When Aaron Heilman entered the game yesterday at Citi Field, the fans did not give him a glad-to-have-you-back reception. Nope, in his first return to New York since being traded last winter, the Cubs reliever heard tons of heavy boos.
“[It was] a reception like I never left,” Heilman jokingly said.
Trying to protect the Cubs’ two-run lead to start the bottom of the seventh inning, Heilman allowed consecutive singles to get into a self-created jam. But Heilman recovered to prevent the Mets from tying the game, and the Cubs prevailed, 5-3, behind a pair of home runs from Derrek Lee and a homer from Aramis Ramirez.
The Mets had plenty of chances to score more than three runs and win their third straight. Cory Sullivan homered for the second straight day to give them a 1-0 lead in the second inning. But the Mets were an atrocious 3-for-20 with men on base.
As for Heilman, who’s in his first year with the Cubs after spending his entire career with the Mets, he understood the fans’ reaction to his entrance.
“I’ve been around here a long time. Played here for several years and have seen guys come and go. I guess I expected it to a certain extent,” he told The Post. “I would say by and large, the reception’s been pretty good.
“Fans are going to boo you, they’re going to cheer you. And they’re going to let you know how they feel. It’s part of the game. You know that. You expect that. They want you to do well and you want to do well and when you’re not doing well, there’s certainly disappointment there. You understand it.”
Heilman, who was shipped to Seattle for J.J. Putz in the winter before being sent to Chicago later in the offseason, faced the Mets last Saturday at Wrigley, firing two scoreless innings. This time, he entered in the seventh with the Cubs up 4-2, but allowed a Fernando Tatis single, threw a wild pitch and surrendered a single to Angel Pagan to put men on first and third with none out.
But Heilman struck out Luis Castillo, then got David Wright to hit a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 4-3, but retiring the Mets’ best hitter. Cubs manager Lou Piniella then brought in John Grabow, who got Daniel Murphy to ground out to second to end the inning.
It was not a terrific outing for Heilman, who has a 4.35 ERA. But he escaped.
Heilman, who admitted it was strange to face his former teammates, enjoyed coming back to New York, where he played from 2003-08.
“It’s been good. I’ve seen a lot of people that I haven’t seen in awhile. A lot of staff and people that work here in the stadium,” he said. “So that was good. Kind of felt like I never left.”
The 30-year-old had a disastrous 2008, going 3-8 with a 5.21 ERA. But make no mistake, he was a reliable, consistent reliever the three previous seasons, posting a combined 3.27 ERA in 208 games (averaging just under 70 per season) from 2005-07. Heilman did, however, serve up Yadier Molina’s winning home run in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, and that’s probably in many fans’ minds too.
Still, Heilman insisted he didn’t feel underappreciated.
“No, I don’t think so. This has always been a game of what have you done for me lately. That’s the nature of it,” he said. “And it’s understandable. The fans were certainly disappointed about how the season ended last year and probably frustrated with how I pitched, and I find it hard to believe that anybody was more frustrated or upset about it than I was.
“But I understand it. It’s not a begrudging thing. It’s the way it is. I’ve had many days where they cheered me off the mound here.”