I doubt anybody reading this cares about pitcher wins and losses. They are an archaic metric for judging pitcher performance. There is so much information available these days, that relying on a players record is inexcusable. However there is one group of people who still care about such things, the players, and quite frankly isn’t that for the best. I want my players caring more about the team accomplishment than the individual, and I don’t believe it is just lip service when a player says that it is irrelevant how they performed if the team lost. I was looking on Baseball Reference and found a game where I am sure the pitcher felt he let his team down, despite having maybe the best game of his life.

There are many famous instances of a player having an epic performance, and not coming away with the victory. Randy Johnson once struck out 19 batters without a walk, but allowed 2 homeruns giving him the loss. Ken Johnson lost 1-0 to the Reds despite not allowing a hit in 9 innings. Just last October James Shields struckout 15 Orioles, while only allowing 2 baserunners, but his teammates let him down, and he lost 1-0. The one I am chronicling today is Dwight Gooden’s day of disappointment. There are probably many better examples of a player pitching amazingly and ending in defeat, including the ones above, but this one I find fascinating.

On September 17th, 1984 the Mets went into Philadelphia to face the Phillies. Doc Gooden was the talk of New York, having one of the best rookie seasons of any pitchers in Major League history. He was coming off a complete game shutout of the Pirates, where he struck out 16. He had an active streak of 4 straight games with at least 10 K’s. Both teams were having a fine season, each with a winning percentage of at least .530 at the time. However neither had any chance of catching the Cubs, who would go on to win 96 games that year. For all intents and purposes the only noteworthy thing about this game was the opportunity to watch one of baseballs rising starts take the mound. Doc’s opposing pitcher that day was Shane Rawley, a mediocre player who switched between starting and relieving in a 12 year career. He had just recently been traded to the Phillies, and hadn’t really done much since coming over from the Yankees. There was no reason to believe that the  Phillies would stand much of a chance if Gooden was on his game

The game started off for Doc with a single by Jeff Stone, who quickly stole second base. This would be a theme for the Phillies on the day. After the steal Doc make quick work of the next 3 batters, striking them all out. In the top of the second the Mets would squander an scoring opportunity when both George Foster and Darryl Strawberry were caught trying to steal second. Gooden breezed through the 2nd, striking out the first 2 batters he faced, before inducing an infield flyball to Greg Gross. The third inning would flyby for both pitchers as well. Rawley got 3 straight groundouts, while Gooden recorded another couple K’s. Through 3 the Mets and Phillies were scoreless, and Doc already had 7 punchouts.

Onto the 4th and Rawley continued to deal. He had another 3 up 3 down inning. In the bottom of the 4th Von Hayes got a single with 1 out, and proceeded to swipe both 2nd and 3rd.  However this did not faze Gooden, who struck out Mike Schmidt and got Tim Corcoran to flyout to end the inning. The 5th went smoothly for Rawley, allowing only a single to Hubie Brooks. In the bottom of the 5th Gross got a single, then stole second, however Doc struck out the other 3 batters. Through 5 innings Rawley and Doc had given up  0 runs, and Gooden had 11 strikeouts.

Onto the 6th and Rawley had another quick inning, keeping Mike Fitzgerald at first after a leadoff single. Things would not go so smoothy for Dwight however. He got Jeff Stone to swing and miss at strike 3, but Fitzgerald couldn’t handle the ball, and Stone made his way onto 1st. From there Gooden and Fitzgerald allowed another steal to Stone, and on a pickoff attempt Gooden threw it away and Stone moved to 3rd. The ensuing batter, Juan Samuel, would strikeout. Then Von Hayes stepped up to the plate with a man on 3rd and 1 out.  He immediately popped the ball up in foul territory on the third base line, but Ray Knight dropped the ball allowing the at-bat to continue.  This error on Knight would haunt the Mets. Following that error Hayes singled in Stone for an unearned run, giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Gooden would escape without anymore damage, getting Schmidt to flyout, and picking Hayes off of 1st to end the inning. After 6 innings the Mets were down 1-0.

In the 7th inning the Mets bats finally came alive. After a Keith Hernandez groundout to start the inning George Foster hit solo shot to tie the game up 1-1. After another groundout, Strawberry laced a single with 2 outs. He followed that with a steal of 2nd, and on the throw the ball got away, and he took 3rd as well. It took 7 innings, but the Mets were finally getting to Rawley. However after making the critical error in the previous inning on a popup in foul territory, Ray Knight ended this inning with his own foul ball flyout. In the bottom of the 7th Doc got right back on his game recording his 14th strikeout and not allowing any runs. The top of the 8th was a short one for Rawley, getting the Mets out in order.

The 8th did not go so well for Gooden though. He started off well enough getting Al Oliver to go down on strikes, but the opposing pitcher Shane Rawley singled off of Gooden. It truly was a special day for Rawley. Jeff Stone helped out with a single of his own. Then with a man on 1st and 3rd, Stone stole 2nd, to give the Phillies a great chance to take the late lead. With 2 runners in scoring position, and only 1 out, Doc gave up the lead in probably the most painful way. He balked. Rawley came in to score the game winning run. Doc would strikeout Samuel, and get Hayes to groundout to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Rawley would finish off the complete game victory in the top of the 9th. It was an epic performance for both pitchers, and must have been a memorable game to be a part of. Dwight Gooden on that day became the only pitcher in MLB history to lose a game, despite having 16 strikeouts, 0 walks, and 0 homers allowed. If that is not a disappointing day, I don’t know what is.