Wagner still seeking baseball's ultimate goal

TAZEWELL, Va. — Billy Wagner will begin his 14th season of Major League baseball Wednesday when spring training for the New York Mets opens in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

The ultimate goal remains the same.

“It’s just to stay healthy and help our team to reach its goal,” Wagner said. “I’m to the point now where the ring ... it would be really nice to have something to show for 15 or 16 years of work.”

The 36-year-old Wagner has done it all in baseball. As one of the best closers in the game, the hard-throwing southpaw from Tannersville is a five-time All-Star and seventh on the all-time list with 358 saves.

Yet, the World Series still remains a dream. He’d like that to change. Soon.

“We’ve got the team. We’ve got a great offense and a great defense, we’ve got some serious pitching potential so I think the Mets organization has given us every opportunity to be successful,” Wagner said. “It’s just up to us, it’s a lot of hard work involved and we can’t get caught up in the expectations and how many games we should win.

“At the end of the year, you want to be the only team standing.”

Wagner, a 1990 Tazewell High School graduate and a first round draft choice by the Houston Astros out of Ferrum in ‘93, was back home last Friday to assist in the opening of the Second Chance Learning Center, the second such facility that’s opened in Tazewell County since 2005.

He couldn’t stay long, with spring training opening this week. Unlike the rookies trying to earn a job, Wagner is an established veteran. Yet, he still gets excited about returning to work.

“I think you get used to it, but I still have to check myself,” Wagner said. “I’ve been doing this a long time and coming from Southwest Virginia, I never thought I would really do much. I feel like when I go to camp I represent a lot of people that have supported me.

“I get excited. I still have the same expectations on myself as when I first got drafted and I was young enough to go out and do a lot of the things that I can’t do now. I’m still excited about going out there and competing.”

Especially this year. Wagner’s job is finish what the starters begin. Those starters got better when the Mets added Johan Santana to a rotation that will also include a healthy Pedro Martinez and 15-game winners John Maine and Oliver Perez.

“When you get a Johan and you make that big trade, each year gets a little bit more exciting,” Wagner said. “As a veteran you know the routine, it’s the same old same old and you know what it takes to get yourself ready.

“When you get that new player, that superstar player, you’re excited about going into camp and being around them and seeing who they are and getting to know those guys. That makes it a little bit more fun going into spring training.”

The Mets have much to prove this season. New York dominated the National League East most of 2007, overtaking the Braves for the lead on May 16 and still held a 2 1/2 game advantage on Sept. 23. Still, Wagner questioned how good they really were.

“Honestly, we were never really that good, we were lucky, we had a good team, but we never really had that killer instinct,” said Wagner, entering his third season in New York after nine years in Houston and two with Philadelphia. “We never had that desire we had that first year I was in New York and it showed in how lackluster we played.

“You can’t turn it on and turn it off during a season, you’ve got to play the whole thing out.”

That didn’t happen. Over the last seven games, the Mets finished 1-6 — including a four-game sweep by the Nationals at Shea Stadium. The surging Phillies caught New York and won the division, while the Mets’ 88-74 record wasn’t good enough to qualify for the playoffs.

“We were just not a very good team, even though the names on the picture said we should be, we just weren’t,” said Wagner, who needs nine saves to pass Jeff Reardon for sixth on the all-time list. “A lot of us, including myself, have a lot to work towards and for to get past last year because that is going to be a question we hear all the way from spring training on to the end of September. We have a lot to atone for.”

The Mets were hampered all season by injuries, with only five regulars playing 100 games. Slugger Carlos Delgado played through the pain, but didn’t produce as expected, while Martinez only pitched in five games.

“The thing about Carlos that was amazing is he never took the day off, he never complained, he never said he was hurt, he went out there and battled and competed,” Wagner said. “You tip you hat to the guy that goes out there and competes and battles.

“He didn’t have his normal year and you know what, the New York fans were all over him, but he stayed his course and stayed positive and I expect him to have a great year this year.”

Wagner added about Martinez: “Pedro has gotten older, but I think he will be just as dominating, maybe not as gaudy with his stats, but he’ll be just as competitive and hitters won’t want to be out there facing him. I think he’ll be primed for a really good year.”

“I’m excited, there’s a lot of us that did have so-so years, but in a year when you had a lot of competitive teams, you can’t have so-so years. We’ve got a lot of talent, we still have to live up to it, but we’ve got a great opportunity.”

Wagner had his usual solid campaign, finished 2-2 with 34 saves with a 2.63 earned run average. During his career, the 5-foot-10 Wagner has reached at least 30 saves eight times. He’s posted a 39-36 record and has fanned an amazing 1,014 batters in just 771 innings on the mound.

Yet, he doesn’t enter any season with numbers in mind.

“Just to stay healthy, if I’m healthy I can compete and do my job and help my team, that’s all I ever really want,” Wagner said. “You can’t go out there and say I’d like to get 40 saves, or I’d like to do this or do that because you have to deal with the opportunities that you’re given.

“You want to take advantage of the opportunities. If you get 34 opportunities, you want to get 34 saves to help your team.”

Having been around professional baseball for so long, Wagner is used to the pressures of being an athlete. Being in New York magnifies those expectations, but that just pushes him to be the best.

“The pressure is what you put on yourself...,” Wagner said. “The pressure of competing is always there, you can’t really get caught up in it.

“New York is one of the greatest places in the world to play and that’s why it’s fun. It’s nerve-whacking. When you get out there you want to get the save, but it’s not because if you don’t, the fans are going to get on you.

“You expect more out of yourself in that arena and that’s why, to me, it’s so much fun to compete at that New York level.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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