Welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Smith [Article]

[blueNorange]

Joe Smith Article

ST. LOUIS -- The score was 5-1. And though that margin would seem slimmer shortly, it was a full four runs in the eighth inning when the Mets' dugout called the bullpen on Sunday night. The message was, "Get Joe Smith up. Get him ready." The unspoken, underlying message in those words was, "Let's see what we've got."
A Cardinals runner stood on first base when Smith arrived at the mound, the result of a leadoff walk issued to Aaron Miles by left-hander Pedro Feliciano. The top of the Cardinals' order was due to bat: feisty David Eckstein, Preston Wilson, a power-hitter with a strikeout propensity, and Albert Pujols, the best hitter in the National League, if not the hemisphere.

But each was a right-handed hitter. Smith is a right-handed pitcher and the lead was four runs. For all Pujols has done in his brilliant but relatively brief career, he never has hit a home run from the dugout.

Willie Randolph had already considered all the pertinent information, the most pertinent being the four-run differential. No outs and a runner on base were in his thoughts, too. And, of course, he knew winning on Opening Night would be preferable to the alternative. Further down the manager's list of factors to consider was this: Smith had never pitched in a big-league game.

Randolph all but dismissed that final factor, offsetting it with this piece of self-evident truth: Smith is on the Mets' roster to pitch and to achieve outs. And, to him, the eighth inning -- with a man on, no one out and a four-run lead -- it seemed like an opportune time for the rookie to make his debut.

"If I can't use him when we're up four, when can I use him," Randolph would say later, after the 5-1 score had morphed into a 6-1 Opening Night victory. "No matter what he's got or how young he is, he's here to pitch."

Smith would have it no other way. A rookie is advised to know his place. And to Smith, his place is in the game -- seventh, eighth or ninth inning. What does it matter? Pitching is pitching. Aaron Heilman is likely to pitch most of the eighth innings that begin with the Mets leading or tied this year. But he doesn't have exclusive rights to them.

"I wanted to pitch so bad," Smith said on Monday afternoon. "All those people, the Cardinals, Opening Day. How could you not want to get in there?"

Smith thought that as he rode a golf cart from the Mets' hotel to still-new Busch Stadium, soaking in his first in-uniform, big-league experience from the bullpen on Monday. He had been thinking about it since he first sensed a place on the Mets' Opening Night roster probably was a distinct possibility. Randolph likes to challenge his players, not overwhelm them. And though the situation wasn't without peril, it hardly overwhelmed Smith.

As it turned out, Smith's performance "wasn't what I'd hoped for," Randolph said. But the out he achieved -- a strikeout that followed a single by Eckstein and preceded a walk to Pujols -- moved the Mets closer to their victory, vaulted Smith over the threshold and furthered his unusually accelerated education.

"I wasn't trying to get it over with. I was trying to get outs," Smith said so matter-of-factly. "The next time, I want to get outs, no matter who I face."

Much about Smith appears to be matter of fact. Neither the good nor the bad appears to surprise or unsettle him. Joe Torre's "intense without being tense" seems to apply. He doesn't fret, a necessary trait for late-inning relief pitchers. Smith knew he could have been more effective, but he knew Heilman and the double play initiated by Jose Valentin bailed him out.

"I wasn't really upset. [Pujols] didn't beat us," Smith said. "And I got to pitch in a game that [Tom Glavine] got his 291st [victory] in. I mean, I could have been better. ... I was a nervous, but not that nervous. They told me I would be really nervous. But I got through it all right.

"I think Spring Training really helped me. Playing with Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Tom Glavine, Billy Wagner and facing some of the guys I faced. ... that game against the Red Sox. But then you get here and you see it's the same game with more people watching.

"I might get a little nervous at Shea when it gets loud. But I'll be OK."

[Remember the Past]

Smith did fairly well yesterday, he throws for strikes that side arm motion gives trouble to alot of batter. Except for one pitch which went for a single, all pitches were pretty good. the kid is also only 23. now i know why we let bradford go.

[Remember the Past]

Btw bno or someone else, can somone make a predictions thread, I was gonna make one but I'm too lazy lol

[the bizness]

hey bno this is off-topic but join ooand1's fantasy baseball league dood.

[the bizness]

hey guys, there's still a spot or two open I think so if any of you guys (majorleads, fake or anyone) wants to sign up come on board.