MET NOTES

ANAHEIM – The most memorable pitch of Steve Trachsel’s one-hitter yesterday afternoon was the fastball that was thrown behind Anaheim catcher Bengie Molina.

In the eighth inning of the Mets’ 8-0 victory, Jeromy Burnitz was grazed with a Scott Schoeneweis pitch after homering his two previous at-bats and the Mets felt it might have been intentional.

So Trachsel then stuck up for his teammate by throwing behind Molina, which prompted warnings to both benches by plate umpire Rob Drake.

“I don’t know if it was [intentional] or not, but we take care of our own,” manager Art Howe said.

After Trachsel buzzed Molina, Angels manager Mike Scioscia came out to argue at length with Drake, ostensibly to get Trachsel thrown out. Howe, who managed against Scioscia in the AL West, came out at the same time to make sure the Angels manager didn’t linger.

“He’s been known to do that, to go out and argue forever and get a pitcher out of rhythm,” Howe said.

Scioscia, for his part, was shocked by Trachsel’s actions.

“Well, it looked pretty flagrant to me,” he said. “We pitch inside aggressively. We don’t throw at people. There was no intent on Schoeneweis’ part.”

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Tsuyoshi Shinjo tossed the final out into the stands instead of giving it to Trachsel.

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Roger Cedeno’s green light has been turned off. The speedy Met outfielder is not allowed to steal whenever he wants anymore. Howe talked to Cedeno after he was picked off first base in San Francisco on May 18 and informed him he’d be given a sign when to run.

“I’m picking my spots,” Howe said. “He got picked off a few times in key situations. I felt I needed to control it a little bit more.”

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First base coach Gary Pettis said he was fine after getting beaned by an errant Ty Wigginton throw during warm-ups in the first inning on Saturday night. Pettis stayed in the dugout yesterday as a precaution. Denny Walling coached first.