Show Has Enough to Edge Gooden, 3-2 : Padre Veteran Wins First Over Met Star; Davis Gets 14th Save

It was a pitching matchup that Eric Show didn’t savor.

Before Show took the mound for the Padres against the New York Mets Tuesday night, he talked about the task ahead. He was facing one of baseball’s superstars in Dwight Gooden, whom the Padres hadn’t beaten in four years.

“This is one night I’m going to have to be at my best,” Show said. “This guy doesn’t give you anything. I’ve faced him a couple of times without success. In ‘85, I lost the game that made him the youngest pitcher (age 20) ever to win 20.”

Show might not have been at his best, but he was close to it, and his teammates did just enough damage to Gooden for a 3-2 victory in front of of 30,066 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Show allowed nine hits over 8 2/3 innings before Mark Davis came in for save No. 14.

The defeat knocked the Mets, defending National League East champions, out of first place. The surprising Chicago Cubs moved a game ahead by beating the Houston Astros.

Had it not been for a throwing error by second baseman Roberto Alomar in the ninth, Show would have had his first complete game of the season. With two outs, after the side should have been retired, a single by Dave Magadon put the potential tying run on base and forced Manager Jack McKeon to send for Davis.

Barry Lyons greeted Davis with his third consecutive single, which cut the Padres’ two-run lead in half. But when Kevin Elster relieved the pressure by fouling out, Show had the victory that ran his record to 6-4 and dropped Gooden’s to 6-2.

This was only the third time the Padres had beaten Gooden against eight defeats, and the first time since May 20, 1985, when LaMarr Hoyt pitched a 2-0 shutout. Gooden had beaten them six times in a row, although they managed a no-decision against him in New York May 12.

It was Show’s first victory over Gooden, but he had lost to the perennial All-Star right-hander only in 1985. With the decision, he tied Randy Jones’ all-time club victory record of 92.

“I think five or 10 years down the road, the record will mean more to me than now,” Show said. “There are a lot of teams I could have pitched for and never had this title. Boston is one of them.

“I think I’ve been wild this year. I just tried not to walk anyone, which I didn’t, to keep the ball in the park and keep ahead of the hitters.”

Pitching coach Pat Dobson had worked with Show on his breaking ball between starts.

“Strike one on everybody, that’s all,” Dobson said. “Getting strike one and staying ahead of hitters makes all the difference in the world. Then you can make them hit your pitch.”

Mets Manager Dave Johnson said Show “mixed his pitches up. “We hit some decent balls. You have to give him credit, but we’ve been giving a lot of guys credit.”

Davis’ 14th save kept him in a tie with John Franco of the Cincinnati Reds for the major league lead. Both have perfect records in saving games, research having determined Tuesday that Davis was not charged with a blown save in Montreal last Wednesday night.

It was believed that Davis’ save streak had ended at 13 when he let a 6-3 lead shrink to 6-5 against the Expos. But since the Padres held on to win--Greg Harris got the save--Davis’ record was alive.

Gooden held the Padres to four hits in seven innings before leaving for a hitter, but two of them produced two runs in the fourth, one on John Kruk’s third home run of the season. Luis Salazar gave Show what turned out to be the deciding run with a home run, also his third, off Don Aase in the eighth.

“Kruk hit a three-two fastball,” Gooden said. “We hit some pretty good balls off Show, but we just had some double plays (three) that broke it up.

“When you pitch like I did, you have to win those types of games. When they scored those two runs in the fourth, I thought, ‘There’s no way you can give up any more runs. It’s do or die.’ It’s just frustrating.”

Kruk was fresh off the disabled list after recovering from a hip pointer and a strained shoulder, and hit in the leadoff spot for only the third time this year.

“I was just glad I didn’t get in there tonight and screw things up for everybody,” Kruk said. “We’ve been playing good baseball. I didn’t want to come in, bat first, strike out four times and rock the boat.

“Gooden is not a good guy to come off the disabled list against. On the home run, he hit my bat. I don’t know what I’m doing right now. I was just trying to put the ball in play tonight.”

McKeon was happy to see the burst of power at the top of his batting order.

“If Kruk hits like he did tonight (he also had a single), he’ll be a tremendous asset to us,” McKeon said. “He’s coming back when the club is hitting better. We’re not so much depending on him alone.

“But let’s not forget Show. He did a hell of a job. He had some of his better stuff all year. He should have had a complete game, but those things happen.”

Padre Notes

With the New York Mets in town, reporters asked Padre Manager Jack McKeon the inevitable question about a possible trade. The Mets need a catcher with Gary Carter getting up in years (35), and the Padres would be glad to trade Sandy Alomar Jr., now at triple-A Las Vegas, for the right price. However, McKeon insisted that nothing was cooking. “We haven’t talked to them,” McKeon said. “If they have something they want to talk to us about, fine. We’ll talk. I’d talk about any of our catchers (Mark Parent included). I’ve said that from day one. But we were in New York just last week, and they didn’t say anything.” McKeon was asked specifically about dealing Benito Santiago, and said, “Everybody in baseball would like to to have Santiago. If the right players were made available to us, we would have to think about it. We don’t want to trade him, but I won’t say we won’t.”

The Padres are interested in such Mets as third baseman Howard Johnson, center fielder Lenny Dykstra and pitcher Sid Fernandez, but Johnson is unavailable now because of the knee injury that has knocked out first baseman Keith Hernandez for about two months. Dave Magadan, who would have taken over for Johnson at third, is filling in for Hernandez at first. Said McKeon: “If I go to the Mets, what do I get? If I want somebody like (pitcher) Mark Langston, I’ll go to Seattle, but Seattle hasn’t come to me. And let’s play a game about the Mets. Can they afford to give up Johnson and Dykstra? Dykstra, yeah, but I’m not going to take him for a catcher. Then I don’t have any bargaining power left. I’m behind the eight-ball. I will have played my last trump card.”

Carter will be eligible to come off the disabled list for Thursday’s series finale. He said he would catch that day, but Manager Dave Johnson wasn’t so sure.