Mike Harkey thinks Atlanta slugger Dave Justice, ”because he`s getting the big hype right now,” is probably the front-runner for the National League Rookie of the Year award.
Cubs manager Don Zimmer is certain the race is between two other rookies: Montreal second baseman Delino DeShields and Zim`s own Harkey, the 6-foot-6-inch right-hander who ran his record to 12-5 by blanking the Braves 7-0 Friday.
And Cubs shortstop Shawon Dunston, who slugged two homers and had four runs batted in, sounded a little like a politician trying to straddle the fence when he said, ”Harkey and Justice are both going great. . . . I wish both of them could win it.”
Harkey allowed just three hits as he registered his first big-league shutout. He has yielded just one run and 15 hits in 26 innings of work in his last three games.
Justice, who had hit 10 homers in his last 12 games, didn`t get the ball out of the infield in three tries against Harkey.
Harkey walked nobody. None of the 30 batters he faced even worked him to a three-ball count. He struck out six. And, quickening the tempo so the game was played in a snappy 2 hours 2 minutes, Harkey threw only 33 of his 103 pitches out of the strike zone.
This one was a throwback to pre-World War II games that began at 3 p.m., and radio programming switched without fail from the ballgame to kids`
adventure serials promptly at 5 p.m. Only a Brave or a vendor could dislike Friday`s game.
”I had to pitch quick,” cracked Harkey. ”I`m going to a concert (M.C. Hammer at the Rosemont Horizon).”
”There is no question that when a guy works that fast and throws strikes, it keeps all the fielders behind him on their toes,” said Zimmer.
Harkey explained, however, that snapping off a three-hit, 103-pitch shutout in 2:02 involves more than merely working quickly and throwing pitches over the plate.
”You don`t just lay the ball down the middle,” he said. ”The key is starting out by getting good quality pitches over the plate.”
For Harkey, this frequently meant his curve.
”In my last two games, against the Mets and Atlanta, my curve has been the turning point,” said Harkey. ”Hitters had to look for the curve as well as my fastball.”
Harkey not only retired 15 batters in a row from the second into the seventh, but he also pitched so consistently that his inning-by-inning pitch count was 10, 10, 15, 11, 14, 9, 14, 8 and 12.
Meanwhile, Dunston homered with Dave Clark on base in the second, Mark Grace rapped a first-pitch homer to open the fourth and Dunston hit another two-run homer in the seventh as the Cubs registered their first victory over an equally brisk-working John Smoltz (9-9).
”He`s a tough pitcher to hit home runs off,” said Dunston. ”I wasn`t trying for home runs, just to make good contact.”
The Cubs added two extra runs off Marty Clary in the eighth when Jerome Walton walked, and Ryne Sandberg, Grace and Andre Dunston singled in a row.
Now what about the Rookie of the Year award?
”It`s popped into my mind every once in a while,” Harkey said, ”but you can`t really worry about it. It`s not picked until after September, and I`ve got maybe eight more starts left in 1990. It will go to the player who has the best September.”
Justice has hit 18 homers and has 48 RBIs in just 284 at-bats. Did Harkey think he helped his campaign by blanking the Brave slugger and lowering his batting average to .268?
”My game is not to shut down Dave Justice,” Harkey said. ”Dave Justice is one of nine guys I have to shut down.”
