Yes, I am on Twitter at nyp_joelsherman.
1. What Gary Sheffield is doing now for the Mets is what his uncle, Dwight Gooden, did for the Yankees in 1996.
In case you have forgotten, Gooden was rescued off the scrapheap by the Yanks in 1996. He then went 0-3 with an 11.48 ERA and a .351 batting average against in his initial three starts. The Yanks were contemplating releasing him. But rotation injuries, notably to Gooden’s pal, David Cone, moved the Yanks to stick with Gooden, especially because his Yankee pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre, had been his Met pitching coach and believed in Doc. Boy did that belief pay off.
In his next 19 starts, Gooden was brilliant. He went 10-2 with a 3.09 ERA and a .209 batting average against, and he pitched a no-hitter on May 14 against the Mariners. He fell apart after that and did not even pitch in the postseason. But there would have been no postseason without him. His brilliant run essentially coincided with the period that Cone was lost after needing surgery to remove an aneurysm near his shoulder. When Gooden was needed most by the 1996 Yankees he rose from the scrapheap to perform in a vintage style.
Now in 2009, Sheffield was on the scrapheap, tossed there by the Tigers who decided they would rather pay him $14 million this season and release him then keep him on the team. They simply felt he could not play the field and that his bat had slowed down enough that they could not justify keeping him as a hitter only.
The Mets signed him, it felt, as much for nostalgia as what he might actually be able to do for the team. And he was hitting .178 through May 12, which was two days after Carlos Delgado played his final game before hip surgery. But in the 13 games since, Sheffield has hit (.420 with four homers, 14 RBIs, 16 runs and a staggering OPS of 1.304). He also has not damaged the Mets defensively.
Like as happened with Gooden, I would not be surprised if Sheffield just peters out at some point. But if he could do what Gooden did by filling in so ably while Cone was gone by doing the same with Delgado then Sheffield’s contributions would – like his uncles – be gigantic. Who thought Sheffield would be a cleanup hitter again on merit not reputation? Who imagined he could enhance his Hall of Fame credentials this year?
2. Sheffield and Livan Hernandez were champions together for the 1997 Marlins. They obviously are not in their prime anymore, though both have greatly helped the Mets survive an injury spate early this season. And I actually believe those two guys help the Mets with more than their performance.
Both players are extraordinarily confident. Sheffield, despite being 40, still carries himself like no one can beat him with a fastball. Like his brother Orlando Hernandez, Livan has a creative feel for pitching and exudes self-belief despite a fastball that is about 84 mph. There is a cockiness and arrogance about the two players, and I mean that in the best way. We ask our athletes to perform under incredible duress and it takes confidence to thrive with 50,000 people watching in person and millions more at home. Sheffield and Livan have that confidence.
And I think that confidence is good for a team that has endured so much self-doubt after the way the past two seasons have ended. There is no straight transfusion of one player’s confidence being given directly to another. But the more players that have some strut the better for the Mets.
3. Jorge Posada is due back from the DL on Friday in Cleveland. My gut says The Yanks will again make him their No. 1 catcher, though with a few more off-days to better preserve his body. Remember, he had never been on the DL before last year and has now been on it both in 2008 and 2009. As I pointed out in my column on Sunday, however, I believe the Yanks have to think seriously about making Posada more a full-time DH and having him catch less.
The Yanks have played 14 straight errorless games, which is a franchise record. Their pitching is coming around, with Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett combining for 14 shutout innings in the offensive haven of Texas. Posada’s defense has regressed in recent years, and we are not just talking about his throwing after shoulder surgery. Pitchers do not generally enjoy pitching to him for a variety of reasons, including his inadequacy at framing pitches and his sketchy game calling.
Again, if you want a clearer picture of my full thinking on the subject, read the column. But the general point here is that the Yankees are playing a cleaner, crisper game than they have over the past few years. It is probably not coincidence that it happened with Posada out with injury.
