Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

I can remember a time when Brian Giles was a Met, beating the Padres in extra-inning walk-off fashion, rather than a Padre doing such to the Mets, as he did on Friday night. I'm referring of course to a Brian Giles of a different time (and race) than the one that plays now. That particular middle infielder looked a little like my childhood friend, Daniel Caraballo (or maybe Carabello, whose acquaintance I don't believe I've made in more than 20 years), and unfortunately if that's the best thing I can say about him, it tells you that he was a long way from having the talent of the outfielder who currently goes by that name. The baseball game that took place on September 3, 1983 bore some resemblance to that of the one that occurred this past Friday night. particularly in the quality of relief pitching. Jesse Orosco relieved Mets starter Tom Seaver in the seventh inning and allowed an inherited runner to score, tying the score at three. After that, the game turned into a

Good to see that David Wright got a chance to redeem himself in the field a day later... Click on the "Comments " section...if it's not up already, a post will be up in a bit (hopefully), by guest writer Barry Federovitch, about a player who got some nice walk-off redemption, way back when... I have errands to run today...but I'll have something new up in the next couple days.

Had David Wright homered in the bottom of the ninth inning of the Mets loss to Atlanta on Wednesday, it would have been grand redemption for his three miscues from earlier in the game. It would not have been unprecedented for a player to have had such a horrific game in the field only to make up for it with walk-off plate performance. While the Mets were struggling in putting the finishes on their NL East title in 1986, the Braves and Giants had a gathering at Candlestick Park that is highly regarded in walk-off lore. It took place on September 14, 1986 and was basically insignificant, but for this. In the fourth inning, then-Giants third baseman Bob Brenly made four (!) errors, allowing the Braves to send four men plateward for a 4-0 lead. Brenly somehow kept his composure in the field (it helped that only one ball was hit his way in the next three innings) and that carried over in his trips to the plate. In the fifth inning, his home run cut the lead to 4-1. In the seventh inning, Br

I hum a few bars of "The Mets Stiffo Rap," a tribute to mediocre Mets found here... http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/11/minutiae-break-mets-stiffo-rap.html and if that doesn't cure my blowout-loss blues, the Curly Shuffle does the trick just fine http://www.ilovewavs.com/comedy/Music/Misc/The%20Curly%20Shuffle.wav back with a new post on Thursday...

Metsblog visitors can go to http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com to see the rest of the site. It wasn't a walk-off, but it might as well have been. I'm referring both to Pedro Martinez's most recent victory and to his first one, which, as some of you may recall, took place against the Mets on May 5, 1993. For those who don't, well...that's why we're here. Pedro Martinez was the youngest player in the majors when he made the first of two appearances in September 1992. The Dodgers were the worst team in baseball that season, at 63-99, so there weren't as many paying notice to this highly-touted Dominican dandy, who in 1991 was The Sporting News Minor League Pitcher of the Year, but who dealt with injuries the following season. Martinez pitched two shutout innings in his lone relief appearance, than six in his lone start that season, taking the loss despite allowing only two tallies. When the season ended, he had anterior capsulolabral reconstruction performed on

I'm using Monday to update sections of my database, so let's go the "Metscellaneous" route for some quick-hitters... *Here's a link to an article offering a behind-the-scenes look at "Game 6, The Video Game Reenactment." Good stuff. Click here: Re-creating a classic - MLB - Yahoo! Sports *Albert Pujols hit 3 home runs, including a walk-off shot to beat the Reds yesterday. Last guy with three dingers and a walk-off HR in a game was Todd Hollandsworth (2001 Rockies). No Mets player has ever done that. Jim Beauchamp, Ed Charles , Jerry Buchek , Tim Harkness and Rico Brogna each have hit 2 HR in a game for the Mets, including a walk-off shot. * Javy Lopez and the Orioles were denied a home run when he and Miguel Tejada inadvertently crossed paths on the bases, when Tejada thought Darin Erstad had robbed Lopez of a home run. The folks at Retrosheet offer a nice list of basepath passings and "deprived" 'home runs ,' including Robin Ventura