Scott Fan-tastic as Astros Win, 1-0 : Pitcher Strikes Out 14 Mets in NL Opener; Davis Homers

The New York Mets received a lesson in humility as taught by a split-fingered sorcerer Wednesday night.

The Mets were cuffed, scuffed and maybe even bluffed by Mike Scott, the Houston pitcher who calmly faced his accusers and struck out 14 of them, tying a league playoff record, during the Astros’ 1-0 win in the first game of the National League Championship Series.

Glenn Davis’ second-inning home run was the margin of difference between Cy Young Award winners past (Dwight Gooden, 1985) and future (Scott, barring a vote rigged worse than a banana republic election).

The Mets did not get a runner to third base until the ninth inning, when Darryl Strawberry singled with one out, stole second and advanced as first baseman Davis made a diving stop and threw out Mookie Wilson.

But Scott, who had carved up the heart of the Met order by striking out Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter three times apiece, gave the Astrodome crowd of 44,131 one last chance to wave their orange “K” cards by striking out former Astro Ray Knight, tying the record set by Angel pitcher John Candelaria, who was still in Pittsburgh when he struck out 14 Reds in 1975.

The Mets, who had accused Scott of illegally scuffing baseballs, tried to prove his guilt early when Carter--perhaps Scott’s most outspoken critic--demanded that plate umpire Doug Harvey check the ball after Carter swung at and missed an 0-and-1 pitch in the first inning.

Harvey’s inspection turned up nothing untoward, and he returned the ball to Scott as the fans rose and yelled some criticism of their own--directed at Carter, of course.

On the next pitch, Carter struck out. For the rest of the night, the only blemishes showed up in the Mets’ decorum as both Hernandez and Knight challenged ball/strike calls by Harvey, an umpire of 25 years’ experience.

“His pitches had more movement than any balls I’ve seen all year,” said Carter, who has promoted himself as a Most Valuable Player candidate this season but Wednesday night was outshone by Davis, who drove a Gooden fastball over the 400-foot wall in dead center.

The reason he had the ball checked in the first inning?

“The bottom dropped right out of it,” Carter said.

“There wasn’t any rotation on the ball. It’s like a dry spitter, or something. . . .

“People feel he does use some substance. I don’t know for sure. But if he does do it, you have to tip your hat to him.”

Scott, who pitched a no-hitter the day the Astros clinched the Western Division title and hasn’t allowed a run in his last 24 innings in the Astrodome, would have had an easier time of it had he been able to master his bat the way he did the split-fingered pitch.

In all, he came to the plate with a total of eight runners on base--twice with the bases loaded--but struck out twice and grounded into a double play.

“I gotta quit getting up there with the bases loaded,” he said.

The Mets, who had five hits, were not without their chances, but the Astros supported Scott with superb defense.

The last was turned by Davis, an adequate infielder who made an extraordinary play on Wilson in the ninth. Scott has lost shutouts in the ninth to the Mets before; in the only other game he pitched against them this season, he blew a 4-0 lead in the ninth.

“I had a funny feeling the ball was going to be hit my way,” Davis said. “I knew I had to dive to knock it down. I’ll tell you, the ball got that close (he held his thumb and index finger an inch apart) to the end of the glove and just held in there.”

Gooden had lost to the Astros just once in nine previous decisions, and he had held Davis to a .118 average in their previous encounters. But Davis, the Astros’ leading contender for MVP honors, became the third batter in playoff history to hit a homer in his first at-bat.

Gooden went seven innings and gave up seven hits, striking out five, before being lifted for a pinch-hitter.

As Davis returned to the dugout after his home run, he waved at someone in the crowd.

“My wife told me that I act too calm after hitting home runs, and she asked me to point like Pedro Guerrero does,” the normally undemonstrative Davis said. “I told her I would if I remembered.

“I guess I remembered.”

The Mets’ best chance to score may have come in the sixth, when leadoff batter Len Dykstra condensed his 5-foot 9-inch frame into Eddie Gaedel size and drew a walk to open the inning.

The next batter, Wally Backman, drove a ball over the head of left fielder Jose Cruz that seemed headed for the base of the wall, but Cruz made an over-the-shoulder catch.

The Astrodome exploded in relief. Then Hernandez, who had recorded the Mets’ first hit with a fourth-inning single, exploded with fury after Harvey called him out on strikes with a full count.

“Doug Harvey is one of the better umpires in the league,” a more composed Hernandez said afterward. “I thought it was a ball. He thought it was a strike. That’s the beauty of the game. When Doug Harvey is behind the plate, I have no gripes. . . . But people told me the replay showed the pitch was outside and low.”

Carter also went to a 3-and-2 count with Scott, then went back to the bench after taking a fastball down the middle for a called strike.

“It was a straight fastball, a power fastball,” Astro catcher Alan Ashby said. “It was so different from the other pitches he had thrown to Carter, maybe he (Carter) froze on it.”

In the eighth, pinch-hitter Danny Heep singled off the mound with one out. Dykstra followed with a smash that second baseman Bill Doran intercepted with another dive, but Davis couldn’t hold onto Doran’s one-bounce throw, which was delivered while on his back.

Scott then struck out Backman, bringing up Hernandez for a final fling. Scott sat him down on four pitches.

“He came after me,” Hernandez said. “My first three times up, he stayed away from me. He threw me four straight up-and-in fastballs with something extra on them.

“He was putting them in like a robot, four times in a row. I tip my hat to him.”

The game held to a form predicted by Carter and many others.

“I said at the outset it was going to be a low-scoring series, a lot of pitchers’ duels. And there were great defensive plays, guys diving all over the place.”

The Mets could take some solace in that they probably will face Scott just once more in the series.

And next time might be even rougher.

“I know this is going to sound ugly in print,” Ashby said. “But Mike won tonight without his best stuff. Tonight, he really wasn’t as good as I’ve seen him.

“Scary? Yeah, I know that’s scary.”

And for other frights, the Mets have Nolan Ryan to look forward to tonight.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

METS vs. ASTROS

RESULTS

Game 1 Astros 1, Mets 0

SCHEDULE

DATE SITE TIME Game 2 Tonight Houston 5:25 p.m. Game 3 Saturday New York 9:10 a.m. Game 4 Sunday New York 5:25 p.m. Game 5* Monday New York Noon Game 6* Oct. 15 Houston Noon Game 7* Oct. 16 Houston 5:25 p.m.

* If necessary.

ALSO. . .

Play by Play, Boxscore: Page 16.

Tonight’s starting pitchers: Bob Ojeda (18-5) vs. Nolan Ryan (12-8).

SCOTT’S STRIKEOUTS INNING BY INNING

SO INNING BATTER 1 FIRST Keith Hernandez 2 Gary Carter 3 SECOND Darryl Strawberry 4 Mookie Wilson 5 THIRD Dwight Gooden 6 FOURTH Gary Carter 7 FIFTH Ray Knight 8 SIXTH Keith Hernandez 9 Gary Carter 10 SEVENTH Darryl Strawberry 11 EIGHTH Lee Mazzilli 12 Wally Backman 13 Keith Hernandez 14 NINTH Ray Knight

MOST STRIKEOUTS IN . . .

. . . A NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

14 John Candelaria (Pittsburgh) vs. Cincinnati, Oct. 7, 1975 14 Mike Scott (Houston) vs. New York, Oct. 8, 1986

. . . AN AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

14 Joe Coleman (Detroit) vs. Oakland, Oct. 10., 1972 14 Mike Boddicker (Baltimore) vs. Chicago, Oct. 6, 1983.