Henderson Shows No Sign of Age for Mets

Rickey Henderson went four for four, with two home runs and two doubles, and scored four runs Wednesday night to lead the New York Mets to a 6-0 victory over the Florida Marlins at Miami.

It was the 10th two-homer game for Henderson, 40, and his first since July 22, 1993, for the Oakland Athletics against the Boston Red Sox.

“I’ve still got pop in the bat,” said Henderson, who struggled in spring training. “I knew my bat speed was still there.”

Henderson walked in the first inning, then led off the third with a 417-foot homer to dead center field. He doubled and scored in the fifth, doubled and scored in the seventh and hit a solo homer in the eighth.

“If anybody can carry a team from the leadoff spot, it’s him,” teammate Mike Piazza said.

Henderson, acquired during the Mets’ winter spending spree, improved his on-base percentage to .643 (nine for 14) in three games. He’s hitting .545 with a slugging percentage of 1.364.

“The guy has been a great player for a lot of years,” Marlin Manager John Boles said. “He still has power. He still has speed. He might be around when he’s 50.”

Henderson signed a one-year, $2.3-million contract last winter, then hit only .130 (seven for 54) in spring training.

“Maybe it shows that spring training statistics don’t necessarily mean anything,” Met Manager Bobby Valentine said. “He just worked on the things he knew he had to work on.”

San Francisco 8, Cincinnati 3--Stan Javier’s rare right-handed homer sparked a third consecutive eighth-inning rally, helping the Giants complete a three-game sweep at Cincinnati.

The Giants won all three games--their first such sweep in Cincinnati since 1993--by rallying in the eighth inning. Their seven-run outburst in the finale was the most stunning.

They had only one hit--Jeff Kent’s leadoff single in the seventh--against Steve Avery (0-1) and trailed, 2-0, heading into the eighth. Avery, who has not pitched a complete game since 1996, got the first two outs before walking pinch-hitter Ellis Burks.

The walk was Avery’s sixth of the game, tying his career high. Javier, who had not hit a homer from the right side since June 17, 1997, then pulled Avery’s 112th pitch to left field to tie the score.

Things quickly came apart for Cincinnati. F.P Santangelo had an infield single and Barry Bonds followed with a single to right field against reliever Dennis Reyes. Dmitri Young’s high return throw to the infield got loose, allowing Santangelo to score the tiebreaking run on an error.

Danny Graves then walked Kent and gave up a two-run double to Charlie Hayes, who won the opener for San Francisco with a three-run homer in the eighth. Rich Aurilia singled home another run and Scott Sullivan’s errant pickoff throw--Cincinnati’s second error of the inning--made the score 7-2 as the Giants sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.

St. Louis 4, Milwaukee 1--Fernando Tatis led the Cardinals at St. Louis with his second home run in two games, putting him one ahead of teammate Mark McGwire.

“For a little while, maybe,” Tatis said with a laugh.

McGwire, who homered on opening night in a 10-8 loss, was two for three with a walk and his run-scoring double against Steve Woodard (0-1) broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth. Tatis used McGwire’s signature home run move, a fake punch to the gut, on the 70-homer man after McGwire scored ahead of his drive over the left-field wall.

Chicago 9, Houston 2--Sammy Sosa got his first hit of the season for the Cubs and Glenallen Hill had four runs batted in, including a two-run homer, at Houston.

Sosa, who went 0 for four and struck out three times in Tuesday night’s opener, made his first hit of the season count with a blistering RBI double to deep left field in the third inning, tying the score at 1-1. Hill followed with a two-run single.

Sosa went one for three.

Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 0--John Smoltz pitched four-hit ball for seven innings, retiring his last 13 batters at Atlanta.

Smoltz (1-0) struck out eight and did not allow a runner past second base before leaving for a pinch-hitter. The right-hander didn’t walk a batter in opening the 1999 season the way he finished a year ago when he was 17-3 with a 2.90 earned-run average.

Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 3--Chris Widger’s grounder against a drawn-in infield drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning at Pittsburgh.

The Expos, taking two of three in the series, hadn’t had a hit since the fourth inning before Shane Andrews doubled to start the ninth against Rich Loiselle (0-1), the Pirates’ fifth pitcher.

After Orlando Merced walked, Manny Martinez bounced a grounder back to the mound. Loiselle hesitated slightly, costing him a play at either third or second, as the runners advanced. That allowed Andrews to score the go-ahead run from third when shortstop Abraham Nunez threw late to the plate on Widger’s grounder.

Andrews’ double was the Expos’ only hit in the final six innings.