On Dodger Fight Night, Foster Throws a KO Punch : Brock, Sax Tussle Before Game, Then Knight Goes After Niedenfuer

NEW YORK —  Dodger cool went south before the national anthem was sung here Tuesday night and baseball went bellicose in Shea Stadium.

Steve Sax and Greg Brock turned the Dodger dugout into a pregame battleground that cleared only when teammates intervened.

Then Tom Niedenfuer, who played peacemaker before the game, turned instigator after it started, hitting Ray Knight with a pitch that precipitated a sixth-inning, bench-clearing melee.

Niedenfuer, a punching bag for opposing hitters all spring, already had absorbed a haymaker--George Foster’s grand slam home run--and the rest of the Dodgers then took a 12 count from Met pitcher Ron Darling, who struck out a dozen Dodgers in the Mets’ 8-1 win before a beer-tossing crowd of 35,643.

But in the 11 minutes it took from the end of the game to the time they opened their clubhouse doors, Dodger cool made a belated comeback.

Niedenfuer, sporting a slight mouse under his left eye, stood his ground with reporters just as he had when Knight charged the mound.

And in the Dodger trainers’ room, Sax and Brock sat across a rubbing table from each other, a deck of cards between them, and dismissed any suggestion that they had nearly come to blows.

“They’re the best of friends,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I walked in that room and they were playing cards.

“Make sure you say that you saw them playing cards.”

They weren’t playing around right after infield practice, when Sax threw a ball that hit Brock in the back.

“I don’t want to comment on that,” Brock said. “It wasn’t necessarily that.”

Sax had been warming up with catcher Mike Scioscia when Brock ran between them and stuck his bat at the ball. Sax then threw the ball at Brock.

A TV cameraman for the New York station broadcasting the game said the players stood in the dugout yelling at each other.

The cameraman, who asked that his name not be used, said he could not see whether any punches were thrown, but a number of Dodger players stepped in between Sax and Brock.

“They definitely had a disagreement,” a Dodger player said. “About three or four players broke it up.”

Apparently, one of those players was Niedenfuer. “I can’t comment on that,” he said.

None of the Dodgers were eager to discuss the incident, although Bill Russell said it did not rival the celebrated Don Sutton-Steve Garvey intrasquad bout in 1978, which also took place here between games of a doubleheader.

“No comparison,” Russell said. “The Garvey thing was a knockdown, drag-out fight.”

But Russell also said he wasn’t an eyewitness to what transpired between Brock and Sax.

“There’s nothing here, guys,” Mike Marshall said, listening to the questions aimed at Brock and Sax.

As for the protagonists?

Brock: “When you play 180 games with the same guys, you’re going to have disagreements. We yelled at each other, that’s all.

“It was just a heated moment, that’s all, and afterward it all blew over. I’ve had the same argument in the batting cage with Sax for taking too many swings.”

Sax: “We were just yelling. It was over with right away.”

Brock: “He asked my wife out.”

Sax: “He asked my girlfriend out.”

The card game for Brock and Sax may have been a first.

“Saxie doesn’t know any card games,” Brock said.

But Foster’s home run was hardly a first for Niedenfuer, who before Tuesday was last seen raging through the Dodger dugout after giving up a home run to Mike Schmidt of the Phillies last Friday night.

Niedenfuer entered Tuesday’s game after five straight hits off Dodger starter Bob Welch had scored two runs, breaking a 1-1 tie, and left the bases loaded.

Foster, the most vilified batter in the Met lineup, swung badly on the first pitch, then crushed the next, lining it off the concrete facade in left.

“I threw him a high fastball on the first pitch, and he didn’t look very good,” Niedenfuer said. “He either did a good job of setting a pitcher up or it was just a bad pitch on my part.”

After the grand slam, Niedenfuer’s next pitch struck Knight in the left elbow. The Met third baseman immediately flung his bat down and headed toward the 6-foot, 5-inch Niedenfuer, who got low and tackled the 6-foot, 2-inch Knight, with Dodger catcher Scioscia close behind. Both benches and bullpens then emptied.

“The pitch I threw to Foster wasn’t where I wanted it to be and the pitch to Knight wasn’t where I wanted it to be, either,” said Niedenfuer, deftly deflecting the suggestion that he had purposely thrown at Knight.

Knight said he had no recourse but to charge the mound. “If he wants to hit me, fine,” Knight said. “I’ll do the same thing to him.”

