NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS 3, DDODGERS 2 : Gregg Jefferies Has Strange Way Saying Thanks

Maybe if the Dodgers had not been there to break Gregg Jefferies’ free-fall into their dugout in the eighth inning Tuesday night, he would not have been there when the Mets pushed Orel Hershiser and the Dodgers over the edge one inning later in the first game of the National League playoffs.

But when Jefferies went in pursuit of Kirk Gibson’s foul fly and ran into the third base dugout, the Dodgers’ Tracy Woodson rushed to his assistance, jumping up and collaring Jefferies around the neck before he hurtled into the Dodger bench.

“That was kind of scary, now that I think of it,” Jefferies said. “I took a left step, a right step, and there was nothing there for the right step. My head was heading right to the corner of the bench.

“The Dodgers, that was nice of them to catch me like that. I’m not going to forget that. I’m sure the Mets as a team aren’t going to forget that. It was a human type of thing to do. You don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”

Hershiser won’t forget what Jefferies and the Mets did to him in the next inning. It was a heart-breaking thing to do, and it hurt everyone in Dodger Blue.

And it all began with Jefferies, the youngest player on either team--just turned 21 on Aug. 1, newly arrived as a big leaguer on Aug. 28, when he started at third base, the 84th third baseman in the club’s 26-year history.

Jefferies, who had swung at the first pitch he saw from Hershiser in the first inning and singled, then had singled again in the sixth, singled for a third time to lead off the ninth. After advancing to second on a smash to first base by Keith Hernandez, Jefferies raced home on Darryl Strawberry’s double, the first man in 35 days to score on Hershiser.

And when Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds scored, Jefferies almost hurt himself again, this time in the Mets’ dugout.

“We went crazy--I almost hit my head on the top of the dugout,” he said.

It was heady stuff for anybody, even more so for a kid who still referred to the Dodger pitcher as “Mr. Hershiser.”

It was for moments like these that Jefferies, who grew up in the Bay Area (Millbrae), had worked 8-hour days in the off-season. Those workouts included swinging a sawed-off bat in the swimming pool--to build up arm strength and quicken bat speed--and having his father, Rich, a scout for the Chicago Cubs, pitch numbered orange tennis balls in a dimly lit gymnasium, while Gregg swung and called off the numbers.

“It’s hard for me to say what’s going on,” Jefferies said. “Everything’s happening so fast. I’m just trying to play as hard as I can.”

Jefferies was something more than an unknown quantity when he arrived in Shea Stadium 5 weeks ago. He was a minor league player of the year in 1986, a star in training camp last spring, an instant sensation when he finally did break into the lineup. Two hits off Giant pitcher Mike Krukow in his first game, a .440 tear one week in September, a .321 average, 6 home runs, 19 runs scored, 17 RBIs in just 29 games.

“Obviously, we had a player of real talent,” said Frank Cashen, Met general manager. “But we wanted to take our time with him, let him play on every level. That’s one of the things about a good organization, like the Dodgers. By the time a kid gets up here, he’s used to winning.”

Still, as well as Jefferies had played in September, the playoffs are a testing ground of a much more demanding nature.

“When he got that first hit, I said, ‘Oh, God, thank you, that will loosen him up,”’ Met captain Keith Hernandez said. “I remember my first postseason playoff in 1982, I was an 8-year veteran, and I was tense and up-tight. I didn’t loosen up until I got a hit.

“He’s handled (the pressure) well. He reminds me of myself when I was young. If he goes a game without a hit, it’s like he wants to stick his head in an oven.”

Ralph Kiner, a Met broadcaster, said Jefferies reminds him of Pete Reiser, the gifted Brooklyn Dodger who cut short what would have been a great career by running into one too many outfield walls. Others have likened him to Pete Rose.

“The kid got built up so big when he first came up here,” warned Met second baseman Wally Backman, “and when you get built up to that status, the only thing you can do is fail.”

Since Jefferies plays three infield positions--second, short and third--he looms as a potential threat to Backman’s future in New York. No matter. Backman had only words of praise.

“He has a good idea when he goes to the plate,” Backman said, “and it doesn’t matter if you’re 5 or 105, if you know the game you can go out there. It’s just instinct to the kid. That’s why he’s going to be a good ballplayer. A great ballplayer.”

Before the game, Backman said, Jefferies asked him if he planned to swing at Hershiser’s first pitch. Backman told the rookie he’d be looking for a fastball, and if he got it, he’d swing.

“I’m going to do the same thing,” Jefferies said.

And he did. And he connected. And afterward, he sat in his cubicle, rubbing alcohol on his black bat. “I’ve been doing this ever since I started organized ball,” he said. “I even used to clean my aluminum bats.”

Maybe he was wiping away the spot where bat hit ball, but he couldn’t wipe away the memory.

“I’m always worried going into a series that I’m not going to get a hit,” he said. “When I got my first hit, I knew even if I didn’t get another one I’d always have one to tell my kids about.”