Skip to main content

Taking It's Stole

I've been wanting to write an ode to the stolen base for the last week or so, since the Mets have been thefting with such regularity recently, and today seems like a good time to do so. (Cap-tip, as per usual, to Baseball-Reference.com). The Mets had a franchise-record tying stolen base streak snapped at 11 games with Monday's loss to the Phillies.

Those who have read my previous tributes to the walk, the double, the slow Met, and to the ball which you can't tell is fair or foul ("chalk-off"), will hopefully garner an appreciation from some of these nuggets.

* Jose Reyes holds the Mets record for steals in a season with 71 (and counting). Mookie Wilson's club record of 281 figures to go down next season.

* The most steals by a Met in a season without getting caught is 21, by Kevin McReynolds in 1988. Manny Alexander's 11 in 1997 rank second. In fact, Manny holds the Mets career mark for steals without getting caught, with 11.

* Vince Coleman and Roger Cedeno share the club record for steals in a game with 4, and I'm not particularly fond of either, so I have nothing more to say about that. But 14 different Mets have had at least three steals in a game (Jose Reyes has done it the most, 6 times). There's only one odd name on that list: Tim Harkness, who had 3 of his 7 career stolen bases in a 6-3 win over the Phillies on September 9, 1963 .

* The first stolen base in Mets history was by Richie Ashburn, in the Mets 12th game of the 1962 season, on April 25, against the Reds.

* W-L records when certain players stole a base

Mookie Wilson: 145-104

Vince Coleman: 27-50

Just saying...

* The 2007 Mets set the club record for steals, with 169 and counting. That broke the mark of 157 previously set by the 1987 squad. The fewest steals in a non-strike season is 27, surprisingly by the 1973 NL East champion Mets.

* The 2007 Mets have succeeded on an astounding 82.8% of their steal attempts, which could be the best mark in club history (the 2004 team succeeded 82.3% of the time). Amazingly, three Mets teams were successful less than half the time- 1963 (41 for 93), 1965 (28 for 70) and 1994 (25 for 51)

* If you want to guarantee yourself a Mets victory, attend a game in which a pitcher steals a base. The Mets haven't lost a game in which a pitcher stole a base since 1970. They've won the last 11 games in which the pitcher has pilfered, including the three most recent by Orlando Hernandez. I am somewhat chagrined to report that the Mets have never had a pitcher steal a base in a walk-off win, but that seems like a forgiveable offense.

* On the subject of Mets pitcher's stolen bases, here's a great potential AFLAC trivia question...Only two Mets starting pitchers have stolen a base and combined on a shutout in the same game. One is Orlando Hernandez. Who's the other? Kudos, if you knew it was Sid Fernandez, who stole a base and pitched eight shutout innings in an 8-0 win over the Phillies on April 20, 1986.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 'Duca of Earl (and walk-offs)

If I told you that the Mets had just obtained a guy who is a career .316 hitter with runners in scoring position? How about if I told you that the Mets just traded for a hitter who has consistently ranked among the toughest in baseball to strike out? Or if I mentioned that the Mets just dealt for a player who was selected to the NL All-Star team the last three seasons, with the last honor coming via a vote by his peers? So, although he's on the down side age wise, his throwing arm isn't as good as it used to be, and he doesn't provide much power, there are a lot of good things that Paul Lo Duca brings to the New York Mets. For example: He'll sacrifice his body for the good of the team The Dodgers and Braves squared off on August 23, 2002 and Lo Duca made an impact both on the start and finish of this game. Three pitches after being dusted by Greg Maddux, Lo Duca made him pay with a first-inning home run. The Braves rallied to tie the game, 3-3 in the ninth, but their bu...
8 comments
Read more

The best Mets ejections I know

When you think of the Mets and famous ejections, I'm guessing you first think of the famous Bobby Valentine mustache game, when after Valentine got tossed, he returned to the dugout in disguise. You know it. You love it. I remember being amused when I asked Bobby V about it while we were working on Baseball Tonight, how he simply said "It worked. We won the game." (true) But the Bobby V mustache game of June 9, 1999 is one of many, many memorable Mets ejection stories. And now thanks to Retrosheet and the magic of Newspapers.com , we have a convenient means for being able to share them. Ever since Retrosheet's David Smith recently announced that the Retrosheet ejection database was posted online , I've been a kid in a candy store. I've organized the data and done some lookups of media coverage around the games that interested me post. Those newspaper accounts fill in a lot of blanks. Without further ado (and with more work to do), here are some of my findings ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Green Party

* Mets walk-off win #347 was the Mets 6th this season, against no defeats. This is the first time in Mets history that they've started a season with at least 6 walk-off wins before their first walk-off defeat. * It was Shawn Green's 2nd career walk-off home run, his first since September 20, 2001, when he homered in the 13th inning to beat Greg Swindell and the Diamondbacks, 3-2. It was the second walk-off home run allowed by Russ Springer, but his first since April 11, 2000, when Ed Sprague and the Padres beat him with a 13th inning home run. It was the first home run that Springer allowed all season. * This is the 5th time in Mets history that they've had as few as 3 hits and won a game in walk-off fashion. The last was June 28, 1998, when they had 3 hits and beat the Yankees 2-1 on Luis Lopez's sacrifice fly (the game where Brian McRae nearly cost the Mets the winning run by wandering aimlessly off first base on the SF). The fewest Mets hits in a Mets walk-off win is...
9 comments
Read more