Mets 4 Brewers 3
When Al Leiter has spoken about retirement in the past, he has said next year could be his last. The travel and the time spent away from his family have added up, making him seriously contemplate ending his career.
But yesterday, after his 4-3 win over the Brewers at sweaty Shea Stadium, Leiter revealed he has changed his mind. After his current four-year, $32 million contract runs out next season, Leiter wants to keep pitching.
There are two conditions. Leiter must be throwing the ball as well as he is this year. And he only wants to return as a Met.
“If I’m pitching the way I’m pitching [now], then I think they would want me back and I would play, absolutely,” the 35-year-old Leiter told The Post.
Leiter won yesterday by going 71/3 innings and allowing three runs to improve to 7-9. The fact his record is under .500 is due almost entirely to lack of run support, not poor pitching.
Yesterday, Joe McEwing’s seventh inning solo homer unlocked a 3-3 game, allowing the Mets to sweep their second series of the season.
Leiter pitched in conditions that made Shea feel like a pizza oven. The first-pitch temperature was 98 degrees and the thermometer reached 102 by the sixth inning.
In an effort to stay hydrated, Leiter said he drank eight bottles of waters and three electrolyte drinks during the game. On the mound, he limited his warmup tosses between innings.
With one out and a man on in the eighth, Leiter, drenched in sweat, walked off to an ovation. He lifted his cap with his left hand, while giving a slight wave with his right hand.
The last time Leiter walked off like that at Shea was Game 5 of last year’s World Series after Luis Sojo hit the lefty’s 142nd pitch for the eighth-inning, game-winning single.
While the Mets are a drastically different team than the World Series club, Leiter is the same pitcher. His ERA dropped to 3.48 yesterday. Last year, it was 3.20 in a 16-8 season.
Leiter is the leader of the staff. He makes everyone better, throwing quality innings. During the near-month Leiter missed with his elbow problem was when the Mets’ post-season hopes vanished. Short starts by his replacements caused a bullpen devoid of a long man to be overextended.
Since he returned form the DL in mid-May, Leiter is just 7-6, but his ERA is 2.94. He looks as if he is the same pitcher as last year when he was an All-Star.
“I think his overall pitching has been excellent,” manager Bobby Valentine said. “He has just had a couple of [bad] innings. We just haven’t scored the runs that we scored for him today.”
Valentine wants Leiter back. He said he tells Leiter once a month to keep taking those youth pills, encouraging him to stick around a few more years.
Leiter apparently has listened. He may be hurting his negotiation position by saying it’s Shea or nowhere, but he wants to stay close to his family, which means staying in Flushing.
“It’s not BS to say I’m living out a dream,” Leiter said. “This is me. This is my team. I was born and raised a Met fan. It is a dream come true so far. I think the whole symmetry of having started with the Yankees and finished with the Mets is good for me.”
In a season of bad news piled on top of more bad news, Leiter gave the Mets something to smile about. Especially after the game.