NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : Notebook : With Writing Career on Shelf, Cone to Pitch

David Cone, New York Mets pitcher and former sports columnist, will try it again tonight.

Pitching, that is; not writing.

Cone was knocked out of the box by Dodger hitting and bench-jockeying in Game 2 of the National League playoffs last Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

His bylined column, ghostwritten by a real sportswriter, was appearing in the New York Daily News. After the Mets’ win in Game 1, Cone’s column contained derogatory comments about Dodger relief pitcher Jay Howell.

Cone pleaded innocent of malicious intent, but the Dodgers roasted him from the dugout and drove him out of the game after 2 innings.

“That’s behind us, that’s a dead issue,” Cone said Monday as he packed his equipment bag for the trip west. “I can’t reiterate how much I’m looking forward to picking up our club and taking it on to Game 7.

“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to pitch in what is the most important game of my career. A very brief career, I should add.”

Cone said he isn’t concerned that the Dodgers might try to rattle him again from their bench, or that the Dodger Stadium crowd might be hostile.

“I’m not worried about a home crowd,” he said. “I’m worried about their lineup. I’m really not concerned with that (bench jockeying), to tell you the truth. . . . I’ve got nowhere to go but up.

“I don’t feel pressure. Pressure is having to get up every day and work in a meat factory, or having cancer and knowing your life’s on the line. That’s pressure.

“How many people would trade places with me right now? It’s an outstanding opportunity, something I’ve dreamed about all my life.”

Met Manager Davey Johnson gave Cone the option of traveling to Los Angeles ahead of the team to rest up, but Cone declined.

“I said I’d rather be with my team,” Cone said, either out of sense of camaraderie or a belief in safety in numbers.

So much has happened in the series since that night in Los Angeles, including personal apologies by Cone to Howell and Tom Lasorda, and Cone’s retirement from the newspaper business that the Dodgers’ anger seems to have subsided.

“There’ve been so many ups and downs since then that I think it’s (Cone’s controversial column) forgotten,” said Dodger pitcher Tim Belcher. “That’s good for both teams. At this point we should be worried about what happens on the field.”

In this series, that would be a different twist.

As Kevin McReynolds went to bat against Orel Hershiser with the bases loaded, 2 outs and the Dodgers clinging to a 1-run lead in the 12th inning of Sunday night’s game, coach Joe Ferguson, positioning the defense from the press box, messaged the dugout to have center fielder John Shelby move in 2 or 3 strides.

The onrushing Shelby eventually made a knee-high catch of McReynold’s flare, preserving the win. Was Ferguson thinking of Game 1, when a diving Shelby was unable to hold Gary Carter’s bloop double in the ninth, the decisive hit?

“Not at all, it was a different situation,” Ferguson said. “I didn’t move him in because I thought McReynolds would hit a dying quail. Once they had the potential winning run at second I moved him in so that he would have a chance to throw that runner out at the plate. Win some, lose some.”

What was Manager Tom Lasorda’s reaction when McReynolds first hit his bloop?

“I said, ‘No, not again.’ I mean, if a guy could ride a player like he can ride a horse, I was on John all the way when he was running in.

“It was a great catch. He ran the last few yards on heart. When I went out to hug him he said, ‘Skip, I had to get that one. That one wasn’t going to drop in, too.’ ”

Tim Leary, who won 17 games this season and was the Dodgers’ best starting pitcher until a late-season slump, said he did not mind waiting 6 games before getting a start.

“Once you get into the playoffs, you just do whatever it takes,” Leary said. “I understand why they did it. When the playoffs started, the only two certainties in our rotation were Orel (Hershiser) and (John) Tudor.”

Leary said there will be no special significance for him tonight when he faces the Mets, the team that selected him first overall in the 1979 draft.

“I lived with (Met pitcher) Ron Darling for a while, and I played with Wally Backman in the instructional league, and I know (Terry) Leach, but I never felt like I was a part of the Mets, because I wasn’t there that long.”

Dodger catcher Rick Dempsey, who has played on championship teams in Baltimore, offered this theory when asked to account for the Dodgers’ success:

“I think we realize we are not the best team in baseball. We make mistakes, and we talk about them. We just keep coming, keep pushing hard to get it done. Last season, there was a lot of fighting on the club. This season, we started out with Kirk Gibson and a few other new players, and we put everything behind us.”

Times sports writers Sam McManis and Ross Newhan also contributed to this story.