Down on the Farm

There I was last night knowing what to expect; "here it comes," I thought to myself, Feliciano can’t do his job, and now Willie calls in, not Joe Smith or Duaner Sanchez, but instead a fellow named Muniz, another Carlos yet. I picture the Mets dugout, and Willie says, “hey Carlos” and 23 guys turn around.

The Mets are done, I think, and groan a little because Carlos Delgado had just made a hell of a play. I start thinking about what else might be on the tube, the NBA farce of a playoffs (Celts-Lakers has been pre-ordained for some time now), maybe the French Open (but no Tennis Channel) or the College World Series, or maybe I can catch another re-run of “Monk”.

But because I’m a masochist, I leave the Mets game on. “What the hell,” I say, “ I don’t care about these guys anymore anyway.” After all, Willie’s still the manager, Omar’s still the GM, and now I’ll get to watch still another Carlos blow this game for nice Mr. Vargas.

But, lo and behold, Muniz strikes out the dangerous Kemp, swinging yet, on a beautiful hard inside fastball, up at the shoulders. "Whoa!. That was nice,” I exclaim. Not only does he save Vargas, but Feliciano and the whole Mets team with one great pitch.

Of course, the Mets went on to win, ruining Joe Torre’s debut as the Dodgers’ manager in New York. Joe had to watch last night, as his usually reliable catcher, Russ Martin, got his mitt caught up in the opposing pitcher’s bat, keeping an inning alive for the top of the order.

And that top of the order did some real damage too; Reyes singles, Castillo doubles, scoring Vargas, and Wright nails a second homer, turning an otherwise innocuous inning into a four-run nightmare. Not just for the runs, which were bad enough, but his outfielder, Juan Pierre, threw the ball away, and his pitcher, Brad Penny, failed to back up third base on the play.

In fact, the best TV shot of the night had to be the one of Torre in the dugout, seeking some explanation from Penny (“Penny for your thoughts,” I thought) and grimacing as Penny gave some wild excuse for not doing his job.

But the Dodgers are a dangerous team and they proved it last night by coming back in that potential nightmare of a sixth inning. Kent and DeWitt had homered in the top of the fifth to cut the lead from six to three runs, and here they were coming again in the sixth.

Ehier had doubled and Martin had walked with just one out, and up to the plate stepped Jeff Kent once again. And, sure enough, Kent smacked a hard line drive to the right side, but, wonder of wonders, Carlos Delgado snared that ball and damn near doubled Martin off first base. But Carlos’s dive came up short as Martin squirmed out of the tag.

But the Dodgers weren’t done yet. Willie made the right move, or one that should have worked anyway, bringing in the left-handed Feliciano to face the left-handed Loney. But when Loney hit a hard single, it set up the confrontation of the night.

Matt Kemp had been the most dangerous hitter in that potent Dodgers lineup, batting well over .300 with 28 rbi’s. And, while I was expecting and hoping to see Smith or Sanchez on the Mets side of that confrontation, Muniz put out the fire, thus ruining a perfectly wonderful opportunity to second-guess Willie once again.

But, I must admit, it was nice to see a Willie move work out (for once?) and it was even better to watch him joking with the press after the game. Things don’t look so dark anymore for these Mets, and Willie. It’s amazing what a few wins can do.

But the story of the game, for me, was not only the performance of Carlos Muniz, but also that of the starting pitcher, Claudio Vargas. He has been remarkably consistent over his four game starts, allowing no more than four runs in each of them. He now sports a very creditable 4.50 ERA.

The Mets have been strangely fortunate in their call-ups lately, and, since being swept by the Braves, losing two of three to the Rockies and losing the first versus the Marlins, there have been several unsung heroes emerging, either from the minors or the bench. Muniz and Vargas last night, Endy Chavez and the long-lost Fernando Tatis the night before, and Tatis and Ramon Castro the night before that.

And their performances had been sorely needed, with Delgado needing a rest, Ryan Church nursing a concussion and Moises Alou out once again. The unlooked-for bench play seems to have lifted the rest of the lineup out of their doldrums, Wright with his two dingers, Beltran with his hitting and fine play in the field, Castillo looking born-again at the bat and whose diving stop of a hard ground ball to his right the other day was one of the finest plays I’ve seen by any second baseman this year.

<>The long and grinding baseball season only underscores the importance of, not just the bench, but the entire organization. Examples are everywhere, and not least in the Bronx. The Yanks recently found a fellow named Darrell Rasner in their organization who has become their fourth starter, sporting a 3-1 record, an incredible 1.80 ERA and a WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) of just .88!

Rasner too seems to have had an effect beyond just his rather remarkable numbers. The Yanks high hopes for their two rookies had seemingly been misplaced, while the performances of Pettite and Mussina had been uneven at best. Since Rasner’s arrival, Pettite and Mussina have picked it up as has the entire Yankees team.

There had to be some good news over there. Not counting Joba, of course. We can’t hear enough about him.