Trachsel, Wagner feeling fine.

[Reaper]

Willie Randolph admitted he held his breath for a second.

 

But when Billy Wagner walked down the steps into the dugout on Saturday after recording the last out of the Mets' 8-3 win over the Yankees and said he was all right, Randolph could breathe easy.

 

What got the Mets skipper concerned was the fact his closer slammed hard into first base with his right foot when he took the toss from first baseman Julio Franco to record the final out. To make matters look and appear even worse was when Wagner hopped, skipped and gingerly trotted away around the infield.

 

Fortunately, though, both manager and player confirmed the 34-year-old pitcher is just fine.

 

"I stepped on the base, turned my ankle a bit, but I'm fine," said Wagner, who pitched the final inning and struck out two batters. "I've turned my ankle plenty of times in my career and I know when it's bad and when it's one you can just walk off. But I'm fine."

 

Wagner's play followed Steve Trachsel's departure in the seventh inning after a play that also looked far worse than what it turned out to be.

 

The 6-foot-4 right-hander lunged for a high-bouncing grounder off the bat of Miguel Cairo, only to have it skip off his glove and land on the grass behind the mound. As Trachsel scrambled after it, he twisted his body and appeared to have injured himself, either with a flare-up of a herniated disk he suffered earlier this season, or a tight right groin, from which he has been suffering the past two weeks. A trainer rushed to the mound, followed by Randolph, and Trachsel was relieved by Aaron Heilman.

 

But, like Wagner, Trachsel (7-4) said after the game that he felt fine and nothing was serious.

 

"[The groin has been] tight for the past couple of weeks, but it hasn't bothered me to the point where I can't pitch," said Trachsel, who picked up his fifth win in a row. "I've been pitching well, so I guess it isn't that bad."

 

The tall righty said he felt it a bit when he jumped for the ball and jokingly said maybe it would be better to not do such a thing anymore.

 

In his six-plus innings of work, Trachsel allowed seven hits and two runs, with four walks and three strikeouts. He threw 104 pitches, 59 for strikes, in helping the Mets break their four-game losing streak.

 

The Mets have now won seven of the last eight times that Trachsel has started. Whether it's coincidental or not, he said the run support has given him the leeway to pitch more aggressively.

 

"We've been hitting very well and, in this game, it gave me a cushion to attack the zone and pitch across the plate more, instead of just on the corners," said Trachsel, who has received 7.7 runs per game from the Mets' offense in his last eight starts. "It's definitely important to being able to go after hitters early and often throughout the count."

[Blue Jeans]

Not so concerned about Trachs... he did do good yesterday, which is fantastic. But I was a lot more concerned about Wags-- his ankle is such a big part of his delivery and with it sore we might have not seen him for a while.