THIS had been the dream week of Benny Agbayani’s baseball life. No, better. He dared not even dream this sweet, with the ball darting off his bat and a major-league crowd chanting his first name in appreciation.
The loudest ovation in the pre-game introductions yesterday did not belong to Mike Piazza, even on the one-year anniversary of his trade from the Marlins to the Mets that Bobby Valentine said “gave this organization credibility that had been lacking for such a long time.”
The honor went to Agbayani, a Bull Durham-ish character who in a week had morphed into a hybrid of Walter Mitty, Rocky and Shane Spencer.
“This has been an unbelievable week,” Agbayani said before the game. It had to be before the game. When he was still dreaming.
In the third inning, he chased a Mike Lieberthal foul pop down the right-field line with the passion he has chased the majors since being a 30th-round draft choice in 1993. Full-speed ahead. He sensed the stands approaching and went into a slide, missing the ball, but not the iron wall. His cleats ripped into the padding and held fast, his legs jamming up against his round torso, momentarily making him a human accordion.
Initially, he tried to rise, like a heavyweight attempting to shake off queer street before toppling back to the ground. Agbayani needed to be carted off. The injury was reported during Philadelphia’s 9-3 victory as a bruised left patella, which means it was not as serious as it first appeared.
Still, Benny Agbayani clearly had woken up from the dream.
“I have always prayed to be here and I am still praying now,” Agbayani had said in a giddy state before the game.
He had “bummed a ride” yesterday from the La Guardia Marriott with reliever Rigo Beltran. A year ago today – 24 hours after the trade – a limo had picked up Piazza at La Guardia and shepherded him to Shea for his debut.
A baseball roster makes strange clubhouse fellows. And there could hardly be a more diverse duo than the highest- and lowest-paid Mets. Piazza, with a Hollywood visage, has sculpted a physique promised on late-night infomercials. Agbayani has a frame that works against him since it looks like he has dipped too often into a potato chip bag, yet he actually has maintained speed that was once good enough to get him offered a scholarship to play wide receiver at Oregon.
Piazza is in the first season of a seven-year, $91 million contract. Agbayani is in the second week of getting pro-rated the major-league minimum of $200,000.
Yet, for the last week, the lovely democracy created by the pitcher-hitter matchup at 60 feet, 6 inches had left Piazza and Agbayani inspiring the Met offense.
“The season is so long that to be successful you need guys to fulfill expectations and you need the element of surprise,” Valentine said.
So, you need the surprising Spencer, another lifelong minor leaguer, to come from nowhere and join his millionaire Yankee teammates to make history last season. Al Leiter recalls that the 1997 champion Marlins had cobbled together a bunch of stars in a hurry such as Moises Alou and Gary Sheffield and Kevin Brown, and needed the energy of a minor-league second baseman named Craig Counsell to win it all. It was Counsell who crossed the plate in extra innings of Game 7 against the Indians for the title-clinching run.
Brian Doyle, Francisco Cabrera, Al Weis.
This week Agbayani came from central casting for the part of the unsung, career minor leaguer ready to play an important supporting role in contention.
“I couldn’t be happier for anybody,” said Dave Rosenfield, the GM of the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, Norfolk.
Agbayani had become a folk hero for the Tides. But you only become a minor-league folk hero by spending way too much time in that town. And this was Agbayani’s fourth season in Norfolk. Last year, when the team hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game, Agbayani and his bride Niela, in matching Hawaiian shirts, were married at home plate in pre-game ceremonies.
This spring, against Valentine’s objections, Agbayani was neither on the 40-man roster nor invited to camp. He was thinking he needed a big year, so that when he became a six-year minor-league free agent in November, he could draw real interest from other teams.
And then the baseball moons aligned. Agbayani was hitting .356 at Norfolk as Bobby Bonilla and Rickey Henderson were hitting the DL. Valentine, who in 1996 had asked that Agbayani be elevated from Double-A to his Triple-A roster, asked for him again. The Mets came home on Monday and over the next five games Agbayani went 13-for-17 with two homers and five RBIs. “Benny, Benny,” the Shea crowd had chanted Friday night when he delivered three more hits.
“I know I am not one of their top prospects,” said Agbayani, who had a 15 at-bat major-league cameo in 1998. “I know I have to produce to stay in the lineup.”
That was how it was working out before Agbayani slammed into the right-field retaining wall yesterday. Before he woke up from the dream week of his baseball life.