June 2, 1986

You can't blame it all on Mike Krukow, even though he outpitched Dwight Gooden 10 days ago in San Francisco and outpitched Ron Darling yesterday before 49,041 persons in Shea Stadium. The fact is that the Mets not only lost to the Giants again, 7-3, but came apart at the seams: They made five errors, and gave their shabbiest performance with gloves in nearly two seasons. They let the Giants steal four bases in four attempts, and nine in nine attempts over the last two losing games. They played so loosely in the field that Darling lost his first game of the year after six straight successes. In fact, the entire weekend was a bit of a bust before crowds that totaled nearly 140,000. The Mets played the Giants three times and lost twice, and might have lost all three if two of the Giants' infielders hadn't collided under a pop fly in the 10th inning Friday night.

The Houston Rockets were reeling, staring directly into a deficit from which no team in professional basketball's 39-year playoff history has ever recovered. But just when it looked as if their unexpected rise to postseason prominence was over, the Rockets rallied today for an exciting 106-104 victory over the Boston Celtics. The triumph, before a delirious sellout crowd of 16,016 here at The Summit, cut the Celtics' lead in the National Basketball Association finals to two games to one. It was achieved on an unlikely tap-in basket by Mitchell Wiggins, a 6-foot-4-inch reserve guard. With 31 seconds remaining and the Rockets down by 1 point, he soared over the forest of taller players under the basket and tipped-in an errant shot by his teammate, Akeem Olajuwon, to give the Rockets only their second lead of the second half, 105-104.

The Economy Many large banks may decide not to support a comprehensive bank bill because some new powers may be left out. Bankers predict, however, that legislation is inevitable this year. [ Page D1. ]

When the police arrived at a recent teen-age drinking party here, many startled youths abandoned their beer cans and fled into nearby woods, hurrying away in the hope they had outraced trouble. They had not. Judged guilty of violating the code of behavior at Weston High School, about 70 students who attended the party were suspended for 10 days from all extracurricular activities. ''It was not the most popular decision in town,'' Dr. Otty Norwood, the Superintendent of Schools, said. ''But this is the biggest problem facing suburban schools. And we intend to address it.'' School officials benched an entire lacrosse team, unseated student council representatives and barred young thespians from next year's school play. The baseball team, its ranks thinned, was defeated by a rival school, 21 to 1.

Last September, anyone watching ''Cagney and Lacey,'' the hit television series, saw commercials touting The New Yorker. It was the first time the prestigious magazine had resorted to network TV to sell itself, and the pitch may even have reached the proverbial little old lady in Dubuque. That television outreach is only one of the changes since the Newhouse publishing interests, which also control Conde Nast Publications, acquired The New Yorker a year ago. The magazine, a holy tablet in some circles, has also run two ''advertorials,'' special sections that look like ordinary articles but are really advertisements. It has published a racy ad for Calvin Klein's Obsession perfume that, in the view of some editorial staff members, degrades the magazine. And it has run horizontal, half-page ads, breaking up the vertical column layout The New Yorker had followed for all its 61 years.

The General Assembly unanimously agreed tonight to commit itself to a ''spirit of genuine and equal partnership'' to revive Africa's devastated economies. The five-year program, involving policy changes by African countries and increased international support, was spelled out in a final document after a week of negotiations at a special session of the Assembly. After a draft was completed in an all-night session that ended early today, the document was formally adopted tonight by the General Assembly. Measures to Fight Food Crises The document details a recovery plan that includes measures to deal with food emergencies, drought and the loss of fertile land to deserts; new resources to increase agricultural productivity; development of transportation and communication networks; improvements in domestic trade and finance, and ''radical changes'' in educational systems at all levels to develop programs that address the continent's needs.

For more than an hour, Senator David Pryor fielded questions and comments about the Senate Finance Committee's tax revision bill from a standing-room-only crowd at Palmere's Restaurant in Arkadelphia, a town of about 10,000 people an hour's drive south of here. Ed Snider, a banker, complained about retroactive restrictions on tax-sheltered real estate investments. Bob (Sody) Arnold, a state legislator, said it would be much more difficult to raise sales taxes, the main source of revenue for Arkansas, if they were not deductible from Federal income taxes. Ed McCorkle, a lawyer, had a question about capital gains. James Harrington, a builder, said he thought it would be unfair if taxpayers could not use their losses from one business to offset their profits from another.

The Citizens Budget Commission said yesterday that poor planning by the Koch administration, rather than cuts in Federal aid, had produced a ''bad city budget'' that would raise taxes by $160 million and do little to improve city services. In a 42-page report, the commission, a civic group financed by the city's business community, said the administration's proposed $21.5 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 ''reveals an underlying failure in managing the financial and human resources at their disposal.'' Mayor Koch said last month that he was forced to propose a ''very lean budget'' - in contrast to the sharp boost in spending in the previous year, an election year - because of continuing cuts in Federal aid. The commission rejected this argument. It said that while a $258 million decline in anticipated Federal aid did not help, it did not explain why the city could not expand services while increasing spending by $1.4 billion over the current year.

International Revival of Africa's ruined economies will be attempted by African and industrialized nations whose delegates agreed at a meeting at the United Nations to a ''spirit of genuine and equal partnership.'' The program involves policy changes by African countries and increased international support. [ Page A1, Column 6. ] New talks with Salvadoran guerrillas were proposed by President Jose Napoleon Duarte in a speech to the National Assembly marking the second anniversary of his term in office. He proposed that the talks, a third round with the leftist rebels, be held ''without weapons, in national territory at the end of July or during the month of August.'' The previous talks were held in October and November 1984 without results. [ A1:5. ]

''Never underestimate the insignificant.'' - Senator Wendell H. Ford of Kentucky, head of the special Democratic group on television in the Senate. [ A14:4. ]

Several of the nation's largest money center banks are considering backing away from support of comprehensive banking legislation being drafted by Senator Jake Garn, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Officials of the banks predict that a banking bill is inevitable this year because of the need to inject new funds into the depleted Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. The bankers also hope to gain new securities powers as part of such a bill. However, they fear that these powers - such as the right to underwrite commercial paper, industrial revenue bonds and mortgage-backed securities - might not survive the legislative process.

The name of their game was ''Strikeout.'' This was long before that name became the professional trademark of Gary Sheffield's uncle, before Dwight Gooden earned his doctorate in baseball, before he entered Hillsborough High School, and before the letter K hung in bunches from the upper deck at Shea Stadium, 9 and 10 and 15 and 16 at a time. This was also before Gary Sheffield grew - in height, weight and outlook - into one of the finest high school players in the nation. Sheffield wore No. 10 for the Terriers of Hillsborough High this year, the number his uncle wore for most of his time at Hillsborough. When the baseball free-agent draft begins today, Sheffield, who is projected as a third baseman, could also become a top-five choice, as his uncle was four years ago. The difference, this time, is that few would be surprised. Sheffield has brought the scouts back to the home of the Big Red, where the five rows of wooden bleachers behind home plate provide so few seats they have to bring their own. ''He's one of the top, if not the top high school player in the country,'' said Sandy Johnson, an assistant general manager of the Texas Rangers, the organization that Billy Reed, the coach at Hillsborough High, expects will select Sheffield with the fourth choice of the draft.