A Few Good Nuggets…

Peter Botte had a few good “nuggets” of information at out friend, Adam Rubin’s Daily News blog.

Manuel wants Carlos Beltran - he of the baseball’s all-time best steals percentage - to run more. Beltran heeded that directive in the fifth inning tonight, doubling and stealing third before taking off for home on a wild pitch for the Mets’ lone run so far. Of course, Beltran also spiked Felix Hernandez on the slide, knocking the Seattle ace out of the game with a sprained ankle after the kid dominated offensively and defensively in the early innings.

King Felix belted a GRAND SLAM OFF JOHAN SANTANA following a David Wright two-out error in the second inning. It was the first homer EVER by a Seattle pitcher, and the first granny by any A.L. pitcher since Cleveland’s Steve Dunning did the trick in 1971 against Oakland.

(You could win a bar bet with that nugget. What obviously helps the 37 year gap, is the American League creating the horrific, needs to be revoked, designated hitter rule in 1973.)

Fan-fave hitting coach Howard Johnson survived the purging of Willie and coaches Nieto and The Jacket last week, but Jerry went a little-less-than-Gangsta on HoJo in his post-game presser after the Mets were schooled by grand-slamming Felix Hernandez, who’s also not a bad pitcher, or perennial punching bag Arthur Rhodes and four other random Seattle bullpen guys.

“No question, that’s where we have to focus, on our offense,” Manuel said after the 5-2 loss evened his Mets record at 3-3. “We have to sit down with HoJo and have a different plan of attack than we’ve had. We have to really identify some thoughts individually and work on those things religiously. We have to find a way to get the best out of our players offensively, and that’s going to be a difficult task, but I think we have the people here to do it.”

(I would like to see the Mets start each at-bat, looking for a fastball they could drive on the first pitch. If they don’t see one, take the pitch, and try to work the count into a hitter’s count, or, work out a walk, and keep the conga line moving, one base at a time.)

Manuel later added, “I think they’re getting us out outside the strike zone and that’s a problem. We have to make some adjustments as far as strike recognition and have to come up with some programs, some plans and some thoughts because we’re getting ourselves out. Even mediocre pitching can be good outside the strike zone.”

(Totally agree. The opposing pitcher looks a lot better when hitters can’t recognize the strike zone, and get themselves out on pitches they should be taking, to create a hitter’s count.)

The other late-night nugget o’ note is Wright, who played every inning of every game under Willie this year, will not start Tuesday after hitting into a DP and making a key error before Felix’s historic salami. Said Jerry: “Tonight, I thought David appeared fatigued. So for me, and I told him this, tomorrow he won’t play. I hate to rest our regular players when we’re at home, they should play in front of our fans, but I just think he (needs a day off).” Wright basically admitted he can’t fight City Hall, or something to that effect. So look for Tatis tomorrow at third.

(Nice job, Jerry. He acknowledged that he prefers to play his regulars at home, in front of the fans, but, the performance of the team is the utmost importance. Wright is overdue for a day off.)