Major League Roundup : Strawberry Home Run Helps Mets Win

Off the field, the New York Mets have many problems, but on the field, they only have to play baseball and they do quite well.

The world champions ended five months of frustration by opening the season Tuesday at New York with a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Darryl Strawberry, a figure in some of the trouble, hit a three-run home run in the first inning for the Met runs and announced he is dedicating his season to Dwight Gooden, the pitcher involved in the biggest off-field problem.

Gooden, scheduled to be the opening day pitcher, is in a New York drug rehabilitation center for treatment of cocaine use. He also is Strawberry’s closest friend.

Strawberry showed up late for an exhibition game, was fined and pouted about the fine. During the off-season, an altercation with his wife was publicized.

“I’ve dedicated my season to Dwight,” Strawberry told the Associated Press. “I wore his pants and would’ve worn his whole uniform, if I could’ve.

“Dwight can’t have any visitors, but we know he’s thinking about us and we’re thinking about him.”

Bob Ojeda, 18-5 last season, was the replacement for Gooden. He gave up 10 hits in seven innings, but was the winner, mainly because he struck out the newest Pirate, Andy Van Slyke, twice with two runners on base to get out of jams.

Another missing Met is injured bullpen ace, Roger McDowell. The Mets also came up with an adequate replacement for him. Jesse Orosco, although he gave up a run in the ninth, earned the save. He retired Johnny Ray, the Pirates’ best hitter, on a pop-up with one out and the bases loaded in the ninth, then ended the game by getting Bobby Bonilla on a grounder to second.

Van Slyke, obtained from St. Louis in the deal that sent All-Star catcher Tony Pena to the Cardinals, got a triple in the sixth when his drive skipped by Strawberry in right and scored the only run off Ojeda.

Bob Patterson, the first Pirate rookie to pitch an opener since Preacher Roe in 1944, was the victim of Strawberry’s homer in the first, but gave up only four other hits. An interference call against his catcher, Junior Ortiz, kept him from getting out of the inning without having to face Strawberry.

St. Louis 9, Chicago 3--One of the reasons the Cardinals traded away Van Slyke, was the rapid development of rookie Jim Lindeman. Formerly a third baseman, Lindeman played right field in his major league debut at Chicago.

Lindeman, who batted .351 in the spring, hit 6 home runs and drove in 19 runs, singled in two runs and made an outstanding throw to nail a runner at third.

Family and friends were at Wrigley Field for the debut of Lindeman, who was born in nearby Evanston, Ill.

Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog called Lindeman’s throw, which nailed Brian Dayett trying to go from second to third on Leon Durham’s fly to right in the third, a big play.

“Helluva play,” Herzog said. “It kept them out of a big play.”

Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 0--It should come as no surprise that Rick Mahler pitched a shutout at Atlanta. It was the fourth opening day assignment for Mahler and he hasn’t yielded a run in 34 innings.

In three successive openers, he has pitched the Braves to 6-0 victories. However, in 1985, he pitched only seven innings. In his other opening day start in 1982, he beat San Diego, 1-0.

This was a three-hitter. In 34 innings in openers, he has given up 13 hits.

“It’s hard to explain,” said Mahler, always tough early in the season. “I just get up after coming out of spring training.”

Ken Oberkfell gave Mahler all the support he needed, getting three hits, scoring a run and driving in two others.

Minnesota 5, Oakland 4--Kent Hrbek’s single to left-center with the bases loaded an nobody out in the 10th at Minneapolis, gave the Twins a win in their opener.

The Twins gave Bert Blyleven a 3-1 lead, but he couldn’t hold it. In fact, Blyleven, who set a major-league record by giving up 50 home runs last season, fell behind when he served up a two-run home run to Alfredo Griffin in the sixth.

Reggie Jackson went 0 for 3 and was called out on strikes in the ninth when he stepped out of the box and umpire Dave Phillips refused to call time, calling a strikeout instead.

San Francisco 4, San Diego 3--Backup catcher Bob Melvin’s second home run of the game led off the bottom of the seventh at San Francisco to give the Giants their second win in a row.

Jeff Robinson, who won Monday in relief, pitched 1 innings to get the save.