The last couple of weeks of spring training basically boil down to two things: making final tweaks to your roster, and praying nobody gets hurt. And the Mets did a little bit of both yesterday. First, at Mets camp, it looks like manager Jerry Manuel has come to his senses and decided to go back to using Jose Reyes in the leadoff spot, where he belongs. As good as Luis Castillo has been this spring (and he’s been surprisingly good), batting Reyes third just never made any sense.
But it wasn’t all good news yesterday, at least if you bothered to tune in to the World Baseball Classic game between the U.S. and Venezuela. No matter what you think of the WBC in general, last night’s game was entirely meaningless, as both teams had already qualified for the semifinals, and all that was on the line was seeding. So when David Wright fouled a ball off his foot last night, Mets management surely held their breath. Luckily, X-rays were negative, but Wright did tear an entire nail off, and was having trouble putting weight on the foot.
But that’s not all. In the ninth, with Venezuela comfortably up 10–6, Francisco Rodriguez inexplicably entered the game despite the crummy Miami weather and the utter meaningless of the situation. Thankfully, he got through the inning without cause for concern. Because if he hadn’t, Venezuela manager Luis Sojo would have been public enemy No. 1 to Mets fans. You know, again.
