Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Flash forward to 3 weeks from now when the callers from WFAN are wondering why Nick Evans (hitting .250) isn't getting more playing time. They can use this for justification. * Nick Evans is the first Met with 3 doubles in his MLB debut. The only other player in the Mets era (since 1962) with 3 doubles in his MLB debut was Ben Grieve (son of former Met Tom Grieve) for the 1997 Athletics. * The only other Met with 3 extra-base hits in his MLB debut: Kaz (ugh) Matsui in 2004 (2 doubles and a home run). * Nick Evans tied a team record by getting 3 doubles in a game. It's the 24th time that a Met has had 3 doubles in a game. Carlos Beltran, the last Met to have 3 doubles (April 2, 2008 at Marlins) is the only player to do it twice for the Mets. Evans has 2 other teammates who have had 3 doubles in a game for the Mets- David Wright and Jose Reyes. * Nick Evans, Kaz Matsui, and Preston Wilson (1998) are the only 3 players with a 3-hit MLB debut for the Mets. * Nick Evans is the 10th ...

Gary Carter hasn't been this big of a Mets annoyance in 33 years. It's one thing to publicly campaign to replace Willie Randolph on a nationally-broadcast radio program. It's another to do what he did in a 3-game stretch from June 17-19, 1975. Carter was just a kid then, as opposed to "The Kid," in his first full major league season, and he'd yet to establish his Hall of Fame potential. A series against the Mets would take care of that. The Expos took 3 of 4 games from the Mets over those 3 days, and in that series, Carter may have put on the greatest one man Mets-killer show this side of Chipper Jones. * In Game 1 of a doubleheader, Carter, playing right field, went 2-for-3 with a home run, and his 3-run home run against Jon Matlack in the 5th inning gave the Expos a 6-5 lead, which held up as the final score. * In Game 2 he again played right field and went 1-for-2 with 3 walks. Carter walked in the eighth and was intentionally walked in the 10th in situatio...

Trust me that this was much more fun than watching Friday's game...the details of which are buried at the bottom, if you're really interested... Just got a review copy of the new DVD "The New York Mets Essential Games of Shea Stadium," a 6-disc set from A&E Home Video, for which my only complaint is that there's no way to know which discs contain which "extras" (and there are a good number of "extras.") Games included, in full original broadcast are - Game 4 of the 1969 WS - Game 3 of the 1986 NLCS - Game 6 of the 1986 WS - Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS - September 21, 2001 (Piazza HR in 1st game back) - May 19, 2006 (Mets beat Yankees on Wright walk-off) I have some quibbles with the selections, but I have a pretty good collection of Mets video, so I'm not going to be as annoyed that Benny Agbayani's walk-off home run and Bobby Jones 1-hit NLDS clinching shutout aren't included, even amongst the many extras (some might be). Instead, ...

Keep in mind that this was written by someone who spent more than $1,000 on a trip to Atlanta this week. Let's compare the 2 teams I saw over the last 4 games. The home team's first baseman is in a free agent year and figures to cash in big time. He's won two Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers. He's in the prime of his career and in the prime of his season, with a 9-for-14 showing and 6 RBI against a division rival. The visiting team's first baseman is in a free agent year and has been rendered utterly useless. His range is 1 step to the left and 1 step to the right. His bat speed at age 35 and 11 months is about 1/3 of what it was 5 years ago. He'll be lucky to get a minor league contract next year. The home team's second baseman is what you'd call "pesky." He can hit 2nd or 8th with equal skill. He's lefthanded, yet hits lefties as well as rightys. He's riding a 9-game hitting streak. The visiting team's second baseman is wha...

