Those Mets

MAINE AND MANUEL FIGHT, METS WIN

To summarize John Maine's season is to recall a gallery of tortured moments: scowls and grimaces during games, even vomiting between innings on a hot afternoon in Port St. Lucie. Thursday night, Maine added deep anger over his manager's decision to lift him after five pitches, and Friday he will trudge to a doctor's office. It has been a cursed year for the 29-year-old, whose exit after one batter Thursday night darkened a much-needed victory for the Mets. Though the Mets defeated Washington, 10-7, as David Wright returned from his one-game exile with four RBI, and they finished a regrettable road trip with two wins and six losses, their already broken rotation suffered yet another loss. Following the game - more than three hours after his exit - the pitcher remained angry. "He said, 'I want to protect you,'" Maine said of Jerry Manuel. "Then why don't you ask me how I feel?" Maine shrugged when asked what he thought Manuel and pitching coach Dan Warthen saw that convinced them to pull him after one batter. "I guess they didn't see 95 (miles per hour)," he said, his face crunched into a tight scowl. "I mean, it was a little slower, but it was the third batter (actually first) of the game. I mean, cut me a little slack, you know? The last couple pitches, I started getting back to normal. The first couple pitches, whatever." According to a team spokesman, Maine will see a physician Friday in New York. The team did not name a specific physical issue. Maine's troubles Thursday night began during his pregame bullpen session. Warthen noticed that the righthander's velocity was lower than usual, but the righthander convinced him he could start the game. In the bottom of the first, Maine threw five pitches in walking Nyjer Morgan, all between 82-25 miles per hour. Warthen and Jerry Manuel then visited the mound as Maine leaned forward with hands on his legs, and Manuel soon signaled for Raul Valdes before abruptly departing the field. Maine and Manuel, who did not speak on the field, argued in the dugout. "When you throw your first pitch and you ... see a guy warming up in the bullpen, it's a lose-lose situation," Maine said. "He wanted to pitch," Manuel said. "We got in a heated exchange about that and I tried to tell him I was trying to protect his best interests." Said Maine: "I didn't get a chance (to make a case to remain in the game). I think that's what I'm most upset about. They said they saw something so they were taking me out. I'm a little hurt by that." He continued: "I don't have enough clout. I don't have enough star power to say anything ... I would like an explanation. Me throwing 85 miles an hour, I don't think is a good explanation for me to be taken out of the game." Manuel and Warthen said they were protecting Maine. "I applaud the fact that he wanted to compete," the manager said. "I think he would have hurt himself trying to pitch at that velocity." Maine was unaware that he was scheduled to visit a doctor Friday until reporters informed him. "I don't need to go to a doctor," he said. "I have felt pain for two years, but I don't care about that. I wanted to pitch, the bottom line. ... I feel something all the time. We're pitchers. ... I'm telling them everything that is going on. They know everything that is going on with me." Warthen was not convinced. "Something has got to be feeling bad," he said. "John is a habitual liar in a lot of ways, as far as his own health. He is a competitor and a warrior, and he wants to go out and pitch, but we have to be smart enough to see that he isn't right, that the ball isn't coming out of his hand correctly." If Maine is indeed injured, the Mets will have lost three of their five starters on the trip: Oliver Perez because of ineffectiveness, Jon Niese to a hamstring injury and now Maine. (NY Daily News)