A full week after their 18-hour flight from halfway around the world, the Mets still showed symptoms of jet lag. They dropped two of three to the Padres and only managed to scrape together two hits in the opener against Los Angeles.
The Mets actually won that night in spite of their anemic offense — and have Rick Reed to thank for it. Reed augmented his solid start in Japan with 7.2 sterling innings and a 2-1 lead that would be protected by Armando Benitez.
New York’s hitting recovered the next day, only for the bullpen to spring a leak. John Franco punctured the biggest hole when he let a four-run ninth-inning lead slip away only to be followed up by Benitez relinquishing a game-winning home run to Eric Karros in the top of the tenth. The implosion spoiled the valiant effort of emergency starter and future Super Bowl QB dad Pat Mahomes — inserted in place of an injured Al Leiter — along with the first career home run for Jay Payton, a two-run homer from Edgardo Alfonzo, and three hits by Melvin Mora.
The snowball effect of the 11th-hour Dodger onslaught manifested itself less than 24 hours later when winter-like conditions postponed any chances of finishing the series.
”If abnormal is regular, as I feel it is,” Valentine said, according to the New York Times, ”then this will be another regular, wacky, abnormal season.”
But even a much-needed rest day ahead of a week-long Pennsylvania road trip didn’t cure what was ailing the Mets. The injury toll was not limited to Leiter and his sore groin muscle. Bobby Jones, who would be rocked in an April 10 outing against the Phillies for six earned runs in four innings, exited his next start versus the Pirates prematurely — a strained right calf being the culprit. He’d quickly be placed on the disabled list.
Rickey Henderson, great fodder for a good headline, got his bell rung when a trip to the ballpark that snowy Sunday resulted in a car accident.
Henderson, who had given management headaches with his outspoken desire to be traded if he didn’t get more playing time, briefly broke his month-long media boycott to provide a status update: “I’m alive.”
While Rickey’s standing with the Mets was hanging by a thread, Darryl Hamilton‘s career was in jeopardy because of a sprained left foot that put him out of action until August.
Mets pitchers incurred their own punishment — pelted for a staggering 23 runs over the next four games. In Philadelphia, where New York dropped two of three, it was the big inning that hurt them most. Specifically, four big innings in which the Phillies tallied at least three on the scoreboard.
Following Jones’ rough outing, Mike Hampton — still in search of his first Mets victory — lost for the third time many tries after yielding five walks and a homer. He headed off the Veterans Stadium mound with his new club in an early 6-0 ditch.
Again, Rick Reed offered the bailout package. It was the seventh inning before Philadelphia could muster a score. Reed came away with a no-decision, but New York snapped a 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth to salvage the final game of the series.
The Mets departed Philadelphia with hopes of leaving their struggles behind, but their manager couldn’t shake the new controversy he started there. Earlier that week, a student invited Valentine to speak at the Wharton School of Business on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. During the Q&A session that followed, the ever-candid Valentine allegedly ripped Mets management along with some players. The comments would have likely stayed within the walls of the room if not for an attendee posting his account of the talk on a message board.
This threatened to take the heated relationship between GM Steve Phillips and his manager, which had reached red-hot temperatures the year before, up a notch. In a preemptive and over-reactive move, Phillips joined the team in Pittsburgh for a one-on-one conversation with Valentine to diffuse the situation. Phillips later questioned the credibility of the source before the Penn student newspaper (The Daily Pennsylvanian) fanned the flame, reporting that Valentine contacted the reporter who attended the event to destroy her audio tape.
The controversy died down a bit when the source confessed he exaggerated a few of his comments. The Daily Pennsylvanian released a partial transcript which mostly exonerated Bobby V, but not entirely. In it, Valentine criticized Phillips’ failure to sign Japanese reliever Kazuhiro Sasaki over the winter. The manager also presumably needled outfielder Derek Bell by saying there was a “$5 million player” who doesn’t produce as well as Benny Agbayani.
New York went on to capture two of its three games in Pittsburgh, with Piazza and Ventura contributing two home runs each. So far in the 2000 season, the Mets constant sideshows resembled the turmoil that engulfed the club last year, amid all their successes. And now, with the offense appearing to click with regularity, the on-field product had the look of the ’99 club, too.
