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02/27/2008: "Who Says They Don't Count?"

Baseball players as a whole are a little different - big boys playing little boys games, and sometimes they really act like it. But even among the players some stand out - particularly the closers. It takes a pretty special mindset to go out night after night with the game on the line and nothing but a fastball to defend yourself with. You could understand if they ended up a little ... odd.

Billy Wagner is the closer for the New York Mets. This is the first week of spring training, and teams are playing against college squads as they warm themselves up and prepare for major league opponents. Wagner was pitching for the Mets against the University of Michigan team when one of the college kids broke an "unwritten rule" - and Wagner didn't take kindly to it.

Forget the Phillies. Billy Wagner nearly started a beanball war with the University of Michigan after one overzealous Wolverine tried to bunt on him in the fourth inning. With a runner on second and one out, centerfielder Kevin Cislo pushed his bunt foul.

Wagner, clearly annoyed, shook his head a number of times, and Cislo wisely swung away, grounding out. Wagner said he couldn't believe that Cislo, a junior, bunted.

"If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy," Wagner said. "Play to win against Villanova."

The game was obviously just a tuneup for the Mets, and Wagner was thinking the college kids should just be happy to be there, I guess. But if I was on a college team facing major leaguers - and knowing there are major league scouts in the stand - you can bet your ass I'd give it all I could. If nothing else, they're gonna remember Cislo's name - although not as much as they might have had Wagner put one in his earhole ...