Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Now that you've finished your Thanksgiving meal, how about washing it down with some Turk Wendell trivia? Answers here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/11/our-special-bonds-turk-keys-answers.html 1- Name the former Met first baseman with the highest career BA vs Wendell (minimum 10 plate appearances). 2- While a member of the 2000 Mets, Wendell gave up 3 walk-off home runs. Two of them came against former Mets. Name the two, one of whom was a second baseman, the other of whom was a shortstop. 3- Turk Wendell had 3 career major-league hits. Name the former Met who gave up his last hit, while a member of the Rockies. 4- Turk Wendell's first major-league win came against the Padres on October 3, 1993. The losing pitcher was a former Met, whose first initial matched his last initial. Name him. 5- Two batters went 0-for-8 with 6 strikeouts in their careers against Wendell. One is Shane Andrews. The other reached a significant home run milestone against the Mets. Name him. 6- T...

September 23, 2001 was one of the darker days for the Mets in the last seven years, though it was a great day for newest Met Johnny Estrada. While Armando Benitez was blowing a 3-run lead against the Braves with 2 outs in the 9th inning (Brian Jordan's 10th inning HR off Jerrod Riggan won it), Estrada and his Phillies friends were having much fun at home against the Marlins. While the Mets entered the day 3 1/2 games back of the Braves, the Phillies were only 1/2 a game back. The Phillies would have moved into first place with a win and a Braves loss and kept their end of the bargain in rather dramatic fashion. The Phillies blew a 3-2 lead in the 8th inning as, after getting two outs, Ricky Bottalico faltered, allowing back-to-back home runs to Preston Wilson and Mike Lowell. Scott Rolen would strand two baserunners in the bottom of the frame and the score held at a 4-3 edge for the Marlins into the home ninth. Marlon Anderson led off against Antonio Alfonseca by striking out looki...

Tom Glavine's first Mets start (Opening Day 2003 against the Cubs) was a disaster. His tenure commenced in the following fashion: Walk-double-single-double. Before Glavine knew what hit him, he was down 4-0. The Mets lost, 15-2. Glavine's last start (Closing Day, 2007 against the Marlins) was a disaster. It concluded with his hitting the pitcher, the first time he'd ever done so in his MLB career. Glavine fully realized what had hit him by this point. He left down 5-0 and would eventually be charged with seven hideous runs. The Mets lost, and I don't even wanna mention the final score. What came in between those two stints was acceptable to some, average to others, distasteful to a few, including this blogger, who never wanted him to begin with. His lasting legacy, in my mind, will be those two appearances, because they were most symbolic of what he'll probably refer to back in Fulton County, of his five-year mistake. Glavine ranked 11th in Mets history with his 61...

I realize that there is a lot of hype regarding the availability of one potential lefthander (Mr. Santana) and what it would cost for most teams to obtain his services. Although I would have no problem with their obtaining Santana, I have come up with another plan. It seems rather unlikely that the Mets can put together the necessary package, so I have a cheaper potential short-short-term alternative, albeit one with more risk and less ability, but there is reasoning behind the suggestion. I'm referencing Randy Wolf, a free agent this winter, who could likely (hopefully) easily be had on a one-year flyer at a rather limited cost, since he hasn't made it through a full season without injury since 2003. Wolf is a good fit for this reason. He's made 13 starts at Shea Stadium since 1999. In that span, he's 6-1 with a 2.61 ERA and a .213 opponents batting average. In 79 1/3 innings pitched, he's struck out 73. He likes pitching there and has said so on numerous occasions...