TROUBLE AT THE TOP : Survival Is Mets’ First Thought; After That It’ll Be Wait and See

A year ago today, on June 1 of a season in which they won 116 games en route to a World Series championship, the New York Mets were 31-13 and leading the National League East by six games.

Now it’s not only a question of repeating but surviving.

The Mets arrive in Los Angeles today on one of their better rolls of the season, having won five of their last six, but their vaunted rotation has been vanquished by injury and illness.

The Bad News Bears now resemble the Tidewater Tides, their triple-A affiliate.

Dwight Gooden, who establishes the rotation’s rhythm and tone, has yet to pitch for the Mets because of his drug rehabilitation. Bobby Ojeda, the 18-game winner, is out for the season with an elbow problem.

David Cone, a highly regarded prospect obtained from Kansas City in a March trade, fractured the little finger on his right hand when hit by a pitch in San Francisco Wednesday and will be out until September. On the same day, examined by Dr. Frank Jobe in Los Angeles, Rick Aguilera was found to have a sprained elbow ligament and is expected to miss at least three weeks.

Manager Dave Johnson shook his head and said:

“It may be hard to repeat under any conditions, but to have to handicap yourself to this extent is ridiculous.

“We started the year with three big blows (losing Gooden, Ojeda and right-handed relief ace Roger McDowell because of a hernia) and it keeps getting worse. Every time we get a little momentum someone else goes down. You try to stay optimistic, but we’re obviously thin.

“Can our system provide replacements? Can any system? It can, but to what degree? I mean, how do you replace a Cy Young winner? How do you replace your best reliever? How do you replace four-fifths of your rotation?

“How do I keep my attitude up, let alone the players’. I feel it’s a conspiracy.”

Johnson put only four players on the disabled list during last year’s trouble-free breeze to a division title, and only one was a pitcher. He already has put five pitchers on this year, though McDowell came off May 14 and Gooden will be activated in time to start Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Shea Stadium.

Rookie John Mitchell, who was winless through three starts and had a 7.36 earned-run average, pitched a strong series finale here Sunday, losing, 1-0. Terry Leach will come out of the bullpen to make his first 1987 start against the Dodgers tonight. Tom Edens will become the fourth rookie to start for the Mets when he makes his major-league debut Tuesday night. Veteran Ron Darling will pitch Wednesday night’s series finale.

The most impressive thing about Darling is his bank account since winning a $1,050,000 judgment in salary arbitration. He is 2-3 with a 5.45 ERA and has not won since April 22, complicating the injury picture. Even Sid Fernandez, who improved his record to 6-2 Saturday night when he pitched the Mets’ first shutout since July 29, has not escaped. He missed a mid-May start because of a knee condition that is still tenuous.

Concerned?

“It’s a major concern,” catcher Gary Carter said of the injuries. “Let’s face it, we’re not going to win without the quality pitching we had last year.

“Dwight’s coming back is a plus, but we’re going to have to dig in. It doesn’t look real promising. We’re in desperate need (of pitching help).”

Carter tends to embellish, but there is truth in this: One reason that the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals failed to repeat as division winners in 1985 and 1986 is that their pitching was wiped out by injuries. Now it is a definite trend.

“We’ve got to be concerned because this puts us in the same boat as the Cubs in ’85 and the Cardinals in ‘86,” Keith Hernandez, the team captain, said. “Pitching is the heart of our club, but you can’t run up a white flag. You have to hope guys can pick up the slack and the offense gets in gear.”

The Mets led the league in runs and team batting average last year and had been showing signs of finding a similar groove before getting only four hits Sunday. They’ve now hit. 269 over the last 35 games, improving their season average from .255 on April 20 to .267. They are 5 1/2 games behind the Cardinals at 24-23 and are 8-3 since reaching a 16-20 low May 18

Several factors played on that struggling start. Several may continue to play.

The Mets, in Hernandez’s words, definitely weren’t as focused, as intense, as in ’86. They were demoralized by the loss of Gooden, McDowell and Ojeda, he said, and vulnerable to mental errors. Part of it, too, may have been an inherent degree of complacency, a risk for all winners.

