Padres Finally Falter at Altar of Gooden : Met’s Starter Was Roughed a Little Early, but Was Tougher in the End

Gooden-ness gracious, they had him. The best pitcher in the English-speaking world and Monday night, the Padres had him digging fingernails into his scalp.

After four innings, the Padres had pelted Dwight Gooden on four runs and eight hits. The National League’s top undefeated pitcher was slapping at the ball and kicking at the dirt. Down in the Mets bullpen there was even a stranger sight. Mets relievers were standing and stretching and warming up.

The Padres had this ‘Doctor K’ flat on his gurney, they did.

And they lost him. Their pitchers lost their heads, their manager lost his temper, and the Padres lost the game, 7-4 in front of 17,202 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

They blew a two-run lead thanks to pitchers Mark Grant, Keith Comstock and Greg Booker. It ended with Gary Carter’s three-run, game-winning homer in the seventh that was one of the few ordinary ways the Mets scored all night.

“Anytime you get four runs off of Gooden, you have a chance to win,” Manager Larry Bowa said. “He doesn’t give up many runs.”

At least Bowa didn’t have to watch it. An inning earlier, with the score tied, 4-4, Bowa was hit with his first ejection of the season, the result of a three-minute fight with first-base umpire John McSherry. Apparently at issue was the timing of a call after Kevin Elster clearly beat out a ground ball single to shortstop.

McSherry turned his back on Bowa once, then twice, as Bowa appeared to agree to go back to his chair. But then halfway to the dugout, Bowa turned and stalked McSherry again, this time getting thrown out.

“He said I was out there too long,” Bowa said. “I thought he made the call before the ball was there.”

The Padres had led, 3-1, in the third inning, when starter Grant walked two batters and then bounced two pitches in front of home plate and back toward the dugout. Make that 3-2.

The Padres then led 4-3 in the sixth inning when, with a runner on second base, reliever Comstock was called in as Candy Sierra’s replacement. Comstock’s first pitch dove into the dirt in front of the batter’s box and bounced away for a wild pitch. His third pitch bounced off home plate for another wild pitch.

While catcher Benito Santiago scampered around breathlessly, Darryl Strawberry scored from second base. Make that 4-4.

Quickie stat: Entering the game, the Padres led in major leagues in fewest wild pitches with just three. Monday night they doubled that.

“The pitchers were trying to nibble,” Bowa said. “That’s why we’re getting ball one, ball two.”

With the game still tied at 4-4, reliever Greg Booker was called in to begin the seventh inning. Nine pitches later, the Mets led by three runs.

On four pitches he walked Strawberry. Two pitches later Kevin McReynolds singled to left. Three pitches later, on a 1-1 fastball, Carter hit a 400-foot shot to left-center field for his eighth homer of the season (the Mets’ league-leading 41st this year) to quickly finish the game.

“It was supposed to be a sinker,” Booker said. “It must not have been too good of a pitch.”

So much for the weekend sweep of Montreal, in which the Padres had allowed just four runs total. And so much for the embarrassment of a king.

Gooden had the best record in the National League, at 6-0 in eight starts, with three complete-game victories and already a 20-inning scoreless streak.

He hadn’t lost to the Padres in three years, since May 20, 1985. He hasn’t lost to anyone else since Sept. 26, 1987 against Pittsburgh.

Yet if it’s possible for such a man to look lost, after an hour Monday night he looked exactly that way.

The Padres began hitting Gooden after one batter, Dickie Thon, had a one-out single in the first. They scored two runs that inning on a one-out double to left by John Kruk and a two-out single up the middle by Carmelo Martinez. It could have even been worse. Two runners were left on base when Shane Mack looked at third strike.

They scored again in the second on Shawn Abner’s a lead-off homer, his second of the season. Two batters later you knew Gooden was laboring, when he walked Thon. But Thon was stranded by Benito Santiago’s groundout.

They scored again in the third, on a double by Abner and RBI single by Thon. Thon was getting a last-minute start at shortstop because Garry Templeton was suffering from sore knees. And again, it could have been worse, as Kruk followed Thon’s single with another single, and runners were eventually stranded on second and third on Santiago’s strikeout.

Santiago was the start of Gooden’s final rush. Counting the Padre catcher, Gooden retired eight of nine batters before allowing a couple of seventh-inning singles and giving way to Roger McDowell, who allowed nothing over the final 2 innings. This morning, folks will check box scores and see that Gooden allowed four runs on 10 hits (only one short of his career high for allowed hits) in just 6 innings . . . and still improved his record to 7-0. And they will not believe it.

On the other hand, Padre starter Mark Grant was a bad omen as he wilted quickly, lasting only 15 batters. He walked four of those batters, one of whom scored. Another run scored on a wild pitch. In all, it was as aesthetically pleasing as a tire fire, as Grant allowed two runs in 2 innings.