Wrap This Man in Bubblewrap

If Carlos Delgado was an action figure, he’d require one of those plastic cases to ensure he stayed “mint in package.” Because without it, he’d get dropped off the shelf into a paper shredder where he’d get rescued by a toddler who would drool all over him until tossing him to the family dog who would just chew on him for a while. By the end of the ordeal, this action figure would be sold loose on eBay for 99 cents. And the Mets just aren’t willing to get pennies on the dollar for their investment in Delgado.

But the high-priced first baseman seems to be that susceptible to injury. He’s been banged up for more than a year now and even when he played last season, harm seemed to be magnetically attracted to Delgado. He led the Mets in getting hit by pitches last season with 11. The next closest Met was Lastings Milledge with 7 (in only 184 at-bats, which says a lot for the rest of the league’s respect for the flashy youngster.)

But today has to be the kicker. He was speared in the arm by a sawed-off bat, releasing a lot of blood and requiring four stitches. Here’s the Associated Press’ take:

Brady Clark swung and broke his bat, and the jagged barrel sailed down the line and speared Delgado on the outside of his right forearm. Right away, his arm was covered in red streams.

“It was a lot more blood than I wanted to see,” Delgado said.

Delgado immediately left the game and exited with a small bandage. He was previously scheduled to be off Monday and expected to be out a couple of days.

It’s official. Delgado is the human pin cushion.

*****

The good news of the day, aside from the fact that Delgado should only miss a few days, is that Pedro Martinez made his first start of the spring. And it was pretty good.

He came up with four hits, one walk and four strikeouts in four scoreless innings against the Detroit Tigers in a split-squad game. That’s better than anticipated and bodes well for his return to active duty this season. It certainly would be nice to have a healthy Pedro from Day 1. That’s still a few weeks off, but today was a good start.

*****

As Mets blogger I feel uniquely qualified to talk about all things Yankee Stadium. Look, if you can’t see why, I can’t explain it to you. So that explains me weighing in on the possibility of the NHL’s Winter Classic closing down the old ballpark in the Bronx, as I did for the Sunday Review page of the Home News Tribune and Courier News. You can read it here, or pasted below.

Essentially, I just think Yankee Stadium will always be remembered for the baseball games regardless of whether a hockey game takes place after the final Yankees game. And at the same time, Yankee Stadium has a long history of great sporting moments separate from its baseball legacy. Here’s one last chance for one more moment.

No matter its finale,
Stadium legacy safe
By STEVE FEITL
Published March 16, 2008

First Billy Crystal. Then Jaromir Jagr.

It was a tough week for traditional Yankee fans. On the same week that a near-60-year-old comedian got to don the pinstripes for an at-bat, the rumors of a hockey game in the House That Ruth Built grew louder.

The NHL allegedly wants to hold the next Winter Classic — its outdoor New Year’s Day game — in the Bronx, featuring the New York Rangers likely against an Original Six foe, such as the Detroit Red Wings.

The catch, of course, is that the Jan. 1 hockey game would take place anywhere from 60 to 90 days after the Yankees themselves last play in the historic ballpark.

The idea of a hockey game, or any other game for that matter, being the final sporting event at Yankee Stadium has many fans cringing. The final game at Yankee Stadium should be a Yankee game, they argue.

True enough. But history will view it that way regardless. Whether there’s an NHL game in January or a badminton tournament in February, the day that will always be remembered will be the one where the Bombers take their last at-bat — whether it’s on Sept. 21 against the Orioles, in Game 7 of the World Series or any time in between.

The legacy of Yankee Stadium is safe.

But what’s being forgotten in this argument is that same legacy also includes playing host to some of the most important and legendary sporting moments not to take place on a baseball diamond.

When Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne implored his players to “win one for the Gipper,” he did it in the bowels of Yankee Stadium.

When Joe Louis defended American honor and gave hope to the black athlete by defeating German boxer Max Schmeling in pre-World War II 1938, he did it in a ring set up at Yankee Stadium.

And perhaps most importantly, when the Baltimore Colts defeated the Giants in overtime of the 1958 NFL Championship Game, it later became known in football circles as “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” And it happened at Yankee Stadium.

The last example is important, because while it’s difficult to imagine today, the NFL was not yet a juggernaut in the late 1950s. In fact, it is that Colts-Giants game that is credited as capturing the attention of the American public and launching the sport to the heights it still enjoys today.

And if there ever was a sport that could use the boost, it’s hockey. Still stinging from the lockout, the game is exciting, but fans have been slow to tune back in. The only measurable ratings success the league has enjoyed recently was the Winter Classic in Buffalo this past January.

Taking that successful formula — hockey returning to its roots, evoking images of kids skating around on a frozen pond — and placing it in one of, if not the, most famous sporting venues in the world would be a sure-fire winner for the NHL. And by generating the kind of buzz the league has lacked for more than a decade, it might just lead to a resurgence for the sport.