Put me down as pro-Willie, but Fred Pryor is conducting a seminar in my hotel. It's called "How to Communicate With Tact and Professionalism." Mr. Randolph might do well to attend. For the time I spent in my car (nearly 5 hours round trip), the Ty Cobb Museum (a room-and-a-half in a doctor's office) wasn't worth the trip. And at this rate, neither are the Mets. Yeah, the homemade ice cream shop about a half mile from the museum was pretty good, and the "Which fan looks like a Seinfeld character?" bit during the game was funny (Keith Hernandez as himself), but there weren't many other highlights. A lowlight was seeing the commercial for the Braves version of the "Buy a Brick" program, which CitiField has as well. The sample brick shown during the commercial: "Glad to be back. The Glavine Family." More fuel for the "spy" fodder. Two of my fanhood principles were significantly tested during this game. Early in the contest, ...

For my recap of Game 1 http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/05/peach-pit.html Ok so for $55 more, I got a better view, and I got to sit with people who, for lack of a better term, "got me." For the first game of the doubleheader, I was much more irritant than entertainment, to the two grandmas a couple rows in front of me in the upper tank (as Keith Hernandez would call it) and the fellow seated to my left, who borrowed his beard from (former Brave) Bruce Sutter. They seemed bothered when I yelled out to Tom Glavine that he owed us another 6 runs, and warned John Maine when he came to the plate that "there's a rumor that every 20 years or so, this guy hits a pitcher, so look out." At least after all the waiting for Game 2, the people around me took my remarks in stride, and fired back. When I remarked that New York was a little too sophisticated to play the sounds of barnyard animals after foul balls were hit, the fellow in front of me (we'll call him ...

I'd ask for a refund on the afternoon portion of the doubleheader, but that would be like returning used fruit (Seinfeld fans should get the reference). * How appropriate on a day that Mike Piazza retired that John Maine yielded 31 foul balls. He's not gonna win many games when the foul/swinging strike ratio is worse than 6 to 1. And the Mets aren't gonna win many games in which they throw 55 more pitches than the opposition (partly attributable to the 48 total foul balls the Braves hit) * From the "You'd expect that in Atlanta files..." - Before the game, Braves announcer Joe Simpson provides a little "education" on the opposition, designed to do little more than mock the opposing team...In explaining how the Mets borrowed from the Giants and Dodgers in picking their team hues, was this lowlight "Blue and orange...they are the colors of desertion. Something to be proud of, Mets fans." - Oh the irony: In one inning, the kid picked for the t...

Random Things I Learned While Trying To Kill Time in My Hotel Room * If we're gonna talk Mets killers, let's not just talk Jeter and Chipper. Let's talk Dave Kingman Dave Kingman hit .219 as a Met, but hit .303 against them. In fact, the Mets are responsible for raising his career batting average from .233 (what he hit against teams other than the Mets) to .236. You may have read or heard this weekend how Derek Jeter has the highest career batting average against the Mets. Well, check out who has the highest slugging percentage. Better yet, look who ranks second. Highest Slugging Pct vs Mets All-Time, minimum 200 plate appearances Dave Kingman .632 Mike Piazza .624 Todd Helton .614 Rico Carty .607 Derek Jeter .598 Willie McCovey .597 * 2 members of the 1986 Mets ended their careers with the 1991 Braves A real challenging game you can play with your Met-fan friends, or even with yourself is to try to name the final major-league destination for the various members of the 1986...

I'm flying to Atlanta on Monday so that I can get to all 4 games of the Mets/Braves series (and I feel a lot better about this after the last 2 days). It's my one scheduled road trip this year, and I haven't decided whether it be for pleasure or torture yet. Knowing the Mets, there will probably be a little bit of both, and I intend to document that as I travel. * The Mets are 293-347 all-time against the Braves in the regular season, albeit including a rather hideous 31-60 at Turner Field. They are 5-4 against the Braves in postseason play. They have 30 walk-off wins against the Braves and 38 walk-off losses (including postseason in both cases). * Tom Seaver has the most wins for the Mets against the Braves, with 21 Most Wins vs Braves Mets History Tom Seaver 21 Ron Darling 13 Steve Trachsel 9 Al Leiter 9 Jerry Koosman 8 Dwight Gooden 8 David Cone 8 * The best unbeaten records for the Mets against the Braves belong to Ken Mackenzie and Greg McMichael. Each is 4-0, though M...