Said the manager: “What do you expect after a big year? No matter what you do and say, the intensity just isn’t going to be as great from the start. Then, any time you lose key players, you’re not going to feel as confident. You can still feel good about yourself, but you’re not going to feel as strong.”

Darling knocked the defense. Aguilera knocked Carter’s pitch selection. Darryl Strawberry and Tim Teufel traded needles over a muffed fly ball that cost the Mets a game in Atlanta. The manager blasted management for failing to consult him when Mitchell was recalled. Wally Backman bemoaned the sudden absence of a killer instinct. Some Mets continued to wonder how the fiery Ray Knight could be allowed to leave. Johnson set an early season record with three team meeting by mid-May.

Maybe it’s behind them now.

Maybe the continuing injuries have served to reawaken their intensity, a reminder of the job that has to be done. The standings are another reminder. The healthy Cardinals and Cubs will not make it easy. The Montreal Expos seem to sense an opening. The Philadelphia Phillies may yet be heard from. The Mets knew going in it would be tougher and now have no doubt about it. They know no one is feeling sorry for them. This is a team perceived to be deep in arrogance and thin on humility.

“We’re not going to get any sympathy,” Hernandez said. “Even if we were the guys in the white hats, people are always gunning for the world champions.”

The immediate problem may be threefold.

1--The Mets can’t start feeling sorry for themselves.

“I’ve been satisfied with our attitude all along,” Carter said. “But when you go through an injury wave like this you start to think who’s next? Will it be me? How many more? It obviously drags you down some.”

2--They need a strong comeback from Gooden, reliability from Darling and Fernandez and help from their new array of pitchers in compensating for a potential strain on the bullpen. Prior to Fernandez’s complete game Saturday night, the Mets had used 18 pitchers in the previous four wins.

“Obviously, when you lose what we’ve lost (through injuries) it puts more of a workload on the bullpen,” Johnson said. “I don’t like it. I’d prefer to sit back and make one genius move every three days.”

General Manager Frank Cashen, having “neared the bottom of the barrel” in the Met system, is searching for a trade possibility, but reliable pitching is at a premium. The Mets acquisition of veteran infielder Bill Almon Friday has generated speculation that infielder Howard Johnson might be available.

Cashen said that Aguilera is the key. If he is back in the anticipated three weeks, then the Mets will have four-fifths of their rotation in order before the All-Star break. “If Aguilera has long-term problems, then we have long-term problems,” Cashen said.

3--They need consistent offense, particularly from two people capable of carrying them--Carter and Strawberry.

The latter is on a tear. He has 4 homers in the last 4 games and 7 homers and 11 runs batted in in the last 15, improving his season’s total to 15 and 33. Five of Strawberry’s last six homers have been against left-handers. He is a left-hander himself and believes he could now help the Mets with his arm as well as bat.

“I was 9-1 in two years at Crenshaw (High School),” he said, smiling in recollection of his pitching career.

Carter, batting .228, has struggled. He went 103 at-bats without a home run before hitting his third of the season Wednesday in San Francisco. He hit another here Friday. He has 24 RBIs, 8 in the last 11 games.

“The Kid is coming out of it and that’s a positive. He’s the key to our lineup,” Hernandez said, using Carter’s nickname. “He’s totally beat up but he hasn’t taken his offense behind the plate. He’s been blocking the (bleep) out of it. I have nothing but respect for him.”

Carter has received five cortisone shots for a variety of ailments, including a strained shoulder suffered while tossing a softball to his daughter. He isn’t happy about his recent demotion to sixth in the batting order, but he said, “It’s still early. I still feel I’ll get my 20 home runs and 100 RBIs. It’ll come, I just can’t get down or put too much pressure on myself. It’s tough, though, when you’re losing games and people. You want to do that much more.”

The Mets all want to feel it will come. For Carter. For the team.

“The second half is where it’s going to be at this year,” Hernandez said. “We’ll have Doc back and hopefully Aggie. If a player had a choice between a good first half and a good second half, he’d take the second half every time.

“You can erase a lot of memories that way.”