Hawkins Wins His 16th With Garvey’s Aid

Floyd Youmans planned on telephoning his high school chum Dwight Gooden on Thursday night, naturally to talk about fastballs, but also to give Gooden a full rundown on the San Diego Padres, who will be in New York this weekend to play the Mets.

And when Youmans got to the part about Steve Garvey, he most likely stuttered a bit. Not only did Garvey hit a two-run double that lifted Andy Hawkins and the Padres to an eventual 3-0 victory over Youmans and the Expos on Thursday night, but The Garv also hails from Chamberlain High in Tampa, Fla.

Gooden and Youmans went to Hillsborough High in Tampa, which is located just four miles from Chamberlain.

They’re nasty rivals.

“Fifteen years later, it still feels good,” Garvey said jokingly of Thursday’s Padre and Chamberlain victory. He looked over to Padre reliever Lance McCullers, who also attended Chamberlain. “This one was for Chamberlain,” they said in unison, laughing.

Still, it’s not so funny when you ponder how good Hillsborough must have been when Gooden and Youmans played there. A two-man rotation? Unbeatable.

Youmans was asked this after Thursday’s game, when he yielded just four hits and lost, and he said: “Oh, I didn’t pitch in high school. In Little League I did, but I was mostly in the outfield in high school. And Dwight played mostly third base.”

And look how they’ve evolved. Gooden, 20, is 19-3 and goes for No. 20 Sunday against the suddenly streaking Padres. Youmans, 21, moved to the Los Angeles area after his junior year at Hillsborough, but was later drafted by the Mets in the second round of the 1982 draft. He then was traded this year to the Expos in the Gary Carter deal, perhaps the one player the Expos coveted most.

He began at the Double-A level this year, was called up, won a game, was sent down to Triple-A and then recalled on Aug. 12. He likes his fastball.

The Padres don’t.

“I hate to see those young guys with the good arm,” said catcher Terry Kennedy, who had the third and final Padre RBI in the eighth inning.

Still, Youmans was beaten (A) because he had control problems and made just a couple bad pitches and (B) because the Expo offense has exited.

Hawkins (16-4) might be partly to blame for the latter. He threw only his second complete game of the season, shutting down the Expos on four hits and just one hit through five innings. Whereas Youmans threw the ball past people, Hawkins threw it around them.

It was his slider that was working Thursday night.

“He’s the kind of pitcher that frustrates hitters because he doesn’t throw hard,” Kennedy said. “But if he’s high, it’s just fast enough to get by. And he changed speeds. That’s what helped, too. He got four outs with that slow slider.”

Hawkins, of course, had gone 11-0 this season, before an injury to his right index finger slowed him. Although he has won just five games since, 11-0 lives.

“I haven’t lost anything upstairs as far as confidence,” Hawkins said. “What I gained from that experience I’ll never forget. It was the time of my life, and I’ll try to build on that.”

While the Padres pulled within seven games of the Dodgers, who were losing in Philadelphia Thursday, the Expos fell further behind the Mets, who won. And it’s not their pitching that is at fault.

In four days, Montreal has lost 1-0 to the Mets and 1-0, 6-2 and 3-0 to the Padres. Andre Dawson, who had been hitting .500 versus the Padres this season, went 1 for 12 in three games.

By the way, the Expos picked up Dawson’s 1986 option on Thursday, assuring that he wouldn’t leave for free agency after the season, and still he was booed when he failed to get a hit three times with runners on base Thursday.

So Garvey’s big hit was enough. With two outs in the third inning, Tony Gwynn had reached on Hubie Brooks’ throwing error, and Youmans, who ended with a season-high five bases on balls, walked Graig Nettles.

Garvey, batting fifth in the order for the first time all season, had walked on four straight fastballs in the first inning and was ahead 2 and 0 on two more fastballs in the third. He expected another fastball.

He hit it off the right-field wall.

Nettles was able to score from first.

“A calculated guess,” Garvey said of his hit.

Padre Notes Carmelo Martinez, saying he was tired, asked Manager Dick Williams for Thursday off, so Miguel Dilone, an ex-Expo, started in left field. Dilone had a single and stole two bases, but said he derived no satisfaction from doing it against his former teammates. “No, I feel good because we win. I belong to this team (the Padres) now. I have nothing against the Expos. Last year, they picked me up from the Dominican. So I hope they can come back and in the division, since we aren’t in their division. I’d be happy if it’s San Diego versus Montreal (in the playoffs).” . . . LaMarr Hoyt, who has been bothered by tendinitis in his right shoulder, will be seen by a doctor in New York today. He will then throw, and it should be determined then if he will start Saturday’s game against Ron Darling. . . . Williams on his Padres: “We’re playing up a storm.” They have won three straight and 10 of 14 games.