His knee destroyed under the weight of his wallet, Mo Vaughn 42 went onto the disabled list Sunday. To take his place the Mets again called up Jason Phillips 23.
Ouch
The Mets ended a dreadful April with a roster move: The role of late-inning beatdown victim goes to Jason Middlebrook 27 rather than Jaime Cerda 43.
Pain and Suffering
Two of the few things that went right for the Mets early this season joined all the others on Tuesday when ancient starter David Cone 16 and revived right fielder Jeromy Burnitz 20 finished a depressing 6-2 loss to Houston on the disabled list. Cone should … uh, could be gone forever; Burnitz will miss up to 6 weeks with a hand broken by a wild Billy Wagner fastball. In their place, the Mets recalled outfielder Raul Gonzalez 21, utilityman Joe McEwing 11 and pitcher Pat Strange 38. Strange was sent back to Norfolk after Wednesday’s win so the Mets could re-able Pedro Astacio 34, who is scheduled to start today.
Super Joe Goes Down
Paying the price for an overworked bullpen and an undewhelming offense, the struggling Mets on Wednesday recalled pitcher Jason Middlebrook 27 and sent down utilityman Super Joe McEwing 11. Joe may return in a few weeks. Or he may not. Update: Middlebrook wasn’t long for his stay. As the Mets returned to New York Friday, he went back to Norfolk and Bono-rific catcher Jason Phillips 23 was called up for a second tour.
Clark, Piazza Back
With Mike Piazza having paid his debt to baseball society, the Mets today demoted backup catcher Jason Phillips 23 and welcomed Tony Clark to the active roster for the first time. Clark becomes the first Met ever to wear Number 00.
Cone Returns
You’re not watching the Classic Sports Channel (or thankfully, the YES Network): That’s really David Cone on the mound at chilly Shea tonight. Cone makes his first appearance in the Met uni in 11 years wearing No. 16: He wore No. 17 and 44 back last century. The Mets made room for Coney by demoting opening-day piñata Mike Bascik 33.
The 700th Met
MBTN readers come through again: With their help, we’ve made a methodology change, fixed an accounting error and present the following list of century Mets:
100: Jimmie Schaffer (July 26, 1965)
200: Bill Sudakis (July 11, 1972)
300: Phil Mankowski (April 11, 1980)
400: Randy Milligan (Sept. 12, 1987)
500: Kelly Stinnett (April 5, 1994)
600: Lenny Harris (July 4, 1998)
700: Tom Glavine (March 31, 2003)
Thanks to MBTN readers Gordon for providing guidance on Nos. 100 and 200; and to Lou who spotted an error in No. 500. The latter was actually a “tie” between Stinnett and Pete Smith, the starting battery for the April 5, 1994 game. We went with Stinnett because he was announced first. Applying a consistent tiebreaker to this year’s coronation of the 700th Met makes Cliff Floyd 698, Rey Sanchez 699 and Glavine 700. I know we said before we didn’t plan on doing it that way but we also didn’t anticipate historical ties.
Play Ball!
Since we last saw the Mets, trudging off the field as last-place embarrasments, it’s been consistently cold and nasty outside, the Jets fell out of the playoffs, the Knicks and Rangers sucked, the Yankees spent another $45 million; there’s armed guards in the Subways and a war is raging. Are we ready or what? On Monday, MBTN welcomes the following players to the Mets All-Time Numerical Roster (pending “official” game status): Rey Sanchez 10; Graeme Lloyd 17; Cliff Floyd 30; Mike Stanton 32; Jay Bell 44 and Tom Glavine 47.
And in new Uni Numbers: Joe McEwing 11; Jason Phillips 23; Scott Strickland 28; and Jae Wong Seo 40.
Joining the All-Time Coaches and Managers List: Gary Pettis 2; Denny Walling 15; Art Howe 18; Don Baylor 25; Rick Waits 52; Verne Ruhle 53; Juan Lopez 60; and in a new number, Matt Galante 4.
The McKnighthood of Jason Phillips
Mike Piazza’s punishment for his attempted assault of cowardly Dodger pitcher Guillermo Mota has created the potential for third-string backstop Jason Phillips cracking the roster in the early going. Should Phillips see action, it would be while wearing his third “official” different uniform number as a Met and his 4th overall: Quite an accomplishment for a guy with only 26 Major-League at-bats!
To explain: Phillips was called up to Mets in May of 2001 and issued a jersey — No. 3 — but did not appear in a game before being sent back to AA Binghamton. Later that year Phillips made his “official” Met debut in No. 26 — his No. 3 had in the meantime been issued to Vance Wilson. Twenty-six was issued to Marco Scutaro prior to Phillips’ September call-up of 2002 so Phillips instead wore No. 7. This spring, the Mets dressed superstar-in-waiting Jose Reyes in No. 7 and told Phillips to take No. 23, which would be his likely number the next time he appears as a Met. The Goggled One still has two more uni-switches ahead of him if he wants to catch all-time uni-number leader Jeff McKnight but he’s off to a great start!
First Time Issues
After 40 years and almost 700 players, its rare to see a number issued for the first time anymore, but its possible the Mets will see not one but two first-timers in 2003: Tony Clark in 00 and Russ Johnson in 77. As a late invite to Spring Training, Clark took 00 because, papers said, the Mets were running out. We believe Johnson’s 77 is a religious thing!