Three hours before Game 7 of the NLCS yesterday, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez fielded grounders and bunts on the field at a soon-to-be-electric Shea Stadium.
He was on the same mound from which Oliver Perez would try to pitch the Mets into the World Series – and try to pitch Hernandez into a Game 1 start against the Tigers.
After five minutes of testing his torn right calf, Hernandez bumped pitching coach Rick Peterson’s fist with his glove, and Peterson patted him on the back. Hernandez then walked to the bullpen and threw a light side session. He also threw a 72-pitch bullpen session Sunday and another Tuesday.
Was there anything else Hernandez needed to do to prove to the Mets he was ready for a Game 1 start in the World Series?
“He’s got to eat a large sub,” Peterson cracked.
Willie Randolph acknowledged the possibility of starting someone not on the Mets’ NLCS roster in tomorrow night’s World Series opener in Detroit if the club were to advance.
“Dave Williams is down in a taxi squad working out, if we want to put him in our rotation,” Randolph said, hedging. “You never know.
“We have guys ready to go. Who knows, could be El Duque, the way he’s working, coming around bouncing around pretty good.” Hernandez’s postseason heroics are known to most baseball fans and loved by Yankees fans. In 19 postseason appearances (14 starts), he’s 9-3 with a 2.55 ERA. In the Fall Classic, he has made five appearances (four starts) and compiled a 2-1 record and 2.20 ERA. His only loss came against the Mets in Game 3 of the 2000 Subway Series, when he allowed four runs on nine hits over 71/3 innings, but he struck out 12 that night.
Hernandez is 41 years old, but the few weeks of rest should do him well.
“I feel good,” he said after Tuesday’s bullpen session. “I’m ready.
Right now, I’m ready.” Randolph said he hadn’t discussed roster decisions yet, wanting to take care of business last night first. He didn’t know if a Game 1 start would be too much to ask of Hernandez.
“It depends on how he feels,” the manager said. “He’s bouncing around pretty good and looks like he’s champing at the bit, but I’m not going to speak for him or say how he feels right now.
“I just know that he’s making nice progress, so we’ll see.” Additional reporting by Mark Hale.
