Skip to main content

Land of the Lost Mets

There's a new Will Ferrell movie coming out today, and though I'm someone who thinks he's very hit-or-miss, I've gained a new appreciation for him recently.

A couple of weeks ago, Ferrell was on Saturday Night Live, and one reran sketch featured him as an attorney named Wade Blasingame, best known for filing lawsuits against misbehaving dogs.

Those who know Ferrell's work know he is a legit sports fan (favorite player: Pirates catcher Manny Sanguillen), and it made me laugh to see that he made it a point within the sketch to note that he was not playing the baseball player sharing the name of that attorney.

Turns out that Wade Blasingame dogged the Mets pretty good during his day, of the ilk of a Josh Johnson or fellow southpaw Randy Tomlin.

From 1964 to 1970, Blasingame went 9-0 against the Mets. That run of starts included May 20, 1965, in which he beat Warren Spahn, 7-1, and was kept from a no-hitter only by a Ron Swoboda seventh-inning single.

One of the reasons the Mets may have been so successful in 1969: Perhaps it was that it was the only year in that seven-season period in which they didn't face Blasingame once.

Much like Tomlin had issues with some other teams, so did Blasingame. His bark was worse than his bite. Keep this in mind

From 1964 to 1970
Wade Blasingame vs Mets: 9-0
Wade Blasingame vs others: 28-39

It wasn't until Blasingame's 20th and final appearance against the Mets that the team gained a measure of satisfaction. On May 10, 1971, the Mets were so hot, at 17-9 entering, that not even the ace of aces could stop them.

It wasn't easy though. Blasingame took a shutout and 1-0 lead into the seventh inning before being touched for a two-run, two-out single by Bud Harrelson, putting the Mets ahead to stay. Tug McGraw got the last six outs to wrap up the one. Leonard Koppett of the New York Times noted that it made the Mets 18-9, a win percentage (.667) they'd only previously encountered in their history when they had a mark of 2-1.

The Mets would not have to face Blasingame again after that. After the 1971 season, he was traded to the Yankees, for whom he spent his final major league season. His final record: 46-51. And no, I don't think he became a dog attorney in his post-baseball career.

True Metsingames know...

Best Regular Season Win Percentage vs Mets
Minimum 10 career decisions

.909 Larry Jackson (21-2)
.900 Bruce Hurst (9-1)<<
.900 Wade Blasingame (9-1)
>> Does not include 2 World Series wins

Comments

Post a Comment

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more