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Sosa What

Some teams added a 30-homer hitter this winter. The Mets added a 30-homer pitcher.

Omar Minaya, clearly abiding by the 2006 Cardinals motto of "It's better to get worse" (the Cardinals had the biggest decline in wins of any team from 2005 to 2006, but that's forgotten since they won the World Series) has brought on Jorge Sosa as a Lima-esque reclamation project for 2007.

In the history of baseball, four pitchers have yielded at least 30 home runs in 120 innings or fewer in a season. Sosa makes that list, along with Ken Dixon, Andy Benes and Greg Gohr. He's allowed seven home runs to Carlos Delgado, tied for the most that Delgado has against any pitcher (the good news is that Delgado also has 7 homers against Jamie Moyer) Sosa also holds the distinction of having surrendered walk-off hits to both Alex Rodriguez and David Wright in the same season.

For those who read my previous postings about the David Wright occurrence, which took place on May 5, you may recall that contest left me pondering a couple of tidbits for which I never provided an answer. So I shall do so now for one of my queries.

* In that particular walk-off win, the Mets left 19 men on base. I wondered if they had ever stranded more in a walk-off triumph. They did not. The previous mark of 17 was set in a 15-inning affair against the Phillies on June 19, 1971.

For those of you who were waiting on this information, your patience has been rewarded. I have a feeling just as much patience will be needed to stomach the work of Jorge Sosa.

True Metsa know...The last pitcher to earn a walk-off win for the Mets, who had previously suffered a walk-off loss against them is Roberto Hernandez.

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