No rush for Mets to get Starling Marte back just yet
TheMets’ Starling Marte hits a home run in the bottom of the third inning against the Dodgers at Citi Field on Aug. 30. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
The fact that Starling Marte was playing pool in the clubhouse before Saturday night’s game against the Pirates, his right hand curled around the cue stick, would seem to indicate the outfielder’s fractured middle finger might not be as worrisome as his prolonged absence had led us to believe.
But gripping a bat or throwing a baseball obviously takes more effort, and Marte said he still felt pain trying to do both activities Thursday. When asked about returning this season, he replied through an interpreter, “I think there’s a good possibility I’ll be back.”
So does manager Buck Showalter, who acknowledged that while it’s impossible to rush a broken bone, Marte is approaching a threshold at which playing through some discomfort would be feasible. In that sense, the Marte fractured-finger story could have a happy ending.
But with the Mets being used as a target practice again Saturday night, their players getting plunked four more times - Jeff McNeil twice -- in the 5-1 victory, a team can only be so lucky. That’s what cracked Marte’s finger, and the Mets are now up to 101 for the season, four short of the MLB record. They’re only the sixth team since 1900 to reach the century mark in that painful stat and this was the seventh time the Mets have been drilled by three or more pitches in the same game -- joining five other clubs for the most since 1901.
Showalter typically goes with the tight-lipped scowl from the dugout’s top step, but after McNeil was drilled in the seventh inning, he could be seen dropping from PG-13 language. Whether or not these pitches are on purpose doesn’t matter. That’s little consolation if one sidelines a Met through October.
“I can go back through every one of the 100-plus and I’d be hard-pressed to find one that I thought was intentional,” Showalter said afterward. “I got a pretty good eye for that ... That’s what’s frustrating. It’s not a record you want to break -- no pun intended. It looks like we have the potential to get Starling back, but every time it happens, it’s hitting a body part. I got my own personal feelings why it happens so much, but that’s for another day.”
For now, Showalter will keep his fingers crossed. What else can he do? Atlanta lost Ozzie Albies again Saturday night -- two games after his return from an IL-stay due to a broken foot -- when he fractured a finger on a headfirst slide against the Phillies. That’s how fragile a team’s fortunes can be this time of year. Three straight wins over the pitiful Pirates have knocked the Mets’ Magic Number down to four to clinch a playoff spot while holding their one-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East.
The Mets are no longer in the same zip code as Panic City. Not after pulling up from that 5-7 tailspin against the NL’s bottom feeders, punctuated by the Cubs’ three-game sweep at Citi Field this past week. This is not 2007 or 2008, when the Mets weren’t in position to have the wild card for a safety net.
The silver lining to Marte’s finger injury is the benefit to his legs, as Showalter said he’s been protective of them ever since he was bothered by the groin injury in the first half. Marte traveled to Los Angeles for the All-Star Game but declined to play as a precaution, and this extra time on the shelf could have him back stronger and faster at the perfect time. Before Saturday’s game, Marte was doing conditioning drills on the outfield grass, the only thing he really can do as the bone mends.
Because this is the Mets, the next crisis is only a few losses away. But health is paramount at this late date, and they are improving in that department.
With Megill expected to be activated Monday, that gives the Mets another solid candidate to bolster their bullpen, something that general manager Billy Eppler didn’t follow through on at the trade deadline. Megill figured to be part of Eppler’s strategy, as does David Peterson, who was moved to a relief role with Scherzer rejoining the rotation for Monday’s series opener in Milwaukee.
That’s how it’s drawn up, anyway. Showalter has been anxious all week about officially green-lighting Scherzer, just because he has this thing about tempting the “baseball gods” by making plans far in advance. When it comes to Scherzer, can’t say I blame him. To have him return to the IL earlier this month for left oblique “irritation” in the same area as his oblique strain tends to make a manager nervous about the future of his three-time Cy Young Award winner.
But it’s Showalter’s job to worry about this stuff, and that won’t stop until the Mets’ pursuit of the World Series does. Getting Marte back would ease some of his concerns as well as enhance the team’s chances for a deep October run. He’ll have to trade the pool cue for a bat, however, in order for that to happen.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
