Monday Morning — August 18th, 2003
This afternoon the Mets finish up their series against the Rockies at Shea. Then they jet off to the West Coast for series against the Padres and the Dodgers.
Piazza News - On August 10, during a rehab game with Norfolk, Mike Piazza played two innings at first bases after catching for the previous seven. This was the first time that Piazza played first base in a professional game since July 26, 1993, when he was with the Dodgers. Piazza demonstrated that his strained right groin muscle is healed when he splayed out to complete an inning ending double play in the eighth inning.
Three days later, Piazza was activated from the disabled list and played in his first major league game since tearing his right groin muscle on May 16th. Always with a flair for the dramatic, Piazza literally came back with a bang by belting a huge 2-run homer in his second at-bat that night.
Farewell to Floyd - Cliff Floyd's season will likely end after today's game. He is planning to stop playing so that he can have time to get the anti-inflammatories out of his system before undergoing surgery on his injured Achilles' tendon later next week. Floyd went out with a bang this past weekend, with a hot bat and even stealing a base Friday night!
Roster Notes - Joe DePastino has been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk.
When Piazza was activated from the disabled list on Wednesday, Jeff Duncan was sent to Norfolk.
A Distinguished Visitor - Former President Bill Clinton was a guest at Shea last Tuesday, visiting the Mets and Giants clubhouses prior to the game and watching the first few innings from the Mets' radio and TV booths.
Mets Milestones - According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ty Wigginton and Jose Reyes are the first rookie tandem to reach double digits in steals in Mets history.
Al Leiter was named by Sharp as the Mets Pitcher of the Month for the month of July.
Tom Glavine earned his 250th career victory on Friday night.
Hello, Old Friend - Last Tuesday was Edgardo Alfonzo's first game at Shea since leaving the Mets this past offseason. The Mets greeted him with a video montage on Shea's Jumbotron prior to the game, which was followed by a rousing ovation from the fans.
Lights Out = Sweep! - The cancellation of last Thursday's game due to the massive East Coast blackout meant that the Mets swept their shortened two-game series with the Giants.
Scary Moment - Umpire Justin Klemm was struck on the back of the head when Jason Phillips' bat shattered during an at-bat on Friday night. Klemm was on the ground for about 10 minutes while trainers from the Mets and the Rockies attended to him, and then he received three stitches when he was back in the umpire room. The game was finished using three umpires.
Not So Brave - Art Howe has adjusted the pitching rotation so that Tom Glavine will pitch on three days rest in San Diego tomorrow and, thus, will not pitch against the Braves in Atlanta next week. Glavine is 0-4 with a 10.35 ERA in four starts against his former team.
In the Community - Last Thursday, Tom Seaver and Aaron Heilman visited the NYU Medical Center as part of the "Going Home" program. The program provides each pediatric patient discharged from the NYU Medical Center and the Hospital for Joint Diseases with a pair of Mets tickets, a Mets cap and player cards.
Fall Ball - Binghamton's Bob Keppel, Justin Huber, Matt Peterson, Bill Mattox, and Royce Ring have been selected to participate in the Arizona Fall League.
If You Were Left In The Dark - Because Thursday's game against the Giants was canceled on account of the Blackout and there are no plans to make up the game, ticketholders to that game may exchange their tickets for another game in the 2003 season or may get a refund instead.
Special Feature: Baseball as America
Special Feature: Talkin' Baseball with Terry Cashman
Unless otherwise stated, these stories have been extracted from reports on www.nydailynews.com, www.nypost.com, www.nytimes.com, www.njo.com, www.newsday.com, www.bergenrecord.com, AP , and www.mets.com reports.
