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Hero of the day Agbayani's big hit brings calm to Mets' locker room
By Jamie MacDonald, CNNSI.com NEW YORK -- Each time Benny Agbayani walked to the plate in Game 3, a lightboard in right-center field -- the one Robin Ventura nearly hit with his second-inning home run -- would flash the words "Hawaiian Punch," for the 28-year-old Honolulu-born Agbayani. And about an hour after he doubled home the winning run, Hawaiian Punch was left to spar with the media, left to kick around the title "Game 6 Hero." Standing under a simple homemade computer sign that read "Faith, Passions, Consistency ... Will give us VICTORY!!!" and a small hanging wooden globe-with-feathers number that would have made Major League's Pedro Cerrano proud, Agbayani fielded question after question from reporters horseshoed around him three and four deep. "I'm a guy who just goes with the flow," he said with his considerable backside nearly backed into his stall. Although he would have very little of the hero talk -- instead focusing on the work of his teammates -- Hawaii 5-0 did ponder what may have been going on back in the 50th state after his RBI poke to left.
"Everybody's probably jumping around," Agbayani said. "I hope my house is still intact." As for the clubhouse after Game 3, "intact" could not be more appropriate. No premature celebrations, no moral victory dances and by the grace of God, no sign of the Baha Men letting their dogs out. Players appeared composed, calm and realistic after drawing back into this series. They know they snapped the Yankees' World Series winning streak. They know they roughed up Orlando Hernandez just before medianoche on Tuesday. And they know they are still in a 2-1 hole against the defending champions. The assembled crowd began to thin around Agbayani at 1 a.m. EDT, when Mike Piazza appeared. And like moths to light, reporters swarmed the Mets catcher who, in a light tan jacket and sweater combo, could have sashayed right out of the clubhouse and down a runway in shoes that may cost more than your car. "You can see why [the Yankees] are where they are and why they've been successful," Piazza said. "We were battling to play better tonight and we did, but this is just one win for us." Earlier, nearly 30 minutes before the fashionably late Piazza answered questions, starting pitcher Rick Reed reflected on a night in which he probably earned life past the sixth inning if this were played in the American League park. (Bobby Valentine understandably pinch hit for Reed with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth.) "I just go out and throw strikes," he said, with his arm wrapped in ice and still in his game pants, standing in cotton slipper sandals one might find on the welcome mat of a retirement home. And even though his performance was a gritty, eight-K effort, Reed is loathe to strikeout duels. "I'm not a strikeout pitcher," he said, crinkling an empty Pepsi between his fingers. "I like to see those ground balls." Setup man John Franco, a blue-collar guy from a blue-collar world who in 1995 vowed never to talk to Reed, a former replacement player, put his differences aside a few seasons ago and may have summed this game up best. "We decided we needed to get this win," Franco said. "We didn't want them to come in here and have a chance to wrap it up on our home field. Now it's 2-1 and we can relax a little."
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