Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

In the vast swath that covers the entire history of major league baseball, newest Met Aaron Sele holds the distinction of having the most wins for any pitcher with an ERA equal or higher to his. Sele has a 4.59 ERA yet has somehow amassed 145 career victories. If you wanted to call him the Worst Good Pitcher in baseball history, I wouldn't have a problem with that. But we won't yet put him on "The Tidrow List" , not until we see his body of work anyway. You never know. He might end up starting in Game 7 of the 2007 World Series, although his current postseason mark of 0-6 would make us a little nervous come October (offset slightly by a 19-9 record in interleague competition). One memo I'd write to Willie Randolph is to not let Sele (or Guillermo Mota for that matter) face Scott Spiezio because Spiezio is 18-for-36 against him. Basically, he's a poor man's Steve Trachsel. In four of Sele's eight wins as a starter last season, his team proffered up 10 o

This whole Willie Randolph contract "dispute" turned out to be much ado about nothing, eh? While some newspaper columnists were panicking or taking issue with the pace of the negotiations, I never had any worries about Randolph's future status. This is the best job that Randolph might ever have and I couldn't see a scenario in which he chose to walk away from running a team in the city in which he grew up. Besides, Willie has only "walked off" the job once in his career, and I couldn't see him doing that now. I'm referring to the Yankees-Red Sox clash of August 16, 1985. Boston carried a 4-3 lead into the last of the 9th, but the Red Sox of that time lacked an established closer (as does the current squad) and couldn't finish this one out. Ron Hassey led off the final regulation frame for the Yankees with a single. Randolph, batting in the 7th spot in the lineup, did his job, bunting pinch-runner Billy Sample to second base. Mike Pagliarulo follo

The answers to our Tom Glavine-themed trivia quiz of June 22, 2007 http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/06/our-special-bonds-nibbler-questions.html 1- Andy Benes , whom many forget posted the only Cardinals win in the 2000 NLCS, allowed 6 hits to Glavine in 22 at bats during his illustrious career. His 116 losses in the 1990s are the most among any pitcher. 2- Kevin Mitchell owned Tom Glavine, to the tune of a .356 batting average with 5 home runs, 12 RBI and 10 walks in 45 at bats. 3- The opposing starter that day of Glavine's debut was former Met Mike Scott . The lone future Met in the lineup was rightfielder Kevin Bass . 4- It would seem natural to guess plunkmaster Craig Biggio (283 career HBP, 4 shy of the MLB record) , whom Glavine has never hit with a pitch (in 113 plate appearances), but the correct answer is actually Barry Bonds . 5- Somehow the Mets beat the Braves 9-7 that day without getting any RBI from either Edgardo Alfonzo, John Olerud or Bernard Gilkey (2 thru 4

Within the span of 48 hours this weekend, I got e-mails from two different high school acquaintances, both now attorneys, indicating that they were relocating. Eddie Lieber, whom I had lost touch with for a long time, is returning to New York after a brief respite in San Antonio. Jeff Piroozshad, based in Miami for a stretch, has moved to California, where he'll be toiling for the Upper Deck baseball card company. I bring this up because I'm hurting for something to write about in the short term, and their e-mails provided an inspiration. Jeff, Eddie, and I once attended an otherwise-forgettable Mets walk-off win just prior to the start of our time in college. Jeff and Eddie were classmates and members of my fantasy sports leagues. We also played in a computer baseball league utilizing the now-antique"Earl Weaver Baseball" and to this day, many of us are still convinced that Eddie cheated (his record was something like 75-5 when we were all struggling at .500), though