Floyd’s Status Uncertain for NLCS
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Cliff Floyd limped into the Mets’ clubhouse yesterday with a protective boot on his injured left foot and made his best case to remain on the team’s roster in the NL championship series.
He left the rest up to manager Willie Randolph.
“It’s all right,” Floyd said after New York’s workout. “That’s all I got. … Whatever he says the lineup is going to be, it’s going to be.”
The Mets must make a decision on Floyd by the time they finalize their NLCS roster this morning, about 10 hours before Game 1 against St. Louis.
“He had a nice little workout,” Randolph said. “I’m optimistic it will work out fine. We have time to wait, see how he feels when he gets up tomorrow morning.
“We don’t anticipate any setbacks or anything like that, but might as well take the opportunity to wait and see before we make a decision on that,” he said.
Floyd had two stints on the disabled list this season for a sprained left ankle and left Achilles’ tendinitis. He re-injured his foot during Saturday’s firstround clincher at Los Angeles when he ran hard to score from first on a double.
If Floyd is unable to go, the Mets start super sub Endy Chavez in left field and add rookie Lastings Milledge or fellow outfielder Ricky Ledee to the roster.
Floyd ran the bases and worked out in the outfield as the team prepared for the NLCS opener. He favored his left leg during parts of the workout and was guarded about his condition afterward.
Floyd said his movement was “not great, but it hasn’t been great for a while.” He was asked if he could go in Game 1 and replied “anything’s possible.”
“It felt great swinging but the game is not just swinging,” he said.
Floyd was limited to 97 games this season, batting .244 with 11 home runs and 44 RBIs. He hit 34 homers in 2005.
He did well in the first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, going 4-for-9 with a homer and scoring three runs.
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OAKLAND, Calif. — Brandon Inge, Nate Robertson, and the Detroit Tigers are showing no signs of slowing down in the AL playoffs.
Inge hit a solo home run and RBI double from the bottom of the order, Ivan Rodriguez also homered, and Robertson pitched the Tigers past the Oakland Athletics 5-1 last night in Game 1 of the American League championship series.
The Tigers battered Barry Zito, turned four double plays, and once again relied on their flame-throwing relievers. Only one thing went wrong: Sean Casey, Detroit’s no. 3 hitter, left early because of an injured left calf.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series — a rematch of the 1972 ALCS — is tonight, with Oakland’s Esteban Loaiza facing Justin Verlander.
The A’s made mistakes resembling some of their blunders in four straight first-round losses from 2000-03 — not the clean, crisp defense they showed in the division series. They also went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.