Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

I've never been one for neatness, so you might say I'm a little messier than the average guy. Or, if we're talking hockey, you could also say I'm a little Messier than the average guy and I'd be okay with that too. Of course, in that case, we're talking about ex-New York Rangers legend (and that is the appropriate word here) Mark Messier They raised the captain's No. 11 to the rafters of Madison Square Garden on Thursday night in what by all accounts was a touching display, and Jaromir Jagr took the proverbial torch from the Rangers captain and lit the lamp for the game-winning goal in overtime as the Rangers defeated the Edmonton Oilers. Mark Messier shall be hailed forever in New York sports as the leader of the team that ended a 54-year drought without a Stanley Cup championship. You can place him on a level with the all-time greats who have played for city teams, and if you insist on separating the imports from the homegrowns, his place belongs right alo...

This is one of those weeks where I'm too busy to get everything on my plate done. So, while I may get around to a fresh post sometime in the next day or two, I'm going to post links to the two previous posts I've written that referenced walk-offs in which the Mets beat the newest Hall of Famer, Bruce Sutter. http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/07/mookie-proof-walk-off.html http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/hendu-part-ii.html Enjoy...

So basically Bret Boone is Andres Galarraga without the goodwill vibe. It's hard to get excited about this guy, who who will be 37 a couple of days after the season opens. You can count the number of 37-year-old second baseman who had good years on your fingers (Nap Lajoie and Eddie Collins, he's not) and the number of 37-year-olds who had good years a season after hitting a rather pathetic .221 on your toes and you'll have, at the very least, your pinkies left over. That might be one of the weirdest sentences I've written on this blog, but I like it, as I'm not feeling particularly inspired by this move. I guess the way that Omar Minaya looks at it like this. Maybe Boone's presence will push Msrs. Kaz Matsui, Jeff Keppinger and Anderson Hernandez in spring training. Maybe Boone will turn into this year's Roberto Hernandez and be the feel-good reclamation project of the summer. At the very least, it's a favor for someone's agent, and you can never do...

Those visitors to this specific page can check out the whole site at http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com Although I had no rooting interest whatsoever in the national championship game, I must admit to being extremely impressed with the performance of Texas quarterbackVince Young, particularly on those magnificent last two drives. The only thing missing from that final sequence? A fake-spike, of course. Pete Carroll, I'm not generally bitter, but I still haven't forgiven you for the way your team lost five straight to close the 1994 NFL season. Yes, Texas won the game more than your team lost it, but the ending was very reminiscent to me of the way that many contests concluded during your tenure with Gang Green. When the game came down to one play on fourth down in the final seconds, I was in the middle of an instant message session with a friend, Jeff the bowling Miami attorney. We both agreed that the best call for the situation would be a quarterback draw or something of that i...

Shea Stadium has puzzled, bedeviled and flummoxed many a good hitter with its combination of dimensions and weather conditions. There's a frustration factor that comes from too many long fly balls turned into outs and the result is that the batting average plummets. In my 25-odd years of Mets watching, I've seen the ballpark dominate the player, rather than the other way around, a few too many times. There was one hitter though, who for what was otherwise a rather dismal campaign, had a complete mastery of everything Sheaness. In 2003 we were introduced to Jason Phillips, a rather candid Californian with molassesesque speed, a sharp quick bat, and a penchant for doing nimble splits to catch stray throws at first base. In the absence of Mo Vaughn, Phillips, who signed with the Blue Jays on Tuesday, became the team's most pleasant surprise. By July 13, the Mets were basically dead and buried, at 39-53 and in the NL East basement with one day remaining before the All-Star Brea...

Since the calendar has turned itself over, it seems that a re-introduction is in order. As someone who is a big believer in the idea that actions speak louder than words, I've always preferred "solutions" to "resolutions" so I don't do the whole thing regarding promising to be a better person than I was the previous year. The Mets, on the other hand, always promise to be better than they were the previous season. They make resolutions in the form of "solutions", always bringing in new people, whether it be in the front office, in management, or on the field. The history of this dates all the way back to the beginnings of the franchise in 1962 when ownership decided to bring in as many familiar faces as possible, hoping to generate immediate interest. That's why the Mets had George Weiss and Casey Stengel running the ship, with a roster in the early days that included the likes of Don Zimmer, Gil Hodges, Duke Snider, Roger Craig, and Gene Woodli...

Warning: This story may gross you out at the conclusion. Consider yourself warned. My vomit streak may not rival that of Jerry Seinfeld's, but I mark the last day I upchucked as a significant one in my history as a football fan. On December 29, 2002 the Jets were in the final week of a multi-team AFC playoff mishmash involving the Patriots, Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, one caused by an awful loss against the Bears a few weeks earlier. The Jets were facing the Packers at the Meadowlands at 4pm but needed the right combination of results at 1pm to set up a scenario by which beating Green Bay would mean a postseason spot. It had been an exciting, up-and-down season, one in which Chad Pennington made his first impact on the New York sports scene, taking over as the team's starting quarterback early in the season and leading them to several impressive wins. My dad and I had gone to the Meadowlands a couple of times that season and he suggested we make another trip. I resisted, par...

