On This Sweetheart of a Staff, There Is Only One Darling

He has the brains of a barrister and the mien of a model.

He can match academic pedigrees with fellow Ivy Leaguers or fashion layouts with his wife, who is a model.

He is fluent in French, a fan of jazz, a student of Southeast Asian history.

Ron Darling is, in short, the kind of man who would stand out in most company.

In his chosen profession, however, Darling, a pitcher of baseballs for the New York Mets, is in the company of the elect.

Dwight Gooden, a Cy Young Award winner before his 21st birthday, is a teammate. So are Bob Ojeda, who led the Met staff with 18 wins in his first season in New York, and Sid Fernandez, the first native Hawaiian to appear in an All-Star game.

Then there’s Darling, who won a comparatively modest 15 games, which helped make the Mets only the ninth team in big league history to have four pitchers with 15 or more victories in a single season--Ojeda, 18; Gooden, 17; Fernandez, 16, and Darling. A fifth pitcher, reliever Roger McDowell, finished with 14 wins.

It would be silly to suggest that a man who has appeared on the covers of Sports Illustrated and Gentlemen’s Quarterly in the same summer is laboring in obscurity. Nonetheless, when Darling takes the mound here today (9:10 a.m. PDT) in Game 3 of the National League playoffs, the 26-year-old right-hander will be contesting not only the Houston Astros but also the glittering reputations of his own comrades.

“We’re sort of a group entity,” Darling said the other day while sitting in the visitors’ dugout at the Houston Astrodome.

“More so than the Astros. With them, Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan are the names, then there’s everybody else. The Met staff is known as a good staff.

“I like being part of an entity. On another team I might be the top banana, but I’d rather be part of an entity.”

That esprit de (pitching) corps extends off the field as well, Darling said, pointing out that Met pitchers often dine, shop and watch movies together on the road.

“We’re all about the same age and have the same experience,” Darling said. “It’s different than a team where one guy is 39, another 38 and another 20. We have some of the same likes and dislikes, and listen to the same music--except Dwight. We’re rock and roll; he’s soul.”

But even in the midst of the show of solidarity, the competitiveness that exists among them cannot be hidden. It surfaces, Darling said, in something as apparently harmless as their rivalry during batting practice.

“I think that just disguises what we’re really competing about,” he said. “If one guy wins 15, then the other guy wants to win 16. If one guy pitches a three-hitter, the other guy wants to pitch a shutout.

“Each pitcher sets a higher standard of excellence for the others. Either you try to keep up with it or you fall by the wayside. So far, I’ve been lucky to keep up.”

That’s why Met starters are so averse to missing a start, said Darling, who hasn’t missed a turn in 3 1/2 seasons. Gooden hasn’t missed one in three.

“These guys are animals--they don’t miss starts,” Darling said. “We’re always making Wally Pipp jokes about the pitchers.”

The punch lines ended, however, at the door of the manager’s office, which is occupied by Darling’s most outspoken critic, Met Manager Davey Johnson.

Last summer, Darling fired back, claiming in the GQ interview that Johnson does not communicate with his pitchers and that Johnson felt threatened intellectually by Darling.

“I think he could get more out of his people if he’d say something--not much, just a verbal pat on the back,” Darling was quoted as saying.

” . . . Pitching, after all, is a roller-coaster ride through the land of confidence.”

Darling later claimed that his comments were taken out of context, but the pitcher-manager relationship has been likened to the long-running feud between Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver in Baltimore.

“Since we’re trying to keep some harmony in the playoffs, we’re trying to keep disputes to a minimum,” Darling said in Houston.

“Davey criticized me more than any pitcher on the staff. And he would say it in the papers. I’d rather have him say it to my face first.

“But for the last two months or so, me and Davey have almost been the best of friends.”

Sitting in the dugout, Darling earlier had said that had it not been for Johnson’s pushing, he might not have persisted as much.

On the other hand, it doesn’t sound as if Darling needs much prodding.

“I am driven to the point of ridiculousness,” he said in the GQ interview. “I want to win every game. Any game. I can’t stand losing, not even to Toni (his wife) in a card game. I hate it.

“But I don’t mope. I work harder next time.”

If he were inclined to do otherwise, it would be difficult to survive in New York, where the fans are at least as demanding as his manager.

“It’s great in one way, because if you have a good game, they make you feel better than you are, but if you have a bad game, they make you feel worse than you are,” Darling said.

“Maybe you’re never as good as they say you are in New York.”

This afternoon in Shea Stadium, a national audience can decide for itself.

Playoff Notes Met pitcher Ron Darling, who is 3-3 in his career against the Astros, will be opposed by Houston left-hander Bob Knepper, who was 3-1 with a 1.67 earned-run average against the Mets this season, including one shutout. Knepper (17-12) threw five shutouts this season, tying teammate Mike Scott for the league lead in that category, but has won only twice since Aug. 15. He pitched five perfect innings in his last start in a win over Atlanta last Sunday and said he had corrected the mechanical problems that had been plaguing him. Against the left-handed Knepper, left fielder Kevin Mitchell and second baseman Tim Teufel will start for the Mets, replacing Mookie Wilson and Wally Backman, respectively.

“This is a swing game for two reasons,” Darling said. “For the first time, our lineup is turned around (with more right-handed hitters) and people say we’re a weaker lineup that way. Plus, we’re going against the pitcher on their staff who has given us the most problems.

“When Knepper pitches, it’s always a dogfight, especially early, It seems like we get to the sixth inning already and nobody has scored and nobody looks like they’re going to score.”

Knepper faced Darling once this season, July 18 in Houston, and won, 3-0.

Darling, asked which Houston hitters he considered the most difficult to face, answered: “Billy Doran, Billy Doran, Billy Doran. (Billy) Hatcher, I don’t know much about him, but when Doran gets on, he always seems to score, somehow, some way. To me, he’s the key to their lineup.”

Doran is batting .307 lifetime against Darling, but so far has one single in eight at-bats this series. . . . Houston Manager Hal Lanier said he was undecided on his Game 4 starter, although he was leaning toward rookie left-hander Jim Deshaies. A loss today, however, may force Lanier to bring Scott back on three days’ rest. . . . Neither team worked out Friday.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

ASTROS vs. METS

RESULTS

Game 1 Astros 1, Mets 0 Game 2 Mets 5, Astros 1

SCHEDULE

DATE SITE TIME Game 3 Today New York 9:10 a.m. Game 4 Sunday New York 5:25 p.m. Game 5 Monday New York Noon Game 6* Weds. Houston Noon Game 7* Thursday Houston 5:25 p.m.

* If necessary.