NEW YORK -- When New York Mets left fielder Benny Agbayani showed up at Shea Stadium for Game 3 of the World Series on Tuesday, he wasn't sure he should look at the lineup card.
Agbayani had heard from a couple of sources -- however unreliable -- that he was going to be riding the pine.
As important as Agbayani has been for the Mets, it wasn't a completely ludicrous idea. New York Yankees righty Orlando Hernandez is notoriously nasty on right-handed hitters and most managers will stack the fort with lefties.
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| Benny Agbayani is quickly becoming another Mets postseason hero with his hits in the 2000 playoffs. (AP) | |
Fortunately for Agbayani, whoever told him he wasn't playing hadn't consulted with the Mets manager.
"I was a little baffled by people who followed our team all year thinking that maybe Benny shouldn't play today," said Mets manager Bobby Valentine. "I never considered him not playing, I never considered pinch-hitting for him."
And so it was that Agbayani was the hero in Game 3, smashing an RBI double to the left-center field gap to snap a 2-2 tie and lead the Mets to an eventual 4-2 victory.
He had looked woeful against El Duque in his first two at-bats, but as all good hitters do, he made adjustments.
Should the Mets come back to win this Subway Series, Agbayani's hit will be looked at as a season saver. If they had lost Game 3, the rest of the series wouldn't have even been worth playing. Now the Mets trail 2-1.
"You're going to pack your bags or you're going to win it," Agbayani said. "I don't want to pack my bags yet."
Hard to believe Agbayani was once a minor-league lifer with hardly any hope at playing in the big leagues. Actually, it's easy to believe when you look at his chubby frame.
He doesn't look like a ballplayer. But the Hawaiian native has heart and a sweet stroke, and both of those things have made him a pivotal Met the past two Octobers.
If you recall, it was Agbayani who smashed the walk-off 13th-inning homer against the Giants in Game 3 of the Division Series.
This time it was the World Series and Agbayani was the hero again.
"Hero isn't the word," Agbayani said. "It's teamwork."
Those humble words typify Agbayani's humility. This is why it was so out of character to see Agbayani's mug on Page 1 of the New York Post last Friday predicting the Mets would win in five.
The naïve and friendly Agbayani went on the Howard Stern show and jokingly predicted the Mets would win it, never knowing what the story would snowball into.
"I didn't definitely say we were going to win in five," Agbayani said. "I just blurted it out."
In the late stages of Game 3, when the Mets desperately needed a hero, Agbayani's bat blurted something far more relevant out.
