Edgardo Alfonzo missed less than three weeks, but for the Mets, it seemed like three months. The Mets floundered and fell out of contention in the NL East after he went on the DL June 13; now they’re hoping his return last night would give them the lift they badly need.
The Mets hosted the Cubs at 36-47 last night, in fourth place in the NL East and a dozen games back in the standings. It’s probably naive to think one player can make a difference, even an All-Star like Alfonzo. But the Amazin’s have little else to pin their hopes on.
“I’m pretty happy. After all I’ve been through, I feel good, happy to get going again,” said Alfonzo, who had suffered through a lower back strain on-and-off since spring training. He was hitting .251 with nine home runs and 24 RBI in just 54 games when he went on the DL.
After rest and treatment, he went on a two-game rehab stint at Triple-A Norfolk. He went 0-for-8, but the reports about his progress held two words even more beautiful than home run: Pain-free.
“I just went down to test my back. In my first at-bat I was nervous. After that I just started swinging hard and said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ I felt good after that,” Alfonzo said. “I was just swinging hard, and after that I knew I was OK. When I was testing it, I had no kind of pain in my lower back. It was like batting practice.”
Desi Relaford filled in admirably in Alfonzo’s absence, but the team was 7-11 while he was out. The Mets were 29-36 and nine games out when he went on the DL; they found themselves 12 games when he came back.
“If you’re [thinking] we don’t have a chance being 12 games back, then you shouldn’t keep playing. Just quit right away. But that’s not the way to [be],” Alfonzo said. “Maybe after the All-Star break we’ll go into first place, or maybe last place. You have to take every game, every hour, each game different.”
Without Alfonzo batting ahead of him, Mike Piazza not only lost untold RBI opportunities, but lost the best protection he had in the lineup. He talked about the value of getting the All-Star second baseman back, and Bobby Valentine, while praising Relaford, couldn’t downplay Alfonzo’s value.
“The first half was challenging. A lot of things went wrong,” Valentine said. “Without Fonzie playing, we had a bit of a void. Obviously Desi stepped in and played well. Hopefully Fonzie can take it step by step, remain healthy and play the way he can play and help us win some games.”
It ate at Alfonzo to see the Mets struggle without him in the lineup or be able to help. But he couldn’t rush himself back when he could barely turn his back around or swing a bat. He could only work toward getting healthy and coming back 100 percent.
“Sure, you want to be there. But there’s nothing you can do about it. You just try to get well and get ready,” Alfonzo said. “The first half has been a little hard for me and for the Mets. But you get another half. Hopefully we can turn it around.
“It’s hard, but you can’t do anything. You can just worry about getting healthy for the rest of the season. You can push yourself too hard. It’s not something you want to happen, but it happened. We have to go from here.”
