ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Riding off the field on his teammates' shoulders, Dwight Gooden could see his baseball past and a new future.
Gooden, his career considered over after a drug ban last year and a rough start this season, pitched a no-hitter Tuesday night as the New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners 2-0. (Box score in Baseball Scoreboard. B2)
``Thinking of where I was a year and a half ago, I never even thought I would pitch again,'' Gooden said. ``And then to throw a no-hitter I wouldn't have though it was possible in my wildest dreams.''
Gooden (2-3) returned to the major leagues after being banned for the final six weeks of the 1994 season and for all of 1995 after testing positive for cocaine. Just weeks after he was on the verge of being dropped from the starting rotation, he pitched the first no-hitter of his big-league career.
During the game, Gooden thought several times of his ailing father, Dan, scheduled to undergo open heart surgery today.
``I'd like to dedicate this game to my father,'' Gooden said.
After shortstop Derek Jeter squeezed Paul Sorrento's popup for the final out, Gooden was hugged by catcher Joe Girardi, mobbed by his teammates and saluted by the Yankee Stadium fans.
``It's almost like a numb feeling, to be honest,'' Gooden said. ``It hasn't really sunk in yet.''
In the middle of Gooden's news conference, Ken Griffey Jr. came in to offer his congratulations. He hugged Gooden and patted him on the back.
``He had everything going for him tonight,'' Griffey said. ``Once he got over those early problems he was fine. Doc pitched a great game.''
Gooden gave up 17 runs in his first three starts with the Yankees and was about to be demoted to the bullpen. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre worked with him on his delivery and Gooden stayed in the rotation when David Cone got hurt.
``I'm extremely proud of him right now,'' said Stottlemyre, also Gooden's pitching coach with the New York Mets. ``I think because of where he has been it's more special. I think people were ready to give up on him a few weeks ago. There were a lot of people who doubted him and look where he is now . . . on top of the world.''
Gooden, who beat Detroit last week for his first win in nearly two years, extended his hitless streak to 16 innings. He struck out five and walked six, lowering his ERA to 4.46.
Center fielder Gerald Williams, playing for the injured Bernie Williams, helped him with a spectacular over-the-shoulder running catch on a first-inning drive by Alex Rodriguez. He ran down Rodriguez's drive and quickly threw to Jeter, who then doubled up Darren Bragg at first.
``That was as good a catch as I have ever seen a center fielder make considering all he had to do,'' New York manager Joe Torre said.
With the crowd on its feet, Gooden opened the ninth by walking Rodriguez, then got help from first baseman Tino Martinez. The ex-Mariner, traded to New York last December, took Griffey's slow roller and dived to the bag just in time to beat Griffey.
``I broke late,'' Gooden admitted. ``Tino kind of picked me up right there.''
``It kind of took a funny hop and I thought about tossing it to Dwight,'' Martinez said. ``Junior was flying and I though I'd better take it myself.''
Gooden walked defending AL batting champion Edgar Martinez and threw a wild pitch on his first pitch to former Yankee Jay Buhner, advancing the runners to second and third.
Gooden fanned Buhner on a 2-2 pitch. Sorrento then popped out on a 2-1 pitch. As soon as the ball left Sorrento's bat, Gooden raised both arms.
``When he popped up, something just went through me,'' Gooden said.
Girardi ran to the mound and mobbed Gooden while fans threw debris from the upper deck in celebration.
Gooden, once one of baseball's premier pitchers before his drug problems sidetracked his promising career, tossed the second no-hitter of the season. Al Leiter pitched the first no-hitter in Florida Marlins' history on Saturday night, beating the Colorado Rockies.
Gooden's no-hitter was the ninth in Yankees' history, and the first since Jim Abbott no-hit the Cleveland Indians on Sept. 4, 1993.
It was the second no-hitter pitched against the Mariners. On April 11, 1990, Mark Langston went seven innings and Mike Witt pitched two innings in a 1-0 win over the Mariners.
Gooden, who threw 134 pitches, walked four over the first three innings and got himself in trouble in the sixth. Bragg hit a hard two-hopper that bounced away from Tino Martinez for an error and took third on an infield out. Gooden then struck out Griffey for the second time and retired Edgar Martinez on a hard liner to right-center.
Gooden, who won the NL Cy Young Award in 1985, hasn't had a winning record since 1991. After helping the New York Mets win the World Series in 1986, he missed the first two months of the following season while undergoing rehabilitation for a cocaine problem.
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner signed Gooden last Oct. 16 and made the pitcher his personal reclamation project. Gooden was put in the rotation at the start of the season ahead of Kenny Rogers, who got a chance to start only because of an injury to Melido Perez.
Tino Martinez drove in the game's first run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. An RBI single by Jim Leyritz made it 2-0.
Sterling Hitchcock (3-2), sent to Seattle as part of the Tino Martinez deal, allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings. He walked four and struck out three.
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Dwight Gooden is carried off the field by his Newby CNBYork Yankees teammates. color. KEYWORDS: BASEBALL