Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

For a look at my offseason plans, go here http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/10/to-do-list.html I want to address the last comment of my last post: My wish that Carlos Beltran had swung the bat with an 0-2 count with the bases loaded and two outs in the last of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the NLCS. Nearly two weeks have gone by and I've yet to shake out the remnants of my sadness and anger related to this particular moment. The echo from the men's room at Grand Central Station still rings my cries of anguish from that evening, and my car still reverberates from my yelp after picking it up at the airport the other day... "WHY DIDN'T HE SWING??????????" I have read the eloquent New York Times column by Bill Rhoden, listened to the words of Mets general manager Omar Minaya, and read the thoughts of other bloggers and their friends who have come to the defense of Beltran on the subject. While their thoughts are perfectly legitimate and their interests are pure, I...

It's an easy trick to remember Shawn Green's career total of eight walk-off RBI, since it coincides with the number of nights in every Jewish youngster's favorite holiday. Just in case you're having trouble, here's some helpful reminders. August 19, 1995 vs Royals, pinch-hit single (Jeff Montgomery) On the first night of Shawnukkah celebrate...That Shawn had 6 hits in his first 43 career pinch-hitting appearances, but since has gone 7 for his last 12. This is the only walk-off pinch-hit of his career to this point September 28, 1997 vs Red Sox, 2-run double (Tom Gordon) On the second night of Shawnukkah, celebrate...That this was the last day of the baseball season, and thus the last day in the playing careers of both Pete Rose and Ryne Sandberg May 28, 2001 vs Rockies, single (Ron Villone) On the third night of Shawnukkah, celebrate...That current teammate Paul Lo Duca, who was 6-for-6 in this 11-10 triumph, scored the winning run. September 20, 2001 vs Diamondback...

It's a weird world when Alyssa Milano sticks around at a Mets-Yankees game longer than Tom Seaver, who walked-off after just 2 1/2 innings, including a rather odd stint in the WB 11 broadcast booth in which he seemed more interested in talking wine than baseball. That's alright though because the Mets needed a little magic to show who was boss on Friday and got it in the form of yet another walk-off win. For the record, and for Mr. Seaver, who noted that he still enjoys reading game recaps and boxscores, we offer up the following... * Mets walk-off win #335 was their fourth against the Yankees and second against Mariano Rivera (the other was July 10, 1999, in the game in which Matt Franco got the winning two-run pinch-hit in the 9th inning). * It's the 5th walk-off win this season and the 4th this month. The last time the Mets had four walk-off wins in a month was October of 1999, but we cheat a bit here since we include postseason games. * The last time the Mets had four r...

I got an e-mail from a former colleague (for anonymitys sake, we'll call him "Eric Terrapin") a few days ago lamenting his visit to Citizens Bank Park this past Sunday, particularly a badly timed walk-off of sorts. "So I take my wife to see Bonds last night...My seat: Section 202, Row 8, Seat 24...The man who caught the (713th home run) ball: Section 202, Row 7, Seat 24...The man who caught it was Carlos, the very nice young man who sat right in front of me...Where was I during Bonds's at-bat in the sixth? I was trying to buy my wife a fleece because she got cold so we were not in our seats and missed a chance to get the ball. As soon as I saw where the ball landed, I knew it was right at our seats." Naturally Eric Terrapin was a bit perturbed by this course of events (both because he missed history and missed a chance to get rich by obtaining something he could purchase for $8 in a good sporting goods store) and properly so. If you go to a baseball game, y...

for those visitors from Metsblog, rest of site available at http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com Parents give you a lot of advice when you're a little kid. Eat your vegetables. Look both ways when you're crossing the street. Don't talk to strangers. I'd like to focus on one particular suggestion offered to me and millions of other youngsters by wise adults worldwide. I've ascended and descended a lot of sets of stairs in my time, and I've always maneuvered best when I've held on to the bannister. I mention this because my subject of choice today is Brian Bannister, longshot contender for the No. 5 spot in the Mets starting rotation this year. It is totally unfair to judge a pitcher based on one minor-league performance, but I'm going to do so anyway. I saw one Bannister start for the Binghamton Mets last season and it was a work of brilliance. Its origins date back to a game between the Binghamton Mets and Norwich Navigators last June 12 (thanks to B-Mets pl...

