Monday Morning, September 16 2002
After today's off day, the Mets return to Shea. The Cubs will be in town for a midweek series, and the Expos will visit for the weekend.
Los Mets en Español - Tomorrow and Wednesday's games will be telecast in English on MSG and in Spanish on FSNY. These will be the last Spanish games on FSNY for the season.
Remembering September 11th - The Mets were in Atlanta last Wednesday, playing a day/night doubleheader. As in all Major League parks that day, there was a moment of silence at 9:11 PM to honor those who lost their lives a year ago. On that day the Mets wore the caps of the New York City agencies who responded to the World Trade Center attacks or who lost personnel that day. The agencies represented included the New York City Police Department, the New York City Fire Department, the Port Authority Police, the New York City Court Officers, the Office of Emergency Management, the New York City Police Department Canine Unit, and the Police Emergency Medical Unit. The Mets technically didn't have permission from MLB to go against uniform rules and wear the hats, but under the circumstances they don't anticipate any disciplinary action from the Commissioner's office. Al Leiter, who pitched the nightcap, changed caps every inning and wore six different ones during his complete game shutout.
In addition, the Mets treated six New York City Police officers to a trip to Atlanta for the three game series. These officers were on the scene after the Twin Towers fell, and remained at Ground Zero for months afterwards assisting in the recovery efforts. As Mets vice president of media relations, Jay Horwitz, explained, "We felt because we weren't there, we wanted to take a little piece of home with us."
Met Milestone - Last Monday, Mike Piazza hit his 14th career grand slam home run. He is now tied for second in grand slams among active players, along with Ken Griffey, Jr., and Manny Ramirez. Number one on the list is former Met Robin Ventura, with 16.
Mending Fences - Following the uproar over his comments in a recent column for msgnetwork.com, Keith Hernandez apologized to the team for saying that they were a bunch of quitters with no heart. Hernandez met with the team in Atlanta's visiting clubhouse before last Tuesday's game in a 10 minute, closed door session. Prior to that meeting, in a published report, Hernandez was quoted as saying, "All players are brethren. We are a private club - retired and current. And I feel I have lashed out unfairly at family. I know these guys and I like these guys. I want them to do well. I want them to win. For me to use those words, well, I'm not happy with myself."
Not Fooling Anybody - In last Monday's game in Philadelphia, Mo Vaughn appeared in the on deck circle. Vaughn, who was still bothered by his sore left hand, had no intention of batting, but Bobby Valentine was hoping to force Philadelphia to make a pitching change before sending John Valentin to the plate. The ruse failed, though, when players on the Phillies' bench noticed that Vaughn was wearing sneakers!
Completing the Deal - The Mets acquired outfielder Brady Clark from Cincinnati last Monday. Clark is the final player to be named later in the deal that sent Shawn Estes to the Reds and brought Raul Gonzalez, Pedro Feliciano and Elvin Andujar to the Mets. Clark joined the team in Atlanta on Wednesday.
The Call Ups Continue - After Steve Trachsel hurt his hand during the first game of last Wednesday's doubleheader, the Mets decided to call up Pat Strange for insurance in the bullpen.
Welcome Back! - Grant Roberts, who has been on the disabled list since July 13th with tendinitis in his shoulder, was activated last Tuesday. Roberts pitched a scoreless 7th inning on Friday, which was also his 25th birthday.
Grooming the Stars of Tomorrow - The Mets opened up their Instructional League yesterday, inviting 60 of their prospects to Port St. Lucie, Florida. The participants include Scott Kazmir, the Mets' top pick in the 2002 draft; Jose Reyes, the MVP of last July's Future's All Star Game in Milwaukee and Sportsticker's recently named "Teenager of the Year," and David Wright, a first round sandwich pick in the 2001 draft. Alhaji Turay, who was sent home by the Brooklyn Cyclones last month due to attitude problems and immature behavior, will also be in camp.
In the Community - Manager Bobby Valentine has worked tirelessly helping the community recover after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. Last week, another heartwarming story about the manager's generosity emerged. The Star-Ledger reports that Valentine has helped out Arlene Ferreira, a single mother of four whose ex-husband lost his job when the World Trade Center perished. Valentine has helped Ferreira keep her children in parochial school, and gave her a job doing promotional work for his restaurant. "He doesn't just sign a check and say, 'Bye,'" Ferreira said. "What he has done for me, no one else has ever done anything close to it."
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.
