The Post’s Steve Serby chatted with the 38-year-old reliever who was one of the Mets’ “Generation K” phenoms in 1995, was traded in 1999, and is back for a second stint with the team.
Q: The day you were drafted (in the 44th round in 1991) by the Mets?
A: They said, “Here’s seven grand and a plane ticket. Go get ’em.” I bought an ’82 Monte Carlo and went to Florida.
Q: You drove it to Florida?
A: No, I went to Florida, my dad bought it and then my dad drove it down for me.
Q: You had no emotions about being drafted?
A: Not at the time. I was drafted in the 44th round, and I was no prize, in my mind, to anybody. It was something I was going to try. My dad kind of thought I’d go off for the summer and kind of figure out that it wasn’t going to be for me and I’d come back and get a real job.
Q: What did you figure you would end up doing?
A: Well, dad was a Navy guy, so I was either going to go into the military or . . . I finished two years of junior college, I would have kept going to school (and gotten) a degree and done something then.
Q: What did your dad do?
A: He worked on one of the repair ships.
Q: First major league start (July 17, 1995) at Wrigley?
A: Striking out Brian McRae. I remember that, and taking BP there.
Q: First major league win?
A: I don’t remember. I don’t even remember who it was against. (It was a 2-1 win vs. the Pirates at Shea in his third start, July 30, 1995).
Q: You, Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson were called Generation K.
A: That was all drummed up by the media and everybody else as a marketing thing. For us, we just wanted to go out there and pitch.
Q: Did it put pressure on you guys?
A: I didn’t feel any. I don’t think anybody did. We had fun with it. It made us money as young kids because we got to do appearances and stuff like that, but other than that, no, we didn’t have any crazy expectations. We just wanted to go out and pitch every fifth day and we tried to. We just didn’t succeed the way we wanted to.
Q: As rookies, you and Pulsipher were told by the veterans to paint the underside of a statue of a horse in Chicago.
A: The next day you come in, and Pete Harnisch was there and I was explaining to him what we did and so then they have these real cops come in, they say they had us on cameras. They made us get dressed in our street clothes again, cuffed us, and as we’re going out the door, everybody starts laughing. It was my second day ever in the big leagues, it was a little nerve-wracking.
Q: Your humbling sophomore season?
A: I just remember coming into spring thinking I had all the answers, thought it was easy. I remember in spring training I felt something in my shoulder, I think I started to tear the labrum a little bit, so I kind of had to lower my arm angle which made my curveball not the same. I had to throw all fastballs and I didn’t really have a third pitch then, so everybody kind of knew it.
Q: Dallas Green was your first manager.
A: You’d be sitting on the bench just watching the game, and then he would go off and it would just make you jump because his voice was so loud and it carried so much. He was a no-nonsense guy, which I enjoyed. When he didn’t like something I did, he’d come right out and tell me and he’d put me in my place pretty quick (chuckles).
Q: Bobby Valentine?
A: Very smart baseball man . . . sometimes too smart for his own good, I think.
Q: A quote from you referring to your early Mets years: “I was pretty much an idiot back then.” Punching a trash can is one example.
A: That was anger. That was when I took everything so seriously. I still take it serious now, but I can put things in perspective now.
Q: What were the circumstances?
A: I was down in Triple-A rehabbing, I gave up a first-inning homer to Bob Hamelin, and came in frustrated and punched a trash can. I used to do a lot of dumb stuff like that. I wasn’t able to control my anger as good as I do now.
Q: You broke your wrist, right?
A: Broke my hand; yeah, in four places.
Q: The organization must have been real pleased.
A: Yeah, they weren’t real happy with me (smiles).
Q: Other examples?
A: Just the way I went about my business in between starts just wasn’t the right way to do things, that’s all. I’m not going to give examples (chuckles) because a lot of people don’t know things, so I don’t want to tell ’em.
Q: Trying to climb into a girl’s condominium in Florida?
A: Fell three stories onto the concrete.
Q: Why did you have to climb?
