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Opening Day Minutiae, 2007 edition

Let's get some of this stuff out of the way now, if you don't mind...we might revisit the topic again, but while it's fresh on my mind, let's make sure you're prepared for Sunday with an initial burst of knowledge.

* The Mets are 28-17 on Opening Day all-time, and that's after an 0-8 start, so we're looking at a nice 28-of-37 run.. Their first Opening Day win came in 1970, and their most recent Opening Day win came in 2006.

* The Mets have alternated wins and losses in their last 5 Opening Days and not to alarm you, but if the streak continues, they're due to lose on Sunday.

* The Mets are 11-9 all-time on the road on Opening Day (counting Tokyo as a neutral site), having lost 4 of their last 6 road Opening Day affairs.

* The Mets are 4-2 against the Cardinals in Opening Day games, with the wins coming in their last four Opening Day meetings (1985, 1989, 1992 and 1996). The losses came in their first two Opening Days- 1962 and 1963, by a combined score of 18-4.

* The Mets are 1-1 in St. Louis on Opening Day and this will be the third different Busch Stadium ballpark in which they've played an Opening Day game. The loss came in 1962. The win came in 1992.

* Only once have the Mets opened against a defending World Series champion. That was in 1972 when they beat the champion Pirates, 4-0, behind Tom Seaver, at Shea Stadium.

* The next run the Mets score will be their 200th Opening Day run. They have scored 199 runs in 45 Opening Days. They have actually been outscored, 203-199, or by an average of 4.5 to 4.4.

* The Mets have only been shut out on Opening Day once, and it was by the Cardinals (7-0 in 1963). They have thrown 6 Opening Day shutouts, with the most recent coming over 14 innings against the Phillies in 1998 (1-0).

* The most runs the Mets have scored on Opening Day is 12 (1994 vs Cubs). The most they've allowed is 15 (welcome to New York, Art Howe, 2003 vs Cubs)

* Tom Seaver went 6-0 for the Mets in Opening Day games. Dwight Gooden went 6-1. Roger Craig and Al Jackson each went 0-2.

* The Mets have won via walk-off on Opening Day twice (1985 and 1998) and lost via walk-off on Opening Day four times (1968, 1974, 1995, and 2005).
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