Bases loaded, nobody out and Robin Ventura at the plate. This wasn’t how Bill Pulsipher dreamed about his career in Shea Stadium.
Regardless, the former blue-chip Mets’ prospect entered last night’s game in the worst of circumstances – his Red Sox team trailed 2-1 in the seventh – and he acquitted himself well.
The Generation K southpaw jumped ahead of Ventura (who has 15 career grand slams) and got him to hit into a double play. Although the Mets scored their third run on Ventura’s one-hop twin killing to second base, Pulsipher did his job.
“I’m happy to do my job, but this team needs wins,” Pulsipher said after the 4-2 loss. “I haven’t done [relieving] a whole lot, but the nerves have been nothing.
“You can do a lot of things when you get ahead of a guy 0-2, and Robin Ventura’s a guy who’s hurt me in the past so you don’t want to fall behind.”
It’s been a long time since Pulsipher was considered the future of the Mets, and nobody’s happier about the maturation process than the 27-year-old left-hander.
Once upon a time in the mid 1990s, he, Jason Isringhausen and Paul Wilson were hyped as the next big thing by the New York media.
“Everything you guys would call hype, [expletive], we were believing it anyway,” Pulsipher said before the game. “I expected it from myself. So sometimes it was hard for me to regroup and start over again.”
Injuries derailed any chance Pulsipher had with the Mets, who signed him in 1991. From 1996-97, he barely pitched at all after the MCL in his left elbow was repaired. The Mets traded him to Milwaukee in ’98, but he returned for a brief time last season before being traded to Arizona.
Pulsipher was invited to Tampa Bay’s camp in the spring but was released March 14. That was as low as he could go.
“It’s easy to say a light bulb clicked, it’s also easy to say you grew up,” Pulsipher said. “When you get released from the worst team in baseball. You look at things and say I’m gonna take this for what it is, appreciate what I have and not worry about the outside mess.”
Boston snapped up Pulsipher at the end of March and he went to Triple A Pawtucket, where he grabbed the closer’s role. He had a 1.36 ERA in his last 26 innings before being recalled, converting 10 of 10 save chances.
In six relief appearances with the Red Sox since his recall June 28, he has a 0.00 ERA. Pulsipher has allowed three hits in 62/3 innings, but he hasn’t looked at his callup as overdue. He also said nothing but good things about the Mets.
“I enjoyed my time very much with the Mets,” Pulsipher said. “I had some tough times, too.
“A lot of that was growing up and dealing with injuries and I think that’s made me a better person and a better man for everything.”