ATLANTA – He lurked on deck, thinking what kids always holler: “Save my ups.” Back in his Boston days, he used to cast such a long and menacing shadow from the on-deck circle. Pitch around the guy in front of him and there he was, so clutch, so dangerous, so ready to make you pay.
Mo Vaughn is searching for those days to return. The search continued last night, one at-bat shy of where Mo wanted it to end. The game, a 5-4 loss to the Braves in the opener of a four-game series at Turner Field, ended when Mike Piazza bounced into a force play at second.
“You always want to hit in those situations,” Vaughn said.
Even now, when Vaughn is hitting nothing like he did when he was the MVP of the American League, the heart and soul of a tough-to-beat Red Sox team, he still wants to be the man who can win it or lose it. Even though that bit of confidence hasn’t left him, he doesn’t claim to be a victim of bad luck, bad timing, or anything else besides bad hitting.
At what stretch of the season have you felt best at the plate this year, Mo?
“No time,” Vaughn answered, proving he’s not in denial or clinging to excuses. “That’s what I’ve looked for, that stretch. I’ve been consistently inconsistent. That’s been my game all year.”
A day or two of hope, followed by a day or two of pop-ups and soft groundballs, such has been the pattern for Slow Mo Vaughn in his first season in the National League. His bat doesn’t sound right, and it doesn’t feel right to him.
Talk to 10 baseball lifers and you’re liable to get 10 different answers as to the importance of having a hot hitter batting behind you. This much is certain: If supplying protection in a lineup is indeed important, Vaughn isn’t giving it to Mike Piazza.
Kevin Gryboski was on the mound for the Braves in the eighth and fell behind Vaughn, Ball 1, Ball 2. Ho hum. Mo popped to short.
“I’m getting good counts and getting good pitches,” Vaughn said.
And he’s not doing anything with them.
Vaughn missed all of last season with a torn biceps muscle. That made teams leery to touch him at such a high salary for fear he might aggravate the injury, and might have a struggle getting back to form.
His slow start can be traced in part to his layoff.
“I don’t look at it like that at all,” Vaughn disagreed. “It’s not like I’ve been swinging at bad pitches like you do when you’re going real bad. I’m not swinging at crazy pitches. I’m swinging at good pitches. I’m just not getting through the ball the right way.”
When Mo was Mo he would exploit counts. Now he exploits infield shifts, such as the one the Braves put on for him and Jeromy Burnitz. The shortstop played to the second-base side of the bag and the third baseman manned the shortstop’s normal territory.
In the fifth, Mo hit a slow roller to where the third baseman usually plays. By the time Vinny Castilla came over to get it, Slow Mo was well on his way to a rare infield hit. He huffed and he puffed and he ran the base down.
Mo was credited with an RBI when he was hit with a pitch with the bases loaded, his 19th RBI in a season in which he has hit only four home runs. He’s batting .236. He wants to help the Mets, wants to give pitchers a reason not to pitch so carefully to Piazza. Sometimes with struggling hitters, the more they want it, the harder it becomes to get it.
“It’s not going to come out just because you want it to come out,” Vaughn said. “You just go out there with what you know and fight with it.”
Vaughn’s most memorable play from last night’s game came when he ran backward to catch a pop-up off of Gary Sheffield’s bat. He backed up slowly, realized he needed to pick up the pace and pick up the pace again. His face revealed a hint of panic as he was backing up as fast as he could. He gloved the baseball, and fell hard on his bottom.
If he isn’t able to pick himself back up and hit in a way that at least approaches his days in Boston, the Mets will remain what they always are, underdogs chasing the Braves.
