Mets Finish Off Sweep of Dodgers

Even a Mickey Hatcher head-first, dirt-in-the-mouth, steal-a-run slide doesn’t work for the Dodgers anymore.

Three innings after Hatcher ignored orders by trying to score from first base on a double--and failed--the New York Mets scored five runs the easy way en route to a 9-3 victory Wednesday night before a crowd of 37,109 at Dodger Stadium.

Led by Kevin McReynolds, who hit a seventh-inning grand slam off reliever Tim Crews, the Mets completed a three-game sweep in this season’s final meeting between last year’s playoff opponents.

It was the Mets’ first three-game series sweep on the road this season. Considering that they arrived in town Monday with a five-game losing streak, it couldn’t have come at a better time. It moved them into a second-place tie with St. Louis, 2 1/2 games behind the National League East-leading Chicago Cubs.

“Three days can make a big difference,� Met Manager Davey Johnson said.

It was the fifth time the Dodgers had been swept this season. And for once, a Hatcher display of enthusiasm couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“Our problem is that we have not played aggressive enough baseball,� Hatcher said afterward. “I was just trying to make something happen.�

With two out in the fourth inning and the Dodgers trailing, 2-0, Hatcher drew a walk off Sid Fernandez for the second time in the game. Since Hatcher rarely gets anything for free--he had drawn just five walks in 198 at-bats going into the game--one can forgive his excitement.

Yet, moments later, he took that emotion a step further. After Hamilton lined a ball into the left-field corner. Hatcher rounded second and headed toward third, where third base coach Joey Amalfitano was screaming and signaling for him to stop. Hatcher kept running.

By the time Hatcher had passed a surprised Amalfitano and gone into a head-first slide at home plate, the throw had arrived from the outfield. While Hatcher ate dirt, catcher Barry Lyons tagged his back.

Normally in this situation, Hatcher would then jump up, fists pumping and crowd screaming as he ran into the embraces of his teammates. But these are not normal times. Hatcher was called out. And as teammates looked the other way, Hatcher buried his head in his hands.

“I can’t speak for him, but it’s apparent he saw me,� Amalfitano said. “The way he was running, he had it in his mind he was going to try and score regardless.�

“Yeah, I saw him,� Hatcher said. “Yeah, I ran through his sign. I had the ball in front of me and I knew the ball would be wet and slippery in the outfield and I thought I had a chance.

“Nobody is having fun around here anymore. We’ve got to make this thing fun, make things happen. That’s the way I was taught.�

As much as that play hurt the Dodgers, it inspired the Mets. In the sixth, they made their lead 3-1 on a wild pitch by Ray Searage after a Gregg Jefferies walk and a Juan Samuel double had knocked starter Ramon Martinez from the game.

Then came their game-winning seventh, all happening against Crews. He allowed a couple of singles sandwiched around a walk for one run. Then he walked Darryl Strawberry to load the bases and, one pitch later, gave McReynolds a belt-high fastball that he hit over the center-field fence. It was the first grand slam allowed by Crews in two-year major league career.

“It’s disappointing and frustrating,� said Crews, who has allowed nine runs in his last 10 innings covering five appearances. His earned-run average jumped Wednesday from 2.67 to 3.35.

“But I can’t just look at a couple of appearances,� Crews added. “I have to look at my whole season, which has been pretty good. If I just looked at what’s happened recently, I would be in a gutter somewhere.�

The outburst made it 8-1 and nullified Jeff Hamilton’s 12th homer in the seventh and a two-run homer by Mike Marshall in the eighth.

The other Dodger pitching news was the continued struggles of Martinez, who has won only twice in nine starts since being recalled from triple-A July 16.

The good news was that he allowed no home runs for only the third start since his recall. The bad news was that he wasn’t in the game long enough to allow many home runs.

After retiring the first six Met hitters, he got just eight of the next 14, finally leaving the game after allowing the two baserunners to start the sixth inning. In five innings he allowed three runs on four hits.

Since July 16, he has allowed 26 runs in 52 2/3 innings for a 4.44 ERA.

Dodger Notes

The Dodgers announced the recall of pitcher Mike Munoz and catcher Darrin Fletcher from Albuquerque, effective Friday with the September expansion of the rosters. Munoz, a hard-throwing, left-handed reliever, was 6-4 with a 3.12 ERA in 59 games. Fletcher, a left-handed hitter who is considered the Dodgers catcher of the future, was hitting .273 with five homers and 44 RBIs. . . . Alfredo Griffin was back in the lineup Wednesday after missing two games while resting, among other things, a sore right elbow. He said his elbow was not feeling better. But he said that considering he has played 162 games in four of the previous seven season, 21 missed games this season was enough. “I need to catch up,� Griffin said. “I’m not used to this.� Griffin said his elbow problems were caused by his season-long thumb problems. Because he can’t grip the ball with the thumb, he must throw with his first two fingers, which is putting unnatural strain on the entire arm. Entering Wednesday, Griffin had just two hits in his last 28 at-bats.

Willie Randolph was spotted taking extra hitting in the indoor batting cage before Wednesday’s game, an unusual sight this late in the season. “This is the first time that I haven’t been in some kind of pennant race in a couple of years, and lately it’s been hard to stay mentally focused,� said Randolph, who joined the Dodgers this year from the New York Yankees. “Extra work will help me get it back.�

Dodger infielders Mike Sharperson and Lenny Harris are serious about learning their new emergency positions--Sharperson at catcher, Harris in the outfield. Both will travel to Caracas, Venezuela, this winter to play for the Dodger winter league team and work on, among other things, those positions.