Thanks to those who helped us clear the 20,000 hit mark. Happy holidays! Santa Klaus, and yes there's a reason I've spelled it that way, came down the Shea Stadium chimney a little prematurely in 1965, but Mets fans didn't mind, as he came bearing a perfectly nice gift- a walk-off win over the Houston Astros. April 15 of that season marked an unusually early time for the Flushing 9 to be celebrating victory, as it was only their third game of the season. It was a taxing day for some (pardon the pun), but one of the last good ones as Mets manager for Casey Stengel, a jolly, happy soul if there ever was one. There was some early excitement in this one, as in the second inning, the Mets defense turned a triple play. With runners on first and third, Jimmy Wynn hit a fly ball to right-center field. Johnny Lewis made the catch, and his throw home was in time for catcher Chris Cannizzaro to tag oncoming runner Walt Bond for the second out. Meanwhile, future Met Bob Aspromonte got ...

If I told you that the Mets had just obtained a guy who is a career .316 hitter with runners in scoring position? How about if I told you that the Mets just traded for a hitter who has consistently ranked among the toughest in baseball to strike out? Or if I mentioned that the Mets just dealt for a player who was selected to the NL All-Star team the last three seasons, with the last honor coming via a vote by his peers? So, although he's on the down side age wise, his throwing arm isn't as good as it used to be, and he doesn't provide much power, there are a lot of good things that Paul Lo Duca brings to the New York Mets. For example: He'll sacrifice his body for the good of the team The Dodgers and Braves squared off on August 23, 2002 and Lo Duca made an impact both on the start and finish of this game. Three pitches after being dusted by Greg Maddux, Lo Duca made him pay with a first-inning home run. The Braves rallied to tie the game, 3-3 in the ninth, but their bu...

It was a few months ago that I referenced something here ... http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/08/minutiae-break-worst-mets-relievers.html ...known as "The Mets Stiffo Rap," a foray into the world of creativity in lyric, by our occasional guest contributor, Barry Federovitch. It is a fitting tribute to the mediocre Met. After I waited patiently for several months, Barry finally found the verses we enjoyed so much way back when...So as I stall for time before blogging about Cameron/Nady, here is the full text of the "Mets Stiffo Rap." Feel free to sing along or contribute your own thoughts. Now Brock Pemberton can hit dat ball and Joe Nolan went o-for-them all.... If Randy Tate don't do the job then they'll be going deep on a Hank Webb lob... Look, look, it's behind Cliff Cook. Mark Bradley's the man who loves to crash and Jose Moreno can only dash. If Torre'd put Searage in the game then Alex Trevino'll take the blame.... Hey, boy! Jumpin...

I'm on vacation this week, with little to do other than a few fun mini-projects here and there. As such, my mind was wandering the other day, and it turned to a couple of friends of mine in New Jersey, Paul and Gregg. Paul and Gregg are quite entertaining, far more so than I. They used to host a radio program in which they interviewed weird guests, made bizarre jokes, and played an occasional song or two. Gregg didn't like to go by his own name. He preferred to be known as "The Paragon of Excellence." When Paul got married a couple of summers ago, Gregg was the best man and I was an usher at the wedding. Gregg is a weird guy. He's worked as a wrestling announcer among other things and presently is a practicing attorney, as well as an advocate for midgets and lepers rights (don't ask!) His baseball obsessions range from Eddie Gaedel to Win Remmerswaal. But alas, Gregg is pretty sharp too. Prior to the wedding, Gregg came up with idea that all the members of the...

