Hawkins was asked about the controversy surrounding Valdespin's recent hit by pitch against the Pirates. Valdespin hit a home run with the team down by six runs and celebrated a little too much. The following day, manager Terry Collins pinch hit Valdespin expecting him to be hit by a pitch.

Hawkins couldn't defend his teammate, saying "he showed absolutely no respect. If you're going to pimp it, you're going to suffer the consequences." Hawkins added, "I have no problem defending my teammates, but some things, you just can't defend against."

Valdespin is hitting .235/.297/.426 in 68 at-bats.

Hawkins entered in the eighth inning with a 2-1 lead and allowed a solo home run by Pedro Alvarez to tie the game. He shut the Pirates down otherwise, striking out two batters and walking none. His ERA rose to 3.00, as he allowed a run for the first time in 12 outings.  

The 40-year-old tossed 42 innings with the Angels last season and posted a 3.64 ERA and a 4.48 FIP. He’s expected to fill a set-up role with the Mets. 

“I think we have a little more confidence in the bullpen than we had toward the end of spring training last year,” Alderson said. “It’s all about performance in the regular season, but it seems that we have a better assortment of veteran arms and we’ve got several pitchers from both the right and left side coming up through the system to give us a lot more depth and are competing for a spot in the bullpen, so that’s a very different situation than we had last year.”