Koo comes home

Benson, Koo lead Mets over Yankees

So it was with great interest yesterday that I saw Dae-Sung Koo, a Mets'' left handed relief pitcher standing on second base. I thought nothing of it until after Koo slid accross home plate scoring on a weird sacrifice bunt play laid down by the Mets' Josey Reyes.

Koo came accross the plate when he noticed that Yankee's catcher, Jorge Posada, was up the line to field the bunt and home plate was open. Koo took a head first slide and barely got his pinky onto home plate in front of Jorge Posada who had received the ball and was trying to return to home plate to make the tag.

Why was the Mets' dugout rolling in laughter on the play? Lets go back to Monday nights game against the Cincinatti Reds. In this game Koo came to the plate and stood pretty well with his toes on the back of the batters box with a bat. The bat never left his shoulder in three pitches and he went down in a strike out.

So there it was yesterday (Saturday), Koo at bat against the Yankees' lefty Randy Johnson. This batting-pitching mismatch was so bad that Mets' catcher Mike Piazza, according to the Daily News, said to Mets' player David Wright that if Koo hits one Piazza would donate a million dollars to charity. So there was Wright after the hit totally beside himself in laughter and Piazza's mouth wide open in awe. Not only did Koo actually take the bat of his shoulder, he had hit a double of the center field wall. Then he scored on top of that on the next play to give the Mets' a 3-0 lead.

What a difference a week can make. Koo is now batting .500 with one run and a double. Not bad for a pitcher who, according to him, hasn't batted or practiced sliding since high school!