Dave VW
February 26, 2023
I was shocked to see the Mets had a winning record after this game, as the team looked just as bad -- if not worse -- than it did during its 103-loss 1993 season. Not only was this Gooden's last career start against the Dodgers, it was also his last start until June as he was shut down with a toe injury he incurred after kicking the bat rack during a poor performance in Chicago on Opening Day. The story goes he began using cocaine again during this rehab stint, and would be suspended shortly after returning from his injury. He then failed another drug test and was suspended for all of 1995, thus putting a sad end to his 11-year tenure with the Mets.
I was also quite surprised that the Dodgers were under .500 at the time, as their lineup looked quite formidable. They broke out of whatever slump they were in here, as they scored the most runs against the Mets since a 14-1 win back on May 10, 1979. Brett Butler walked all four times he was up, the first player with 4 BBs vs. the Mets since Lenny Dykstra in 1991. After getting no-hit through the first three innings, LA scored in every inning from there on out -- 3 times each in the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th. Meanwhile, the Mets could have staged some type of rally but grounded into a double play four innings in a row from the 6th-9th, with the guilty parties being Jeff Kent, Jose Vizcaino, Joe Orsulak and Todd Hundley.
Hampered by his injury, Gooden certainly took it on the chin, but reliever Jonathan Hurst was no better. He allowed the final 6 runs and was demoted to AAA Norfolk following the game, never to be summoned back to the bigs again and ending his Mets tenure with a cool 12.60 ERA over 7 appearances.
In an act that would make Philadelphians proud, fans started collectively throwing souvenir baseballs onto the field during the bottom of the fourth inning, prompting the umpires to call the Mets players off the field. The Dodgers had already scored 2 runs in the inning and were up 2-1 at the time, and nothing controversial had happened during the frame, so I have no idea what caused the fans to react in such a way. But when play resumed, Doc gave up an RBI single to Eric Karros on the first pitch he threw, so the delay certainly didn't help matters.
The one silver lining is that Gary Thorne joined Tim McCarver in the booth for the game. The 1994 season was his first calling games on WWOR, and I much preferred his delivery and usually upbeat attitude over McCarver's ego and Kiner's gaffes.
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