The Stadium has done wonders for baseball. It played a key role in launching football. There’s still time for it to lend a hand to hockey.

And that wouldn’t detract from Yankee Stadium’s legacy. It would only add to it.

Who To Boo

There’s nothing better than rewriting a completed blog post from scratch due to computer error.

I spent my Friday night in Dover, N.J., taking part in the filming of a scene from the upcoming motion picture, “The Wrestler,” starring Mickey Rourke. It chronicles the career of a down-and-out 80s-era pro wrestler who returns to the ring despite the protests of his doctor. For the scene, the crowd at the Baker Theater was to witness the climactic final bout between Rourke’s Randy “The Ram” Robinson and his arch-rival “The Ayatollah.” Before filming began, the crew was sure to point out that “The Ayatollah” was in fact the bad guy and the wrestler that we should boo. Really?

Luckily there’s not much to boo about the Mets these days, as the Amazin’s seem to be rounding into shape as Opening Day comes ever closer. John Maine was dominant again, Johan Santana was strong again and perhaps most importantly, Pedro Martinez will take the mound Sunday for his first exhibition start. As the rotation’s question mark, a strong outing from Pedro will give the Mets and their fans a great deal of confidence heading into the season. Even the position players — once decimated by injury — are coming back to the fold. Luis Castillo got in his first game of the spring today and Carlos Beltran has continued to play center field despite some soreness. Everyone might not be ready for Opening Day — Duque and Duaner in particular — but the Mets are starting to look a lot more like the Mets.

And since things are going well, now seems like an opportune moment for a light-hearted diversion. Adam Rubin in his Daily News Mets blog alerted readers to this moderately frightening “tribute” site to reliever Joe Smith on MySpace. It’s premise is that Joe Smith is God. Yes, that Joe Smith. Yes, that God. Check out this excerpt:

“In a world reeling from war, pestilence and spiritual uncertainty many now find solace in the knowledge that Joe Smith is the supreme baseball being. His pitching is both the Word and the Way. Let the light shine forth from His right hand!”

It’s worth checking out, if only to listen to the somewhat-disturbing Joe Smith poetry. I can’t even imagine what poetic techniques will be employed if Smith doesn’t make the team. For now enjoy the haiku.

Getting Healthier, Getting Closer

Well I guess it’s time to return to the CitiBlog after an extended weekend down where the sand’s turning to gold, covering the rumble out on the promenade. So I didn’t have a lot of time for the Amazin’s. You know who missed me more than you? My cat. She let me hear it last night when I rolled back into town, meowing incessantly about my extended absence. If she had been human, she would have known this guilt trip would be ineffective. Much like the guilted significant other, all I could think was, “Complaining about it now won’t change anything.” Then again, she’s a cat… what else does she have to do. Complaining is a Top 5 selection on a cat’s “Things To Do” list.

But back to the Amazin’s. I should go away more often because since I’ve been gone a great deal of Mets have returned from the infirmary. Brian Schneider, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley, Ryan Church, Carlos Beltran and even Carlos Delgado all have returned to action, making the Mets a whole lot closer to whole than they were even five days ago. Does this mean everything’s OK with the Mets? No, they’re still a team with a lot of old pieces that can break down at any time. This just simply means things aren’t as dire as they seemed last week.

It also doesn’t mean the Mets should stop looking for someone to help out in the outfield and first base should Delgado not stay healthy or Church not hit lefties. There may not be anyone available at the moment that the Mets can afford, but people always become available as Opening Day nears and teams need to make roster moves. Omar Minaya should keep his ear to the ground on this one. I’m sure he will.

Meanwhile, the pitching front is looking good as Johan Santana pitched well today and John Maine was even better Sunday. He threw four hitless innings, but is far from satisfied, according to our beat guy John Delcos.

“My slider needs to be better. It needs a little more bite.”

Talk about being your own worst enemy. But that’s OK, let him strive to be better because an improved Maine (one that doesn’t fade down the stretch) extends the rotation from just a 1-2 punch to an all-around strong staff. That’s important.

But perhaps the biggest news that I missed while I was gone was contained in the last line of Delcos’ notebook — one which The Green Machine pointed out to me. Sunday was bullpen coach Guy Conti’s 66th birthday. I always like to think that guys with unique first names are part of some sort of secret society. So for Conti’s birthday — in my mind at least — Port St. Lucie must have been deluged by Guy Lafleur, Guy Ritchie, Guy Carbonneau, Guy Pearce, Street Fighter’s Guy and even everyone’s favorite game show host Guy Smiley. No matter how you pronounce it those Guys have to stick together, you know?