With the playoffs beginning Tuesday, I thought I'd share my favorite postseason walk-off story from 2004. It's good to know that I'm a positive influence on the young people of America. It was about a year ago that I had to make a long drive to upstate New York for work purposes, meaning that I wouldn't get to watch that day's playoff action. I was significantly curious about the results, so I have the afternoon game that Friday, Game 3 of the 2004 ALDS between the Red Sox and Angels, my closest auditory attention. As day became night and the game stretched out, thanks to Vladimir Guerrero's game-tying grand slam, I ran into an issue of significance. I was hungry. I was well-fortified by an early lunch, but having left later than expected, I was also eager to get to my hotel room. My stomach battled by brain for a good half hour as this game remained even through the eighth, ninth, and into the 10th. There was a sign on the turnpike for an upcoming stop at whic...

I can remember several occasions when, as a little boy, I fell in the playground and scraped my knees. The pain usually stung and lingered for a few days and the reminders of what happened came in the form of scabs and scars, both physical and mental. Mets fans are probably feeling like that little boy who scraped his knees, based on the recent occurrences combining a long road trip, some bad fortune and a dash of incompetent play. We tried to remedy the wounds with stories from a quarter-century ago but I don't know if those did the trick. Band-aids can cover up the wounds, but there's always the temptation to pull them off too soon, before the healing is completed. The best cure I know for scraped knees came from Grandma Sophie, played so well by Marion Ross on the television show "Brooklyn Bridge." When Sophie's young grandson, Nathaniel Silver, scrapes his knees while playing ball in the street, she comes quick to the rescue, with some yummy desserts. Nathanie...

Part III of an ongoing series regarding Game 6 of the 1986 World Series Some people believe that signs exist that a team is going to win a particular game. On October 25, it was kind of hard to miss. They were everywhere. Signs have been a ballpark staple at the Polo Grounds and Shea Stadium since the Mets played their first game in 1962. There's something about this team that makes them so prevalent. One fan, Karl Ehrhardt, even became known as "Sign Man" because his work became quite popular. There were 55,078 people in the stands that night and it seems like a lot of them felt the need to express their feelings in writing on what some might call 'Placards.' Banner Day was never a favorite of mine, but I've always had an eye out for creative endeavors and there were plenty on display. There was bedlam on the field that night and bedsheets off the field, mostly hanging from the facing that separates the loge from the box seats. I paused my VCR for one crowd s...

For old postings, check out the Table of Contents , an easy-to-read reference guide for previous stories . Alas, this again has nothing to do with walk-offs, but it's as good a Mets-related story as I can tell, even if it is a little bit of a downer. This seems like as good a time as any, with the news of Dwight Gooden's fugitive status being resolved on Thursday. As was mentioned in a previous post, I was a Shea Stadium tour guide for 10 weeks or so in the summer of 1994. Long story short, I showed up at an open audition advertised in the New York Times and showed enough enthusiasm in a videotaped tryout to be one of 20 or so employees hired by Nickelodeon, which was building a mini-carnival beyond the right field bullpen. In order to prepare us to give tours, we had a couple of weeks of rehearsal time. The tour script was dreadful (those in the know realized there was no way Jay Horwitz, the Mets PR director, could have approved any of this), penned by someone who hadn't...

I have been asked if I take "blog-requests" and indeed I do. My first request comes from the folks at " Faith and Fear in Flushing " who wanted to read my take on the walk-off of September 12, 1985. Since one of those bloggers works in the beverage industry, I think he'll appreciate my special twist on this story. First, some context. In 1985 I was 10, so the memories are a little fuzzy, but baseball moments tend to stick in my head, like watching Cesar Cedeno's two-strike home run fly over the left field fence, and John Tudor's whiff of Darryl Strawberry to end a 1-0 10-inning classic Cardinals win the night before the game we're referencing. I believe our seats that night were along the left field line and Cedeno's homer whizzed right past us. That allowed the Cardinals to tie the Mets for first place in the NL East. The night was historically notable because during one half-inning break, the DiamondVision showed us that Pete Rose had broken Ty...

