SAN DIEGO – Bobby Valentine talked about how today’s off day enabled the Mets to almost “dodge the bullet” of playing the schedule one pitcher short while Mike Hampton recovers from a rib injury. He also cautioned the bullet still hung in the air for last night’s game when co-ace Al Leiter took the mound.
Not much else was in the air when the Padres hit last night. Leiter missed bats all night and finished the Mets’ so-so West Coast trip just as he started it, by winning. In between Leiter’s starts, the Mets lost three of four games on the trip to Los Angeles and San Diego.
Last night at the ballpark formerly known as Jack Murphy Stadium, it
was Mets 4, Padres 1, bullet gone, its residue at the very least greatly diminished by Leiter.
With the exception of his Game 6, first-inning collapse pitching on three days rest against the Braves in the National League Championship Series last October, Leiter consistently has been a clutch big-game pitcher for the Mets.
It was Big Game Al who put a stop to the Mets’ Armageddon-like seven-game losing streak last Sept. 29. It was Big Game Al who tossed a two-hit shutout in a one-game playoff against the Reds to push the Mets into the playoffs for the first time since 1988.
An August game against the Padres doesn’t rank with those two for importance, but this start did qualify as a big one, and not just because he spared the Mets the embarrassment of getting swept by the Padres, residents of last place in the NL West.
More significant, Leiter spared a bullpen full of relievers who had been logging more overtime than Padres manager Bruce Bochy’s poor haberdasher.
Rick White made eight appearances and pitched 141/3 innings over a recent 17-day stretch. Turk Wendell made five appearances and pitched eight innings in a recent nine-day stretch.
Workloads such as those can shorten a reliever’s fastball, diminish his effectiveness. The Mets needed a long start from Leiter and he gave them one.
Leiter pitched eight innings, allowed three hits, walked two, struck out 12 and received 24 atta boy,Als. After allowing a one-out first-inning home run to Damian Jackson, Leiter (14-5, 3.08) retired 14 Padres in a row.
“He did exactly what had to get done,” Valentine said afterward.
Rather than send Joe McEwing to the minors for the required minimum 10 days and bring up another pitcher after Hampton’s rib injury, the Mets decided to try to get by one pitcher short.
The move backfired and resulted in Dennis Cook staying in the game too long in Monday’s 10-inning loss and left Valentine resorting to putting Derek Bell in the game to throw 36 pitches in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s 16-1 slaughter.
Leiter did his job last night, making the coast-to-coast flight a more pleasant one. When the Mets return to work tomorrow, it will be his fellow ace’s turn to do his job, and his job is to tell the truth about how he feels when he throws in the bullpen before the game.
Even with the Diamondbacks coming into Shea Stadium for the Mets’ biggest series of the century to date – remember, the century is young – the Mets need not feel any urgency to rush Hampton back into the rotation.
They can live with the damage of going without Hampton in the short run, but to get where they spent $85 million to get they can’t afford to do without Hampton in the long run.
As Braves left-hander Tom Glavine proved in 1992, it’s one thing to be able to pitch with the injury. It’s another thing to be able to pitch effectively. Glavine was one of the best pitchers in baseball before the injury and got bombed consistently after it.
The cautious approach is the only approach on the Hampton front. This is no time for Hampton to play the hero. Late September and all of October is the time for that.
“He hasn’t given me any indication that’s what he’s into,” Valentine said. “If it was the last game of the season, it might be different. He’s expressed a lot of interest in our team winning and it’s also a very important year for him individually. I have no reason to think he’s going to be anything but honest.”
If Hampton can’t make the start on Sunday, that means they must face the Diamondbacks in the wild-card showdown series without either of their co-aces making a start.
If Hampton rushes back before he’s ready and reinjures the rib in such a way as to hinder him greatly for the remainder of the season, it’s curtains on the Mets’ October dreams.