Projected Opening Day Lineup

As it stands now, here’ s the projected Opening Day lineup for the Mets.

1. Jose Reyes SS
2. David Wright RF
3. Jose Reyes CF
4. David Wright 1B
5. David Wright 3B
6. Jose Reyes LF
7. Jose Reyes 2B
8. David Wright C
9. Johan Santana

Talk about having to manufacture runs by yourself… I guess the best thing you can say is the Mets are starting an All-Star at every position. I am a little concerned about the double-play possibilities though if Wright is on first with Wright at the plate.

The Mets are in this spot because they received even more bad injury news today when they learned a hernia that will require surgery will sideline Moises Alou for 4-to-6 weeks. That’s now three of the problematic four that I’ve spoke of all spring already on the sidelines. Carlos Delgado is out with his impingement. There’s no timetable on Duaner Sanchez. The only one of the four keys that is still active is Pedro Martinez, who will give it a go for the first time today. Yes, he’s only not on the list because he hasn’t even tried to play yet, therefore he hasn’t been unable to play. That’s the kind of encouraging news you have to look for right now in Mets camp.

As for the Alou injury, there’s two ways to look at it. No one in their right mind would have expected 100 games out of Alou this season, so what does it matter if he starts racking up those missed games right away? Of course, the other way to look at it is he is still going to miss those 62 other games and these absences will come out of his good 100. And you can’t ignore the fact that at his age, this is just another sign of how brittle he is. His replacement figures to be Endy Chavez, who also can’t play right now. So his roster spot may go to Angel Pagan, who’s been impressing people in Port St. Lucie the last few weeks.

In other injury news, Orlando Hernandez is experimenting with a new windup that will not put as much pressure on his bum foot. Don’t doubt Duque’s savvy, but realistically, reinventing himself at this point may take some time. It’s looking more and more like Mike Pelfrey will once again start the season in the rotation.

Who he has behind him every fifth day is anybody’s guess.

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Powerful Pelfrey

Ramon Castro hit a standup triple today. If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about spring training, I don’t know what does.

But amidst the ridiculous amount of injured Amazin’s right now, there have been a few reasons for optimism. One of them has been Mike Pelfrey. The tall righty is off to an impressive start to his spring, notching three scoreless innings today in addition to his previous strong outing. He was cracking bats and forcing groundballs — two things that every pitcher loves to see this early in the year. Just as you can’t get too worked up over pitchers getting blown up at this point, you can’t make too much of another pitcher mowing batters down. But it’s not a bad sign, which sure seems like a rarity in Mets camp these days.

Orlando Hernandez — also known as the roadblock Pelfrey must overcome — couldn’t make batting practice again and now will try again Wednesday. Duque’s inability to get on the mound figures to be a constant nuisance for the Mets these next couple months. It will be considerably less if Pelfrey can step up and fill that No. 5 slot.

In other injury news, Ruben Gotay’s sprained ankle may be more than sprained. He had his X-rays, but now doctors want a CAT scan. That’s not a good sign for reserve infielder.

Can’t Panic on March 2

With another injury and another pitcher having a bad start, the last thing you want to read about is the Mets. Which is convenient because it happens to be the last thing I want to write about.

But since this is a Mets blog, here’s my 30 seconds on the Mets:

It’s March 2. There’s four more weeks of this to get through. No one can live and die with every injury and bad start for this long before the games even count. The Mets do need to get healthier, as I alluded to last night. They can’t have everyone from the 25-man roster riding the Port St. Lucie pine. But really only the Delgado injury is one to worry about because of his troubling 2007. The Ruben Gotay injury today doesn’t appear to be serious. And as for Oliver Perez getting roughed up, pitchers always get roughed up in spring training. It’s not fun to watch, but you can’t get too concerned. If we’re still having this conversation in two weeks, my opinion might change but…

Meanwhile, it’s time to plug my own work. I penned the column for the Sunday Review page of the Home News Tribune and Courier News. You can read it here or pasted below.

It discusses how Vince McMahon ignored the time-testing strategy employed by Bud Selig, Roger Goodell, David Stern and Gary Bettman this week when he declined an invitation to come before Congress and discuss steroids. He wasn’t subpoenaed by the subcommittee and he had an out because his lawyer had a prior committment. But it doesn’t mean it was a wise choice. Because if he ticked off Congress enough to look a little closer at professional wrestling, they might not like what they see. And McMahon almost surely wouldn’t like that kind of attention.

So check it out.

McMahon ignores time-tested steroids strategy
By STEVE FEITL
Published March 2, 2008

Someone someday soon is going to make a lot of money writing “The Idiot’s Guide to Steroid Accusations.”

Because after numerous congressional hearings, some sustained public outcry and a couple of perjury investigations, there’s enough evidence to know what to do and, more importantly, what not to do.