So if we were having a vote as to which New York sports team has tortured its fans more over the years, could our butterfly ballot contain the pictures of Chad Bradford, representing the Mets, and Chad Pennington, representing the Jets? Bradford brings his funky, submarine style delivery to Shea Stadium this season and it's entirely possible that with the significant damage to his rotator cuff from the last two seasons that Pennington's best shot at throwing a football again might be to use that same motion. Anyway, the Bradford/Pennington references allow me to segue, ever so slightly to a football story, since it is the last week of the NFL's regular season, one that has been a total waste right from the start if you're a follower of the J-E-T-S. Let me say that of the four majors, football fluctuates between my third and fourth favorite sport, which probably has more to do with my distaste for violence over anything else. I never get pumped up for Monday Night Footba...

I'm a little late to the gate on this one, since Edgardo Alfonzo got traded from the Giants to the Angels last week, but I was in the middle of my holiday week tribute, which I didn't want to disturb. I don't think Alfonzo would mind. It didn't seem like much bothered Alfonzo during his eight-year tenure with the Mets. The guy was pretty much unflappable, regardless of the situation and it's a shame that Giants fans didn't get to see him during the prime of his career. Alfonzo wasn't a superstar but he developed into a terrific player One of these days, I'm going to make a list of the most clutch Mets of all-time (I have a date in the future in mind) and the only players guaranteed spots, in my mind, are Keith Hernandez, John Olerud, and Alfonzo. It didn't matter if he played second or third, hit second, third or wherever, Alfonzo was clutch at the plate, on the bases, and in the field. Finding examples of the latter two are difficult, so you'll ...

OK, so apparently the stategy that Mr. Minaya has taken to load up his bench this season is to sign guys who have crushed the Mets in the past. In other words, if you can't beat em, sign em. First there was the purchase of Tike Redman, and now they've signed Endy Chavez to what basically amounts to a tryout battle for the fifth outfield slot (loser leads off for Norfolk). Chavez has a .259 batting average over a 436-game major-league career, which is basically unimpressive. What he does best is slap-hit and that's a skill that didn't work for him much in 2005, as in stints with the Phillies and Nationals he barely hit above .200. Based on the way he's performed against the Flushing 9, fans may think they just picked up Eric Chavez. He's the type of guy that would be an ideal fit for the Braves come September, so it's probably a good thing that he is where he is now. He's a .326 career hitter against the Mets, with a .519 slugging percentage over 129 at-b...

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 ...

Regular readers may recall that I got a little prematurely excited during the season regarding the religious status of former Met Mike Jacobs, thinking initially that he, like me, was Jewish before learning that he was not. While Jacobs won't be lighting the menorah or spinning the dreidel this Sunday (yes, the first night of Hanukkah coincides with Christmas), six other former Mets will. Two had walk-off hits for the Flushing 9. As it turns out, we've already written about one , but we'll give the other recognition today. Elliott Maddox, a native of East Orange, New Jersey, was a baseball star at the University of Michigan, whose baseball claims to fame are varied. You can read more about them here http://jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=baseball&ID=121 but to summarize, Maddox played on the 1971 Washington Senators (the final season of baseball in D.C. until 2005), finished as high as eighth in the AL MVP voting while with the Yankees, and, before joining the Mets, ...

Thanks to Barry Federovitch for the suggestion regarding this particular entry I made nearly 20 trips to Shea Stadium during the 2005 season and for every one, I brought either a jacket or umbrella. I have been to the Flushing ballpark enough times to know that one or the other is likely going to be needed, even during the warm summer months, because the weather, on a good day, can be nasty, and at worst, be putrid. And if I ever need a reminder of how bad it can get, here's a game worth remembering. We talked about Opening Days in my last post, and I'm glad to say I was nearly four years from birth on April 6, 1971 when the Mets and Expos commenced the season in the combination of 40 degree temperatures, 40-mile-an-hour winds and a driving rainstorm in what New York Times writer Joseph Durso described as "a day not fit for man or beast or baseball player." The good news for those in attendance was that this affair lasted only 96 minutes. The Mets struck first in the...

When I was in elementary school at PS 190 (82nd between 1st and 2nd), we had a music teacher named Ms. Rosen, who started a school chorus. I was a member and during my two-year tenure as a sorprano, I had the opportunity to perform a solo during a performance at the ritzy Plaza Hotel. Ms. Rosen loved Christmas songs and shared her adoration with her chorus and the music classes. They got drummed into us pretty good because of weekly repetition. I don't celebrate Christmas, but for whatever reason, I like Christmas and holiday music. My tastes range from "Frosty the Snowman" to "My Two Front Teeth" to "Winter Wonderland." I find these songs soothing, but I don't know why. So this week, I'm going to spin a holiday theme throughout my blog posts, be in it the titles or the stories themselves. In baseballese, the most wonderful time of the year isn't Christmastime (except for the recently signed ex-free agents who are busy counting their money)...

