FICKLE FINGER OF METS’ FATE
One dangling digit casts pall over Citi
Just when things were going well for the Mets, when momentum was swinging their way, when they had gotten off to a fast start, reality brought things to a halt.
The injury bug struck, hitting the pinkie finger on David Wright’s right hand. It’s the one that helps him grip the bat. The same bat that he had been swinging so well over t he first fou r games of the season. The one he used to help the Mets jump out to a 4-0 start.
An X-ray taken at Citi Field during the Mets’ disjointed game against the Nationals on Tuesday night revealed that Wright has a small fracture at the middle joint of the finger. The team called it a “non-operative injury.”
Almost on cue the Mets became “non-operative,” crumbling under a pile of defensive lapses and shaky work from the bullpen and losing, 6-2, to Washington. It was the Mets’ first loss of the season.
You begin to wonder if there is some kind of cosmic conspiracy to ruin anything good that happens for the Mets. “There’s nothing you can do about it,” Wright said. “You try to go out there and not get hurt. You never know. I never thought I’d manage to fracture a finger trying to dive back into first to not get picked off.”
There is a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Wright. He doesn’t know if he will feel better once the swelling goes down and whether he can return to the lineup quickly or end up on the DL.
“I learned from last year in the spring you can’t put a timetable on it,” he said.
As hot as the Mets have been to start the season, Wright had been hotter. He was batting .583 with an RBI in each of the four games this season, chasing his own franchise record of an RBI in six straight games to start the season.
The Mets now have a hole in the middle of their lineup because Wright is the lone threat there. The way that he was hitt ing, he had become even more dangerous. The Mets have pop with Lucas Duda. But with Jason Bay in a lingering batting funk — he popped out to third and struck out to a chorus of boos in his first two atbats — they don’t have dependable power like Wright possesses. Bay will face more pressure than ever to produce with Wright out of the lineup.
To his credit, Terry Collins is treading carefully with Wright.
“Swinging the bat is pretty painful for him. I didn’t want him to mess up his swing,’’ he said.
Collins also didn’t want a repeat of what happened with Wright last year when he played three weeks with a broken bone in his back, making the problem worse and then missing 3½ months.
“He never said a word (about the back) until he went into the training room one day and said ‘I think I need to check this out,’ ’’ Collins said. “This one (the pinkie) I’m going to take it out of his hands.”
The final part of the statement the team released on Wright’s injury said: “David can return to baseball activity as tolerated.” That’s where the Mets have to be cautious.
Wright’s fractured pinkie is not a toughness test. This is an IQ test.
It just happens to be coming at the most inopportune time of the season — a quick start blunted by an injury to a key player. The Mets need to be smart with Wright. If everything we’ve seen from the Mets in these first five games is for real, they can have a surprisingly good season. They will need a healthy Wright over the long haul to make that happen.
The Mets don’t have the best track record when it comes to managing injuries. Jose Reyes is a painful reminder of that. Hearing that Wright is injured makes Mets fans cringe.
Wright’s right hand was heavily wrapped when he stood outside the Mets clubhouse doors at Citi Field a couple of hours before the game. His arm looked a club. That’s never a good sign.
Wright’s worry was the same as that of all the Mets fans who had watched the team jump out to that quick 4-0 start.
“I told Terry I’m very apologetic because we’ve built up so much momentum,’’ Wright said. “I’m sure they can go out there and win without me. I hate to see the last-minute lineup adjustment. Not being able to run that same lineup out there that we’ve been running out there, because we’ve been having success. I don’t want to be the person to break that H momentum.” e didn’t have to worry about that. Washington shortstop Ian Desmond took care of that in the first at-bat of the game, driving a 2-2 pitch from Mets starter Dillon Gee over the wall in left for a homer.
File this under the heading of “All Good Things Must Come to an End.”
(top l.) and Lucas Duda struggle in field in Mets’ 6-2 loss.
Howard Simmons & Corey Sipkin/news