Cliff Floyd DL Superstar

You can never accuse Cliff Floyd of overstaying his welcome. In fact, he seems to be leaving a bit prematurely.

On the day before he was due to shut it down for the season in "preparation" to have surgery on his Achilles tendon at the end of the month, Floyd went 4-for-4 and was intentionally walked as the Mets won their fifth straight game and 9th of their last 12 games. Floyd is shutting it down after this afternoon's game in order to have the the bone around his Achilles shaved down in a procedure that is scheduled for near the end of August and will have him out until Spring Training begins in February.

You might wonder why a guy who has 10 hits in his last 11 at-bats (an unheard-of .909 batting average) over the last three games would be calling it quits for the season to have season-ending surgery when he's still doing so well. Playing hurt, he's hit .410 during the month of August. Not the kind of numbers for a guy winding it down for the season but apparently, Floyd knows that surgery is the only way to solve his Achilles problem once and for all. This same Achilles tendon was torn in 1999 and Floyd had an MRI at the start of this season which revealed no significant damage, but he believes the condition has worsened since then.

This isn't about 2003. This is about considering the long-term welfare of a guy who is in the first year of a four-year, $26-million contract.

"It's weird, because I feel real good right now," he said. "It's kind of scary, because I do feel pretty good. I really want to keep playing, but I have to say no and be firm with my decision. This is a serious thing, and you can't mess with surgery."

If anything, Floyd has shown detractors that he can and will play in pain. Hopefully, he doesn't have to be on the cusp of the DL every season to start hitting his $6.5 million salary worth.

As a final curtain call and an excruciating promise of what might have been and what might still be, maybe he can hit four homers for us on the way out.

Floyd even has his own blackout story: Floyd and his gimpy Achilles didn't have it so easy getting back from the cancelled game at Shea Thursday night. It took him a while to get back to his East Side apartment building. When he did get there he had to walk up 32 flights of stairs.

"And I don't cook so we had no food," Floyd said. "We had to make due on two bottles of water and a Snickers bar. You take everything for granted. I know I do." Ahhh. Don't worry. Pretty soon Cliffie, you'll be living the high life, dining on hospital food.

After striking out a season high 10 batters yesterday, Al Leiter is 4-1 with a 1.75 since coming back from the DL and has won his last 7 decisions to go to 12-6 on the season. During August, the other pitching disappointment, Tom Glavine, is 2-0 with an 0.75 ERA. Of course, that's because he hasn't faced the Braves again. Against his former teammates, Glavine is 0-4 with a 10.35 ERA in four starts. Wisely, the Mets rotation is being realigned so Glavine doesn't have to face them again this season.

Jose Reyes take his hitting streak to 16 games in a 6-4 win yesterday over Colorado, the longest streak by a Major League rookie this season. We know the D-Train is a near shoe-in for the Rookie of the Year, but Reyes is now hitting .313 for the season and is easily the most electrifying batter/base runner in the National League this year. But here's a little smelling salts for those, like me, who want to write him in to the Hall of Fame next season: Reyes' streak is only the second-longest by a Met rookie ever. In 1975, Mike Vail had a 23-game streak. Yeah. Mike Vail. You remember him, right? In a ten year career that followed, he bounced around 7 different teams and hit an underwhelming .279 the rest of his career, lasting with the Mets for three years before going to Cleveland.

Still, Reyes is no Mike Vail. Since the All-Star break he has just gotten better and is hitting .363 with 7 doubles and 9 stolen bases. The switch-hitter still hits righties better than lefties. Against righties, he's hitting .335. Against lefties, .258.

Another guy who seems to have suddenly learned how to hit is Roger Cedeno. Since the break, he's hitting .378 with a .415 OPB and has scored 14 runs in 14 games.

The Mets seem to have several Rookie of the Year candidates. Besides Reyes, Jason Phillips is hitting .324 with 10 homers and 50 RBIs in 101 games and Ty Wigginton has been steadily unspectacular but stable while learning third base on the job.

Oh the future looks so bright through rose-colored glasses. Reyes and Cedeno excelling at the top of the order, Piazza with a month and a half and an entire off season to learn how to play first base, Cliff Floyd going out for the season with a bang and promises of greatness next year. With the dumping of Alomar, Burnitz and Armando, enough cash to spread around for a front line free agent pitcher like Kevin Millwood and a front line batter like Vladimir Guerrero, blahblahblah.

Before anyone says a word, let's remember that next season, the two Met "aces", Leiter and Glavine will both be 38 years old. The only eight 38-year-olds who have made at least 10 starts this year, and of those the oft-injured Kevin Brown, the currently disabled David Wells, Roger Clemens and Jamie Moyer have pitched well. Since 1990 only nine 38-year-olds have reached 200 innings and two of those (Tom Candiotti and Charlie Hough) were knuckleballers.

The Races

The Red Sox and the A's are tied again after the A's beat up on Toronto's ace, Roy Halladay, to a tune of 7-3 while the Red Sox were busy losing to the Mariners. The Sox went a respectable 3-4 on their murderous 7 game road trip to Oakland and Seattle and are in the catbird seat for the moment. They face Oakland and Seattle again this week but this time, on their own turf. They're off today but then begin a 12 game homestand that will see them face the A's, Mariners, Blue Jays and Yankees. Whew.

The Royals upped their division lead over the quickly-fading White Sox and the surging Twins by 3 games a piece by avoiding a sweep at home against the Twins last night. But the news of the future is not good. The Royals begin a seven-game road trip on Monday with the first of three at New York, then go to Minnesota for four. Meanwhile, the Twins will be partying it up against Cleveland.

The White Sox, on the other hand, can't get home fast enough. They are now 26-39 on the road, by far the worst road record of any team still in playoff contention. In fact, there are only 4 teams worse than the White Sox on the road: Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Detroit and Texas. The good news is they will now begin a 7 game homestand just as the Royals are embarking on a 7 game road trip. The Sox are 15 games above .500 at home. Better than the Yankees, KC, Minnesota and Seattle. You can pretty much predict the White Sox future by how many games they have left at home and on the road. 16 of their next 22 games will be at home so this is when they have to make their move.

The Phillies remain a half game ahead of the Marlins for the NL Wildcard. The Phillies have a 13 game road trip coming up while the Marlins embark on a 9-game road trip at Colorado, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. Lest you think this neck-in-neck stuff is new to the Phillies and the Marlins, just consider that last season, the Phillies finished in third place, a mere 1 1/2 games ahead of the Marlins.