Long, Strange Trip
Pedro Martinez at shortstop? Tom Glavine behind the plate? Alay Soler in rightfield? These are some of the possibilities Willie Randolph would have had to consider if the Mets had lost a position player to injury from innings 12-16 on Tuesday night.
When Ramon Castro pinch hit for the pitcher in the 12th, that was it for position players. Randolph chose to use his last player in an attempt to win the game, unlike Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, who kept infielder Chris Coste on his bench and pitchers Rheal Cormier and Tom Gordon in his bullpen while Ryan Madson pitched seven-plus innings. Manuel also chose to double switch out third baseman David Bell in the ninth inning and pinch run for Met-killer Pat Burrell in the ninth. Odd.
Randolph said he wasn’t sure who would have caught if Paul Lo Duca had been injured – he jokingly mentioned Glavine – but Carlos Delgado did come up as a catcher, so that one's easy.
There also was a potential chance for Randolph to use his noodle when Carlos Beltran argued with umpire Andy Fletcher after being thrown out at second base in the 11th. If Beltran had been ejected, Castro could have come in the game, but where? Behind the plate, perhaps, with Lo Duca moving to the outfield? In a game like this one, the possibilities for strangeness were limitless.
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Comments (2)
okay i know this is a little bit random, i know that its one of "those" questions that i read all the time and get annoyed with. where the fans get a little bit unrealistic and make outrageous trade/aquisition comments. but does anybody think itll be possible to get Kazmir back from the devil rays, i think that it would help me sleep at night if we could...is he going to be a free agent any time soon, if he does just pay him and bring him back. i dont care if hes never as good as he is right now, just so we could stop him looking good on another team. please for the love of god dont compare him and his deal with the nolan ryan deal. its too much for any met fan to take. i just want to enjoy this year and possibly an even better one next year. by the way 16 innings topped off by a monstrous Beltran homerun, thats what i should be thinking about not this. can anybody help me with this?
That was a great game and I am glad to have been able to stay up long enough to watch every single minute of it. Kudos to Willie Randolph for avoiding the temptation to put in Wagner in the ninth with a tie. He's been guilty of doing that before (a bad habit he picked up from Joe Torre when he was coaching for the Yanks). Madson did an incredible job for the Phillies, but I am more proud of the excellent job the Mets bullpen have done all season, especially their performance last night.