Reggie Jackson said in an interview with Sports Illustrated he doesn’t think Gary Carter — among several other players — is a deserving Hall-of-Famer. It’s a statement sure to incense Mets fans, especially in light of Carter’s Feb. 16 death because of brain cancer, and yesterday several of Carter’s former teammates came to his defense.
“Reggie is entitled to his opinion,” said Ron Darling, who pitched to Carter from 1986-89. “There are other players in the Hall of Fame that baseball historians may not feel as though they should be in. That being said, the timing [stinks].
“Reggie has an opinion. I’m sure there are some who said that [Sandy] Koufax’ 165 wins shouldn’t get in. There’s always silly comments. Listen, Reggie’s not the first person to say that Gary doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame. … I’m sure if [Jackson] could have a do-over, he would.’’
Jackson told the magazine, “I didn’t see Gary Carter as a Hall of Famer.’’ also mentioning Kirby Puckett, Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Bert Blyleven and even Jim Rice.
“That’s kind of sticky,” Keith Hernandez said. “I think that he deserves to be in. I’m glad that he’s in, so I’ll disagree with Reggie and keep it at that.”
Certainly as a player Gary’s numbers were more than adequate to get in the Hall of Fame,” Tim Teufel said. “He was doing it a long time, a lot of home runs, RBIs.”
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The Mets have won six of eight coming into Friday night’s series with the Cubs, the final one of the first half; and manager Terry Collins said he plans to make sure they know how important this set is.
“I think it’s huge and I am going to tell them,’’ Collins said. “We knew it was going to be a tough series [against the Phillies] and we didn’t play very well. We’ve got to use [last night’s] game as some energy, because we have to finish these next three going into the break strong, so that we can come out flying.”
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The 11 hits allowed by R.A. Dickey matched the most in his career, done May 14, 2011 in Houston.
Ruben Tejada went 1-for-4 with a walk. He is hitting .383 since coming off the 15-day DL on June 24.
“Ruben’s Ruben. We’re just getting accustomed to seeing those kind of at-bats in big, tough situations,’’ Collins said.
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Reliever Pedro Beato made his first big-league appearance in the eighth inning, retiring the only batter he faced.
*** Andres Torres missed the game because of a back problem. Collins said he was worried because of the nature of oblique injuries and side muscle pulls, and also because they already have dealt with so many injuries this year.
“Any time it’s a back, sides, yes, I do,’’ said Collins. “It was bothering him [Wednesday] and he had some treatment on it, thought he could play and woke up [Thursday] worse, which scares me a little bit.’’
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who said he’s on anti-inflammatories and feeling better, got the start in center, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
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Jason Bay, placed on the seven-day DL last Saturday because of a concussion sustained June 15, heads to Port St. Lucie today, but it’s unclear when he will resume baseball activities.
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Frank Francisco (left oblique strain) will throw off a mound in Port St. Lucie tomorrow, and will make at least four rehab appearances.
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