Padres 9 – Mets 4
It seems obvious the Mets traded the wrong first-round pitching prospect.
With Scott Kazmir making an impressive major-league debut last night in Seattle a few hours after Aaron Heilman bombed out at Shea, the bitter reality was never more apparent.
Heilman’s star was once so bright, the Mets refused to send him to Seattle for manager Lou Piniella 22 months ago. Yesterday, Kazmir started for Piniella’s Tampa Bay club.
And Art Howe, the Mets’ backup managerial choice, finally pulled Heilman after he allowed the sixth hit in a seven-batter span during the 9-4 loss to San Diego.
Heilman (0-1) allowed four earned runs on eight hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings, and the Mets seemed listless watching their 2001 first-round pick buck the saddle for the umpteenth time.
“I certainly felt I pitched better than the results,” was the first thing the laconic Heilman said to reporters.
If you’re a Met fan, it makes your head spin – if it doesn’t make your blood boil.
Even Howe, who normally protects his players, seemed somewhere between frustrated and fed up with Heilman, who was ripped in his first start of this season and might not get another.
“I can’t afford to keep going to the bullpen,” Howe said. “You’ve got to go deeper in the game.
“We had to expand and use [nearly] everybody in the bullpen tonight to try to hang in the game.”
This was a second (maybe final) chance for Heilman, who was a miserable 2-7 with a 6.75 ERA in 2003 and went from prospect to organizational fodder.
His lack of command was the same problem as last year, and Howe admitted, “That is a concern.” Howe said he’d speak with general manager Jim Duquette about keeping Heilman in the rotation.
Kazmir, the Mets’ 2002 top pick, is gone but certainly not forgotten. After Mike Cameron rehashed the Mets’ fifth loss in eight games, he grabbed the clubhouse remote and said, “Let’s check out Kazmir.”
Cameron crushed a 410-bomb to left-center off San Diego starter Jake Peavy in the sixth to cut the deficit to 5-3, but it wasn’t enough. Peavy only allowed one infield hit through the first five innings.
The Mets (59-64) put runners on second and third with one out in the sixth to chase Peavy and threatened again in the seventh without scoring. Then Phil Nevin rocked Bartolome Fortunato (who also came from Tampa as part of the Kazmir trade) for a three-run bomb in the eighth that gave San Diego an 8-3 edge.
With the Mets trailing 2-0 in the fourth, Howe and pitching coach Rick Peterson allowed Heilman to surrender four straight hits before Peterson visited him.
Heilman induced a comebacker from Peavy, and Cliff Floyd gunned down Ramon Hernandez at the plate on Freddy Guzman’s RBI single. Finally, after a sharp single to right by Mark Loretta, Howe pulled Heilman.
“It’s one start,” Heilman said. “To put that much emphasis on one start and one outing is a little much.”
Howe seemed to disagree.
“[I] tried to give him as much opportunity as possible to still stay in the game,” he said.
If this is the end of the Heilman Era, consider this: ESPN’s Peter Gammons once reported the Red Sox considered trading Nomar Garciaparra for Roberto Alomar, Jose Reyes and Heilman sometime in 2002.
The Mets wouldn’t do it, Gammons reported.