El Duque gave everyone a scare when he felt a little cramp in his hamstring as he was running to first base on a sacrifice in the fourth inning. Even though the cramp quickly went away, Willie Randolph removed him from the game "as a precaution." Herndandez was a bit edgy when talking to reporters after the game, wanting to talk more about his arm than his hamstring. "I feel good. I'm feeling better than my last start," he said. He threw 61 pitches in four innings, allowing three hits and two runs. Ten of the 12 outs he recorded were on fly balls, but he wasn't concerned about it. Randolph said El Duque will make his next spring training start on schedule.
A highlight of Hernandez's outing was a first-inning changeup -- an "eephus-like" pitch -- that caught Albert Pujols off balance and got the Cardinals' slugger to pop to short. "The times I've seen him throw it, he's gotten guys out," Randolph said. "The art of deceptions is a part of pitching."
Jose Reyes hits his team-high fourth homer of the spring, but the Mets lost to the Cardinals, 5-4, to fall to 6-14-1.
That's it for Zog's Log from Florida. I head back to New York on Monday. I'll talk to you next on Opening Day. Thanks for reading and writing.