THE WORLD SERIES : New York Mets vs. Boston Red Sox : Boot Fits Red Sox in Series-Opening Win, 1-0 : Boston Scores Only Run on Teufel’s Error in 7th as Hurst Baffles Mets

They’ve hanged Quakers from oak trees on the Boston Common, tarred and feathered fans of King George III and dumped unsavory tea into the harbor.

It hurts to be unpopular in Boston. Nevertheless, John McNamara, the manager of the Red Sox, didn’t shy away from inviting personal peril when he beckoned for pitcher Bruce Hurst to come back to the bench Saturday night.

For eight innings of Game 1 of the World Series, Hurst had shut out the New York Mets. With the bases loaded and two out in the top of the ninth, McNamara decided that in the bottom of the inning, someone else--namely, Calvin Schiraldi--would have to make a lead conceived by a seventh-inning unearned run stand up.

“I’ll tell you one thing, it wasn’t an easy decision,” McNamara said. “If it doesn’t work out and we don’t win the ballgame, I know where my neck is. My body might be in the Charles River.”

They didn’t have to go fishing for McNamara in the Charles, not after former Met Schiraldi vindicated McNamara’s faith by blowing away pinch-hitter Danny Heep for the final out of Boston’s 1-0 win over New York, the first 1-0 shutout in a World Series opener in 36 years.

An investigation, however, may be launched into the whereabouts of the Mets’ bats, which have chosen the oddest time to disappear. The Mets, who hit a pathetic .189 in the National League playoffs, came into the Series proclaiming that the worst was behind them, that Boston’s pitching couldn’t possibly match up against Houston’s.

Along comes Hurst, who in the chill of the night allows four singles, and Schiraldi to collaborate on the first shutout of the Mets in Shea Stadium in more than 13 months.

“I don’t know if you can make the comparison,” said Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman, whose seventh-inning ground ball through the legs of Met second baseman Tim Teufel accounted for the game’s only run after a wild pitch by Met starter Ron Darling had put Jim Rice in position to score.

“We have a different style than Houston’s,” Gedman said. “Our guys are battlers. They’re not overpowering. They have to move the ball around and make good pitches.”

That, to be sure, is true of Hurst, whose blend of curves and changeups kept the Mets off-balance all evening. But tonight, Roger Clemens will kick Red Sox pitching into warp speed, with a chance to give the Red Sox a 2-games-to-0 lead before the Series returns to Boston for the next three games.

“We can’t wait forever,” said Met right fielder Darryl Strawberry, who struck out twice, once on three pitches with runners on first and second and none out in the sixth. The next batter, Ray Knight, grounded into a double play.

“We’ve got to try and pick ourselves up tomorrow.”

What’s wrong with the Met hitters?

“I don’t know,” Met catcher Gary Carter said. “I wish I could figure it out.”

For six innings, Hurst and Darling were equally effective. The Red Sox had only two singles off Darling, the Mets three off Hurst.

But in the seventh, after getting two quick strikes on Rice, the Boston cleanup hitter, Darling walked him, then threw an 0-and-2 pitch to Dwight Evans in the dirt, allowing Rice to take second.

“The pitch took a funny hop and hit me in the shoulder,” Met catcher Carter said.

Evans then hit a comebacker to the mound, freezing Rice at second. But Gedman, who played against Darling in high school in Worcester, Mass., followed by hitting a ground ball through the legs of Teufel.

Rice scored, while Darling was wiped out in a collision behind the plate with Dave Henderson, the on-deck hitter. The run turned out to hurt more.

“I was playing back with a runner on second base,” said Teufel, who only plays second when a left-hander is pitching for the opposition.

“The ball took one big hop, then a small one. It kind of scooted.”

The Shea Stadium terrain is unfamiliar to Boston second baseman Marty Barrett, but he saw enough of the infield Saturday to sympathize with Teufel.

“Just like Yankee Stadium,” Barrett said. “Must be the New York dirt. They ought to bring in red dirt or something.

“The field is wavy. The dirt is wavy. I think what happened to Teufel is that the ball was bouncing high and then should have bounced knee high.

“Instead, it hugged the ground. It probably hit a divot or something and hugged the ground.”

And the Red Sox held on for dear life to their lead, which they had a chance to expand in the ninth after Rice got aboard on a smash to the mound that reliever Roger McDowell knocked down but couldn’t pick up.

Evans then walked on four pitches, but Rice was forced at third on an attempted sacrifice. Henderson then singled to left, but Evans was not running, even though the count was full, and was thrown out at the plate by Met rookie Kevin Mitchell.

And why wasn’t Evans running?

“We’re not a running team,” McNamara said tersely.

With runners on second and third, McDowell gave Spike Owen an intentional pass. Hurst was the next batter. McNamara sent up rookie Mike Greenwell, who flied out on the first pitch.

“Mike Greenwell is a low-ball hitter, Roger McDowell is a sinker-ball pitcher and we were trying to get a couple more runs,” McNamara said.

“And Schiraldi’s done the job all year. Hurst probably could have gone out there in the ninth--he said he could. It was our decision all the way, no question about it.”

Schiraldi heard the bullpen phone ring. His reaction?

“Scared to death,” he said.

And he probably quickened a few other Boston heartbeats, too, by walking Strawberry on five pitches to open the inning.

But Red Sox first baseman Dave Stapleton, a defensive replacement for gimpy Bill Buckner, turned Knight’s sacrifice try into a force-out out at second. Wally Backman flied to left, and Heep went down swinging.

Evans, for one, said he never questioned McNamara’s decision.

“Calvin’s a closer; he’s been our closer for the last four months,” Evans said.

And if it hadn’t worked out, would McNamara have been a dead man?

“I don’t know about that,” Evans said with a small smile. “They might have given him another day.”