Lima Time is Up
If you haven’t heard already, former Mets pitcher Jose Lima passed away this morning at the age of 37. According to his wife, “Lima Time” died of a sudden heart attack at his home in Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife and five children.
Lima’s MLB career ended after compiling an 0-4 record and 9.84 ERA in 4 starts for the Mets in 2006.
Kind of weird and creepy that two days from now will be the second anniversary of the death of Geremi Gonzalez — who made 3 similarly horrendous spot starts for the Mets that same season. Gonzalez died after being struck by lightning in Venezuela on May 25th, 2008.
Just to creep you out a bit more, the picture to the left is of Gonzalez greeting Lima during spring training in Port St. Lucie in February 2006 (FYI I found the photo on the Mets blog “Can’t Stop the Bleeding“).
About the Author
A Mets fan since birth, Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Oh, and he's often a bit cranky.
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In 2006 I had the opportunity to head south for some ST games. I followed the Mets for a five day strech. In Jupiter I sat along the left field fence in the bleachers. As players came out of the game I would clap for them and I got a few to come over and sign a ball that had been thrown to me earlier by Beltran. I even caught Kaz Matsui checking out the game from left field(wrist surgery) and he came over. Anyway Jose was sitting along the side in left field and I strated welcoming him to the Mets. He tipped his hat to me and then he literally walked out of the field and came over and signed my ball and then went back around again. He didnt have to do that and I will never forget that moment.
On a side note Glavine was coming out of the game in the fourth and he walked right past where I was the only one there and told me he had to go ice his arm. I hated him as a Brave and hated me having to root for him for four years… This two minutes sealed the deal.