1985 Game 26 - 1985 Fleer #634 Juan Samuel / Dwight Gooden

Mets 5, Phillies 0
Game 26 - Friday Night, May 10th in New York
Record - 10-16, 5th Place, 7 1/2 games behind the Cubs and Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Dwight Gooden again easily handled the Phillies' struggling offense and he once again out dueled Steve Carlton in this 5-0 loss to the Mets.

What It Means:  This was Gooden's 38th career start, his fourth against the Phillies dating back to the 1984 season, and his first complete game shutout against the club.  He recorded his second highest strikeout total (13) against the Phillies, having struck out 16 Phillies in his start on September 17, 1984.  He'd strike out 11 Phillies in games on September 16, 1985 and August 4, 1987.

What Happened:  Carlton worked out of jams in the second and third innings, before the Mets finally got to him in the fourth via a two-run home run from George Foster.  Trailing 2-0 and with the offense not able to get anything going against Gooden, Carlton was pinch-hit for with Greg Gross in the sixth.  Carlton exited on the way to dropping his record to 0-3 despite allowing only two runs and striking out seven.

Gooden completely confused the Phillies line-up, allowing only three hits, including a double to Von Hayes.  He struck out 13 in his complete game shutout.  Mike Schmidt went 0 for 4 to drop his average to .200 while Juan Samuel also went 0 for 4 (with four strikeouts) to drop his average to .245.

This was yet another box score that caused me stress as an 11-year-old, as I had no idea who "Walker" was listed under the Phillies pitchers.  I surmised then that either the Phillies had called up a pitching prospect or had made a deal for a pitcher named Walker.  I now realize that Walker was actually Dave Rucker and the Atlantic City Press box score editor had failed me once again.

Featured Card:  I loved this Fleer Super Star Special card when it was released back in 1985, and it was one of the coolest cards to find in a pack of 1985 Fleer cards.  I was able to find the telecast of this game on YouTube, and I've linked to it below.  Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver provide the play by play and I'll admit I watched more of this game than I planned to, even though I already knew the outcome wouldn't be great for the Phillies.

With Comcast Philadelphia rebroadcasting games from 2018 and 2019 fairly often these days, it was nice to go back and watch a more "vintage" game from 35 years ago.