This time there was no warm ovation for John Franco last night at Shea Stadium, no video tribute or polite applause. When he trotted out of the bullpen, this time as the enemy, the crowd showered him with boos. Then he proceeded to do what he did his final year as a Met – get beat by soft-hit bleeders and comedic defense.
Franco was the hard-luck loser in the Mets’ fourth straight victory, a 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Astros.
He came in with his new team leading his old team 3-1 in the seventh inning, with runners on second and third and one out. Marlon Anderson, the first batter he faced, grounded out to first, plating David Wright from third for a run.
And even when Franco’s full-count pitch got shortstop Jose Reyes to hit a chopper down the third base line, it didn’t work in his favor. Franco fielded the ball, but when he started pivoting to throw to first, he collided with third baseman Mike Lamb. Franco had to pirouette and check his throw, stumbling to the ground as Victor Diaz lumbered home from third with the tying run.
Franco had a helpless grimace that was half wan and half rueful; either way, the play ended his night, as Houston manager Phil Garner pulled him for reliever Dan Wheeler, another ex-Met. And Wheeler continued what Franco started.
After Franco had trudged off the field to louder boos than he had entered to, Reyes stole second. And after Miguel Cairo, who started at second base for Kaz Matsui (scratched cornea), fell behind 1-2, he hit what looked like a 5-3 inning-ending groundout, but Lamb misplayed the ball for an error, as the speedy Reyes raced all the way around from second for the go-ahead run.
The loss was a fitting return to Shea for Franco, who was 2-7 last season with a 5.28 ERA, largely undone by bloops and bleeders. By last August, the Mets had decided to get younger and let baseball’s leader in all-time saves among lefties (424) go.
Franco landed in Houston, inking a one-year, $700,000 deal to show he still had something left in the tank. After a horrendous spring, in which he had a bloated 6.23 ERA in a half-dozen outings, the Franco change-up of old returned once Opening Day rolled around. He had a perfect 0.00 ERA in four appearances – until he suffered another bitter Shea memory last night.
Don’t expect a Texas drawl anytime soon from the 44-year-old Brooklynite. Franco and his wife Rose put their Staten Island mansion on the market last year, for a price tag of reportedly $8.3 million. But Franco admitted that he has kept tabs on the new Mets, and that he’ll always be a New Yorker at heart.