PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Kaz Matsui stepped into the batter's box precisely at 1:20 p.m. ET on Monday and wasted little time getting acquainted with Major League pitching. He swung at Jeff Suppan's first offering, sending a vicious line-drive into the bleachers along the right-field line at Tradition Field. Matsui would see four pitches that first at-bat, eventually popping out in foul territory just in front of the visiting dugout. The confrontation lasted less than two minutes and had no bearing in New York's 6-4 victory over St. Louis. Yet, it signaled the beginning of a new era for the Mets, one that was delayed eight days while Matsui continues to recover from a lacerated fingertip on his right hand. The switch-hitting Matsui served as the designated hitter Monday, relegated to batting left-handed until his finger is sufficiently healed. Yet the buzz he created before and during the game was exactly what the Mets were hoping for when they signed the Japanese star in December. "It was great," Matsui said. "I was a little nervous here and there. But my name was called in the stands and the fans reacted and I was grateful. After I came back to the dugout, even before I went up for that first at-bat, people were wishing me good luck. They [his teammates] gave me a lot of pep talks." Matsui would step to the plate again in the third inning, 36 minutes after his first at-bat ended. This time he worked Suppan to a 2-2 count before lining out to second. The Cardinals eventually brought in left-hander Chris Narveson, ending Matsui's day. "Obviously the second at-bat, I had better timing," Matsui said. "But I went up there [prior to the first at-bat] thinking the first good pitch I'm going to attack. I had that planned. I think of myself as typically a first pitch kind of guy. But today was special. I was happy in the box." Suppan didn't seem surprised that Matsui was so aggressive. "He looks to me, wherever I was trying to go, like he was making contact, " Suppan said. "I know it's the same tendency with [Seattle's] Ichiro [Suzuki]. The few pitches that I threw him, there's a similarity in that where I'm throwing it, he's putting the bat there." The Mets had to petition the Commissioner's office and get permission from the Cardinals in order to use Matsui as the designated hitter. He will be the designated hitter again Tuesday when the Mets face the Marlins at Tradition Field. However, Matsui won't start because the Fish have lefty Darren Oliver starting. Manager Art Howe will also use Matsui as a designated hitter in a 'B' game Wednesday morning against the Cardinals in Jupiter, but there is no timetable for when he will get out on the field or bat right-handed. "We're not in a rush," Howe said. "We're still quite a ways from him throwing the ball like he has to. Defensively I don't see a problem there, though." Matsui said his finger is getting better each day. He says he's eager to show people how hard he can throw the ball and how he plays defensively, but isn't putting a time frame on his return. Though there is less than a month before the regular season begins, Matsui says he isn't concerned, adding that there is plenty of time for him to make any of the necessary defensive adjustments. And like Howe, he's also not putting a timetable on when he'll be able to bat right-handed. "The tip of my finger, when I make contact, stings sometimes," Matsui said of batting right-handed. "It's getting better gradually, and gradually my swing is coming back to me. It's difficult to say when, though. Sometime soon." It would be difficult to imagine Matsui causing more of a stir, though, than he did on Monday. The nearly two-dozen members of the Japanese media that are in Port St. Lucie covering him were at the park early, even videotaping the lineup card with his name on it that Howe had posted in the clubhouse. Some of them even argued about who would get to position their cameras in the prime locations around Tradition Field. It made for an interesting afternoon, one that Matsui says he won't forget. At least until Opening Day comes along -- ︵︵︵ ※ 料理东西军 ※ ︵︵︵ ◤ ◥ ЖayengЖ (_ _) ＼＼ ／/ (_ _) 今晚你要选哪边 /\ |____| /\ ＼╳ ／ / /\ |____| /\ ◣ ◢ \_\ (′Д‵) /_/ ╳＼/ \_\ (′Д‵) /_/ ◢ 按m加入我的最爱 \/|_关_|\/ ／ ＼ \/|_三_|\/ 分类讨论区→视听剧场→ | | | | TV-Set→Entertain→Dochii --

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