ROD BARAJAS GETTING IT DONE

Before spring training, Rod Barajas and Ike Davis were uncertain of their major league status, but they were looking at their careers from different perspectives. Barajas, a veteran catcher, was hoping to catch on somewhere as a free agent. Davis, a young first baseman, was a prospect, hoping for a chance on the big-league roster. Both are playing regularly for the Mets and have added sparkle to a team that seems to be shedding the air of ineptitude that has surrounded it the past few seasons. In a 6-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field on Friday night, Davis and Barajas each hit two home runs and added dramatic flair to a game that could have resulted in a disheartening loss for the Mets. The climactic moment came on the second home run by Barajas, a two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth off Sergio Romo that barely cleared the fence in the left-field corner. The 34,681 fans seemed to hold their collective breath before the ball landed in the second row to give the Mets their eighth straight victory at home. “I wasn’t sure,” Barajas said of his hit. “Was hoping, was hoping, was hoping.” He also slammed a solo shot in the second. Davis hit his two, both with no runners on base, in the second and the fourth. Both players were also involved in unusual fielding plays that showed grit. With closer Francisco Rodriguez struggling in the top of the ninth, Davis got the third out of the inning by catching a foul pop-up on the run and tumbling over the rail into the Mets’ dugout. “I’m going to try to catch any ball I can,” Davis said. Barajas was charged with an error in the seventh when a pitchout thrown by Mike Pelfrey to Eli Whiteside stayed too near the plate. When Barajas jumped out of his crouch, Whiteside swung. His bat hit the catcher’s glove, injuring Barajas’s left index finger and putting the batter on first. Pelfrey, the Mets’ starter, got out of the inning, but Barajas said he felt pain and swelling immediately. “I wanted to suck it up,” Barajas said. “Just a matter of playing through the pain.” He refused to take an X-ray until after the game, but acknowledged his limitations at bat. “One good swing and my finger’s going to go numb,” Barajas said. When his teammates greeted him at home plate for a celebratory pounding after his winning home run, Barajas said: “My whole body went numb. I didn’t feel anything.” A postgame X-ray was negative, he said. Of course, Barajas — who leads the team with nine home runs — spoke while holding his finger in a paper cup filled with ice. Pelfrey, who gave up three runs and eight hits and left with one out in the eighth, said he had asked his catcher, “Are you mad at me?” for allowing the batter to hit a pitchout. Barajas said he was not. He seemed happy with everyone and praised Davis, who has quickly become a favorite of fans and teammates. “There’s no arrogance to him,” Barajas said. “He’s down to earth. He doesn’t have a big head.” The game’s most sour note came before Davis’s catch in the ninth when Rodriguez, who was trying for his fifth save of the season, gave up a solo home run with one out to pinch-hitter John Bowker to tie the score, 4-4. Rodriguez allowed two more hits before Davis made the catch on Pablo Sandoval’s pop fly. Davis made a similar catch in his first week as a Met in April, but he said the play Friday was more difficult to execute and “definitely, there was more pressure.” It was, literally and figuratively, a tipping-point moment. Romo seemed afraid of Davis, walking him in the ninth. That put Davis in position to be the first to welcome Barajas at home plate as the team streamed from the dugout to celebrate. The Mets also had to be encouraged by the performance they received from Pelfrey, who was coming off his worst start of the season. He gave up six runs in four innings last Saturday at Philadelphia in a 10-0 Mets defeat. Pelfrey had an M.R.I. on his sore right shoulder after that outing, but it revealed no damage and he did not seem in pain Friday, working quickly and efficiently. His best fastballs were in the mid-90s. Most of his first pitches were strikes; three of the hits he allowed were on the infield and two runs scored on infield outs. The Mets also made three errors behind him, but he never became unnerved. Manager Jerry Manuel said before the game that he preferred to play Barajas over Henry Blanco, Pelfrey’s usual catcher, because “Barajas is swinging the bat well; right now, he’s a bigger offensive threat.” In Barajas’s last 11 games, he has 10 runs scored, 7 home runs and 10 runs batted in. After the game, Manuel recalled a conversation he had with Barajas in the spring. “The first time I talked to him, he mentioned how he likes the clutch,” Manuel said. “He’s been quite an acquisition. He seems to rise to that occasion.” (NY Times)