Mar 19 2009 07:33 AM
With one big hit Wright is now a clutch player.....unbelievable
World of confidence
| ] Now, about David Wright's inability to produce in the clutch ... The Hall of Fame people called the Mets third baseman yesterday. They want, and will receive, the bat Wright used to deliver the game-winning, two-run single in Tuesday night's World Baseball Classic thriller. Many of you don't care, of course, and understandably so. Call you, you say, when Wright gets a big hit in October, not March. Well, perhaps eventually, we'll be able to look at Tuesday night as a starting point. Or, to be more accurate, a relaunch, because Wright - who said he bruised his left toe and cracked a nail after fouling a ball off his left foot in last night's seeding game at Dolphin Stadium - was never so horrible as some of us decided. "I don't necessarily feel like I have to go out there to prove anything to me," Wright said earlier yesterday. "I know what I'm capable of. I know what I'm able to do. "Everybody wants to come through in the clutch. Everybody wants to get that big hit. Unfortunately, the game doesn't work that way. It can be a very humbling game. You do everything right, and you hit a bullet right at somebody. Or you have a terrible at-bat, and you bloop one in. Sometimes the baseball gods are smiling down, and sometimes they're not. " ... When you do get those big hits, it allows you to take a deep breath and maybe not put as much pressure on you the next at-bat." What a night it was for Wright and Team USA. Trailing Puerto Rico by two runs entering the ninth inning, they loaded the bases with one out, with one run already in, when Wright stepped in against Fernando Cabrera. Wright didn't hit a bullet. But he came through with a nice piece of hitting. He reached his bat out to an outside fastball and put it in the perfect spot, a couple of feet from the foul line in rightfield. Brian Roberts came home with the tying run, and Jimmy Rollins, of all people, scored the winner, and Wright had an accomplishment that he called "right there at the top. "I got more phone calls and text messages in the last 24 hours than I had the last 24 months." No team supports the WBC more than the Mets, and maybe that will come back to bite them. Venezuela manager Luis Sojo's use of Francisco Rodriguez alone must send some heartburn up I-95 to Port St. Lucie. However, K-Rod looks on top of his game right now, as did Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado in their play for Team Puerto Rico. And Wright has a career highlight, and a strike against those who label him a choker. The myth, of course, lies in the notion that Wright struggles in the clutch. You can crunch numbers on the ride from Flushing to Miami, and you'll confirm that assertion only one way: By looking solely at his Sept. 24 ninth-inning strikeout against the Cubs, with Daniel Murphy on third base, no outs and the score tied, in a game the Mets proceeded to lose. Otherwise, Wright's career numbers - in September, with runners in scoring position, in close games late - are all more than presentable. To say that he suddenly became nervous last year, when he did hit relatively poorly with runners in scoring position, challenges common sense. The campaign to restore common sense is under way. "High-pressure, big-situation at-bats in March can only help you out in April, and hopefully beyond that," Wright said. "You're talking about the game on the line, when you're wearing those three letters across your chest, you're carrying a lot of weight on your shoulders." Given what has gone down the last two years, it must feel even heavier in Flushing, no? Wright wants to sign up for the 2013 WBC right now. "I'd be the first one on the list," he said. If he can generate a Mets' dog pile to match Team USA's from Tuesday night, then Mets fans just might lead the charge for this country to support the WBC. |