A: Because I thought that was a cool thing to do (laughs).
Q: What kind of injury did you suffer there?
A: Just a busted head, a lot of stitches, cracked sternum, broken toes . . . stuff like that.
Q: How did the Mets react?
A: They weren’t real happy with me.
Q: The day you were told you might have cancer?
A: I had tuberculosis, I had a growth in my lung. I had some X-rays in Florida. That’s when they said that it looks like cancer, and that’s when I flew up to New York and saw (then-Mets team internist Dr. John) Olichney.
Q: How scary was that?
A: Pretty scary. I went out and drowned my sorrows that night. Dr. Olichney made an educated guess about what it was and started me on this process of all these pills for TB and the growth started to shrink, so I owe him a lot.
Q: Your first save?
A: It was with the Mets, like a three-inning relief job (July 6, 1999 vs. the Expos). And I can remember Johnny (Franco) telling me, “Only 400 more to catch me (chuckles).”
Q: Franco had a big influence on you?
A: I learned from one of the best how to conduct myself. Granted, I didn’t do everything he told me to because I was a kid that I had all the answers. But when looking back on it, I know a lot of the stuff he told me I probably should have listened to.
Q: Were you a good babysitter for his son and daughter?
A: I guess so, yeah. He let me live there for free so I kind of did what he told me to.
Q: Your first Tommy John surgery in 1998, did you think it could be over?
A: I had no idea how simplistic it was, really. I was worried about it because I had to think about what I had to do for the rest of my life. What was I gonna do then? But everything happens for a reason. I met my wife (Lorrie) while I had my Tommy John, I was home. . . . I would never change the path of my career ever.
Q: How’d you meet your wife ?
A: On a blind date.
Q: Was it love at first sight?
A: For me it was, I don’t know about for her (chuckles).
Q: Your 8-year-old daughter Madeline?
A: She’s amazing. She’s a little gymnast. Scares me to death, but she’s very good at it. She’s fearless at it.
Q: Your 20-month-old daughter Emerson?
A: She’s a little bit crazy (chuckles). She’s very headstrong, and she knows exactly what she wants. If she doesn’t get it, she lets you know about it.
Q: How has fatherhood changed you?
A: I realize everything I do now has consequences, and what I do reflects on my kids and my wife and my family, my mom and dad. I want them to be proud of me. I don’t want to disappoint them.
Q: Mother’s Day?
A: Mother’s Day means all the (stuff) I put my mom through growing up, and still to this day (smiles). She was always there for me, her and dad were like my best friends, and they still are, so to speak.
Q: Saddest thing you’ve seen in baseball?
A: I was there (with the Cardinals) when Darryl Kile died in a hotel, and I was there when Josh Hancock died in a car wreck.
Q: The Kile tragedy?
A: I was only there a couple of months, and then Darryl didn’t wake up one day, up in Chicago. He was really loved by all of his teammates, and everybody through baseball. We had the memorial at the stadium, and guys from all around the league showed up, it was pretty touching.
Q: And Hancock?
A: There was a tow truck, it had pulled off the side of the road to help somebody, and he hit the back of it. Just one of those things.
Q: How did you find out about it?
A: I got a phone call that night from our GM . . . letting everybody know what happened so everybody was prepared for it the next day.
Q: What was that next day like?
A: It was rough. We canceled a game, everybody got on a bus (and) went to Alabama, where he was from, went to the funeral. A couple of our teammates spoke and it was rough. . . . Same thing when we go to the Walter Reed Veterans Hospital. It puts a lot of things in perspective about how we play a game, and to remember this is always a game, and there are so many things that are bigger than the game.
Q: Striking a television in 2008 (with the Cardinals) in Milwaukee?
A: I was struggling just with everything — mechanics, body aches, my hip — and me and Tony (La Russa) got in an argument. But it wasn’t like a me-against-him, it was about him putting me back in that (closer) role. I knew I couldn’t do it at the time, and he kept wanting to put me in there because he had a lot of faith in me, and I didn’t have any faith in myself, so we were arguing about that.
