The lockers of Rey Ordonez and Luis Lopez sit right next to each other in the Mets’ clubhouse; both players were conspicuously absent before last night’s game. Thirty-six hours after their altercation on a team bus early Thursday morning, the two infielders had spoken with the club’s manager, general manager, and, finally, the media.
With airplanes flying overhead and the Star-Spangled Banner reverberating all around, they met the press on the field before last night’s tilt with Colorado. Their comments were monitored closely by GM Steve Phillips, who admitted having coached both on, if not what to say, clearly on what not to, and exactly on how much to leave out. And both kept a straight face while they insisted their problems are over and their focus is just on baseball.
“Everything’s cool. Rey is like a brother to me. It’s over with, and we’re just going to move on,” said Lopez, a backup infielder who is batting .208 but clearly can hit.
And Ordonez gave a similar speech.
“It’s over; it’s a new day. We’re here to play baseball, that’s it,” said Ordonez, who was in the starting lineup despite sporting a huge purplish welt over his left eye and six stitches, courtesy of that 4 a.m. scuffle on the team bus returning from Newark Airport.
“It’s over; everything’s over now. We’re just here to play baseball and win. It was just a fight; haven’t you ever had a fight in your life? I’m fine; everybody’s fine; it’s over now,” said Ordonez, who so incensed former teammates Butch Huskey and Carlos Baerga that they had confrontations with him in recent years.
But if Ordonez has been viewed as not exactly a company man in the past, he certainly was yesterday. Phillips, taking an “organizational standpoint,” wanted no details given and none was forthcoming. Ordonez said only that he was healthy enough to play, and after taking batting practice and fielding ground balls, he was in the starting lineup.
Ordonez did not see an eye specialist, but he did undergo an eye exam from team physician Dr. David Altchek, who found no injury whatsoever.
“The doctor has given him clearance, that if he feels he can play he can play. In the doctor’s opinion he’s OK to play,” Phillips said. “It’s superficial; it’s black and blue and it’s ugly. But it’s no different than a bruise anywhere else. His vision is not affected, [there’s] no injury to the eye. It’s just like a bruise.”
But while all parties said Ordonez is physically capable of playing, the Mets called up Triple-A infielder Shane Halter as insurance. Phillips refused to disclose what sort of fines or punishments had been levied against the two pugilists, but it was clear he wasn’t overjoyed with the timing of the brawl, with the Mets chasing Atlanta for the best record in the National League and trying to hold off the Reds for the NL wild card.
“If it’s going to happen, you’d rather it not be with 28 games left in the season. Obviously we’d rather not have anybody ever miss a game, but it’s part of what happened and we’ll deal with it internally,” Phillips said. “They know my feelings about it, they know Bobby’s [Valentine] feelings about it.”
Phillips was also candid about his lack of candor on the subject. He said that since no lies were told on the subject, the Mets were being truthful, despite putting the proverbial muzzle on all parties concerned.
“I have an organizational standpoint that the players don’t. I think such things should be kept inside,” Phillips said. “It’s hard to hide a black eye; but if it hadn’t ended in a black eye and six stitches it wouldn’t have been announced.”
About the only facts that came out were that the melee was not about hazing of rookie Jorge Toca, Ordonez’ former Cuban teammate.
“No, it [wasn’t],” said Toca, the Mets’ minor- league Player of the Year. “I only feel bad because it was two teammates involved. It was a problem they had between them, that’s all.”
“I think a lot of it was due to extraneous conditions, not the least of which was a long road trip, culminating in a 10-hour flight home,” Valentine said. “I think the guys were just a little short with each other.”