MET NOTES
PITTSBURGH – After getting a day off Wednesday, Mike Piazza returned to the Mets’ lineup Thursday and got three hits and two RBIs.
Then he got another rest last night.
Piazza did not start his second game in three days, as Willie Randolph opted to rest his catcher again. Randolph said Wednesday he would be resting Piazza more as the season goes on.
“Going into midseason, going into the All-Star break, start trying to keep him as fresh as I can,” Randolph said before last night’s game, also noting that backup Ramon Castro had been hitting well.
Piazza said he didn’t know he wasn’t going to be in the lineup, and when a reporter joked to him that maybe he needed four hits to stay in it, Piazza joked back, “[Randolph’s] the mad scientist. There’s no rhyme nor reason,” drawing chuckles.
In all seriousness, 36-year-old Piazza said he had no problem with getting another day off.
“Now’s the time again, you can’t stress enough, we’re playing better and you can’t look today or tomorrow, you have to start to look down the line,” he said. “July and August are going to be two long months. So it’s important when you get an opportunity to get a rest, then great, I’ll take it.”
Randolph also said the fact Piazza, the NL’s starting catcher, would not be getting off for the All-Star break “plays into it a little bit, too.” With a night game tonight and a day game tomorrow, Randolph said Piazza “might just play one game. We’ll see how it goes.”
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Former Pirate Kris Benson returned to Pittsburgh for the second time since being traded to the Mets last July. Benson is not expected to pitch this weekend.
Asked if he talked to Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon, who criticized Benson in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in May, Benson said, “No, I don’t think we’ll be talking. I don’t think there’ll be any talking involved.”
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Randolph said it’s unlikely Doug Mientkiewicz (strained right hamstring) will be back with the team immediately after the All-Star break . . . Carlos Beltran came into last night’s game hitting .357 (10-for-28) in July . . . Miguel Cairo entered the game hitless in 10 at-bats since coming off the disabled list . . . Mets pitchers hadn’t allowed a home run in their past seven games going into the series.