Met Manager Davey Johnson, asked if he were worried about Knight’s safety, shook his head.

“Ray’s probably one of the strongest guys we’ve got,” Johnson said. “I was worried about everybody else, myself included.”

Despite the bruise under his eye, Niedenfuer said he wasn’t hurt.

“There was just a lot of scratching going on underneath that pile,” he said. “There are a lot of long fingernails in this league.”

But Lasorda couldn’t understand why umpire Billy Williams, the crew chief, didn’t eject Knight. The last time these teams fought, last Sept. 7 in Los Angeles, Dodger Mariano Duncan was thrown out for charging Met pitcher Ed Lynch.

“What if he (Knight) goes out there and starts a fight and somebody winds up getting hurt and is out for the season,” Lasorda said. “There’s no way you can condone that.

“A guy should be thrown out. And if the umpire thinks that Niedenfuer was trying to throw at him, then he should be thrown out, too.”

Williams explanation?

“We didn’t think there was a reason for an ejection,” he said.

When the Dodgers returned to their positions, the crowd jeered. Some patrons did more.

“I was doused with beer,” Dodger reliever Ken Howell said. “They were throwing beer, apples and fruit. I had a sudden urge to warm up in the bullpen and heave some of those apples right back at them.

“And (Franklin) Stubbs said somebody threw a jackknife at him and almost hit him.”

Stubbs’ night couldn’t have gotten much worse. He already had struck out three times, all on a called third strikes, against Darling, who ran his record to 6-0 and matched his career high in strikeouts.

“A terrible night,” Sax said with a sigh.

And it won’t necessarily get better when the sun rises today. All the Dodgers have to do is beat Dwight Gooden.

Dodger Notes

Tom Niedenfuer already has given up as many home runs in 25 innings this season, six, as he did in 106 innings last season. Eight of the 20 first batters he’s faced have gotten hits, three of them hitting home runs, and 11 of the 17 runners he has inherited have scored. Niedenfuer has not recorded a save in 10 appearances since May 1, and his earned-run average, 2.08 on April 24, is 3.67. “Definitely the worst slump of my career,” he said. “I’m like a fighter who’s been knocked down and has to get back up.” . . . Niedenfuer said George Foster’s grand slam was the first he’s given up in pro ball. Foster leads all active National League players with 13 grand slams. . . . Alejandro Pena made his first appearance of 1986 and gave up a home run to Keith Hernandez, the first batter he faced. Hernandez hit a 3-and-0 pitch. Pena pitched two innings and gave up two hits, walking one, and did not appear to be throwing hard. . . .

The Dodgers have the unenviable task tonight of trying to become the first team to cause Dwight Gooden to go four consecutive starts without a win, a subject of some concern in New York even though Gooden is 5-2 with a 1.96 ERA. “That’s New York,” said Jerry Reuss, scheduled to oppose Gooden. “They make you or break you. That’s the nature of things here. But that’s his (Gooden’s) problem.” With a 5.26 ERA, Reuss has his own problems. “I’ve had good stuff my last two outings, but I haven’t gotten away with anything,” Reuss said. “If I get the ball up I little bit, I get hit.” Gooden has kept a sense of humor about the flap being made. “I think they’re going to send me down as soon as Lynchie (Ed Lynch) comes off the DL,” he said. . . .

Dennis Powell, progressing rapidly from his arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow, is scheduled to throw breaking pitches Thursday, then batting practice on Friday. Powell went on the disabled list April 30 and is projected to return in the second week of June. . . . Jim Muhe, the visitors’ clubhouse man at Dodger Stadium, made his first trip with the team in 27 years in order to see former Dodger Johnny Podres, who suffered a mild heart attack and underwent double bypass surgery. Muhe visited him in the hospital along with Dodger coaches Ron Perranoski and Joe Amalfitano. “He’s my best friend,” Muhe said of Podres. “He’s doing great. He’s going home Friday.” . . . Mets right-fielder Darryl Strawberry did not play because of a slightly sprained left thumb. . . . Bill Madlock, recalling his contractual battles with former Cub owner P.K. Wrigley: “I was Malcolm X compared to Ernie (Banks) and Billy (Williams).” . . . Madlock on Angel Wally Joyner’s game-winning home run off the Yankees’ Dave Righetti Monday: “You can tell he’s been watching Reggie (Jackson). He stood there watching it, then flipped the bat.”