I'm happy for Mike Piazza that he got to hit a home run against his old club, but I'm even happier that it was only #399 instead of #400, because I would hate for Mike to have to look at himself in that awful camo uniform in his career highlight reel for the rest of his life.
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Gary Cohen has made a nice transition to television, and as a Mets historian he asks great questions of Keith Hernandez, whom he also gushes over throughout the broadcasts. At some point Gary will get over the awe of sharing a booth with a New York Mets legend and he'll be an even better TV announcer.
Speaking of Keith Hernandez - expect some heat for Keith in tomorrow's papers and beyond. The Padres have a female trainer, Kelly McCord, and Keith said on-air that he feels very strongly that she doesn't belong in the dugout because baseball "is a man's game," I'm real curious to see how SNY handles this. Keith also made a comment that a woman belongs in the kitchen, but later asserted that he was only kidding about that part - I'll bet any amount of money that the "in the kitchen" line is the one that is reprinted everywhere tomorrow.
Last weekend Hernandez had the weekend off and the online boards were going crazy with the rumor that he had been suspended for some on-air comments. The rumors may turn out to have been just a week too early.
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Castro had a nice night at the plate, going 3 for 4 including a homerun and two RBI's. Gary Cohen talked about how Castro had fallen out of favor with the Marlins organization, and then had some "legal issues" before coming to New York. Cohen works for the Mets, so maybe that's why he put it so delicately, but I don't mind printing that Castro's "legal issue" was an allegation of rape , involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault and unlawful restraint. Castro, who was married, met the woman at a bar in Pittsburgh and they went back to the hotel where he was staying during a Marlins road trip. Castro said the sex was consensual but still plead "no contest" to a misdemeanor indecent assault charge and served a year on probation.
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During the game the Mets finally announced that the results of Beltran's MRI indicated "no structural damge." The SNY team indicated that the club wants Beltran, for the time being, to "hit like Beltran but run like Castro." That's very amusing but unfortunately this isn't the American League and Beltran still has to play centerfield. Hey Omar, stop being foolish with this. Just put Beltran on the DL and call up Milledge for 15 days. I really see no downside to that. What is the worst that could happen?
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Carlos Delgado is nothing short of a hitting machine. Delgado hit his eighth homerun of the season, and also reached base with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. David Wright is the biggest favorite of the fans because he's the homegrown talent but honestly Delgado is the MVP of the team thus far in the early part of this season. The MVP of the game of course was Pedro Martinez. Pedro gave the Mets exactly what they needed tonight, pitching deep (7 innings) and dominantly (11 K's). He helped the bullpen which had been taxed while giving the club a boost after losing three of their past four games. He handed a 6-1 lead over to the bullpen.
The Mets had a five run lead heading to the bottom of the eighth, enough of a margin to give Valentin another pinch hit opportunity (who managed an infield hit) and entrust the eighth inning to Jorge Julio. Julio has made the most of his opportunities lately, although they have all come in situations with little pressure. Julio pitched a perfect eighth and was rewarded with a chance to pitch the ninth. The Mets scored two more runs in the meantime, and Julio headed to the mound in the ninth with an 8-1 lead. Julio struck out the leadoff hitter Barfield, but the ball got away from Castro and the runner reached first. The next hitter hit a double play ball to David Wright, who booted the ball and both runners were safe. Julio must've felt like he was being sabotaged.
Piazza stepped to the plate with two on and no out and lined a single to center, loading the bases with no out for Adrian Gonzalez. That got the bullpen stirring, with Duaner Sanchez starting to warm up. Gonzalez worked the count full, but Julio reared back and struck out Gonzalez swinging with a fastball down. Greene hit another easy double play ball to Wright, and this time Wright converted it easily, preserving the 8-1 lead, which was also Pedro's 100th road win of his career. Pedro improves to 4-0 on the season, and Jorge Julio improves the fans confidence in him with another good outing.
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Another Mets Injury
The Mets injury bug has extended to the support staff. Mets bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello left the club today because he's going to have to have surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back.
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Victor Zambrano pitches tomorrow afternoon in the final game of the four game set against RHP Clay Hensley, making his first start of the season. Hensley has been inserted into the Padres starting rotation, with Dewon Brazelton being recently demoted to the bullpen. Mike Cameron should also play in the game, his first appearance of the season, and Mike Piazza will go for homerun #400 (sans camoflauge).
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