Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

"The marriage may come and go, but the game must go on." -- Felix, to Oscar Divorced myself from the first three hours of Mets-Yankees baseball on Saturday. Had to. Felt better when I heard that Luis Castillo didn't sleep well on Friday night. I didn't either. A few laughs at the local community theater (can you guess which show I saw?), and I'm ready to recap the win. * The Mets set a club record of sorts by scoring only six runs. That's the fewest runs they've ever scored in a 9-inning WIN in which they had at least 17 hits. Forgive all the qualifiers here, but I'm trying to make the point that the Mets should have scored more. They've now won 79 games in regulation in which they had 17 hits or more, but scored at least 7 runs in each of the other 78 games. * Omir "Most Valuable President" Santos joined Mike Piazza as the only catchers in Mets history with a 3-RBI game against the Yankees in the regular season. Piazza did it three times...

Dear Pen pal... You'll never guess what happened today At the baseball game. It's hard to believe, what happened today At the baseball game. I was the manager, Schroeder was catcher And all of the team was the same as always But somehow or other disaster struck At the baseball game. * Mets walk-off loss # 384 was their 4th of the season and their first since May 18 when they lost to the Dodgers on Jeremy Reed's throwing error in another one of those stupid regrettable games that will haunt them when they finish with 85 wins. * It is their 4th walk-off loss against the Yankees, the first since Jason Giambi beat them with a two-run single against Braden Looper on June 26, 2005. That Mets team was managed by a second baseman who used two hands to catch pop ups. I pitched my curve, but somehow they hit it. A good strong clout "Lucy" I hollered, "It's coming right to you" She caught it as easy as pie Then dropped it. I don't think it's good for a ...

Who: Tom Seaver What: Pitching and winning a baseball game When: June 12, 1977 Where: Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas Why: Everyone else is gonna write about the Yankees or Phillies today. I'm going to write about the 32nd anniversary of Tom Seaver's first "last start" for the Mets. And How: Art Howe, former Astros second baseman. I happened to have a copy of this game on audio tape, and in listening to it, a couple of things stood out. * There was no mention at any time of Tom Seaver dealing with any issues with Mets management or the media. This despite the fact that a trade with the Reds was within three days of occurring, and was the dominant subject in the New York Times game story the next day. Seaver's post-game comment: "Leave me alone, please." * One-minute commercial breaks really speed up a game. * This may be sacrilege for a Mets fan to say this, but I didn't like Lindsay Nelson's announcing. The accent was too strong for me, and hi...

I've maintained a degree of anonymity since I began blogging four years ago. But I've dropped a few hints of things I like, other than the Mets. Such as... I am a Man Who Likes His Tidbits Ever since I was little, I've had the ability to discover and recall the most unusual bits of information. My brain is compartmentalized such that I find these nuggets fascinating and store them away in the deepest parts of my brain, ready for instant recall. Sometimes the information manifests itself as a blog entry. Sometimes it's just a reference under "True ___ know..." Some of my favorite blog-related findings include ... * Bill Buckner's team lost the game in which he made his major-league debut when a ball rolled through an infielder's legs. * Jesse Orosco, whose primary uniform number as a Met was 47, finished his career with a record of 47-47. * Don Florence holds the Mets record for most wins without a loss, with three. I am a Man who Likes His Wordplay One...

A Mets pitcher has allowed 4+ HR in a game on 26 different occasions. Only twice has that pitcher been credited with a win. Like the blogger who writes about the history of 6-5 final scores a few hours before a 6-5 win, Johan Santana may have gotten a little help from some friendly baseball gods. I think the only other Mets pitcher to allow 4 homers in a game HE won did as well. The last of Rob Gardner's four wins as a Met came against the Pirates on August 18, 1966. Bill Mazeroski homered twice against Gardner. Donn Clendenon and Jerry May each hit one against him. The Mets didn't homer once. Yet the Mets won, 9-5. The reason for the victory? The play of Pirates third baseman Jose Pagan, who pulled his team out of first place by going 0-for-4 with four errors. The Mets scored three unearned runs in the first inning, thanks partly to a Pagan miscue, and three unearned runs in the fourth inning thanks to three(!) Pagan misplays. The Mets added three insurance runs (Eddie Bresso...

All information is current through the morning of May 8, prior to the Mets series opener with the Phillies. I had remarked to a blogging colleague a couple of years ago that I thought it would be neat to look at the best Mets wins by score of game. The reality of the matter is that such a project is extremely ambitious, but I decided recently that it would be worth trying to do for the scores of games that I found interesting. I find no score in Mets history to be more significant than 6-5. The reasoning is simple. That was the final score of the World Series game played on October 25, 1986. It has also been the final score to a great number of Metmorable wins in franchise history. Here are some of the highlights. The First (May 15, 1962) The first 6-5 win in Mets history came in their 26th game, though it would be in their next game that they would get their second. The first one, against the Cubs, required 15 walks and 13 innings, and required rallies from deficits of 1-0, 4-1, and 5...