Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Though still seething over the events of Wednesday evening, there was a rather pleasant recover on Thursday afternoon, and the train ride/drive home from Shea allowed me to gather my thoughts and convey them here. * On Wednesday, Jose Reyes became the 9th Met to hit for the cycle. He became the first to do so in a Mets loss. * Reyes is the first Met to hit for the cycle at home since John Olerud (September 11, 1997 vs Expos). He is the 4th Met to hit for the cycle at home (Jim Hickman, Tommie Agee and John Olerud). The Mets have never had a walk-off win and cycle in the same game. Interesting to note that the only visitor to hit for the cycle at Shea is Wes Parker (May 7, vs Dodgers) and he drove in the go-ahead runs that day with a 10th inning triple. * Reyes became the 2nd Mets shortstop to hit for the cycle, joining Mike Phillips (June 25, 1976 at Cubs). He became the 4th leadoff Met to hit for the cycle (Jim Hickman, August 7, 1963 vs Cardinals, Tommie Agee, July 6, 1970 vs Cardina...

Steve Trachsel's home run on Tuesday reminded me of the last time a Mets pitcher homered, and if you're visiting this site, chances are, you remember it well. It seems appropriate, given that The Vandal is pitching for the Astros on Thursday night, to re-run, or actually give a first run to an unpublished work I put together a few years ago. Originally written sometime after June 15, 2002 We know what was really troubling you last Saturday, Mr. Shawn Estes. We could tell by the look on your face when the questions started coming. “Here we go…” you said. “I get to talk about my offense now.” Well Shawn, no offense, but with all the talk and hoopla surrounding your pitching matchup with Roger Clemens, we ignored what you’ve brought with your bat to this point in the season. No offense. This group of Mets pitchers is particularly pathetic at the plate. Al Leiter, even with his two-hit game against the Twins, still gets standing ovations for hitting the...

OK, in the words of Phil Mickelson "I'm such an idiot." For some reason, I thought he went from 1-ahead to 2-behind when he actually went from 1-ahead to 1-behind...Oh well, still a good piece... I'm not a big golf follower and I think it has something to do with the fact that I don't like wearing collared shirts, but it was hard to avoid media coverage of Phil Mickelson's Gak-Off at the U.S. Open on Saturday. Not having a real firm grasp on what constitues " major gak " in the world of golf, I wondered what some comparable moments would be in other sports. WFAN's Mike Francesa compared it to Ernest Byner's fumble for the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Championship against the Broncos a few years back. I asked aloud if the baseball equivalent would be that of Game 7 of the Yankees-Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series, in which the infallible Mariano Rivera yielded two runs in the ninth inning to give Arizona the championship. A colleague told m...

It seemed in bad taste to write about the goathood of a baseball father, on Sunday, so out of respect, I waited a day, and given who's in town, it seemed much more appropriate to pen this tale today. I speak, or in this case, I blog, of July 1, 1990, a day in which rain interrupted the proceedings in Flushing and perhaps the remnants interrupted a throw at a rather crucial moment. The Mets were as hot as the projected New York weather these next few days, having won 20 of 24 under new skipper Bud Harrelson. The Reds would go on to win the World Series, so it's not stunning that this was a pretty good matchup between Ron Darling and Danny Jackson. The Reds had won the previous day, with the key hit being a two-run double by Joe Oliver, who threw a little twist in this matter in the top of the 9th inning. With the Mets leading by a run and John Franco trying to close the game out, Oliver ripped a game-tying one-out double. Franco escaped the jam, but we went to the bottom of the...

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/fatherson-walk-off-memory.html This is one of my favorites from last year...enjoy...