Just listening to Al Leiter was draining. As the lefty described his own personal, pitch-by-pitch tension on the mound during last night’s 7-1 Met loss, his stress pervaded those around him.
Leiter missed out on his 17th win last night and fell to 16-8 on the year. He said he wouldn’t mind pitching a few innings on Sunday, his next scheduled start, but hopes he’s not put in there to go a full outing “because then that would mean something, wouldn’t it?” Yes, if Leiter were to throw his usual 115-plus pitches on Sunday, it would mean he would not be fresh for an early Met playoff contest. But Leiter very likely will be the Mets’ Game 1 starter.
Regardless, Leiter absolutely labored through last night, giving up seven hits and four runs (three earned) in 5 1/3 innings.
“When you know you are struggling to scratch across runs, every pitch is of the utmost importance,” Leiter explained. “It is a somewhat desperate feeling. I started to rush a little bit, not trusting. It’s mentally draining because you know every run puts you in a deeper and deeper hole.”
Leiter talked himself and reporters through his trouble spots. He was most perturbed by the first Atlanta run in the fifth. With one out, Reggie Sanders laced a double down the left-field line. Walt Weiss struck out looking for the second out. With the pitcher, John Burkett up next, Leiter admitted he got a little anxious to get out of the inning. He ended up throwing a pitch right over the heart of the plate and Burkett blooped it over second for a run-scoring single.
“Burkett is not a good hitter,” Leiter said. “He’s about as [bad] as I am. With a guy on second and two out, I just left the pitch up in the zone. It’s frustrating, because you think you can get out of that inning 0-0.”
Bobby Valentine saw Leiter become disconcerted after Burkett’s single. “Al kind of got out of himself right there,” he said. But Valentine, in general, was pleased. “As usual, Al gave a great effort. I didn’t see a place to criticize. He mixed in some hits, but he gave it his best. It just wasn’t good enough today.”
Leiter was also not happy about the home-run pitch he fired in to Chipper Jones, who slugged his 35th in the top of the sixth inning for a 2-0 lead.
“In the sixth, it was still 1-0 and I’m thinking that still won’t beat us,” Leiter said. But the Jones homer “wasn’t too good,” and it was, essentially, the difference in the game. Leiter had struck Jones out in the first and fourth innings with a curve, but Jones connected on that pitch in the sixth.
“Maybe he tricked me into thinking he couldn’t hit it,” Leiter said with a shrug.
But Leiter is not the morbid sort. “Overall, I will try to keep a positive perspective,” Leiter said. “Yes, they played better and they’re the division champs, but I hope I get to see them again.”
