THE WORLD SERIES : New York Mets vs. Boston Red Sox : Notebook : Mets’ Unsung Hero Is a Former Dodger Named Sid Fernandez

NEW YORK —  Bob Bailor was released at the end of spring training. Carlos Diaz was let go at the outset of the playoffs.

Sid Fernandez, the pitcher the Dodgers gave up to obtain Messrs. Bailor and Diaz, was drinking champagne in the New York Met clubhouse, accepting toasts for his relief performance in the Mets’ Game 7 win.

“No doubt about it, he was the hero,” Met Manager Davey Johnson said of Fernandez, who relieved Ron Darling in the fourth after the Met starter was rocked for back-to-back home runs in a three-run second inning and pitched 2 shutout innings, striking out four.

“He shut them down and got the crowd on our side. If he can shut them down, we can come back. He got our fans and our own players believing that. He was the MVP of tonight’s game.”

Met first baseman Keith Hernandez concurred.

“Sid probably will be the unsung hero,” he said. “The game was 3-0, we can’t be blown out anymore.”

Fernandez, who won 15 games during the regular season but was passed over for a Series start when Johnson decided he didn’t want to use the left-hander in Boston’s Fenway Park, was unscored on in his two relief appearances, striking out nine Boston batters in 6innings.

Darryl Strawberry batted only .217 in the postseason, going 10 for 46 with 18 strikeouts. He closed it out, at least, with a successful final at-bat, homering off Al Nipper in the eighth inning.

“I feel good about it because it gave us a two-run lead,” he said. “I feel good about it because I struggled throughout the Series and then got the one big hit.”

Strawberry, who hit two important homers in the playoff with Houston, also contributed to a Boston home run Monday night.

He went to the right-field fence in pursuit of Rich Gedman’s towering drive in the second inning, leaped, and had the ball tip off his webbing as he jarred the wall.

“It popped out as soon as I hit the wall,” he said, “but I didn’t carry it over. It was already over when I reached it.”

Ray Knight, the Series MVP, felt compassion for losing Manager John McNamara.

“Mac gave me my first job (at Cincinnati),” he said. “I was only a kid and he took a lot of the pressure off me. I love the guy. I respect him as much as I respect anyone in baseball.

“I feel badly for him now, but it won’t take me long to get over it.”

Series most salient stat: In the last five games of this Series, the Boston bullpen allowed 11 earned runs in 9 innings.

With a single Monday, Boston second baseman Marty Barrett tied the record for most hits in a Series with 13, a record held jointly by Lou Brock of the Cardinals and Bobby Richardson of the Yankees.

The home runs by Ray Knight and Darryl Strawberry were the first hit by members of the home team in this World Series.

The first post-Series decisions facing the Red Sox and Mets involve their potential free agents.

The Mets have two: outfielder Danny Heep and third baseman Knight. Heep, 29, has been frustrated by his inability to win a regular job and indicated he will definitely go through free agency. Knight wants to end his career with a two-year contract. The Mets are expected to give it to him. He may platoon next year with highly regarded rookie Dave Magadan.

The Red Sox could lose Gedman, Joe Sambito, Dave Stapleton, Sammy Stewart and Glenn Hoffman to free agency. They may try to retain only Gedman and Stapleton. They also hold options on Tom Seaver and Tony Armas, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if both were cut loose. Seaver’s contract calls for $1.1 million next year. The Red Sox can release him with no obligation. Armas would have to be paid $1 million next year but can be bought out for $50,000. A possible scenario: The Red Sox could buy him out for the $50,000, then re-sign him for considerably less than $1 million.

Boston relief pitcher Bob Stanley received a telegram Monday from Sister Mary Margaret of Marblehead, Mass. It read: “Get in there and kick some ass. God be with you.”

Was it on the level?

“Yeah,” Stanley said. “I know her.”

Media Madness: The New York Post sports section carried 23 Series stories Monday, an easy winner in the daily sweepstakes here. The New York Daily News had 11, the New York Times 9 and Newsday 6.

Red Sox traveling secretary Jack Rogers was hit on the top of the head with a partially filled soda can early Tuesday, approximately an hour and a half after Game 7 of the World Series.

Rogers was hit while walking in short right field at Shea Stadium by the can that was thrown from the stands. He suffered a six-inch gash and some bleeding.

Rogers never lost conciousness and had his head bandaged. He opted to forgo further treatment in New York and will receive stitches when he returns home to Boston.

Instant Pre-Play?: With the Mets trailing, 3-0, as they prepared to take their at-bats in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Shea Stadium scoreboard showed a replay of the final play of Game 6--Mookie Wilson swinging and sending that slow roller down the first-base line that eluded Bill Buckner’s glove and capped New York’s incredible comeback.

Thus inspired, the Mets went on to score three times in the sixth to tie the score . . . and the rest became history.

As much as they may not like it, history will be thrown again in the faces of the Red Sox in the wake of perhaps their most frustrating defeat in a legacy of utter frustration.

“We’ll just have to accept it,” Manager John McNamara said. “We have to live with it and try again next year. We were within one out of the world’s championship and we didn’t make it.”

Other views around the Red Sox clubhouse:

Joe Sambito: “I don’t believe that we’re snakebit. Whenever history and past defeats of the Red Sox are brought up, I toss it away as trash. What happened in ’46 and ’67 and ’75 has nothing to do with the men in this room. When anyone comes up to me and uses the word ‘choking’ or says the past is haunting you, I consider that person ignorant.”

Dwight Evans: “I don’t think about our history, but I’m beginning to wonder. Sixty-eight years is a long time. When you see things go on like they did the other night, it makes you wonder what in the world is going on?”

Times staff writers Ross Newhan and Mike Penner contributed to this story.