Remembering Mets History: (1989) Doc Gooden Wins His 100th Career Game

Monday June 19th 1989: Being the huge Dwight Gooden fan I was, centerfieldmaz attended this game knowing Dr. K was going for his 100th career victory.

On this Monday night Davey Johnson's second place Mets (35-31) were only 1 ½ games behind the division leading Chicago Cubs. 

Their opponent was manager Buck Rogers' third place Montreal Expos, just 1/2 game behind the Mets. The Expo starting pitcher was Kevin Gross. A good crowd of  40,064 came out to Shea for the event. 

Starting Lineups

	Montreal Expos				New York Mets
1	Dave Martinez	CF		1	Juan Samuel	CF
2	Tom Foley	2B		2	Dave Magadan	1B
3	Andres Galarraga	1B		3	Howard Johnson	3B
4	Tim Raines	LF		4	Darryl Strawberry	RF
5	Hubie Brooks	RF		5	Kevin McReynolds	LF
6	Tim Wallach	3B		6	Gregg Jefferies	2B
7	Nelson Santovenia	C		7	Barry Lyons	C
8	Spike Owen	SS		8	Kevin Elster	SS
9	Kevin Gross	P		9	Dwight Gooden	P

Gooden wasn't perfect tonight, as he allowed a 1st inning HR to Andres Galarraga. But the Mets came back quickly, as Howard Johnson hit a two run HR, his 17th of the year in the bottom of the 1st inning.

In the 2nd inning, Dave Magadan drew a walk. Then Howard Johnson homered again, #18 for him, his second two run shot of the game, making it 4-1 Mets. HoJo's numbers were amongst the leagues best sluggers.

In the 4th inning Magadan drove in Juan Samuel  with a base hit for a 5-1 Mets lead. In the top of the 6th, the Expos put up two runs, as center fielder Dave Martinez doubled to score Spike Owen. Then a Gooden wild pitch eventually scored Martinez, cutting it to a 5-3 Mets lead.

Gooden went seven innings, striking out nine Expos. He allowed three runs on five hits, while walking two. It was enough for a 23 year old Dwight Gooden to earn his 100th win. Rick Aguilera came in relief, in the 8th inning for two perfect innings, earning his sixth save.

The win put Gooden at 9-2 on the year with a 2.56 ERA amongst the league’s best.

Trivia: Unfortunately for the Mets, Gooden wouldn’t win another game for the rest of the season. A shoulder injury shut him down at the start of July. Gooden would not return until September, finishing up at 9-4.

Hojo would enjoy a great season hitting 36 HRs with 101 RBIs & 41 doubles, while leading the league in runs scored with 104.

The Mets missed the playoffs coming in second place, six games behind the Chicago Cubs.