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Showing posts from April 29, 2007

Julio Metchado

It's been nearly five years since the last time that Julio Franco both hit a home run and stole a base in the same game (June 24, 2002 against the Mets), so what he did in Friday's win over the Diamondbacks was a good while coming. But it's been more than 18 years since Franco last had a walk-off home run and a stolen base in the same game. In fact, in the career of a man who can say he's older than (Shea Stadium) dirt, such an instance has only happened once. The magic moments took place on April 28, 1989 when Franco, in a past life, was a member of the Rangers, facing the Red Sox. The stolen base was the easy part. That came in the first inning, against future Met catcher Rick Cerone. The home run was a little tougher in that it required the Rangers rallying from a 3-run deficit in the 8th inning against Bob Stanley and Lee Smith. Then, it needed for the game to get rather lengthy, which it did, stretching into the bottom of the 12th inning before Franco clubbed a 2

Diamond In The Rough

Last night's game would make a good addition to this list, compiled this past winter. In case you missed it, it's a summary of the best Mets wins against the Diamondbacks. http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/11/best-games-i-know-mets-vs-diamondbacks.html Working on a new version for another team this weekend...

The Walk-Off That Was

Regular readers may recall this tale, of "The Walk-Off That Wasn't," http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/walk-off-that-wasnt.html but today, I'm here to tell you the story of "The Walk-Off That Was." The anniversary of this is pertinent, since it took place on May 3, 1971, a game between the Mets and Cubs at Shea Stadium, which turned into a fine pitching duel between Ken Holtzman and Gary Gentry. It was a walk-off made possible by the events which took place in the top half of the 9th inning. The score was even to that point because the Cubs were able to tie it on a home run by Billy Williams off Gentry in the 8th inning, but unable to take the lead after subsequently loading the bases later in the frame. The last opportunity for the visitors in regulation commenced in the most frustrating of manners, with Gentry walking Holtzman before being pulled for Tug McGraw. Don Kessinger bunted but the Mets were unable to record an out, as second baseman Tim Fo

Odds and Endys

Wanted to share a few discoveries from a couple days worth of studying. With the help of Baseball-Reference.com , I compiled a list of all the times the Mets had gotten a game-tying RBI (but not a game-winner), down to their final out in either regulation or extra innings (regardless of home/road location). It's something that's already happened twice this season, so I figured it was worth looking into. * Julio Franco's hit in Washington on Saturday marked the 74th time in club history that it got a game-tying RBI with 2 outs in the 9th inning. It happened twice last season (Xavier Nady in an eventual loss to the Brewers on May 14th and Carlos Delgado in a win over the Marlins in Florida on September 13th). It's something that has happened as often as four times a season in Mets history (most recently in the very forgettable 2004 season), and last happened at home on May 18, 2004 against the Cardinals (Kaz Matsui tied it with a hit and then Cliff Floyd followed with a w