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Payton's patience paying off
Posted: Friday May 05, 2000 02:09 PM
Andres Galarraga's comeback isn't the only feel-good story in the National League East. Rookie Mets center fielder Jay Payton is playing everyday for the first time in a career nearly wrecked by four operations, including not one but two Tommy John surgeries on his throwing elbow. Payton credits Red Sox star Nomar Garciaparra, his college roommate at Georgia Tech, with keeping him upbeat through six seasons in the minor leagues. Now, with Darryl Hamilton's toe surgery expected to keep him out until mid-to-late June, Payton's place in the lineup should only become more secure. "I might have been forced out of the game," Payton told me, "but I wasn't going to quit. Short of my arm falling off, I was going to keep playing until nobody wanted me."
Eye for the futureTwins right fielder Matt Lawton deserves comeback mention as well. Beaned last June by a Dennys Reyes fastball that broke two orbital bones near his right eye, Lawton struggled late last season to get comfortable at the plate. But he's off to a .350 start this year and, most significantly, was hitting almost .400 against lefties. Lawton has a close relationship with Kirby Puckett, now a Twins executive, who took a Dennis Martinez fastball to the face back in '95. Twins GM Terry Ryan told me the club no longer worries about Lawton. "With something like this, you always wonder psychologically if they'll be able to rebound," Ryan told me. "It's something Matt battled for a long time. It took him awhile but he has convinced himself now he's beyond it."
Streaking to postseasonBefore they ran into that noted stopper Carlos Perez the other night at Dodger Stadium, the Atlanta Braves became just the sixth team in the last half century to win at least 15 consecutive games.
Of the other five, four reached the World Series and two of those teams, the '53 Yankees and the '91 Twins, won it all. Only the '77 Royals won as many as 15 in a row and failed to reach the Fall Classic, falling one game short in the ALCS. No one need remind Braves general manager John Schuerholz about that club: Back then he was working in the Royals' front office as director of player development. Mike Berardino covers baseball for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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