Choate has waited an entire career for a walk like that - STLtoday.com
NEW YORK • When lefty Randy Choate came off the field having pitched a scoreless eighth inning, he reached down to pull some grass off his cleat. Choate shook it off and said he was fine. “I was pretty close to saying, ‘Oh, well, you know what, my foot does hurt,’” Choate recalled, laughing. In one of those moments that can only happen when the score is out of hand and the bullpen is out of gas, a pitcher who specializes in getting one at-bat a night from the mound took one at-bat at the plate – his first in 11 years. Borrowing a bat from starter Michael Wacha and batting gloves from Randal Grichuk , Chaote did hit third in the top of the ninth inning of the Cardinals’ 10-2 victory against the Mets at Citi Field. He did have his own batting helmet. Choate did what he had never done before in his career – much to the glee of his teammates. This was just the first time he wore that helmet on first base. “It was either let Seth (Maness) go up there,” manager Mike Matheny said. “Or let Randy have it. That was something that he won’t forget. A 15-year veteran making his 620th appearance in the majors as a reliever, Choate had five plate appearances before Tuesday night. He pledged to his teammates that he had no intention of taking a swing Tuesday against Mets reliever Jack Leathersich until he had two strikes. Source: www.stltoday.com
