Dodgers Get the Latest Kiss-Off From Darling, Fall 11 Games Behind

Mets’ pitcher Ron Darling went to Yale. He has appeared on the cover of GQ. He lives in a fashionable section of Manhattan.

But there are a few things in life even a man of Darling’s sophisticated tastes had yet to experience.

One is to appear in a World Series, although he’s thoughtfully left a couple of weeks in October open in his datebook.

Another was to pitch in Dodger Stadium, an oversight Darling took care of in the Mets’ 6-4 win over the Dodgers Tuesday night before a sellout crowd of 46,977.

And while his pitching may not have been as stylish as the cut of the clothes he wore in GQ, Darling still made it a night to remember with two hits off Fernando Valenzuela, who was undressed for 11 hits and five runs in six innings.

While Valenzuela failed for the third straight time to become the first 16-game winner in the National League, the Dodgers dropped 11 games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the National League West.

“What else can happen,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda muttered almost to himself. “It’s a (expletive) nightmare. A (expletive) nightmare.”

But for Darling, who celebrated his 26th birthday with his 12th victory, it was a night of dream-weaving.

“I was so pumped up,” he said. “I’ve been a Dodger fan all my life, even in ‘81, when I was drafted (by Texas). I was hoping the Dodgers would draft me.

“And pitching against Fernando, too, the first three innings I was overthrowing and trying to do too much. But once it was 4-4, the magnetism or whatever it was, went away.”

Just as they had the night before, the Dodgers spotted the Mets a big lead, New York jumping ahead, 4-0, on a two-out double by Keith Hernandez and a home run by rookie Kevin Mitchell in the first, and a two-run single by Mookie Wilson in the second.

By the end of the third, however, the score was tied, 4-4, as Valenzuela and Steve Sax singled in runs in the second and the Mets threw the ball around like the Dodgers in the third, center fielder Len Dykstra and Darling committing errors on the same play.

Dykstra threw wildly to the plate on Mike Scioscia’s sacrifice fly, and Darling, backing up the play, threw the ball back into center field, allowing Len Matuszek, who had been on first, to wind up on third. Matuszek scored the tying run on an infield out by rookie Jeff Hamilton.

But in the sixth, Darling, who came into the game as the Mets’ worst hitting pitcher with an .082 average, doubled over the head of left fielder Matuszek and scored when Dykstra--who came into the game with just one hit in his last 26 at-bats--lined a single to right.

Earlier, Darling had beaten out a bunt in the Mets’ two-run second. And he would have had another hit if Valenzuela had not made the night’s most memorable play, diving off the mound to grab Darling’s fourth-inning bunt in midair.

But the Dodger left-hander left after giving up more hits than he has in any game since May 9 in Montreal against the Expos.

“We’re just a little worried about him, that’s all,” said Lasorda, who may have been referring to the strained hamstring Valenzuela had two starts ago in Cincinnati but wouldn’t elaborate.

“He just wasn’t throwing right.”

Pitching coach Ron Perranoski, asked what was ailing Valenzuela, said: “The guy’s just a human being.”

The Mets added an insurance run in the ninth when Dodger reliever Ken Howell, in typical fashion, walked two batters and gave up a run-scoring single to Darryl Strawberry.

It was the 79th win of the season for the Mets, runaway leaders in the NL East, though Darling needed help from Randy Niemann and Roger McDowell (14th save).

The Astros are starting to make it a runaway in the West, too, as the Dodgers fall out of sight and the second-place Giants drop 7 1/2 games back.

And it wouldn’t have been a Dodger game if someone wasn’t tried at a new position. With Mariano Duncan out with a fractured foot, the Dodgers shifted rookie third baseman Hamilton to short, a position he hadn’t played since Colt League ball in New Mexico.

The game’s goofiest play, however, was contributed by the Mets, when Dykstra made a shoestring catch of Bill Russell’s blooper in the seventh, only to have second baseman Tim Teufel step on his glove. The ball remained in the glove, but the glove didn’t stay on Dykstra’s hand.

“You have to have control of the glove,” Dykstra said. “I didn’t know that. Nothing like that ever happened to me before.”

Dykstra said he asked umpire Billy Williams for a ruling. What did Williams say?

“He laughed at me,” Dykstra said.

Dodger Notes

It should come as no surprise, but as the Dodgers fall further out of the race, the frustration level rises accordingly. Two examples: Shortstop Mariano Duncan, who played four innings after fracturing his left foot Monday night, blamed Herald-Examiner reporter Ken Gurnick for his condition. “I think it happened because I listen to that (expletive) in the paper,” said Duncan, apparently referring to reports that Dodger teammates had privately criticized the shortstop for taking so long (17 games) to come back from a sprained ankle. “None of my teammates said that,” Duncan said. “And the manager (Tom Lasorda) told me, ‘When you’re ready to play, come to me.’ Only that guy (Gurnick) said that.” Apparently to prove the reports wrong (“I didn’t want to read no bleep”), Duncan said, he stayed in the game and didn’t tell anyone how much his foot hurt. “I didn’t say anything in the dugout,” he said. “I sit down, that’s it. I don’t say nothing to nobody.” Trainer Charlie Strasser said that after the game, Duncan gave no indication of being in distress. Duncan said he was told by Dr. Frank Jobe that by staying in the game, he may have injured his foot further.

Example No. 2: Before Sunday’s game in San Francisco, Bill Russell and Mike Marshall got in a shouting match in front of teammates after Russell demanded to know why Marshall, who has had back problems since late June, hasn’t been playing. Russell, asked about the incident Monday night, dismissed it as inconsequential. Said Marshall: “Why don’t you go ask Russell?” But a teammate said Marshall was embarrassed to be challenged by Russell in front of teammates instead of being taken aside, and angered at the implication that he was shirking his duty. “I can do a lot of things,” Marshall said. “The only thing I’m unable to do is drive the ball at the plate.”

Infielder Dave Anderson, activated when Duncan went on the DL, hadn’t expected to return until Monday after one of the pins in his fractured little finger on his right hand became loose. He hadn’t taken batting practice in two weeks. “But they’ve got to have somebody to play,” he said. . . . Relief pitcher Tom Niedenfuer received an injection in his strained right hamstring and is listed on a day-to-day basis.