Mets Make Up for One Who Got Away, Defeat Dodgers

No team pursued Seattle Mariner pitcher Mark Langston with the persistence of the New York Mets.

Then came the Thursday night news that the Mariners had traded Langston to the Montreal Expos for three pitching prospects.

“It was like going steady with the same girl for a long time, then learning someone had stolen her,” Met Manager Dave Johnson said Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

Disappointed by the loss?

“It wasn’t critical for us to get more pitching,” Johnson said. “Obviously, Montreal felt the need. They’ve definitely got good starters there now. Unless all the reports are wrong, he’ll make them a better club.”

Throughout the Langston pursuit, Johnson is believed to have privately felt that the Mets’ more critical need was for hitting.

And Friday night he got it.

Without benefit of a trade.

And amid unlikely circumstances.

Opposed by Orel Hershiser, who had given up two earned runs or fewer in seven of his nine starts and with his most consistent hitter, Kevin McReynolds, joining Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter on the injured list, Johnson’s Mets pounded out 12 hits in an 8-2 victory over the Dodgers before a crowd of 47,034.

In his shortest stint of the season, Hershiser went five innings, giving up nine hits and seven runs, the most since he yielded eight runs (five earned) in a two-inning stint against the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 14.

Leadoff batter Mookie Wilson opened the Mets’ first inning with a double, setting the tone as Hershiser’s 1.76 earned-run average ballooned to 2.48 and his record became 6-4.

The last time Hershiser faced the Mets was definitely more memorable.

“That crossed my mind,” he said. “I turned to Kirk Gibson at one point and said I’m glad this wasn’t Game 7.”

He alluded to Game 7 of the National League playoffs, after which Hershiser accepted the trophy as most valuable player and showered in champagne.

This time he took a cold shower and was already dressed by the time the game ended.

“Most pitchers are going to have three or four of these a year,” he said. “I don’t chalk it up to that, but it’s going to happen. You’re going to get beat, the game is going to humble you.

“I got the ball up, I fell behind, my mechanics weren’t very good. I kept trying to make adjustments, but nothing worked. Coincidentally, they got a lot of hits.”

A walk and three singles led to three runs in the second. Howard Johnson hit his 10th homer of the season in the third. A hit batter and doubles by Gregg Jefferies and Darryl Strawberry led to three more runs in the fifth.

It was a long way from October and definitely more memorable for Met starter Bob Ojeda.

Ojeda gave up only seven hits. Mike Scioscia homered in the eighth, then singled in the Dodgers’ second run in the ninth.

It was Ojeda’s first complete game since Sept. 11, 10 days before he nearly severed the upper portion of his left middle finger while using an electric hedge clipper.

Delicate surgery preserved his career, and Ojeda is 2-5, a record that would be better if not for the inconsistency of the Mets’ offense.

“It’s nice to get the first one out of the way,” Ojeda said of the complete game. “This was my father’s birthday and it was particularly nice to do it with him here.”

Nice for other reasons as well.

“We needed to do that to Orel,” manager Johnson said. “He really did it to us last year. It’s nice to get some revenge.

“The offense has been confused this year. Tonight it seemed like everyone in the lineup was determined. We hit a class pitcher.”

The Mets have been a mirror image of the good-pitch, poor-hit Dodgers, who fell four games behind the Western Division-leading Cincinnati Reds.

The Mets rank 10th in the 12-team league in hitting at .235; the Dodgers are last at .224.

The Dodgers rank first in the league in pitching with a 2.71 ERA. The Mets are second at 2.74.

With the eight runs on Friday night, New York is averaging 3.6. Hernandez and Carter are on the disabled list. McReynolds, who had hit .305 in the last 33 games, is out with a sprained thumb suffered Thursday. Wilson came in hitting .180 and Jefferies .185. Strawberry had 11 homers but only 19 runs batted in before driving in two with a pair of doubles.

The numbers, for one night, seemed to lie. The Mets, for one night, didn’t need either Langston or a new hitter.

Dodger Notes

The Dodgers were apparently willing to package a member of their current rotation, probably Tim Leary, but neither Ramon Martinez, who is 7-1 at Albuquerque, nor John Wetteland, who is 5-2 for the same team, in a deal for Mark Langston. Langston was traded Thursday to the Montreal Expos for three pitching prospects: Randy Johnson, Brian Holman and Gene Harris. . . . “I’m not going to compare offers,” said Fred Claire, the Dodgers’ executive vice president. “Our reports on the three pitchers they got are good. They’re all promising pitchers. We were willing to give them a pitcher who would help them at the present time, but they wanted more than we were willing to give up. When you talk about the availability of quality pitching, there’s not a lot out there. We’re fortunate to have a strong staff here and some potential in our farm system, but you run a risk when you start giving up numbers.” . . . Claire said he had an understanding with the Mariners that if there were an agreement on the players to be traded he could talk with Langston’s agent. Langston will become a free agent at the end of the season but “we were never even close to an agreement,” Claire said.

Shortstop Alfredo Griffin said he is now bothered by his sprained right thumb only when he bats right-handed but expects to be 100% “in a couple of more days.” . . . Claire said he expected Griffin to come off the disabled list early next week but could not predict how the Dodgers would make room for him. . . . Gary Carter, on the Mets’ disabled list because of an inflamed right knee, was examined by Dr. Ralph Gambardella, a Dodger team physician, who supported the view of the Mets that arthroscopic surgery might be required. Carter will fly to Birmingham, Ala., Sunday to get a third opinion by from Dr. James Andrews. Surgery will be performed immediately if Andrews agrees it is necessary. . . . Met left fielder Kevin McReynolds, who suffered a sprained right thumb on a failed stolen-base attempt Thursday, was examined by Dr. Frank Jobe, who said X-rays weren’t required.