Q: Where was the TV?
A: It was hanging up on the wall in Tony’s office.
Q: After you cut your hand, what did he tell you?
A: “You’re such an I-F.” Idiot F. ..four-letter word (laughs).
Q: Tony La Russa?
A: Those guys know so much about the game, you’re not going to sneak anything by ’em. They’re thinking so far ahead in the game that it’s amazing how they go about it. He’s my favorite manager because we got along so good, and he was the guy that really kind of helped me along in my career as a closer, too.
Q: Your reaction when the A’s told you they wanted you to be a closer?
A: I was excited. We talked about it when I was here with the Mets, but we had Johnny (Franco) here and we had Armando Benitez here, so there was no way I was going to do it here, but they said I had the makeup and stuff to do it. Disappointment at first. Getting traded from your first team’s never fun, but when you think about it, it helped my career out tons.
Q: The closer mentality?
A: Somewhat carefree. You have to have a short-term memory is what I try to tell everybody. But you still have to care about your teammates more than anything. You’ve got to put your pride aside and think about the team first.
Q: Do you think you’re mean on the mound?
A: Can be. I’m not gonna go out there and headhunt people and things like that, but I’m gonna go out there and do what I have to do to get somebody out no matter what it takes.
Q: The young Jason Giambi?
A: I guess it started in Oakland where he had the rock star brand g-string that he made everybody wear that was in a slump, so I think he brought that with him to New York, so it was a fun thing.
Q: How would the Mets’ fan base react to a Jose Reyes trade?
A: I’m sure they won’t be happy because Jose Reyes is one of the faces of the Mets, just like David Wright. But in the same sense, that’s part of the business part of it. If he keeps going the pace he’s going now, it’s going to take a lot of money. They’re not going to like it, but hopefully if we do trade him, we can get a lot in return to help build back up the franchise to where we want it.
Q: Advice for Mike Pelfrey?
A: Don’t try to do too much. Trust your stuff . . . I wish he would do that more.
Q: All-Izzy opposition team?
A: Barry Bonds would be first. I’ve had decent success against him, but didn’t like facing him . . . couldn’t get Darrin Fletcher out, couldn’t get Orlando Merced out, can’t get Carlos Lee out.
Q: You think Barry Bonds belongs in the Hall of Fame?
A: Yeah, I do. There’s always gonna be that cloud over him, but you can’t take away what he’s done in baseball. That year, when he was getting one pitch to hit a series and hitting a home run — I don’t care what you’re doing, you just can’t teach that.
Q: Was he the most intimidating guy with a bat in his hands?
A: I think him and Frank Thomas, just his size . . . he used probably a 35-inch bat but it looked like it was 28 inches.
Q: What kind of kid were you in school?
A: Average grades, troublemaker . . . I mean, “clown” troublemaker.
Q: Give me an example.
A: Like getting in trouble for goofing off in the library, stuff like that.
Q: Spitballs?
A: (Chuckle) Oh yeah, anything you can think of.
Q: A lot of detention, maybe?
A: A lot of detentions. Never suspended, a lot of detentions, a lot of staying after class, a lot of meetings with the principals.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Nolan Ryan and Grandma and Grandpa Cole.
Q: Why was Nolan Ryan your boyhood idol?
A: He threw hard and he grunted on every pitch. I thought that was it.
Q: Your grandparents?
A: They were just probably some of my biggest fans. They have got to see what I’ve done, but they haven’t been around for all of it and I wish they could have been around a little bit more.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Tombstone.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Morgan Freeman.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Diane Lane.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Will Ferrell.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Meat and potatoes.
Q: Superstitions?
A: If I give up runs on back-to-back days, I won’t ever wear those shoes again, that’s about it.
Q: 300 saves?
A: I think about it, but if it comes it comes, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t . . . 293, if I retire with that, I’ll be happy with that.
Q: What’s it like being a Met again?
A: It was weird at first when I first got to spring training, but now it’s baseball again. But I’m proud to have that “Mets” across my chest again.