COMMENTARY : Doc’s Remedy: Just Say No-No : The Boss Gets Credit for This One

Today George Steinbrenner is a genius. This Dwight Gooden guy can still pitch, all right. Steinbrenner took an $850,000 chance, and Gooden already has paid him back by doing something he never did with that team on the other side of town, when he was so good he was simply The Doctor. Gooden threw a no-hitter Tuesday night, which isn’t so bad for a guy who was booted out of baseball two years ago and booted out of the rotation three weeks ago.

Steinbrenner will be accepting apologies at his Tampa office today from everyone who figured Gooden was done. That would be just about all of us. Steinbrenner will be happy to talk because there are few things Steinbrenner likes to do more than tell everyone how right he was.

The Yankee owner also is a man who knows proper etiquette, so the first phone call came from him. “I’m proud of you,” Steinbrenner told Gooden in a call to the clubhouse Tuesday night.

If he wishes, Steinbrenner can congratulate his pet project in person today, because Gooden is traveling to Tampa for his ailing father Dan’s open-heart surgery. Gooden’s young life seems to be filled with one difficult test after the next.

We didn’t hear the rest of Tuesday night’s phone conversation, but by all rights Gooden should have returned Steinbrenner’s compliment. After trying and failing to save Darryl Strawberry’s career, Steinbrenner looks like he got it right this time.

“He’s always been supportive of me,” Gooden said. “I know he took a lot of heat about it.”

They all did, Steinbrenner, Joe Torre and Mel Stottlemyre. During Gooden’s first few weeks back, this looked like nothing more than another one of those Yankee sideshows, and a sad one at that. Back then, the only heat in evidence was the backtalk he and his bosses were getting. But now Gooden is throwing heat, not catching it.

When Gooden couldn’t get anyone out three starts into the season, it was only natural to think this was turning into just another of Steinbrenner’s ill-fated publicity ploys. But this is no Strawberry deal. This is no charity case. Gooden still throws 93 mph. Other teams like him. Of course, they will have to admire him from a distance because he is one of the most valued members of the Yankees’ rotation now.

Gooden is showing now that he can pitch like it is 1990 again, if not 1985. He already had thrown three straight gems, but this one was the beauty. It ended with Gooden jubilantly flinging his fists skyward on Paul Sorrento’s pop fly to shortstop.

“This is a great feeling,” Gooden said after the 2-0 victory, “to come back and do it in New York.”

Facing a Mariner lineup that included Ken Griffey Jr., two-time batting champion Edgar Martinez and a bunch of other threats, Gooden dominated. The one scare came on a first-inning fly ball, well before anyone knew history was upon him. After Gerald Williams ran down that shot by Alex Rodriguez, Gooden pitched as if he was home free.

The only thing that separated Gooden from his glory days was his new, shorter delivery. The curve was sharp. The fastball was smoke. The Mariners were hopeless. Steinbrenner was right.

When the owner said this spring that Gooden would win “15 to 20 games” this year, we all snickered. And he still may not. He’s only 2-3. Nonetheless, Steinbrenner’s faith in Gooden was well-founded. Steinbrenner must take the rap for all his bonehead moves, such as Dave Collins and Ed Whitson and Pascual Perez and all the rest, so we must too compliment him on the rare occasion he is right. That is only fair.

Steinbrenner will tell you he stayed out of the way this winter, that his baseball people were doing the deals. He denied having much to do with anything. Except in the case of the Gooden deal, which Steinbrenner readily admitted was his. Even if he wanted to claim otherwise, he could not, because the negotiations became public when the union rightfully began questioning how Ray Negron could be acting as Gooden’s agent when he wasn’t certified.

Already, Gooden has provided this season’s most stirring moments, and the crowd of 31,025, including about 10,000 freebies from the opening day snowstorm giveback--another nice idea by George--reveled in Doc’s effort. The wild cheering began in the sixth inning. When Darren Bragg looked at a fastball on the inside corner to end the eighth inning, the fans rocked the house.

