I’ve taken to summing up the Mets season with four injury risks. It’s Moises Alou in the outfield, Carlos Delgado in the infield, Pedro Martinez in the rotation and Duaner Sanchez in the bullpen. The season will hinge on their health.
Well there’s good news on the Duaner front. Sanchez threw 26 pitches in an intrasquad game today in Port St. Lucie. Sanchez is of course key in lengthening the Mets bullpen. Whether he or Aaron Heilman pitches the eighth is irrelevant. With the two of them throwing well, it frees up Pedro Feliciano to come in the game as early as the sixth inning. When you think of all the leads that were blown by the bullpen last September, it can only be good news to see Sanchez and his wacky glasses back.
Some of the 26 pitches must have been good since he recorded two strikeouts with men on base. But much more importantly they were 26 pain-free pitches — something he was not experiencing last year at this time. It’s only one outing and he’ll need 10 more of these over the next five weeks to be ready for the season.
But it’s good to hear that he at least got off to a good start.
