The Dayton Daily News’ Hal McCoy on the Mets’ latest acquisition, Danny Graves.
The revelation that the New York Mets told pitcher Danny Graves he was tipping his curveball when he pitched for the Cincinnati Reds was a pre-game topic Friday.
“If so, that explains a lot,” said catcher Jason LaRue. “Just before he left here Danny came to me and said, ‘Jason, I have to be tipping my pitches. Do you see anything?'”
LaRue said he figures something was amiss, “Because batters were spitting on nasty pitches they should have been swinging at and jumping all over pitches they should not have been jumping on … as if they knew what was coming.”
Remember the 9-3 lead in the ninth inning that Graves turned into a 10-9 loss, giving up a three-run home run to Jim Edmonds and a two-run home run to John Mabry?
Said LaRue, “The next day Albert Pujols came up to me and said, ‘We were glad when Graves came in because then we knew we’d get you-all. That explains a lot. I couldn’t figure out what he meant.”
And the fact the Mets told Graves he has been tipping his pitches for a long time clicked in LaRue’s brain, too. He remembers the night of May 18 in Shea Stadium.
Graves came in to pitch the eighth inning and gave up home runs to Mike Cameron and Chris Woodward, a triple to Jose Reyes ” four runs, four hits.