Among the legion of Mets fans not anxiously awaiting Kazuo Matsui’s return to the lineup, one thought persisted about how this evening could work out right for the man widely known as the infield’s answer to Tsuyoshi Shinjo. Confused and overeager as he is in most of his at-bats, Kaz is lights-out in his first plate appearance of every season. He homered on the first Big League pitch he ever saw. He homered in his first at-bat of 2005, too. So… the estimable Greg Prince at the equally estimable Faith and Fear In Flushing, any jaundiced, faintly defeated-sounding predictions?
Kaz is back. Maybe he’ll hit a home run in San Diego on the very first pitch he sees.
Well, not on the first pitch. And not in the least-ungainly inside-the-park home run ever hit (but not the most ungainly, thanks to Marlon Anderson’s falling-down-the-stairs inside-the-park affair last year). But damned if Kaz didn’t do it again, legging out an inside-the-park home run on a slapsticky second-inning drive that bounced off Brian Giles’ glove, Petco’s wall, and about 100 feet of San Diego sod. Typically torpid in his other at-bats, Kaz extended his MLB record, becoming the only player ever to homer in his first at-bat in three straight seasons. No one else has ever even done it twice.
As I write, the Mets are up 7-2 after batting around in the eighth inning. The rally was spurred by a clutch pinch-hit Julio Franco home run (above) that must’ve travelled at least 310 feet into San Diego’s rightfield “jury box.” Julio’s record? Oldest player ever to hit a Big League home run. Unless Ruben Sierra hits a homer in 2016, this record also seems pretty safe.
heck of a job by Sanchez to escape a bases loaded, no one out jam in the top of the 8th (great DP by Wright and Matsui to end the inning).
And Julio Jorge has pitched a scoreless 9th for the second time in 3 nights. All he needs is privacy.
Good points all. To quote an astute baseball mind’s (formerly) private correspondence, the only deal that currently looks savvier than Omar’s Delgado acquisition is the Sanchez/Seo trade.
His save opportunities might not come when others’ do — that is, in actual save opportunities — but credit to George Julius: he has become a viable ninth-inning option again.
Mets.com says “Ken Griffey Jr., then with the Mariners, had hit home runs in his first at-bats of the 1997, 1998 and 1999 seasons.”
I saw that too and it’s misleading. According to Retrosheet, Griffey hit a HR in the 1st inning in ’97, 5th in ’98, and 3rd in ’99. He was hit by a pitch and walked in his first two plate appearances in ’98, and walked in ’99. So yeah, technically he homered in his first official AB’s those seasons, but they weren’t his first plate appearances.
it was a great day for everyone’s favorite mets. from today’s nytimes: I feel sorry being compared to him,” Matsui said. “I mean, it’s Ken Griffey.”