Padres in the Hunt to Have Strawberry Afield : Baseball: Before the Padres’ 3-1 victory Monday over the Mets, the New York slugger says he’d prefer to play for an National League team in Southern California.

The fan letter was awaiting Dwight Gooden when he arrived Monday afternoon to the New York Mets’ clubhouse. It was like so many of the others, berating him and his buddy, right fielder Darryl Strawberry, with an accompanying clipping from a Philadelphia newspaper to support his views.

Strawberry took his turn reading the letter, shook his head, and said to Gooden, “It’s never going to change, is it?”

For the past seven years Strawberry has put up with abuse of not living up to expectations of being the next Mickey Mantle.

He doubts if he’ll stick around for another.

Strawberry said Monday before the Padres’ 3-1 victory over the Mets in front of 22,497 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium that he’ll definitely file for free agency at the end of the season, and if the Padres so desire, he just might be willing to play the outfield for them in time for the 1991 season.

“I doubt very seriously I’ll be back,” said Strawberry, who went two for four with a home run Monday and was batting .278 this season with a team-leading 28 homers and 79 RBIs. “It hasn’t been a whole lot of fun. It’s been one of those years where they lead me down a path, and then pushed me off a dropoff.

“I’ve had enough. I’ll go where I’m appreciated.”

And Strawberry’s two leading choices happen to be the Dodgers and the Padres.

“I can’t talk a whole lot about it right now,” Strawberry said, “but Southern California is where I’d like to be, and I definitely want to stay in the National League. The main thing for me is to go to a place where there’s a winning atmosphere. You don’t want to go from a winning team to a loser.

“And I know both of the teams (the Padres and Dodgers) are capable of accomplishing a lot.”

The Padres have shown Strawberry and the Mets this season that they’re certainly a much different ballclub against them than they are against the rest of the National League East.

The Padres might own the worst record in the league against the East, with a 22-38 record, but they’ve sure beaten up the Mets, winning six of eight games. The Mets (68-51) dropped to three games behind the division-leading Pittsburgh Pirates in the East, and the Padres (57-63) moved to within 11 games of the Cincinnati Reds, the closest they’ve been since July 1.

It was Bruce Hurst (8-8) who once again carried the Padres. He pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just five hits, and has a 1.17 ERA over his past six starts.

“I made some adjustments in my delivery,” Hurst said, “and it’s fun again.”

Padre first baseman Jack Clark, who re-injured his right hamstring and was removed him from the game after the fifth inning, didn’t depart until after igniting the Padre offense with a triple in the second inning--his first since June 30, 1989--and scoring on Benito Santiago’s sacrifice fly.

“It was tight before the game,” Clark said, “and the triple, I had to extend on that one. When I scored, I felt it bite a little bit. It never really loosened up.”

Still, the Padres mustered all of the offense they needed when they got another run in the sixth inning on Roberto Alomar’s first home run since July 4, another on Mike Pagliarulo’s sacrifice fly in the seventh, and then hung on for dear life.

The Mets, who were already robbed of a run in the sixth inning when center fielder Shawn Abner made a brilliant running grab of Strawberry’s line drive before crashing into the fence, threatened again in the eighth when Hurst opened the inning by walking Mark Carreon and Dave Magadan.

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch called upon Craig Lefferts, who has six saves against the Mets this season. He immediately induced Gregg Jefferies into hitting a routine ground ball to Alomar, who juggled the ball while trying to step on second base and dropped it.

Carreon, however, could not stop his momentum while rounding third, and when he tried to plant, his knee gave way, and lay helpless on the ground while Alomar threw to Pagliarulo at third and made the tag. Carreon later was diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate of his right knee, and will miss the rest of the season.

His injury leaves the Mets knowing that if they indeed are to come back and win the division, they likely will have to ride the back of Strawberry, who’s on pace to finish with the best year of his career.

It’s also why Strawberry, 28, sits atop this year’s potential free-agent list, leaving Jack McKeon, the Padre vice president/baseball operations, drooling over a dream outfield of Joe Carter, Tony Gwynn and Strawberry.

The $20 million question is whether the Padres would be willing to shell out the money to acquire Strawberry. And it might take that much to sign him.

