It's Why He Left in the First Place

A decision that should have been made because of his bat. Mike Hampton hit a homerun vs the Mets last night. It's nothing new for the pitcher/slugger. A poor decision by Bobby Valentine back in 2000 helped seal Hampton's ticket out of the town the following winter.

Hampton came off an NLCS in which he went 2-0 with a ERA of 0.00 in 16 innings pitched, giving up only 9 hits and 4 walks. That's a WHIP of 0.81. It got him MVP of the series. Hitting-wise, on the season he hit .274 and drove in 8 in 34 at bats (a pace of 129 RBI in 550 ABs). Al Leiter went 3 for 58.

Yet it was Al Leiter who was tabbed to start game 1 of the World Series when it was clear Hampton was the ace of the staff at the moment and was on top of his game. The clincher of the LCS was a Monday night. Game 1 of the series vs that other team in the city was on Saturday, giving Hampton the normal four days of rest. Leiter had a very good season and was fine in his only LCS start giving up 3 runs in 7 innings, striking out 9. However, the game 1 starter would be slated to pitch in game 5, the final game under National League rules where the pitcher hits. The game 2 starter does not have that benefit.

Al Leiter went 0 for 3 in that game 5, despite a valiant pitching effort that led him to be on fumes in that fateful ninth inning. All three of his plate appearances came with runners on base. I think we all would have rather had Mike Hampton up in those spots. Also, if Mike Hampton pitches game 1, maybe he isn't interviewed after game 2, the one which he did start- you know, the Clemens bat-throw game. Maybe he isn't asked the question in which he responds the following:

"Different people react in different ways," he said. "Somebody throws a bat at me, I'm gonna fight. But some people aren't that way. Me, I'm a hot-tempered guy."

He didn't exactly endear himself to his teammates with the comments. He came off an MVP performance, was on full rest and yet was not given the ball in game 1. Plus, Colorado has a great school system for his children. Why should he have stayed? The Mets offered a boatload of money for him to stay. Maybe, just maybe if he had started game 1, the school thing would not have been enough for him to leave.