MET NOTES
SAN DIEGO – The Mets officially lodged their protest yesterday over Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Padres, and the decision is now in the hands of the commissioner’s office.
The Mets are complaining that reliever Akinori Otsuka, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning, was using an illegal delivery. Otsuka takes the ball out of his glove in mid-motion, which Art Howe believes to be illegal.
“They’re claiming he separates his hands before releasing the ball. It’s a point of contention,” umpire crew chief Rick Reed said. “If he separated his hands as much as he did [Friday, when he also threw a scoreless inning], we would have ruled it an illegal pitch.”
Howe said Reed told him Saturday that had a runner been on base while Otsuka was pitching, he would have called a balk. But the Mets couldn’t put a runner on. Still, Howe did not understand why the delivery could be legal in some instances and illegal in others.
“Why is it suddenly an illegal pitch because there’s a man on base?” Howe said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”
Otsuka had made 11 appearances before this weekend, but no other teams had filed a protest. Asked why he thought that was, Howe said, “Maybe they don’t know the rules.”
Executive VP of baseball operations Sandy Alderson will review the protest and has five days to decide. Although Howe admitted he “probably won’t win,” his ideal scenario has the Mets flying back to San Diego and re-playing the inning.
Howe said Otsuka threw 13 pitches on Saturday, then described how that should be a four-pitch walk, followed by three balks, etc. After the 13 pitches, the Mets would have had a run in with a man on third and nobody out.
“That kind of has an effect on the outcome of the game,” Howe said.
* Kaz Matsui has been battling a sore right wrist for two weeks, and he’s also mired in a 3-for-30 slide that’s dropped his average to .235.
In his sixth start at first base, Mike Piazza made a dazzling split-stretch to catch Todd Zeile‘s throw, staying on the bag to get the out. As Piazza watched the ESPN replay, he happily said, “That’s sweet. That’s a web gem. I look like Travolta.”