Number Nine, Number Nine

New outfielder Ricky Ledee arrived at Shea this evening and suited up in No. 9, last worn by chunky infielder Craig Brazell, best remembered for ruining the Cubs’ 2004 season, currently playing AA ball for the Dodgers organization. Also tonight, the Mets announced that Cliff Floyd 30 was headed to the disabled list for the second time this year and that his spot on the roster would be filled by journeyman Michael Tucker, who’s hitting 265/381/411 while wearing No. 34 down in Norfolk. Let’s hope Floyd stays disabled until fully able. Update Aug. 10 — Tucker appeared today in 22.

Thanks to Louis for the correction on Uni Controversies — the player John Franco swiped 31 from was Julio Machado and not Julio Valera. And thanks to Adam, Michael and Gordon for the Ledee news.

Editorial: If you’re a Met fan out at Shea desperately seeking attention by booing, do yourself a favor and put a sock in it. Thanks.

Ledee In; Marerro Out: The Mets on Tuesday picked up veteran reserve outfielder Ricky Ledee on waivers from the Dodgers and brought an end to the short and undistinguished Met career of Eli Marerro to make room for him. The well-traveled Ledee has frequently worn 33 but was wearing 21most recently with the Dodgers — neither number is available here. We’re guessing he appears tonight in Marerro’s old 32.

Nice to see the great ovation given to returning hero Mike Piazza, and odd to see him wearing No. 33 — his familiar 31 has been retired by his new employers for Dave Winfield. Odder still to see Jae Seo in Tampa Bay wearing the outrageous No. 98.

Shout out to Uni Watch Blog, deliverer of some recent traffic. If you don’t read it, um, you should.

Obligations

The new contract signed by David Wright last week all but assures he’ll become the longest tenured No. 5 in team history, surpassing Steve Henderson — unless he’s also traded to the Cubs for Dave Kingman.Meanwhile,  Jose Reyes, who signed a four-year deal last week, still has a long, long way to go to catch Ed Kranepool’s 17 years of service in the No. 7 jersey.

Henderson by the way leads all No. 5s in games (497) as well as seasons (4) and narrowly edges Olerud in all-time plate appearances 2,029 to 2,018. Wright is on pace to surpass those marks sometime in 2007.

Neverending Six-Pack

6Backup catcher Mike DiFelice isn’t much of a player, and isn’t likely here for long, therefore fulfilling the two requirements of the men who wear the No. 6 jersey, Wally Backmannotwithstanding. (Thanks to the several readers who wrote in to point out his uni number today). For the record, DiFelice becomes the 32nd guy to wear No. 6, which is remarkable considering the Mets have had 44 years to find a longtime tenant. It also extends 6’s lead for most frequently issued over 34, which has been given out 30 times already but dealt a potentially hard blow with the recent Mike Pelfrey promotion. Coming on strong, much to the consternation of Met fans and certain of their broadcasters, is 17 (29 issues) continuing to be a questionable destination for bombs like Dae Sung Koo and Jose Lima.

A Man of His Word

Roberto Hernandez promised writers he’d be wearing his old No. 39 for tonight’s game — and sure enough, he did. The veteran relief pitcher had been assigned 49 when he joined the Mets Tuesday but evidently was successful in prying the digits from Pedro Feliciano, who switched to the vacant25 and summarily ended Chase Utley’s hitting streak. The news here is Feliciano becoming the latest member of the exclusive Three-Number Club — he previously suited up in 55 and 39.

Also this evening, word arrived that backup catcher Mike DiFelice has returned while Ramon Castro 11 hit the disabled list. No word yet on DiFelice’s jersey, but it won’t be the 33 he wore last year: That belongs to John Maine.

Roberto’s Challenge

Roberto Hernandez re-joined the Mets today and was wearing No. 49 for tonight’s Wagner-befouled game in Miami, when he confidently told SNY’s Gary Cohen he’d be wearing No. 39 “by the time we get back to New York [Friday].” As detailed below, that may take some bribery of Pedro Feliciano, the current occupant. We’ll be sure to keep you updated…

As expected Lastings Milledge was recalled to take Nady’s spot, still wearing 44.

