The days of Dwight Gooden`s oversize, neck-to-knees curveball may be over.
In smothering the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night, Gooden unveiled the smallest, meanest hook of his career, and New York Mets pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre admitted that he was ”amazed” at how it paralyzed the Phillies. Question: Where did the late-breaking, side-to-side curveball come from?
And whose idea was it for Gooden to bring his hands over his head in the windup?
”To be honest, it was all Doc. He did it,” Stottlemyre said Saturday.
”Especially with the windup. He was the one who wanted to try it, and all I did was give it my blessing. It gave him a better turn (on the rubber), and that way better pushoff toward the plate.”
The curveball was produced after five days of laboratory work on the sideline with Stottlemyre. Actually, the new curveball does not qualify as a discovery. Changing the grip-from two fingers on the seams to one-is a familiar alternative to pitchers who have trouble with their deuces.
But it was Gooden was recognized the need for change. ”That`s what me and Mel talked about all week” after Gooden gave up seven runs in four innings to the Phillies last Sunday at Shea Stadium, he said. ”I wanted to try something new, because I was having problems getting the (bigger) curve over.”
All it took was a half-rotation of the ball in Gooden`s hands. Suddenly, the curve looked and behaved like a slider: tighter spin, greater velocity, less break. Mets pitcher David Cone called it ”a classic example of what sideline work can do for a pitcher, if he`s willing to put his mind to do. It really paid off for Doc.”
No kidding. At times, you felt you were watching the Gooden of the `80s again, whipping through the Phillies` lineup like he owned it. He struck out eight of 17 Phillies from the fourth through the eighth innings.