MET NOTES
After a cramp in his left forearm forced Mike Hampton out of the last night’s game with the Yankees after seven shutout innings, Hampton waited on the mound for Armando Benitez.
“I wanted to make sure I gave him the ball,” said Hampton, who started to warm up for the eighth, but couldn’t go so he looked to Benitez to preserve the 2-0 lead. “I just wanted him to know that I was behind him and I don’t think he needs a pat on the back or a kick in the butt or anything. He knows his job.”
Benitez did his job, picking up the final six outs for his 19th save in the Mets’ Subway Sweep-avoiding 2-0 win.
“Six outs with three days off was not asking too much, I don’t think,” Bobby Valentine said of giving Benitez the ball in the eighth.
In the eighth, Benitez came on and promptly walked Jose Vizcaino on five pitches. But he struck out Chuck Knoblauch and Todd Pratt threw out Vizcaino on the 3-2 pitch. He then got Derek Jeter looking.
In the ninth, Bernie Williams hit a one-out single and then appropriately enough given the subtext of last night’s game, Benitez faced Tino Martinez. He walked Martinez, but got Felix Jose to ground out to first to end the game.
“I’m not surprised, [Valentine] told me I was going to come in the eighth,” said Benitez, who warmed up Saturday, but didn’t appear in the first three games.
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If Al Leiter starts the All-Star Game tomorrow night as expected, then the Mets will have their rotation set with righty Bobby Jones starting the first game of the second half in Boston Thursday
He will be followed by Glendon Rusch and Hampton in Boston. In a strange occurrence, the Mets play the opener of the second series in Toronto on a Sunday. Leiter is scheduled to start that one. Rick Reed – out with a fractured left wrist and strained left calf – is hopeful he can start next Monday.
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Hampton improved to 3-0 on three days’ rest. Two of the Mets’ top prospects played in the Futures Game – which is played among the best players in the minors – in Atlanta yesterday. The 22-year-old Triple-A pitcher Grant Roberts retired the two batters he faced in the ninth inning of Team USA’s 3-2 victory over the World Team. While Double-A outfielder Alex Escobar, 21, went 0-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base for the World Team.