Ring Beats Bell

The Mets today sent Mike Pelfrey 34 back to Norfolk for more work and rather than recall Heath Bell, they gave Royce Ring a ring. Ring last appeared in a Met uni last summer wearing No. 22, but despite it being available again — or perhaps in deference to the memory of the recently departed Xavier Nady — Ring suited up tonight in No. 43, which belonged earlier this year to injured releiver Bartolome Fortunato. Pelfrey’s demotion is a vote of confidence for John Maine 33, and his excellent stretch of starts.

Roberto Hernandez and Pedro Feliciano both appeared in tonight’s game, wearing 49 and 39, respectively. We were reminded today of Deadline Uni Controversies of the past when reader Joseph submitted a regrettable one from 1989 — Juan Samuel’s failure to retain the No. 8 belonging to Gary Carter. Samuel settled for 7. 

Deadline Terror

As opposed to say, 2004, the Mets at least didn’t mean to get worse at the deadline this year, though it was certainly bad news on the doorstep to learn that rubbery reliever Duaner Sanchez 50 would miss the rest of the year as the result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Miami; increasing any exisiting pressure they felt to do something about the bullpen, while dialing back any temptation to make Aaron Heilman a part of a bigger deal for a pitcher, left-handed pinch-hitter or anything else that might help come October. So instead the Mets swapped fungible outfielder Xavier Nady 22 to the Pirates for Proven Veteran Setup Guy Roberto Hernandez, along with Oliver Perez, who not too long ago, ranked among the most promising young left arms in the game.

In Hernandez, the Mets acquired a familiar name, but unless there’s some serious swapping afoot, he’ll have a different look now that the Mets have given his No. 39 jersey to Pedro Feliciano, himself a returning Met bullpenner in a new jersey. We suppose it’s possible Feliciano gives 39 back to Hernandez (whose nameplate by the way ought to read R. HERNANDEZ in order to distinguish him from teammates A. HERNANDEZ and O. HERNANDEZ) while Feliciano gives his former No. 55another try, but that would require bullpen coach Tom Nieto to take a new jersey too. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Perez, who used to routinely strike out 10 guys a night, is likely ticketed for the minors but wore No. 59 with the Pirates.

However it works out, we’re sorry to see Nady go — his swing was ferocious and we’ll always be indebted to his sizzling hot start — and very very sorry to learn of Sanchez’ misfortune. On the positive side, it appears Lastings Milledge will get another opportunity — with our team — as the farm system survived the gutting so many columnists and pretend Internet journalists like to say is only a matter of time now that Omar’s in charge.

Oh, and we’re 14 games up. We don’t need Barry Zito to protect that.

A Julio Franco Hip Replacement Away

Just great to see former Met Edgardo Alfonzo rescued from the indignities of independent league ball and given another shot by the Mets at AAA Norfolk, isn’t it? While a minor league contract for the (alleged) 32-year-old infielder, released by two other organizations already this year, may not amount to much, we can’t help but get ahead of ourselves and recall the warm fuzzies of Lee Mazzilli’sheartwarming return to the organization he gave the best years of his life to, and just in time for the postseason he might have deserved but never smelled. While Fonzie knows from playoffs, his departure from New York after the 2002 season never sat well with good fans like us, even if we’ll admit under torture that it might have come at the right moment considering the direction his career — and the Met fortunes — would go since then. But as a right-handed bat on the bench? We’ll sign up for that, if and when the need arises.

And let’s suppose it does. Would Billy Wagner surrender No. 13? Or is he the jerk his former teammates say he is? Ironically, the Mets faced a similar quandary when Mazzilli returned 20 years ago: His familiar No. 16 at that point of course belonged to Dwight Gooden, so he foretold the future glories of Edgardo Alfonzo and suited up in 13. Wagner of course is no Doc.

Saturday’s disaster in Chicago resulted in a quick demotion for hard-throwing reliever Henry Owens 36. Taking his place in the bullpen is Heath Bell 19, recalled from Norfolk for the third time this season.

Numerology

We’re thoroughly enjoying and can recommend the spirited new book, Now Batting, Number… by Jack Looney, a hefty, 550-page volume detailing the history of uniform numbers and including an all-time registry of players and their uni numbers (Black Dog & Leventhal). Though overlooking some especially arcane stuff you’ll only find here, we’ve found only a few minor discrepancies between data here and and in the book, which we’ll try to reconcile where we can. All in all though, a staggering piece of research and, as Bob Murphy might say, a treasured
addition to your baseball library.