Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Seems like the right thing to do today is to pay tribute to 7/7/07 with a 7-question quiz devoted to that number. And we want to be a little more challenging than to ask questions about Jose Reyes or Dwight Gooden's total number of Mets home runs Answers can be found here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/07/our-special-bonds-lucky-7s-answers.html 1) The Met who ranks 7th on the club's all-time list in home runs never hit a walk-off home run for them. The six who rank above him in home runs all had walk-off home runs for the Mets. Name the Met whose career with the team featured 120 home runs. 2) The pitcher who ranks 7th on the club's all-time wins list pitched in parts of 7 seasons for the Mets. That he was a lefty and pitched in a Game 7 for the Mets should narrow down the list (it's not Oliver Perez!). Name the pitcher whose 82 Mets wins are one more than David Cone. 3) Only one player in club history has won 7 games with a walk-off RBI. My telling you that his...

I noticed an odd quirk in my database for which I don't really have a logical explanation and it pertains to the team the Mets are facing this weekend. If you go back to the teams that existed when the Mets came into being in 1962, the team against whom they've struggled most at getting walk-off wins against is the Astros. Consider this chart Mets Walk-Off Wins vs Opponent All-Time (including postseason) Dodgers 29 (266 home games played) Astros 19 (266 home games played) and this one Mets Walk-Off Wins vs Opponent All-Time (includes postseason) Astros 19 (266 home games played) Padres 19 (203 home games played) Does that make any sense to you? What I find even odder is that the Mets have 35 walk-off losses against the Astros (in 268 road games). If you break it down even further, you could look at this chart Mets vs Astros Walk-Off Wins Compared Mets 19 walk-off wins out of 139 home wins (1 out of every 7.3 wins is a walk-off) Astros 36 walk-off wins out of 165 home wins (1 ou...

I could swear that Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez must have had a spy looming near our seats in Citizens Bank Park last Friday night (perhaps Kevin Burkhardt?) because the discussion between them the last two days regarding Metsenemies nearly mimicked a conversation that my friend Paul and I had at that Mets-Phillies game. The one thing they settled that we could not was whom the Cardinals enemy of the mid-80s should be. I picked Jack Clark. Paul picked Terry Pendleton. Whitey Herzog seems like a fair compromise. As far as walk-off enemies go, let me rerun a list that I ran during the winter because it seems apt for today. There have been 11 players in baseball to record three walk-off RBI against the Mets. This is that group. Dusty Baker Ron Cey Jim Davenport Andre Dawson Jim Edmonds Tony Gwynn Dale Murphy Tony Perez Mike Schmidt Manny Trillo Jerome Walton

"And that certifies this game as the wackiest, wildest, most improbable game in history!!" -- Braves(!) broadcaster John Sterling after pitcher Rick Camp's 18th-inning HR tied the game between the Mets and Braves at apx 3:30 am on July 4 (5 actually) 1985. Ok, so that got me thinking. What Mets game would rank as the second-wackiest, wildest, most improbable game in history? While you ponder that, or before you say the obvious choice of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, let's at least consider another option. If you were to rank Mets wins by most runs allowed, the 16-13 Mets victory in the game played 22 years to the date of this posting ranks first. But it took 22 years to break the initial mark of 12, set in improbable fashion in 1963. We refer to the second game of a doubleheader between the Mets and Reds at the Polo Grounds on May 12 of that second spring. The Mets got blanked by Bob Purkey and Bill Henry in the opener, despite getting seven hits (all singles) and ...

Chew on these as you try to figure out who the NL's closer should be, should it have a 9th inning lead in San Francisco next Tuesday. Answers here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/07/answers-to-trivia-quiz-posted-on-july-3.html 1) In honor of snubbed John Maine, who's probably a little steamed about not making the team, the only All-Star born in Maine is also the state's winningest all-time pitcher (115 wins). He pitched in the All-Star Game in 1979 and 1983, and has a significant connection to Mets history. Name him. 2) Most really intense Mets fans probably know that Richie Ashburn was the team's first All-Star in 1962. What member of baseball royalty was the second, the next season? 3) The pitcher who lost the 2001 All-Star Game happens to be a former Met, and wasn't a Met for long. Name him. 4) Three players who played in the 1969 All-Star Game went on to play for the Mets later in their careers. Willie Mays is the outfielder in that trio. Name the two inf...

Answers in italics to questions posed here http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-special-bonds-know-your-rays.html 1) 20 pitchers have pitched for both the Mets and Rays. Only one of those 20 had a winning record FOR THE RAYS. Name him. - Victor Zambrano 2) The Mets have employed 4 players who hit 10+ career home runs for the Rays. Here are hints for each one Player 1- Navidad -Mike DiFelice Player 2- Shares his initials with those after whom a famous bridge is named -Gerald Williams Player 3- If you go to Shea, buy a burger in his honor -Bubba Trammell Player 4- Currently plays in the state of Texas -Ty Wigginton 3) The Mets won the first meeting with the Rays. The losing pitcher in that game pitched 2 career games for the Mets. Name him. - Dennis Springer 4) A man who played against the Mets in a postseason broke up Rick Reed's no-hitter in the 7th inning of that game. Name him. -Wade Boggs 5) The Rays hitting coach is Steve Henderson. Steve Henderson got his first MLB hit...

And then, on the other side of Madison Square Garden, we have the Rangers. I'm going to pretend that newest acquisition Chris Drury wears #23 as a salute to Jason Phillips, rather than his childhood hero, Don Mattingly because it works better for my gushing. I REALLY REALLY REALLY like that move (and I'm not even factoring in the addition of Scott Gomez). Throughout last season, I made the Brendan Shanahan-Keith Hernandez comparison in Rangers discussions with friends and colleagues but have since discovered that the Drury-Hernandez comparison is even better. Shanahan will have to settle for being compared to Gary Carter (Jaromir Jagr is Darryl Strawberry). Drury is nicknamed "Captain Clutch" for good reason. While not a power hitter or scoring machine, Drury is best at coming through when it counts. He has 15 career postseason game-winning goals, four of which were walk-offs (amazingly, one more than he's had in regular-season play), not to mention the last-secon...