June 19, 1989: Being the huge Dwight Gooden fan I was, I attended this game knowing Dr. K had a chance to earn his 100th career victory. I had been at so many Gooden classics in those days: the 16 K game in 1984, the night he set the rookie strike out mark, his one hitter, his 20th win in 1985, his 1st MLB home run, and the NLCS classic duel with Nolan Ryan to name a few.On this Monday night the 2nd place Mets only 1 ½ games behind Chicago, took on the Expos in front of a good crowd of just over 40,000. Gooden wasn’t perfect but good enough for his 100th career victory. In 7 innings he struck out 9 Expos allowing 3 runs on 5 hits. Rick Aguilera came in the game for two perfect innings and got his 6th save.
All the offensive power was supplied by Howard Johnson, who hit two home runs down the right field line off Kevin Gross. One in the 1st inni
ng with one on & one in the 2nd inning with one on, they were HoJo’s 17th & 18th of the year. He would enjoy a great season hitting 36 HRs, 101 RBIs, and 41 doubles while leading the league in runs scored with 104.The win put Gooden at 9-2 on the year with a 2.56 ERA amongst the league’s best. But he wouldn’t win another game for the rest of the season as a shoulder injury shut him down, finishing 9-4. The Mets missed the playoffs coming in second, six games behind Chicago.
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