European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 28, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday May 28, 19b6 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary or. K in t sick he s Roger Craig the manager of he san Francisco giants who As a mels right hander in .1963 Jost 13 consecutive games can t understand the commotion. Up in the big bullpen in the sky neither can Clifton Curtis who last 23 straight games with the Boston braves Tram Early in the 19 0 season through Early in the 1911 season neither can Dob Groom of the 1909 Washington senators and John nil bars of the 1916 Philadelphia a a who each lost 19 straight. The commotion of course is swirling around Dwight Goodwn who is not yet Evert a threat to those names. Gui when he ads 21-year-old right hander goes to the Mound wednesday night at Shea stadium he will be Coli Fronick by his own allowed history As Well As by the los Angeles dodgers. Another loss or no decision would Mark the first Simc in his me career that he will have gone four starts without a Victory. Or. K is not about to get his nickname legally changed 10 or. A but when he does t win in his last three starts the world wonders Why. La s happened twice before once last Wagon once two years ago. Both time he had one loss and to no decisions. But now his two losses have created More commotion. Maybe his Arm is sore. Maybe the ankle he sprained in the off season is bothering him. Maybe this maybe that. But until proven otherwise. Or. K a Only problem appears to be what same people especially National league Bai lers never Cusp cited before he s human. He also b a victim of his Awn Standard of excellence. Anything less and alarm Bells ring. Here is a Pitcher who has helped put the mels in first place in the National league East with his 5-2 record a 1.94 earned run average and 52 strikeouts. And people Are actually asking what s wrong with him what s wrong is that not even or. K can win every game. But in los Angeles we blew the second game of Dave Anderson those three Mel Stolt Lenire was say Irig from san Diego where the mils completed a Road trip sunday with a 4-2 Victory Over the of tires. The three runs off him were All unearned Fie did everything he  the mets lost that game to the dodgers 4-3, in ii innings. Without those three unearned runs. Or. Good in might have completed a seven hit shutout. But when Darcy Johnson the mels manager in cd o the Bull pen in the fifth inning of thursday s 10-2 loss in san Francisco the giants had nine Hiis. Six of their seven runs would be scored As earned. And the. Pitcher who had a 24-4 record last season would be charged with his second loss this season. His first occurred two weeks ago when Pete Rose s three run single gave the Cincin Nati reds a 3-2 Victory. Dwight s been so Good so Young and so Tansi slant he s expected to dominate every game he pitches Slot to Lemyre said out sometimes you have to credit the opposing learn.". Perhaps the most significant difference be tween the or. K of his first two seasons and the or. K of this season is his strikeout ratio. As a Rookie in 1984 he set a major league record with in average of 11.39 strikeouts every nine innings. Last season he averaged 3.72 strikeouts. So far this season with 52 strikeouts in 69 innings he has averaged 6.1$ every nine innings. Sensational for almost anybody else. There arc  said a Lattiemore of waiters Cut Ting Down their swing against Dwight trying to make Contact with Little Choppy swings rather than going up there and taking their Hacks. They know a big swing in l going to  of All the National league batters Chili Davis the san Francisco giants out in luvs has had More Success against or. K than anyone else. In his 1ft limes at Lull against Gooden in three seasons Davis has a .5 the fever is filling the air Here and All of Mexico is but a hair s breadth away from seemingly com plete soccer mania. Without doubt soccer is the world s Mast Papular sport. Every four years the world s Best nation Al soccer learns gather for the tournament that is the world s Largo Ami widely watched porting event partic nearly in this Era of communications satellites and world wide television broadcasts. This Lime mexi co is Host to the festival sinning saturday and Outing a month. Estimates Here Are that a cumulative tout of 9 billion fans in is countries worldwide will watch the 52 games that will decide the next world soccer Champion. The championship game in giant Aztec stadium on june 29 is expected 10 he watched by ,110,000 in the Arena and some 2 billion on television. Mexico is a soccer crazy country the kind of place where a father s Firtl gift to Hii son is a soccer Ball and As the world cup or Sundial u it to called in Spanish approaches mexicans Are ecstatic at the Prospect. One reason is thai Mexico if the Only country Ever to be the world cup Host twice. The first time was in 1970, the Only year the mexican team made it past the fint round. As Host the mexican learn automatically gained a spot in the tournament which it might not have done otherwise Liaty the defending Champion also got an automatic spot. The other 22 learns have Laboured mightily for the Honor in an Era of economic crisis brought about by fallen Oil prices vast foreign debt High inflation and a certain National Mal aise the Mon dial is an affirmation of mex Ico s place in the world proof that things can t be As bad As All that. The diversion that the games will pro vide even if the mexican team fall on its face in inc opening round and is eliminated will be a boost to the morale of the country a distraction from a life of increasingly Nar Row vistas particularly for the lower classes who have watched their real wages slowly shrink in recent years to Levels of the 1960s the few objections to what the world clip might be costing have been mild. The govern me 1 is also hoping for a big shot in the Arm for its flagging tourist Industry which has t grown As fast As hoped in recent Yean. About 40.000 tourists Are expected including britons whose arrival because of their Rowdy ism in their own country and Europe is viewed with mixed emotion by mexican officials hotels in the nine cities where the world cup games arc being played have been Al Lowed to raise their rates for the month of june to the Levels that resort holds on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts charge. So a hotel room in the City of Toluca 45 minutes from Mexico City that normally would Cost 14,000 pesos a night about s25 at cur rent Exchange Rales will Cost 46,000 peso or about j8s, for the duration. Prices in restaurants Are Likely to be in creased too. Hotel prices Are controlled by the government but not so those in restau rants. Still the Pew he been steadily declining against the Dollar standing in the 540-to the dour Range at the moment. It rep resents a bargain far american travellers but an even greater bargain for europeans who have watched their own currencies grow stronger against the Dollar in the past year. During the telecasts of the games being played in the nine mexican cities documentaries about the tourist attractions in the cities Wilt be broadcast. Government officials Are hoping that will generate future tourism. One week before the first game about 70 percent of the 3 million tickets available sea Mexico on Page 26 world cup stretch getting ready far soccer s worm Cap in inc session St the team s Monterrey Mexico City Portugal Coal Lucker Mexico Camp. I Uri Urjil faces England id Mannel Bola loosens of during a inn their first game of the cup on june 3