Rough Inning for Piazza; Umps Cause Three-Run Shift

Today's first inning at Shea stadium was plug ugly, especially for Mets' catcher Mike Piazza. With Marcus Giles stealing second base, Andruw Jones faked a bunt, in order to interfere with Piazza, who made a good, if barely late throw. As announcer Tim McCarver pointed out, since Jones had no intention of bunting, and only wished to obstruct Piazza, that should have been called interference, in which case Giles would have been called out. Giles then scored. The Mets' "deliberate" starter Steve Trachsel ended up throwing 31 pitches that inning, which ended with the Braves leasding 3-1, after a two-run homer by Adam LaRoche. Braves starter Tim Hudson then had his own meltdown, walking three men in a row with two outs. Then, with Piazza at bat and the bases loaded, on Hudson's 35th pitch of the inning, Piazza hit a low line drive to center field, that Andruw Jones short-hopped. Two Mets runners were on their way in to score, but Jones, who acted as though he had caught the ball cleanly, conned the umpire, who called Piazza's hit a catch for Jones. And so, instead of a 2-2 tie, with men on first and third, and Tim Hudson losing it, the score was 3-0, with the Braves coming up to bat to start the second inning, and Hudson back in control. Piazza, the greatest offensive catcher in major league history, who is almost surely in his last season with the Mets, on September 10 had come back from yet another of his many injuries in recent years, a broken bone in his hand, after three and a-half weeks out, only to be beaned by St. Louis reliever Julian Tavarez out of apparent revenge for a home run Piazza had hit in his first at bat, against Cardinals starter Jeff Suppan. To add insult to injury, the Mets lost that game, 4-2.