Marlon Byrd predicts to teammate he’ll hit two home runs, then hits them

Marlon Byrd of the New York Mets saw his own future Wednesday night, predicting he would hit two home runs against the Washington Nationals.

Byrd went deep in the second and third innings, respectively, and for his sixth career game with multiple home runs. Byrd said he told teammate Anthony Recker about his vision during batting practice and Recker confirmed it after the Mets 10-1 thumping of Washington.

Byrd really had called his shots. Since "Medium" is taken, let's call Byrd the "Long Island Large." The New York Post has the details:

“I was feeling good in B.P. and I was joking around with [Recker],” Byrd said. “I said, ‘Hey, if I get some pitches tonight, get some strikes, I’m going to hit two home runs tonight.’ I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

But Recker said Byrd’s prediction wasn’t a joke.

"He was dead serious,” Recker said. “And he did it. That’s amazing to me. He called it. You don’t see that very often.”

Very often? Does he means it's happened before? Jeez, what else might be in those nutritional supplements Byrd used to get from BALCO founder Victor Conte? A little something to intensify your psychic antenna? Does the Basic Agreement with Major League Baseball test for a sixth sense like it does for centaurism? Is this how "X-Men" started?

Well, considering the troubles of Nats right-hander Dan Haren, maybe Byrd wasn't being a soothsayer so much as a sage.

Haren allowed five runs and seven hits (including a third homer by David Wright) against the Mets, his ERA ballooning to 5.45 in 12 starts this season. His 15 homers allowed leads the NL. So, in addition to Marlon the Prophet, credit Mets manager Terry Collins for being clairvoyant — or at least savvy — because Byrd wasn't even supposed to play. Collins decided against overloading his lineup with lefties against Haren, whose cutter makes him vulnerable against right-handed batters. Byrd also came in batting .321 against Haren.

Do the math, not drugs.

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