Armando Benitez picked up his second save of the season in the Mets’ 2-1 victory last night at Shea Stadium, but he gave a lot of the credit to Rey Ordonez.
“I was opening up too quick to home plate,” Benitez said after he pitched 11/3 innings. “Rey told me to do some things that got me going. After I got out of it, I said, ‘Thank you.'”
Benitez had fallen behind Shawn Green with one out in the ninth inning when the shortstop paid the pitcher a visit. And what was the advice he offered that helped Benitez do his job?
“I told him to throw strikes,” Ordonez said.
Not exactly the stuff that makes him sound like a future pitching coach. There must have been something else, right?
“Nope,” Ordonez said. “Just throw strikes. I told him a couple of times.”
It took a while to sink in, though. Benitez walked Green, but came back to retire Eric Karros on a deep fly to center and Todd Hundley on a weak grounder to first.
But Benitez really earned his money in the eighth inning. After Rick Reed walked Devon White with two out, Bobby Valentine summoned his closer.
“I would have preferred not to do that,” Valentine said. “But I had to do it to win the game. If we didn’t get [the third out] there, the next hitter would have been [Gary] Sheffield.”
Sheffield had crushed a home run in the fourth to provide the Dodgers’ only run, and had smoked a deep foul ball in the sixth. So Valentine didn’t want Sheffield up as the potential winning run. Benitez took care of that by retiring Mark Grudzielanek with a pop-up to first, forcing Sheffield to lead off the ninth.
“I just did my job,” Benitez said. “I have to be ready whenever I’m called.”
Which is what Benitez has done since he became a Met. He had 22 saves and a 1.85 earned run average a year ago after taking over the closer role when John Franco got hurt. This season, he has yet to allow a hit in four appearances.
“I have the same attitude I had last year,” Benitez said. “I have more opportunities to save games. That’s good. I have to be happy about that. But I’m a Met, I’ll do whatever they want.”
What he’s been doing has been just fine.