Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Thank you, Bill in Brentwood, for calling WFAN as I was driving home last night, and noting that March 10th is a significant date in Mets history, which I'll share briefly here. For those unaware, this marks the anniversary of the Mets first spring training game, an 8-0 defeat against the St. Louis Cardinals in Tampa, Florida. They lost "without a trace of elan" in the words of New York Times writer Robert Lipsyte (whatever that means), who also noted that at the end of the fifth inning, one fan complained "Same Old Mets!" The game foreshadowed their work for the rest of the season. Richie Ashburn got thrown out at the plate, the defense butchered a few plays in the field, and the pitching staff allowed a pair of home runs.

Bombo Rivera, he of the Expos, Twins and Royals from 1975 to 1982, never hit a walk-off home run, or for that matter, a walk-off anything that I'm aware of. Rene Rivera, he currently of the New York ReplaceMets hit a walk-off home run on Monday to beat the Orioles, and boy was it ever a "Bombo" ...460 feet worth of walk-off. Anyone care to share on the longest Mets walk-off home runs they remember? I didn't spend a lot of time surfing for minutiae on Rene Rivera, but I did find one nugget worth reporting. If you lower the minimum standard to 50 plate appearances, Rivera's .396 batting average in 2005 (when he had exactly 50 plate appearances) ranks second-best in Mariners history. The best? That belongs to current Met Jeremy Reed, who hit .397 over 66 plate appearances in 1996. True Metveras know... The last time Rene Rivera appeared in a walk-off win was September 25, 2006, against the Mariners. Rivera entered as a catcher in the top of the 10th inning and helpe