This moment was sweetest for the New York icon who was coming back from all sorts of well-documented difficulties. Torre and Stottlemyre, like Steinbrenner, kept the faith in their attention-getting project. It was Torre and Stottlemyre, after all, who decided that Gooden belonged in the rotation instead of Kenny Rogers, who a received $20-million contract this winter.

“We saw his stuff,” Torre said in explanation of their faith. “The only thing we couldn’t get into Doc was our confidence in him. His stuff was good enough all along. In his mind, it wasn’t good enough until he started showing results.”

Torre had the guts to tell Rogers that he was a reliever, and few could have done that. Stottlemyre, a Gooden mentor from his Met days, had the know-how to get Gooden back to where he once was, shortening his delivery and probably lengthening his career.

Today Torre and Stottlemyre look like geniuses too. Although, this isn’t quite so surprising as in the case of Steinbrenner.

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Most Recent No-Hitters

Most recent no-hitters by team with pitcher or pitchers, opponent, score and date:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Angels--Mark Langston (7 innings) and Mike Witt (2), vs. Seattle, 1-0, April 11, 1990.

Baltimore--Bob Milacki (6 innings), Mike Flanagan (1), Mark Williamson (1) and Gregg Olson (1) vs. Oakland, 2-0, July 13, 1991.

Boston--Dave Morehead, vs. Cleveland, 2-0, Sept. 16, 1965.

Chicago--Wilson Alvarez at Baltimore, 7-0, Aug. 11, 1991.

Cleveland--x-Len Barker, vs. Toronto, 3-0, May 15, 1981.

Detroit--Jack Morris, at Chicago, 4-0, April 7, 1984.

Kansas City--Bret Saberhagen, vs. Chicago, 7-0, August 26, 1991.

Milwaukee--Juan Nieves, Baltimore, 7-0, April 15, 1987.

Minnesota--Scott Erickson vs. Milwaukee, 6-0, April 27, 1994.

New York--Dwight Gooden vs. Seattle, 2-0, May 14, 1996.

Oakland--Dave Stewart, at Toronto, 5-0, June 29, 1990.

Seattle--Chris Bosio, Boston, 7-0, April 22, 1993.

Texas--x-Kenny Rogers vs. Angels, 4-0, July 28, 1994.

Toronto--Dave Stieb, at Cleveland, 3-0, Sept. 2, 1990.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Dodgers--Ramon Martinez vs. Florida, 7-0, July 14, 1995.

Atlanta--Kent Mercker at Dodgers, 6-0, April 8, 1994.

Cincinnati--x-Tom Browning, vs. Dodgers, 1-0, Sept. 16, 1988.

Chicago--Milt Pappas, vs. San Diego, 8-0, Sept. 2, 1972.

Colorado--None.

Florida--Al Leiter, vs. Colorado, 11-0, May 11, 1996.

Houston--Darryl Kile, vs. New York, 7-1, Sept. 8, 1993.

Montreal--x-Dennis Martinez, at Dodgers, 2-0, July 28, 1991.

New York--None.

Philadelphia--Tommy Greene, vs. Montreal, 2-0, May 23, 1991.

Pittsburgh--John Candelaria, vs. Dodgers, 2-0, Aug. 9, 1976.

St. Louis--Bob Forsch, vs. Montreal, 3-0, Sept. 26, 1983.

San Diego--None.

San Francisco--John Montefusco, at Atlanta, 9-0, Sept. 29, 1976.

x-perfect game

Yankee No-Hitters

*--*

Date Pitcher Opponent Apr. 24, 1917 George Mogridge Boston Sept. 4, 1923 Sam Jones Philadelphia Aug. 27, 1938 Monte Pearson Cleveland July 12, 1951 Allie Reynolds Cleveland Sept. 28, 1951 Allie Reynolds Boston Oct, 8, 1956 Don Larsen Brooklyn* July 4, 1983 Dave Righetti Boston Sept. 4, 1993 Jim Abbott Cleveland May 14, 1996 Dwight Gooden Seattle

*--*

*--World Series

Gooden’s previous best: one-hitter for the New York Mets against the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 7, 1984. Keith Moreland got the hit.

Other no-hitter against Mariners: April 11, 1990 by Mark Langston and Mike Witt of the Angels.