Baseball / Ross Newhan : Strawberry Finds That Raspberries Aren’t Exactly His Bowl of Cherries

George Foster is gone, but his New York Mets legacy has been inherited by Darryl Strawberry.

In a season in which the Shea Stadium zealots have had nothing else to boo, Foster got the treatment. Now Strawberry is getting it.

Burdened by the great expectations that accompanied his signing as a Crenshaw High School graduate, Strawberry has 19 homers, 73 runs batted in and a .255 average.

Not at all bad, but not good enough for some.

Even a .364 average, 3 home runs and 11 RBIs on a recent West Coast trip did not stop the booing when Strawberry returned to Shea last weekend.

It wasn’t of the proportion that ultimately made Ed Whitson useless to the New York Yankees, nor did it seem to represent the majority view, but it was enough to prompt Manager Davey Johnson to take Strawberry out of the lineup for two of three games with the San Francisco Giants at the start of the week.

Johnson described it as a rest, but it also gave Strawberry some relief from the raspberries, a chance to defuse his mounting anger and frustration.

“Potential,” Strawberry spat, in an interview with the New York Times. “It’s time people understood. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

Then he added: “Maybe it’s time to be somewhere else, if I’m not wanted. You realize this is a business, but there are a lot of places you can be happy.

“Am I the only guy on this ballclub? That’s a bunch of bull.”

Terry Mulholland is winless in six decisions as a rookie on the San Francisco Giants’ pitching staff, but he turned in the play of the season in Wednesday night’s game against the Mets.

Mulholland leaped high to spear a bouncing ball hit by Keith Hernandez but was unable to dislodge the ball from between the fingers of his glove. He started running toward first, then realized he couldn’t outrace Hernandez.

So Mulholland coolly flipped the glove with the ball in it to first baseman Bob Brenly, who gloved the glove for the out.

Said the Giants’ Mike Krukow, needling Brenly: “You blew it. You should have whipped the glove around the infield.”

With his surprising team fading from contention, General Manager Tom Grieve of the Texas Rangers analyzed the season and delivered something of a shot at the aging Angels.

“It’s nice to see the season evolve into a situation where we’re not only an improved team, not only letting our young guys get experience for the future, but our young guys are getting the benefit of a pennant race, as well,” Grieve said.

“Win, lose or draw, the season has been a positive one for us. It might have been different if we felt this year was a last chance, but everyone here feels this is the first year of a series of opportunities to win.”

The Boston Herald carried provincialism to a shameful low Thursday when the Mets came in to play the Boston Red Sox in a charity exhibition game at Fenway Park.

The Herald ran a full page, position-by-position analysis of the teams, rating strengths and weaknesses.

The introduction said: “This game is hopefully a preview of the World Series that New Englanders, New Yorkers and the TV networks envision in their fondest dreams.”

Rick Aguilera, 7-6 as the Mets’ No. 5 starter, was angry at having to start the Boston exhibition, saying he was trying to reach 10 wins and that the exhibition would cost him a start.

His manager had no sympathy. “I’m not concerned how he takes it,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t take a mental giant to figure out that if Houston is in the playoffs, Aguilera will be dropped from the rotation.”

Johnson incurred one of his few serious losses Tuesday night when he went out to argue with plate umpire Dutch Rennert.

“Just as I started to get really worked up, my front tooth fell out,” he said. “I wasn’t going to grovel in the dirt for it. I knew the game was on TV.”

The Red Sox are still in the running for the American League earned-run average title, which they haven’t won since 1914, when Babe Ruth was on the pitching staff. Boston was at 3.95 through Friday, slightly ahead of the Angels’ 4.00, and trailing only Kansas City’s 3.84.

It is generally believed that improved pitching has been responsible for Boston winning the close games. The Red Sox were 41-18 in games decided by two runs or fewer through Thursday.

But Larry Parrish of the Rangers gives the credit to Don Baylor, once the Angels’ enforcer.

“They’ve had the same club for the last few years, and even when (the Rangers) didn’t have a real good team you didn’t figure on Boston winning the close games (against us),” Parrish said. “This year is different, and Don Baylor is the difference.

“There are certain guys who have the power to change the personality of the club. He’s one.”

It was reported last week that Ray Miller was in jeopardy as the Minnesota manager and that Jim Frey was the leading candidate to replace him. Now it’s being said that Miller might not survive the week and that Bobby Lillis, the former Houston manager who is now a coach with San Francisco, has joined Frey on the list of possible replacements.

Fired as Chicago Cubs manager earlier this season, Frey is also considered a candidate for Chicago’s WGN radio team, replacing Lou Boudreau, who will do only Cub home games next year. The other candidates are believed to be Jay Johnstone and Larry Bowa.

The Philadelphia Phillies, who trail by 20 1/2 games, have Mike Schmidt, who leads the NL in home runs and RBIs; Von Hayes, who leads in doubles, and Juan Samuel, who leads in triples. What that says is pitching is 90% of the game.

Billy Connors, the Cubs’ pitching coach, is expected to follow Frey on President Dallas Green’s firing line.

The Cubs are the only National League team with an ERA above 4.00, and Connors, widely praised when the Cubs won the East Division title in 1984, is expected to take a fall for the high-priced failure of Rick Sutcliffe, who is 4-13 with a 4.62 ERA; Dennis Eckersley, 6-8 and 4.54, and Steve Trout, 5-6 and 4.94.

Said Green: “Nobody likes Billy Connors more than I do, but somebody has to step forward and take an accounting. Am I the one who always has to take the blame?”

The yellow sticker is the type seen on pay phones. Ron Kittle, employed infrequently since his acquisition by the New York Yankees from the Chicago White Sox, affixes it to his uniform during pregame practice. It reads: “Temporarily out of service.”

Add Circus: When the Yankees came up without a bona fide starter for last Monday night’s game in Seattle--relief pitcher Mike Armstrong, just up from Columbus, was tagged for six runs in 1 innings--there was a lot of finger pointing between General Manager Clyde King and Manager Lou Piniella, who is accustomed to taking his heat from the man above King.

Said Don Mattingly, of the roster mix-up: “It’s absurd for a team in a pennant race. No other team in baseball would do that. Something’s funny.”