For example, players can either admit their transgressions or deny, deny, deny. Andy Pettitte chose to own up to the accusations and was lauded by Congress as an honorable person . . . a cheater, but an honorable one. Meanwhile, Roger Clemens went door to door like a 7-year-old trick-or-treater, selling his denial on Capitol Hill. For his hard work, he received one big trick in the form of a federal perjury investigation. Advantage: admission of guilt.

It works for trainers, too. They can choose to cooperate with investigations or protect their millionaire clients. Brian McNamee opted to spill the beans. He was skewered publicly, but he sleeps in his own bed at night. The same can’t be said of Greg Anderson, who spent nearly a year in prison because he wouldn’t give up Barry Bonds. So unless you’re looking for work as trainer of the prison softball team, cooperation seems like a winning choice.

And even the heads of the sports themselves have choices to make. They can appear before Congress or they can no-show. Roger Goodell, Bud Selig, David Stern and Gary Bettman all chose to show up. The U.S. Olympic Committee chose to show up. Hell, even the National Thoroughbred Racing Association chose to show up.

I’ll give you one guess what World Wrestling Entertainment boss Vince McMahon chose.

Yes, McMahon was the only invited guest to decline to appear before Wednesday’s hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, which focused on possible federal regulation of drug testing in sports. Congress granted witnesses the right to be represented by their counsel and McMahon’s lawyer was unavailable Wednesday. But it’s not as if his absence went unnoticed.

The chairman, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said he was “exceptionally and extremely disappointed” that McMahon wasn’t there and added, “Steroid abuse in professional wrestling is probably worse than in any professional sport or amateur sport.”

But McMahon’s absence did accomplish one thing. It unified Republicans and Democrats.

“Mr. Chairman, you rightfully called out Vince McMahon,” Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said. “Someone that flips his finger at this committee or at Congress deserves to be called out.”

Now McMahon did make a lot of money in the ’90s with a wrestler that regularly flipped off authority figures, but it seems a lot like congressional grandstanding to say McMahon was doing it himself this week. According to WWE, he responded to the invitation nearly a month ago.

McMahon was within his rights not to be there Wednesday. It just may have been a mistake.

Rep. Rush said, “This subcommittee fully intends to deal with the illegal steroid abuse in professional wrestling.”

Apparently, McMahon may still be called to Congress. He can have his lawyer this time, but not the other sports commissioners. That means all the focus would be on pro wrestling and its steroid problems, not to mention its staggering death rate.

And the book on how to deal with those uncomfortable questions is no more written than the WWE’s own fictitious rule book.

WANTED: Healthy baseball players

There’s no truth to the rumor that the Mets are calling around to Port St. Lucie doctors to get the names of 20-to-30-year-old males that have passed a physical recently. And there’s certainly no truth to the rumor that inviting those healthy men to Mets camp might be the only way the Mets can field a lineup.

No, no truth at all. But it isn’t as absurd as it should be.

The injury bug continued to plague the Amazin’s on Saturday as Carlos Delgado was sent to New York for an MRI on his hip and Marlon Anderson and Ryan Church tried to recreate the Mike Cameron/Carlos Beltran collision of a few years ago. The diagnosis is Delgado is out for several days with a hip impingement, which I believe translates in English to “red freakin’ flag,” Anderson is day-to-day with a bruised sternum and Church is out indefinitely with a Grade 2 concussion. Even as someone who’s been ringing the “beware of injuries” bell for the last several weeks, this is a bit excessive. It’s only compounded by the fact that Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo, Damion Easley, Jose Valentin, Orlando Hernandez and Endy Chavez are all not cleared to play. Yes, it’s better for injuries to happen early, but that can’t apply to the entire team… or in this case a third of it.

The big problem is the Delgado injury. Everyone assumes that injuries kept him off his game all season in 2007 and at his age there’s no guarantee he’s suddenly going to shake them. For him to be sent away from camp this early for tests tells you the Mets are worried too. He’s a big part of their offense and that batting order gets a lot shorter if you remove a healthy Delgado and insert a lighter-hitting catcher.

As far as what the Mets can do, the first name that comes to my mind is Nick Johnson. The former Yankee was a non-factor in Washington last season as he rehabbed an injury and in his absence Dmitri Young resurrected his career. Now the Nationals have both, probably don’t need both, and certainly don’t seem to have a problem dealing with Omar Minaya (see Milledge, Lastings). That might be a good fit, but for the Mets to swing that kind of deal, they’re going to need to be sure that Delgado isn’t going to contribute much this season. They might have to wait a while to make that determination, but they can’t wait too long because the Nats may want to clear out one first baseman before Opening Day. The Mets are going to make their best guess about what the future holds.

So forgive Minaya if you see wandering along the Asbury Park boardwalk looking for Madame Marie.