Mrs Benson Returns

Oh, ironic twists.

The two pitchers the Mets traded for at the 2004 deadline, Victor Zambrano and Kris Benson were facing each other yesterday when the Mets took on the Orioles in an exhibition game fraught with quasi-celebrities.

First of all, it was the return of Rickey "Deal Me In" Henderson, acting this time, in the capacity as a "guest coach" for the Mets for the last 11 days of Spring Training, ostensibly, to turn Jose Reyes into a better version of the aulder man.


Dr Goofy Shows His Poker Hand

Apparently, Henderson will also have little pearls of wisdom to impart upon Mets main cog, Carlos Beltran as well. Beltran said of Henderson: "I'm waiting for the opportunity to work with him, both as a base stealer and as a center fielder. He probably has something unique about him that we don't have, and I want to see what it is."

Something unique indeed. Poison to team character? Self-involved attitude? Teaching Mets how to refer to themselves in third person?

Also spotted in the crowd were Cowboy coach Bill Parcells and former Packer GM Ron Wolf. Parcells is evidently mates with Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo.


Bill Parcells deserves to be in the Hall of Fat.

As for the matchup of current and former Mets, Benson gave up three runs (two earned) in four innings. He allowed six hits and a walk, and struck out three. Victor Zambrano worked five innings for the Mets, allowing just Mora's homer and Conine's hit-and-run. The Mets lost, 6-5, when Bartolome Fortunato gave up four runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Reyes, Beltran, Delgado and Endy Chavez all doubled for the Mets whilst Beltran and Reyes both had a pair of hits in all. Anderson Hernandez started at second base and had a hit in three at-bats but Keppinger, a late replacement, also had a hit in his lone at-bat. Currently, Hernandez is hitting .289 and Keppinger is hitting .286.

Of course if the Mets trade for malcontent Alfonso Soriano to play second base, it's a moot point. However, much like the big rumoured trade for Manny Ramirez, the Soriano trade has been rumoured for more than a year and would definately not be of benefit to the Mets, regardless of offensive stats.

Victor Diaz went oh for on the night playing both left field and right field although obviously not simultaneously and X Nady went 0 for 4 to drop his batting average to .333.


*****

Of course, no reference to Kris Benson or the Orioles would be complete without the requisite referral to Anna Benson. There were no memorable utterances at yesterday's game so we'll leave you with the obligatory shot:



*****

Meanwhile, casualties remain the buzzword in the Mets camp. Along with Pedro's dodgy toe, there is also the question of Carlos Delgado's improving elbow.

It's feeling better," Delgado said. "Hopefully that will continue to be the case."

Hopefully? Yeah, like if not, the season could be down the tubes before it even starts.

Not only that, but adding key injury to key injury, how many groans went out when you read that Wagner shut down until the Weekend?

Allegedly not a big deal, (I dunno how the fulcrum behind your offseason free agent moves and one of the key members of the team being pulled is not a "big deal" but there you go, information management,) but Billy Wagner's finger is irritated and sore.

The diagnosis the Mets made public on Tuesday, following Monday's negative MRI, was "tendon sheath stiffness." You might wonder how long the Mets would have waited had the MRI been positive like torn tendon in finger, etc. Although the club acknowledges that Wagner hurt his finger on Thursday night while pitching against the Braves, the injury's cause remains unspecified.

However, one might be able to take comfort in the fact that this isn't the first time Wagner's finger has acted up. He endured a similar problem to the same finger in Spring Training 2004, when he was a member of the Phillies. The injury is to the same area, about 1 1/2 inches from the fingertip. That year, Wagner missed two weeks of Spring Training -- in early March -- but he was ready for Opening Day.

Keep your "fingers" crossed and remember that former Met John Franco once lost more than two months of his season when he suffered a partial tear to the sheath of the flexor tendon in his left middle finger while pitching against the Braves.

Hmmmmm.