PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. _ On the wrong end of two noteworthy defensive plays _ in the first inning alone _ Tim Tebow said Sunday he has gotten better at dealing with the seemingly random, game-of-inches aspects of baseball.
"It's part of the mental toughness," said Tebow, who is 0-for-4 with two lineouts in two games.
In the top of the first of the Mets' exhibition against the Astros, Tebow chased a fly ball into foul territory in left field. He dove into the Mets' bullpen area and initially appeared to catch it, but it was ruled a drop.
"I totally had it," Tebow said. "Somehow, in my tumbling of hitting whatever I hit _ the bleachers slash chairs and stuff _ it came out. I looked in my glove first and it wasn't there. I wanted it, too. I paid the price. I may as well come away with a catch."
In the bottom of the first, Tebow smacked a pitch deep to left-center field, a would-be extra-base hit and RBI. But the Astros' speedy center fielder, Myles Straw, laid out for the full-extension catch. (Last season, Straw stole 70 bases in 79 tries in the upper minors.)
"I thought I got it pretty good," Tebow said. "The wind being different today probably affected it and slowed it down a little bit. The good thing is in spring training _ obviously you want hits and doubles and to get it out, but more importantly it's your at-bats and trying to focus and improve. It takes away a little bit of the frustration from that."
