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I have alot to say today so let’s get to work!
Vance Wilson started at catcher and had his second consecutive strong outing hitting a 3 run homer that gave the Mets a 3-1 lead, a lead which they would never relinquish. The Mets went on to win the game 7-4.
Jae Seo pitched 5 decent innings but left the game with a blister on his right index finger, the one with the broken fingernail. Art Howe has said that Seo will make his next start on schedule.
Wilson filled in at catcher while Mike Piazza started his second consecutive game at first base. Jason Phillips started at catcher on Wednesday.
As expected, Cliff Floyd was activated before the game and hit an RBI single in the 9th inning of last night’s game. To make room for Floyd the Mets designated Ricky Gutierrez for assignment. Gutierrez was made expendable by his poor performance and the emergence of Danny Garcia as a serviceable infielder.
On April 26 I reported that Al Leiter was pitching with a sore shoulder. Leiter refused to get it looked at because he felt that at this point in his career he would not have surgery. In that post I said the following:
I respect his (Leiter’s) decision of not wanting surgery but if this is going to cost him innings and/or effectiveness then he owes it to his teammates to get it checked out and see what the issue is and learn how to deal with it. That’s part of being a team player and a team leader.
Well it turn out that my words were prophetic. Leiter will miss his scheduled start on Sunday (against the Houston Astros and Roger Clemens) because of the shoulder. Leiter has flown back to New York to have his shoulder examined today. I’m no medical person but I have to question the wisdom of not getting it checked out earlier. Who knows if he could have avoided missing a start if he would have just gotten it checked out earlier? And what additional damage may have been done by pitching in this condition? The answers to these questions are secondary. The real issue is that we should not have to question a guy like Leiter who, as a team leader, should know that his health is an important ingredient to the teams chemistry. When you’re hurt you don’t wait for it to get worse. You get treatment right away and minimize risk.
On the subject of injuries, Grant Roberts will be getting a second opinion on his arm “injury” today. Mets team physician Andrew Rokito determined there was no serious injury. If the second opinion, Cincinnati Reds team physician Tim Kremcheck, determines that Roberts is, indeed, injured then Roberts would be eligible to file a grievance against the club for designating him for assignment while injured. The part that I don’t get is how Roberts would be eligible for such an action when he hid the injury from management and didn’t reveal he was hurt until after he was designated. I’m sure if management knew he was hurt they would have attempted to help him deal with it, though with how the Jose Reyes hamstring situation has been handled who could blame Roberts for keeping the injury to himself. Either way, I’d be very curious to see what his argument is considering he was withholding information from management.
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