NEW YORK -- Dwight Gooden, the New York Mets' last link to their 1986 World Series champions, has been suspended by major league baseball for 60 days for violating his drug aftercare program.


Gooden, 29, missed a month of the 1987 season to undergo treatment for cocaine use and agreed then to submit to random drug testing as part of the aftercare program.


The specific violation was not disclosed by Gooden, the Mets or baseball, but Gary Sheffield, Gooden's nephew who plays for the Florida Marlins, said it was not drugs. He indicated Gooden missed a test.


"It's not fazing him," Sheffield said Tuesday. "He's handling things well. I'm sure he'll be all right. As long as it's not drugs, everything will be fine."


"The main thing I was concerned about was his health, and once I found out it was not drugs, it made everything OK."


A statement from Gooden was read by Joe McIlvaine, Mets vice president for baseball operations.


"I have been suspended for breaking the rules of my aftercare program. I'm truly sorry it happened," the statement said. "I want to apologize to the club, my teammates and to the people of New York. I want to thank everyone for their past support. I will be back stronger and better. I want to earn your respect back."


Gooden, who is making $3.7 million this season, returned to the Mets from a toe injury in late April that had him on the disabled list. He is 3-4 with a 6.31 ERA in 41 1-3 innings and had the worst outing of his career last Friday night, allowing nine runs in 5 1-3 innings in a 9-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.


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Everything Darryl Strawberry said to convince the San Francisco Giants, he had told to two other teams, more than two other times. He said he was ready to turn his life around and be a productive and reliable person, forsaking alcohol and drugs.


He said the same thing to newspaper people from right coast to left. He said he was going to do the things that were always anticipated and never realized.


"I can talk with Darryl -- and you next to him -- and I will hear things you didn't hear," said Bobby Bonds, the Giants' father/coach.


Until Tuesday, we believed Gooden, too, as he said he saved his life in time.


So the Giants have Strawberry at some unidentified college, preparing to join the team around the 10th of July.


And the Mets have Gooden beginning a 60-day suspension.


Remember how Gooden and Strawberry were to be the pillars of the Mets' domination? The Giants hope to do with and for Strawberry what the Dodgers and Mets missed. They think they can turn his life around, maybe. "This is a life problem, not a baseball problem," said Dusty Baker, the Giants' manager. "Hell, I don't know if it's going to work."


Someday maybe Strawberry is going to make life work. Somebody is always blinded like the Man of Lamancha not seeing that the golden helmet was really a shaving basin. Somebody always thinks he can succeed where others failed.


"My perception is that he knows this is not a last chance; it is the last chance," Giants General Manager Bob Quinn said, emphasizing the finality.


(AP, Newsday)