the majors. Seaver became a 300-game winner Sunday and Ryan, the all-time strikeout champion, has thrown a record five no-hitters. Koosman has been a consistent winner over the years, an outstanding left-hander.

All three have left the Mets, but the Mets have a new young phenom who may be better than any of them and may lead them to a second world championship.

He is Dwight Gooden, a 20-year-old right-hander who pitches with the poise of a veteran and with tremendous ability. Only a lengthy strike, it appears, can stop one of the greatest seasons ever by anyone his age.

Gooden broke one of Seaver’s Met records Sunday at Chicago when he held the Cubs to five hits and beat them, 4-1, for his 11th consecutive victory. Gooden, also proficient with a bat in his hands, doubled to start a three-run third-inning rally that helped him improve his record to 17-3 and move the Mets within a half-game of St. Louis in the East.

If there is no strike, Gooden, a strikeout sensation as a teen-age rookie last season, has a chance to improve on the 1939 performance of Bob Feller. The fireballing member of the Hall of Fame was in his fourth season with Cleveland, but was only 20 when he posted a 24-9 record.

Last season Gooden struck out 276 batters in 218 innings while compiling a 17-9 record. All the strikeouts took their toll late in the season and the Mets faded out of the race in the East. Although he still leads the league with 179 strikeouts in 189 innings, he has become a complete pitcher. He now mixes slow curves and a change with his blazing fastball and never seems to tire.

This was one of the best of many good ones for Gooden. He held the Cubs hitless into the fifth when Ron Cey’s bad-hop grounder ended his bid for a gem. The Cubs’ run was unearned. He was in such absolute command that Met outfielders had only two chances. He lowered his earned-run average to an awesome 1.57.

He did all that despite twisting his ankle rounding first on his double in the third. He didn’t tell Manager Davey Johnson about it until the eighth inning, then begged to be allowed to finish. It was his 11th complete game in 24 starts.

Gooden has not lost since May 25 when he gave the Dodgers three runs and five hits in seven innings in a 6-2 loss. Seaver held the record, winning 10 in a row in 1969 when he posted a 25-7 record at age 24.

The youngster from Tampa, who will be 21 in November, has become a gem of consistency. In no game this season has he given up more than three earned runs. He has pitched at least six innings in all except one of his 24 starts. In the one he didn’t, rain interrupted the game twice in the early innings for a total of two hours, and Gooden was tired by the third inning just from warming up so often.

He didn’t appear to be too excited about breaking a Seaver record. “I didn’t expect to pitch a no-hitter,” he told the Associated Press. “I was glad to see them get a hit and get it over so I could get back to the ballgame. I just wanted to win.

“I’m usually up high with my pitches. But with the low mound here and the wind blowing out, I concentrated on getting the ball down.”

Philadelphia 6, St. Louis 0--Quietly, Kevin Gross is emerging as the ace of the Phillies’ staff. The 24-year-old right-hander from Downey improved his record to 11-8 by pitching a four-hitter at St. Louis.

Cardinal ace Joaquin Andujar matched Gross through seven innings, but the Phillies pounced on the 17-game winner in the eighth following a 25-minute rain delay.

Andujar was working on a two-hitter, but the Phillies turned two walks, a single and three doubles into a six-run inning.

The Cardinals had one chance to get Gross. They loaded the bases in the third with nobody out and the heart of the order up. Tommy Herr grounded into a force at the plate, Jack Clark struck out and Darrell Porter popped out to end the threat.

“I’ve never figured out how a rain delay affects a pitcher,” Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog said.

Atlanta 5, San Francisco 4--Pascual Perez made his first appearance since jumping the club a couple of weeks ago in this game at Atlanta. He went 5 innings but had nothing to do with the decision.

Terry Harper led off the bottom of the 10th with his 14th home run.

Pittsburgh 4, Montreal 3--Jim Morrison hit his first home run of the season and Rick Rhoden won for the first time since June 20 in this game at Pittsburgh. Rhoden, who had lost five in a row, went five innings.

Expos Manager Bob Rodgers played the game under protest when umpires ruled that a wild throw by center fielder Marvell Wynne of the Pirates that hit a support post in the Expos’ dugout and bounced on the field was in play. It prevented the Expos’ two runners from advancing.

Houston 2, San Diego 1--Rookie Glenn Davis hit his seventh home run in 14 games and Mike Scott and Dave Smith combined on a five-hitter at Houston to give the Astros a sweep of the three-game series.

Scott lost his shutout when Al Bumbry hit a pinch homer in the ninth. Smith came in after Scott walked Tim Flannery. With the bases loaded and one out Smith struck out Terry Kennedy and got Carmelo Martinez on a grounder after he fouled off seven consecutive pitches.