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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
TOKYO (AP) -- The New York Mets are sure glad they decided to
take Benny Agbayani on this little detour.
Agbayani, ticketed for the minors in 10 days, lined a pinch-hit
grand slam in the 11th inning and the Mets beat the Chicago Cubs
5-1 tonight for a split of their season-opening series in Japan.
"I'm glad he was here today, that's for sure," Mets manager
Bobby Valentine said. "Benny's a big boy, and baseball's a game
that's not always fair."
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Did Benny save his job?
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Bobby Valentine wants Benny Agbayani. General manager Steve Phillips wants Jay Payton.
Agbayani has been told he'll get sent down to Triple-A Norfolk on April 9, when Glendon Rusch will get recalled as the fifth starter. Payton, a former No. 1 pick out of Georgia Tech, is out of options and would most certainly be lost on waivers if the Mets tried to send him down.
So, who should be the Mets' backup outfielder? Payton, 27, is a terrific talent, but has had played 100 games just once since getting drafted in 1994. He missed all of 1997 after elbow surgery and much of the past two years with shoulder problems. Last season, he hit .389 in 144 at-bats with Norfolk.
Valentine prefers Agbayani, a more known quantity. Agbayani's final numbers with the Mets last season were very good: .286 average, .525 slugging percentage. However, keep in mind that after hitting 10 home runs in his first 73 at-bats, he hit just four more over his final 203 at-bats.
Jon Nunnally is also around, but he hits left-handed, which gives him an advantage.
Our advice? Heck, if Derek Bell hits like he did last year, he should be the guy to go.
--David Schoenfield
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In a game featuring strange sights -- Rey Ordonez making an
error, and Cubs manager Don Baylor not shaking hands with Valentine
-- perhaps the most unexpected one at the Tokyo Dome was Agbayani
hitting the first slam of the 21st century.
Agbayani recently was told he would be sent to Triple-A Norfolk
on April 9, when Glendon Rusch is promoted to be the Mets' No. 5
starter. Agbayani did not take the demotion well, and asked for a
trade.
But the Mets, having room for an extra player, instead took the
Hawaiian-born Agbayani to Japan.
"I'm going to make them make a tough decision," Agbayani said.
Agbayani's two-out drive to dead center field made it a
disappointing major league debut for loser Danny Young (0-1). Young emerged from the bullpen -- located underneath the stands,
near the dugout -- to pitch the 11th after nine years in the minors.
He retired the first two batters, but Todd Zeile singled, and walks
to Ordonez and Melvin Mora loaded the bases.
Agbayani batted for reliever Dennis Cook and connected for the
Mets' first pinch-slam since Todd Hundley's on May 4, 1995. In Japan, hits that end the game in the bottom half of an inning
are called "sayonara" hits. Agbayani's blow did not qualify for
that title, not that it mattered to him or the Mets.
The Cubs stranded a pair of runners in the ninth and left the
bases loaded in the 10th when Cook (1-0) struck out Henry
Rodriguez.
Kyle Farnsworth threw the first pitch at 7:10 p.m. local time --
making it 5:10 a.m. EST in New York and 4:10 a.m. CST in Chicago. While the Cubs and Mets were playing for real, a world away it
was still spring training. Back in the United States, exhibitions
were set for later in the day at places such as Vero Beach and
Clearwater, Fla., and Tucson, Ariz.
Baylor said the Cubs enjoyed their weeklong stay, adding, "I
think everyone in the locker room is ready to go home."
Both teams have three days off before resuming the season
Monday.
The crowd was announced as another sellout at 55,000, yet once
again it was relatively quiet. Games in Japan usually feature
frenzied fans carrying drums and horns -- to the disappointment of
the Cubs and Mets, they were discouraged from such behavior by
local officials.
There was a dramatic improvement, though, in the dirt on the
mound and batter's boxes. Players on both teams complained about
the foreign soil after the Cubs' 5-3 win in Wednesday night's
opener and, after a spirited effort by the grounds crew, the
problems seemed solved.
Ordonez's streak of 101 straight games without an error, a major
league record streak for shortstops, ended when he charged in and
overran Damon Buford's roller in the first inning. It was his first error since last June 13 against Boston, a span
in which he cleanly handled 418 chances.
The three-time Gold Glove showed no ill effects, however, later
making a nifty play up the middle on Sammy Sosa's grounder and
taking part in two double plays. The Mets turned six DPs in the
series. But Zeile, the newcomer to New York's slick infield, made a wild
throw to set up an unearned run in the fifth that made it 1-all.
A pair of walks and a sacrifice by pitcher Rick Reed led to
Rickey Henderson's sacrifice fly in the fifth.
The evening got off to an odd start during the pregame
introductions, surely a carryover from opening night when Valentine
filed a protest with one strike left in the game.
The Mets were announced first tonight, and then it was the Cubs'
turn to line up. Baylor trotted out of the dugout to the first-base side and
Valentine seemed to lean in his direction to shake hands, as they
had done the previous night. But Baylor just stood there and
Valentine gave a "oh, well" look and walked away.
Valentine lodged the protest after Baylor mistakenly left off
backup shortstop Jeff Huson from his lineup card. Valentine said he
wanted to make sure Huson was on the 25-man roster and, finding out
immediately after the game that Huson was eligible, dropped the
protest.
Both teams, which arrived in Japan last Saturday, were to leave
on Friday. The Cubs planned an early workout at the Tokyo Dome -- the
ballpark was needed at night for the opener between the Hiroshima
Carp and Tokyo Yomiuri Giants -- before heading back to Chicago for
a short stay.
The Cubs next play at St. Louis on Monday while the Mets will be
home that day to face San Diego. Kevin Tapani will start for
Chicago and Al Leiter will work for the Mets -- both pitchers stayed
in the United States this week to rest up.
Notes
Sosa was traded to the Cubs exactly eight years ago. They
got him and pitcher Ken Patterson from the Chicago White Sox for
George Bell. ... Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player to
appear in the major leagues, threw out the ceremonial first ball.
He pitched for San Francisco in 1964-65 and is now a baseball
announcer in Japan. ... Henderson stole the 1,335th base of his
career.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
NY Mets Clubhouse
Chicago Cubs Clubhouse
Smith: Welcome to Sammyland
Rogers: Japanese journey
RECAPS
NY Mets 5
Chicago Cubs 1
San Diego 11
Seattle 11
Colorado 7
Chi. White Sox 6
Oakland 12
Milwaukee 9
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