Skip to main content

You Can Call Me Al

The status of the beleagured bullpen leads me to believe that the Mets will have Al Reyes on the roster sooner rather than later.

There are two things that are intriguing about this move from our perspective.

For one, how everything comes full circle for Al Reyes. In 1994, Reyes was the star closer with 35 saves for the Eastern League's Harrisburg Senators, who faced the Binghamton Mets for the league title.

In Game 3 of the championship round (Bill Pulsipher had no-hit the Senators in Game 2 to tie the series, 1-1), Reyes entered with a 4-2 lead. The Mets staged the most dramatic of comebacks. Rey Ordonez's one-out single was followed by a game-tying home run from Edgardo Alfonzo. That was followed by a walk-off home run by Brian Jacobs, giving the Mets a 5-4 victory. They would win Game 4 to take the championship, 3-1. (Thanks to Binghamton play-by-play voice Rob Ford for details).

The other intriguing thing that would come with Al Reyes presence is that it would give the Mets a tri-Reyes presence, with three players of that name on the roster.

And that creates the possibility of the following call.

"Ground ball hit to Reyes, flips to Reyes for one, and on to Reyes, double play!"

Thanks to David Smith of Retrosheet, and some lookups on Baseball-Reference.com, I can tell you that such a play is unlikely, but not impossible.

The last time the Mets turned a double play in which the sole participants were the pitcher, the second baseman, and the shortstop, was September 29, 2004 against the Braves. In the first inning, Adam LaRoche grounded into a Reyes-Matsui-Heilman twin killing. Score it 4-6-1.

Unfortunately, in his next at-bat, LaRoche hit a game-tying home run, and the Braves won the game, 6-3.

True Metyes know...The Mets have had eight Jones' on their roster, but have never had more than two on the team at the same time.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Best Games I Know: Phillies (Updated)

  The best wins against the Phillies in Mets history …   May 5, 2022 – Mets 8, Phillies 7 The Mets score 7 runs in the 9 th inning to overcome a 7-1 deficit and win in Philadelphia.   April 29, 2022 – Mets 3, Phillies 0 Tylor Megill and 4 Mets relievers combine on the second no-hitter in franchise history.   September 22, 2016 – Mets 9, Phillies 8 (11) The Mets tie it in the 9 th on a Jose Reyes home run and win it in the 11 th on a 3-run home run by Asdrubal Cabrera.   July 17, 2016 - Mets 5, Phillies 0 Jacob deGrom pitches a one-hitter. Only hit is a single by Zach Eflin in the 5 th inning.   August 24, 2015 – Mets 16, Phillies 7 David Wright homers in his first at-bat in more than 4 months. The Mets hit a team-record 8 home runs.   July 5, 2012 – Mets 6, Phillies 5 The Mets score 2 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9 th to beat Jonathan Papelbon. The winning run scores on David Wright’s bloop down the right field line.   August 13

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

Trip(le) Through Time

In their illustrious history, the Mets have had one 'Triple Crown Winner,' so to speak and I'm not talking about the typical meaning of the term. I've gotten some queries recently as to whether a walk-off triple is even possible and I'm here to tell you that it is. There has been one, and only one, in Mets history, though I don't have the full explanation of circumstances that I would like. It took place against the Phillies on September 10, 1970. This was a marathon game that would have fit in perfectly with those having taken place so far this season and allowed the Mets to maintain a temporary hold on first place in an NL East race oft forgotten in team history. It went 14 innings, with a tinge of controversy in a negated Ken Boswell home run, a thrilling play by Bud Harrelson, who stole home in the third inning, and some stellar relief pitching, in the form of five scoreless innings from Danny Frisella, aided by Tim McCarver getting thrown out in a rundown b