Another solid outing from Oliver Perez and another offensive onslaught sealed the Mets' 9-3 win, and a three-game sweep over the Nationals. The Mets cruised through the first six innings behind Perez's dominance, and built a 5-0 lead, but Perez ran out of gas in the seventh and gave back three runs. Joe Smith got the final out of the inning, and it appeared that the rest of the game would be an interesting test of the New York bullpen. Smith got the first out in the eighth but ran into some trouble after walking Lastings Milledge and Austin Kearns, so Jerry Manuel called upon Duaner Sanchez. Sanchez got out of the inning unscathed and the Mets had a 5-3 lead after eight. The suspense mounted.
When the Mets came to bat in the top of the ninth Pedro Feliciano was warming up in the bullpen, presumably because the left-handed Willie Harris was due to lead off, but the rest of the ninth would be anyone's guess. However, the Mets scored four more runs on Damion Easley's pinch-hit two-run single and Washington's sloppy defense, to put the game out of reach. Aaron Heilman pitched a scoreless ninth, and the Mets avoided a save situation.
If the Mets keep winning big like they have the last two games, they may not need to bother sorting out their closing situation, because Billy Wagner's rehab is going right on schedule. He pitched a scoreless inning Thursday for Double-A Binghamton, and is slated to return to the Mets when he is elgible to come off the DL before Monday's game in Pittsburgh. The Mets will roll into Pittsburgh tomorrow riding a three-game winning streak, and sit alone atop the NL East after Los Angeles finished off their sweep of Philadelphia.
Thought of the Week: Ambidextrous Pitchers
Switch-hitters are commonplace in the major leagues--every team has at least two or three guys who can hit from both sides of the plate. But what aren't so popular are pitchers who can throw with both arms. Think about how useful an ambidextrous pitcher can be in this era of increased specialization in major league bullpens. Imagine a reliever who can go a whole inning and still match up well against lefties and righties, without forcing his manager to burn a pitcher to get just one batter.
There used to be a fair amount of ambidextrous pitchers in the majors in the late 1800s, namely Tony Mullane, who won at least 30 games five times in the 1880s, but since the dawn of the 20th Century switch-pitching has become a lost art. In fact, the only pitcher to throw with both arms in the major leagues in the modern era is Greg Harris. A right-hander for his entire 15-year career with the Mets, Reds, Padres, Rangers, Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees and Expos, he always had the goal of switch-pitching in the majors. In 1995, while with the Expos, in the second to last game of his career, Harris entered the ninth inning of a 9-3 losing effort, and retired Reggie Sanders while pitching right-handed. He then switched his glove onto his right hand to face the left-handed Hal Morris and Eddie Taubensee. While pitching lefty he walked Morris and got Taubensee on a grounder to second, and then switched his glove back to his left hand to face the right-handed Bret Boone, who he retired on a come-backer.
While no one has peformed the feat in the majors since, there is one switch-pitcher in the minors: Pat Venditte of the Staten Island Yankees, the New York Yankees' Single-A affiliate. Venditte, who switch-pitched for Creigton University from 2005-2008, currently has a 1.14 ERA in 23.2 innings for Staten Island. In a game against the New York Mets' Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones on June 19, switch-hitter Ralph Henriquez strode to the plate to face Venditte with a runner on first and two outs in the ninth inning. Henriquez stepped into the right-handed batters' box, and Venditte set up to pitch right-handed. Henriquez then crossed into the left-handed batters' box to adjust the match-up, but Venditte then switched his glove to his right hand and set up to pitch lefty. Henriquez crossed again to bat righty, but not to be outdone, Venditte switched back to pitch right-handed. This cat-and-mouse game caused a seven-minute break in the action as all four umpires convened to determine a ruling and both managers sought clarification, before Henriquez finally just agreed to bat right-handed. With Venditte pitching righty, Henriquez struck out to end the game, and slammed his bat down in frustration. The official ruling states that the pitcher must declare which arm he will use to throw, before the at-bat, but apparently the umpires were not used to dealing with controversies of this sort.
Check out the footage of the Venditte-Henriquez match-up on this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2oD8KzxS14
Check out this article about Venditte's college career: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/sports/baseball/06pitcher.ht
*Statistical information and gamelogs derived from www.baseball-reference.com.
**Historical information derived from www.MSNBC.com and www.nytimes.com.
Keywords: Aaron Heilman, Austin Kearns, Billy Wagner, Boston Red Sox, Bret Boone, Brooklyn Cyclones, Cincinnati Reds, Damion Easley, Duaner Sanchez, Eddie Taubensee, Greg Harris, Hal Morris, Jerry Manuel, Joe Smith, Lastings Milledge, Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal Expos, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oliver Perez, Pat Venditte, Pedro Feliciano, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Ralph Henriquez, Reggie Sanders, San Diego Padres, Staten Island Yankees, Texas Rangers, Tony Mullane, Washington Nationals
