Daily News from New York, New York • 376

65f DAILY SPORTS NEWS Thursday, May 7. 1992 'p 16E. I i IT fft By BOB KtAPISCH Daly News Sports Writer CINCINNATI You spend the night staring emptily, wondering how to recapture one inning, even one pitch. This is the war all rookie pitchers fight It's awful self-torture but the smart neophytes, like Anthony Young, turn pain into an education. Lesson No.

1: Never get comfortable with a righty- righty matchup, especially when the at-bat belongs to Chris Sabo. Lesson No. 2: Never throw Sabo a cut fastball that doesn't cut Lesson No. 3: Never let a Sabo home run torture you. REDS 5 METS3 He's an equal-opportunity ego-crusher.

"Next time I'll know: face Sabo and you better make your pitch. He's a good hitter," Young said, cutting right to the core of the Mets' 5-3 loss to the Reds last night Its essence looked like this: Trailing 2-1 in the sixth with one out and a runner on second, the Mets chose to intentionally walk Paul O'Neill, a lefty, to face Sabo, a righty. Every one of manager Jeff Torborg's instincts said yes, yes, yes. Why face O'Neill, who was hitting .356 and had abused the Mets to the tune of .405 in 1991? going to do anything. I wish I could have it back," Young said.

"Pitch like that all you can do is hope he swings and misses." That hope vaporized in less than a second, as Sabo crushed the fastball over wall. That gave the Reds a 5-1 lead, more than enough breathing room to live through the Mets two-run seventh. Standing by him Afterward, Torborg refused to question Young's pitch selection, saying "it's only the location" that bothered the manager. Actually, it was the second time in the game Young had flogged He threw an 0-2 slider to Joe Oliver in the third inning that refused to take orders, Whump. The HR left the parV-in a hurry.

As Torborg rueful- ly observed, "That slider was more like a spiral. It didn't do anything." "Two bad pitches, and they cost me the game," Young said, mouthing the words of generations of pitchers before him who have been victimized by an iron-poor lineup. Actually, the Mets could have broken the Reds' hearts in the seventh with runners on first and second and BqJj. by Bonilla at the plate. Already, Dick Schofield had lifted a sac fly with the bases loaded for one run, and Dave Magadan had added an RBI single to make it 5-3 against Gregg Swindell.

But Norm Charlton arrived for Bonilla who, incredibly, was choking up a full 3-4 inches on his bat Maybe it's because Bonilla hasn't had an extra-base hit since April 18, or an HR since Opening Day. Or perhaps be-, cause Bonilla knew CharlUtt would tease, seduce and nibble the corners. Or perhaps it was as simple as Bonilla said, "that I needed to do something a little different" When the count ran to 2-2, Charlton threw a fastball, a little up, a little away. Bonilla swung, and to his astonishment, realized choking up had left him only little; woodioTasissa be I might not have enough bat td reach that said. Call it an education all around.

PICTURE OF DEJECTION: Meis pitcher Anthony Young stares at the ground after giving up Joe Oliver's homer in third inning. If he felt bad then, he felt a thousand times worse after Chris Sabo took him deep with two men on in the sixth. a F.1ETS at REDS, 12:30 p.m. ON THE Alit: Ch. 9, WFAN-660 PITCHERS: Dwight Gooden vs.

Chris Hammond 1992 1991 vs. OPPONENT LAST 3 OUTINGS PITCHER W-L W-l '91 CAREER IP ER W-l Gooden (R) 2-2 13-7 0-1 8-5 20 8 1-1 Hammond (L) 2-2 7-7 0-1 0-1 17 8 0-2 A 'no-brainer' Why tangle with this beast, when Young and his sinker could take their chances with Sabo, who had spent much of April on the DL with a sprained ankle and was batting only Torborg called his choice "a no-brainer" baseball-speak for a choice so easy, you make it without taking a breath. Even Sabo would say later, "I'd have done the same thing." Of course, there were risks. Sabo did hit 17 HRs with 59 RBI against righties last year, and Young still had to make a pretty pitqh.tosrnothej.Mni- 0 With af 0-i count 'on Sabow ,9 Young thought he" had 'done just'that'1'. until "the'eami' lefVvhis fingertips." "'Right0 away I knew the ball wasn't Manager Jeff Torborg held a closed -door, 40-minute meeting with the New York reporter who asked about not using Paul Gibson in the seventh inning of a 5-4 loss to the Astros Tuesday.

That question produced an explosion from Torborg and yesterday's meeting produced no softening of the anger. Both men could be heard yelling at each other through the doors J. Dozier made, his Me a pihch-Tiitter in tfie seventh' reaching ori 'a'nerro by. Benavides. Klapiscli SCOUTING REPORT: Dwight Gooden was outpitched by Tom Gla-vine in his last start, a 3-0 loss to the Braves (7 IP, 9 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K).

Doc got bombed in his only 1991 start against the Reds (4 IP, 11 9 ER, 4 BB, 5 K) and is 8-5 with a 3.29 ERA vs. Cincy lifetime, his highest ERA vs. any NL club. Chris, Sabo is Good- en Chris Hammond is 26 jind had minor-leagu' record bf 13 from 1988-90, but is just in the bigs. His' last was; 10-3 loss to the Cubs (6 IP, 5 4 ER, 2 BB, KJ.wfiich left his ERA at 3.45.

He was 0-1 with a 'm 3 1991.,, -r- Compiled toy Anthony Rieber.