Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Answers to the quiz found here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/07/our-special-bonds-lucky-7s-questions.html 1) Current Long Island Ducks infielder Edgardo Alfonzo ranks 7th on the club's all-time list with 120 home runs, and yes, he never hit a walk-off home run. 2) I narrowed it down for you considerably by telling you it was a lefthander, and perhaps you divined that the correct choice is Jon Matlack and not Sid Fernandez. 3) Rusty Staub had his first Mets walk-off RBI in 1974 and his last in 1984. In between he had five others, giving him 7, one shy of the club record held by Kevin McReynolds 4) Clint Hurdle had the misfortune of being a Met in 1985 and 1987, but not 1986. He was with the Cardinals that season but, unlucky for him, was not with them during those other two campaigns. 5) Jerry Grote held the lucky spot in the Mets batting order more often than any of his teammates. 6) The unlikely combo of Howard Johnson (1992-93) and Roger Cedeno (2002-03) each had a p...

It was only two months ago that Mike Pelfrey did something he could never recall doing in his pitching career. The Binghamton Mets hurler failed to even get through the first inning, as he was pulled after just 39 pitches. The Mets had some folks in the stands watching, hoping that Pelfrey would show them something good and earn the call up that went to Alay Soler. Instead, what Pelfrey displayed was an arm in need of a little fine-tuning. He allowed two runs on three walks and two singles. The struggles weren't totally Pelfrey's fault. A two-out error by third baseman Jay Caliguiri kept the inning, then scoreless going, and Pelfrey came unglued afterwards. Those who made the trek to see Pelfrey pitch may have been disappointed, but they could only be pleased with the end result, a walk-off win. Caligiuri made up for his miscue with two RBI, the last a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 8th (the game was part of two on the day, and thus was scheduled for only seven inning...

( By the way, happy birthday to Willie Randolph, who turns 52 on Thursday) The closest walk-off equivalent I could find to Wednesday's unusual Mets win (1st inning: 5 runs, rest of way: no hits) was that which took place on June 25, 1991. That day, it looked like the Mets were en route to a rout, after scoring four times in the first inning against Dennis Martinez. Dave Magadan, the second batter of the game, homered, Hubie Brooks added a two-run single and Mackey Sasser closed out the rally with an RBI hit. With Dwight Gooden on the mound, that tally would surely be enough. Not so fast. Martinez, who a month later would throw a perfect game against the Dodgers, settled down rather nicely, allowing little the rest of the way, other than three harmless hits. He had entered the game having thrown 23 straight scoreless innings, and after that bump in the road, tossed 5 1/3 worth of zeroes. He was helped when Gooden had a John Maine-esque hiccup in the fifth after throwing shutout bal...

Entering Wednesday night, the Mets have beaten the Pirates 312 times, though Jim Tracy would surely argue that #312 was stolen from his team on Tuesday afternoon. Tracy's post-Chavez eruption was reminiscent of catcher Randy Hundley's outburst, circa September 1969, when Tommie Agee scored a critical run during a Mets-Cubs showdown. One of the reasons this post was delayed until late afternoon, Wednesday was because I spent a chunk of my day pondering similar such plays at the plate in Mets history. But rather than reminisce about being on the wrong end of Ray Fosse's phantom tag in the 1973 World Series, or other such matters, I figured that I'd instead try to write about another instance or two in which the Mets stole a ball game from the team whose name honors theft. Greg from " Faith and Fear" was quite helpful in offering up suggestions and I'll put one to good use here. He provided a brief summary of the July 31, 1983 Banner Day Doubl...

Of one of my favorite games http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/07/fireworks-knight.html and also the 30th anniversary for another... http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/05/feeling-thrown-off-by-what-just.html

Answers to the trivia quiz posted on July 3 http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/07/our-special-bonds-all-star-stuff.html 1) As per usual with most of these questions, the hint is in the wording. The answer is Bob (The Steamer) Stanley . 2) Duke Snider was the Mets only All-Star rep in 1963. 3) This is a hard one. How soon we forget Chan Ho Park . 4) Felix Millan is remembered fondly by most, including me, because at one baseball card show, he took the time to ask my name and chat with me briefly while we posed for a photo. I've never met Jim Fregosi but I know that most Mets fans would not recall him with any fondness whatsoever. 5) I was trying to come up with a list of players who you wouldn't think of as All-Stars from their Mets days, but who could have had one or two seasons that maybe merited selection. Rick Cerone could have been an All-Star in 1980 (.277 BA, 14 HR) but was not picked, the only one from that list never to make the All-Star team. 6) David Wright str...