Pizza, Teens, Urine Update



Thanks to Newsday's David Lennon, more details have emerged about Karim Garcia's inability to hold it in.

Karim Garcia allegedly started Thursday's ugliness by urinating in a parking lot and Shane Spencer was accused of escalating the shouting match with his tackling of a pizza deliveryman.

But Mets general manager Jim Duquette was the one apologizing for his players' behavior yesterday as he announced the team has completed its investigation of the matter.

Duquette said he apologized to the owners of Big Apple Pizza, the restaurant involved in the melee, and a person familiar with the situation said the players will be fined $500 each.

"We feel we're at a point where we can put this behind us," Duquette said after the Mets' 6-2 loss to the Dodgers at Tradition Field. "We talked to both players and we're dealing with it in an appropriate fashion."

Garcia refused comment, but Spencer was defiant about his portrayal in Thursday's chain of events, saying he "ended up being a real bad person."

Eyewitnesses said Spencer and Garcia jumped out of a cream-colored Hummer and charged deliveryman Eric Vidal, with Spencer tackling him into a row of bushes. Spencer has denied hitting Vidal, but one of Vidal's co-workers, Walter Bandyk, said that statement is ridiculous.

Bandyk, an assistant manager, said Vidal is under a gag order issued by his bosses as a condition of the Mets' apology, but Bandyk laughed when told of Spencer's account.

"They should see the guy scarred up back there," Bandyk said, referring to Vidal. "But this is how the world turns. I've got 15 people here that say he did it and they have just one saying he didn't do it."

Bandyk also was annoyed that Garcia and Spencer did not apologize personally to the workers at Big Apple Pizza.

"It's like their mommy and daddy apologizing for them," Bandyk said. "What they did happened in front of this store and they can't come down here themselves? That would be professional to go out and do something like that. I'm in the pizza business, and I know that much."

If the alternative weren't Roger Cedeno playing everyday, I'd love to see these ex-Yankees cut immediately. But seeing as that would be the alternative, let's accept their apology and hope they use better judgement the next time they get drunk, piss in a parking lot and beat up teenagers.

In other news, Garcia had a stand up double in yesterday's 6-2 loss to Los Angeles. I've spend about 20 minutes trying to think of some analogy about pissing while sitting vs. standing but since you can't really urinate while sliding, I'll just give up. Cliff Floyd hit a solo home run for the Mets, his first of the spring, and losing pitcher Pedro Feliciano was refered to as "Jose" no fewer than three times during WFAN's broadcast. Jose Lima, trying to get a job with the Dodgers, gave up an earned run on two hits while striking out two in two innings of work.

Posted: Sun - March 7, 2004 at 06:17 AM      

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