I was on the No. 7 train coming back from Flushing a couple weeks ago and my uncle Richard told the story of how his son, my cousin Michael, cried the day that the Mets traded Todd Zeile in January, 2002. I don't remember how I reacted the day that my favorite Met was dealt, and I don't have any recollection of why I picked this player as my favorite, but I do have a neat story to tell about him, and I can tie it in to walk-offs, if you'll indulge. Neil Allen (middle name Patrick) was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on January 24, 1958. That part I know by heart, as his birthday was a week before mine (the January 24, part, not 1958). He was drafted in the 11th round in 1976, made his Mets debut in 1979 as a starter but was moved to the bullpen shortly after recall. His chronology of pictures his Topps cards are rather oddly sequenced. His 1980 rookie card shows him in mid-delivery, ball in hand. The 1981 card has him just about to plant his front leg and the back reveals he ...

I'm going to interrupt my Mets-related chatter to tell a brief story and perhaps it explains my interest in all things walk-off and buzzer beater. Basketball is a hot topic in New York City with the Knicks hiring Larry Brown as their head coach earlier this week, so we'll tell a hoops-related tale for this weekends entry. The date was January 30, 1975 and the Knicks were on the road, taking on the Atlanta Hawks. My mom and dad were big basketball fans during the glory days of New York's basketball franchise. My dad was at Madison Square Garden when Willis Reed limped on to the court for Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals and not long after that he met my mom. They got married on November 8, 1970, better known as the day that a New Orleans Saints kicker named Tom Dempsey set an NFL record by kicking a 63-yard field goal to beat the Detroit Lions. My dad's job on Wall Street enabled him easy access to Knicks tickets and I've been told the story on more than one occasion of...

I am a graduate of Stuyvesant High School (Class of 1993, the first to graduate from the "new building" in Battery Park) and that is a label I sport with pride. Stuyvesant is not only one of the best high schools in New York City, it is one of the finest academic institutions in the country. Stuyvesant has graduated many Nobel Prize winners (forgive me for not knowing their names), TV and movie stars (Tim Robbins, Lucy Liu, and Paul Reiser), sportscasters (Ted Husing, Len Berman, and Sam Rosen) and even baseball executives (Mets president Saul Katz and Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria). I really enjoyed my time at Stuyvesant, and I always get a kick out of pulling out my high school yearbook and reading some of the inscriptions from my fellow alums, ones that would have to be explained if I ever showed them to my grandchildren. There's "Yellow Team!!!" (the name of our gym class championship co-ed lacrosse squad, a.k.a. the "Running Slashers")"I'm ...

The NHL is unofficially officially back and I have to imagine that Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose is grateful for that, because it provides him with employment calling New York Islanders games during the winter months. Rose, for a long time, was the New York Rangers radio voice, splitting duties with Marv Albert. It was in this job that he crafted one of the most famous goal calls in all of sports. If I may digress for a moment and talk hockey (a sport I covered very intensely at the minor league level), Game 7 of the 1994 NHL Eastern Conference Finals is basically the equivalent of Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS and Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS wrapped into five gut-squashing periods. The best word to describe that game would be "Metsian." I watched Game 7 of that series, one in which the winner would go to the Stanley Cup Finals and the loser would go home, with my dad and three good friends, the previously-mentioned David Cooper, Daniel Gordon and Hubert Chen. I am an extraordinari...

Traffic on this blog tends to be weakest during weekends. So, rather than do a writeup of a Mets walk-off win, I once again treat you to the second part in a series of ramblings on how walk-offs have affected my life. Regular blog programming should resume Monday... One of the key moments in my life as a baseball fan came for my 13th birthday, when, as a bar mitzvah gift, my cousins, John and Deanna bought me a Laser 128 computer. A Laser 128, in case you didn't know, was a cheap Apple clone (affordably priced at $399) that was perfectly sufficient at the time for someone who didn't know any better. In other words, it was great for game playing. To that point, I had grown up on Strat-O-Matic Baseball, an excellent baseball simulation, that taught me about the likes of big-eared Tigers pitcher Don Mossi (whom I had to know more about...Mossi came within 2 outs of a Strat perfect game before 1983-84 Mariners catcher Orlando Mercado broke it up with a triple) and more importantly ...