Tom Werner, Padre chairman, said it’s premature to talk about potential free agents, and it’s a violation of major-league rules to discuss another club’s player. But sometime in September, when the Padres discuss the availability of free agents, such as right fielder Tom Brunanksy, third baseman Terry Pendleton and center fielder Willie McGee, the name of Darryl Eugene Strawberry surely will arise.

“I think once I’m out of New York, I’ll put up even bigger numbers,” said Strawberry, who has averaged 31 homers and 89 RBIs the past seven seasons. “But in New York, it seems like nothing I do is good enough.

“They say, ‘Hey, he never hit 40 homers here.’ OK, but I hit 39 two years in a row (1987 and 1988). Come on, what’s one more.

“Once I leave New York, all the pressure, and all those little things that hammer at you each day, will go away.”

Strawberry, who was offered a three-year, $9.1 million contract extension this season, has broken off talks with the Mets. The next time they’ll talk contract, he said, is after he files for free agency. He’s seeking a five-year contract, and whoever wants him bad enough, will come up with the proper amount of money.

“The five years is the big thing,” Strawberry said. “I don’t want to sign somewhere for three years, and then go looking around again. I want this to be it.

“More than anything, I just want to be appreciated.”

Suffice to say, Strawberry hardly feels appreciated in New York, certainly not after Frank Cashen, Met general manager and chief operating officer, criticized him in a Aug. 12 television interview.

Strawberry was so riled by Cashen’s comments that this past Friday he had a team meeting in which he promised his teammates that he would do everything he could to help him win the championship, but once the seasons ends, he may have to say goodbye.

“I just want to feel comfortable for once in my life,” Strawberry said, “It’d be so nice to play baseball without a cloud hanging over my head.

“I wonder what that would feel like?”

Padre Notes

Although no one has said anything officially to Padre Manager Greg Riddoch, he fully anticipates that he will return as manager in 1991. The Padres have an option for Riddoch’s managerial services at $160,000, and promised him that a decision will be made no later than Oct. 15. “I expect to be back,” Riddoch said. “Well, let’s put it this way, what are my choices? I want to be here. I really do. But that’s up to Jack McKeon and our owneership. If I don’t have the opportunity, I’d be disappointed in that that I didn’t get to run the race with the leggings off.” McKeon, however, already has given Riddoch a vote of confidence, and Padre chairman Tom Werner also has said that he is pleased with Riddoch’s performance since taking over at the All-Star break. The offical announcement that Riddoch will be retained in 1991 is expected to be only a formality.

Bip Roberts, Padre third baseman/left fielder, was unable to play Monday because of the injury he sustained Sunday when Phillie third basman Charlie Hayes kicked him in groin area. “He told me he could play, but couldn’t dive for anything,” Riddoch said, “so I said we better put someone else in there.” Roberts, who watched the replay of Hayes kicking him about 15 times before Monday’s game, said he’s still angry of Hayes’ attempt to knock the ball out of his glove. “There’s no need for that,” Roberts said, “and I’m not going to forget it, either.” . . . Padre shortstop Garry Templeton, who received a $25,000 bonus Monday for playing in his 110th game of the season, is expected to miss tonight’s game with a sore back. Roberts is expected to take his place at shortstop.

Padre center fielder Shawn Abner, visiting with Joe McIlvaine, Mets vice president/baseball operations, before the game, said: “Come on, fess up, you wished you drafted (Mark) McGwire before the game instead of me, don’t you.” McIlvaine could only laugh. The Mets selected Abner with the first pick in the 1984 free agent draft; McGwire was drafted by the Oakland Athletics. Abner was traded to the Padres on Dec. 11, 1986 in the Kevin McReynolds trade. . . . Abner on his catch of Strawberry: “You can’t worry about yourself. I couldn’t hit worth a damn tonight, so I had to do something. I never looked at the fence. If I had, I probably would have missed it.”

Mark your calendars: The Padres’ 1991 season opener is tentatively scheduled Tuesday, April 8, against the San Francisco Giants at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. They will play three games against the Giants, and then complete the week by traveling to Los Angeles on April 11 for a three-gam series against the Dodgers. . . . The Padres’ victory marked the first time since May 28 that they’ve defeated a National League East team in the opening game of a series. . . . The Padres will play the second game of their three-game series against the Mets at 7:05 tonight with Ed Whitson (9-7) scheduled to face Ron Darling (5-7).