MET NOTES
PHILADELPHIA – The Mets had a new reliever last night.
The team brought up Heath Bell before the series opener against the Phillies, sending down righty Bartolome Fortunato.
Bell, a right-hander, posted a 1.35 ERA for Triple-A Norfolk and had struck out 20 batters in 13 1/3 innings.
“He’s been throwing the ball pretty well,” Willie Randolph said before last night’s game. “He probably would have come up the first time around, but we felt like Fortunato probably had more rest than he did and it was only going to be for one day really until [Victor] Zambrano went down [on Saturday].
“So it’s really, we’re just making the move because we felt like he was the guy anyway, but at the time, we needed a guy who was more rested and Fortunato was more rested at the time. So he’s coming in now because we feel like he’s probably better for us now the way things are set up.”
Fortunato arrived Saturday and gave up nine runs in three innings.
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2B Anderson Hernandez has started playing rehab games.
Hernandez, who’s on the disabled list with a bulging disc, had his first rehab game Monday. He went 0-for-4 with an error for St. Lucie in high Single-A ball.
Hernandez has been on the DL since April 18.
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Jose Lima has changed his haircut to blond cornrows. Asked about it yesterday, Lima said, ” ‘Cause it’s better. It’s better than that freakin’ clown hair.”
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Entering last night, Jose Reyes had not swiped a base in May. His last steal came April 28, and his last attempt came when he was caught April 30. Heading into the game, Reyes was tied with four other players for the most steals in the majors with 11. The others were Ichiro Suzuki, Carl Crawford, Juan Pierre and Felipe Lopez.
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Xavier Nady was in a 2-for-18 slump heading into last night, though he had drawn four walks during that time. Nady’s average was at a season-low .288 . . . The Mets had homered in 12 straight games.