PHILADELPHIA – When Jeromy Burnitz returned to the Mets, the team that drafted him, he did not want the No. 5 he had worn as a rookie.
Burnitz wears No. 20 now, but New Yorkers are seeing the same old flop.
“I’ve stunk the last two months,” Burnitz said before last night’s game with the Phillies. “It’s pretty obvious.”
As low points go, Sunday night was subterranean. In the second inning of that game with the Yankees, on national television, Burnitz had been picked off by Andy Pettitte, killing a first-and-third, two-out rally. In the fourth, he fumbled a play in the right-field corner of Yankee Stadium, allowing a run to score on his error.
In the top of the eighth, the Mets trailed 6-0 and Burnitz was lifted for a pinch-hitter. Joe McEwing, who was in a 0-for-28 slump and hadn’t hit safely since May 25, batted for this anemic team’s third best power hitter.
Bobby Valentine mentioned something about getting playing time for McEwing, who extended his hitless streak to 29 at-bats with a groundout to the pitcher.
“No, he didn’t talk to me about it,” Burnitz said. “He’s the manager, he makes that decision.
“I would never question him on something like that.”
If there’s a lower point in Burnitz’s season, Mets fans don’t want to see it. Burnitz’s return to New York is more a tale for novelists than sportswriters. Thomas Wolfe and F. Scott Fitzgerald were right – you can’t go home again, and there are no second acts in American baseball.
At least that’s been true for Burnitz, a Mets first-round pick (17th overall) in 1990. In 1994, in the aftermath of a feud with then-manager Dallas Green, Burnitz was traded with Joe Roa to Cleveland for Jerry Dipoto, Dave Mlicki and Paul Byrd.
Away from the harsh New York spotlight, Burnitz developed into a serviceable hitter with Cleveland and then an all-around player with Milwaukee, even earning an All-Star appearance in 1999.
But now Valentine should think long and hard about writing Burnitz’s name into the lineup every day. Entering the three-game series with Philadelphia that began last night, the right fielder had the worst average of any everyday Met, 22 points below the weak .237 average Rey Ordonez has mustered. And Ordonez is catching up to him in RBIs, trailing him 27-26 before last night’s game.
Valentine has platooned Timo Perez and Jay Payton in center, but Roger Cedeno and Burnitz have gotten a free pass at the corners. Last night, Valentine put Tony Tarasco in left and pronounced it was a “day on” for the infamous outfielder. Maybe Burnitz will see his teammates have “days on” at his position if he doesn’t come around.
Burnitz is close to the National League leaders in only one category – strikeouts. His 67 whiffs put him just below the top 10, although that is bound to change any day.
The 33-year-old showed some signs of life after new hitting coach Chris Chambliss came aboard, going 12-for-35 before the three-game series against the Yanks. But his three games in Yankee Stadium were atrocious. Burnitz went 2-for-11 before getting pulled for McEwing. On Saturday, he was the only regular to go hitless in an 11-2 victory.
It could be worse. His average was down to .195 on June 14. But the issue here is run production, and the left-handed slugger been incompetent since May 3. In his last 50 games, he has seven RBIs. In the last 13 games he’s played, Burnitz has scored a total of three runs.
As Burnitz might say, that stinks.