Ok, I changed my mind...I will post today. The Cardinals signing of Braden Looper served as my inspiration You could argue that Braden Looper's somewhat laughable contract is the byproduct of one pitch. It came on October 22, 2003, the fourth game of the 2003 World Series between the Marlins and Yankees. This was supposed to be Roger Clemens night, since he fraudulently purported that this game would be his farewell to baseball and many still remember it for the popping flashbulbs and the opposing applause that came when Clemens left the game after seven innings, outpitched by Carl Pavano and trailing 3-1. In the ninth inning, the Yankees worked one of their magical, miraculous comebacks that sometimes make you wonder if the Baseball Gods were born in the Bronx. They had two men on with two outs against Marlins closer Ugueth Urbina, and Joe Torre sent Ruben Sierra up to pinch-hit for Karim Garcia. Sierra delivered a game-tying two-run triple and the Yankees were 90 feet away from t...

Note: I'm leaving this post up through the end of the week, a) because I don't have time to pump out something new and b)because I was hoping to build a really good list of entertainment industry walk-offs...so if you're looking for something new, check back on Monday or so... Of course, if there's a major trade or move, I'll adjust and try to post something... In the meantime, click on the "Table of Contents" link as well. It has been updated. SPOILER ALERT: Read at your own risk Caught the ending of "A League of Their Own" on one of the movie channels the other day and it got me to thinking that it would be fun to compile a list of walk-offs from movies, television, and other forms of entertainment. Here's the start, and only the start, as I spent about 30 minutes or so thinking it over Help me fill in the blanks by filling out the comments section. "A League of Their Own"-- Racine beats Rockford for the All-American Girls Profess...

So Roberto Hernandez walks off into the Mets sunset to Pittsburgh, though not by his choice, since team management decided it could live without him. Age couldn't have been the reason, since based on the signing of Julio Franco, they're willing to shell out the dough for the aged. Hernandez had a good season for the Mets in 2005. It was a really good season, one that far exceeded expectations. You could count his bad outings on two hands, which isn't bad for a guy that pitched 67 times and was only charged with runs on 12 occasions. I talked to a couple of people this season (not Mets fans) who disliked Roberto Hernandez for one reason or another, but as much as they tried, they couldn't change my opinion that he was legitimately one of the team MVPs. Sitting here on a Friday night with nothing better to do, it got me to thinking about others whose Metsy days lasted only a single season. I wrote a couple of pieces for New York Mets Inside Pitch titled "Mets for a ...

So I just spent the past hour and 15 minutes searching for games in which newest Met Julio Franco got a walk-off RBI. It was not an easy process by any means, combing thru a few hundred Retrosheet boxscores and Lexis-Nexis stories before I hit paydirt. I think the most important thing I learned from this is that Julio Franco has played a lot of baseball. And I don't use the term "a lot" loosely. In 1982, Franco's rookie season, he played in games in which megastars Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose had walk-off hits. Later in his career, he appeared in contests in which not-so-immortals Doug Frobel and Jerry Willard had their walk-off moments in the sun. He hit two home runs in a Nolan Ryan no-hitter. He's been on dreadfully bad teams (like the 1985 Indians), reasonably average squads (pick a Rangers team from 1990 to 1993), and pretty good clubs (the 2001-2004 Braves)., though he's yet to appear in a World Series. He has played as little as one game in a season (1...

Being perceived as blog-troversial is kind of a new thing for me, but apparently I am after I (gasp) had good things to say about Paul Lo Duca. I wonder what the reaction is going to be when I make nice regarding the signing of Jose Valentin. This one's a little harder, because the guy is a career .241 hitter, whose closest comparable at the plate, Mets-wise, is Dave Kingman. But by all accounts, Valentin is a much better person than King Kong. He was nominated by the White Sox for the Roberto Clemente Award in each of of his last four seasons with the team, and has his own charitable foundation to raise money for low-income children with special health needs. Of course that's not necessarily important to those who flock here wanting to know how the latest Mets acquisitions will help the team win 130 games this season, but I place some value in inhabiting a clubhouse with good people. There's only so much goodwill that you can tolerate with a Mendoza-line batting average, I...

I think I've read it elsewhere (another blog, perhaps), or at least heard it said that the best compliment you could pay a baseball player is to say "He played the game the way it should be played." John Olerud retired yesterday, a move that will get little attention because his credentials don't quite match the potential of those making news at the Winter Meetings in Dallas. Olerud finished with 2,239 career hits, a .295 batting average and a place in the immortal pantheon of "Really good players who weren't quite Hall-of-Fame caliber, but whose accomplishments we appreciate nonetheless." Olerud was a Met for three seasons and was best known for his clutch hitting, great glovework and quiet professional demeanor. Some say that the 1999 Mets were better than the 2000 squad because the former had Olerud's presence and the latter had the ever-too-patient Todd Zeile as his replacement. Some said the Mets should have offered him more money before he bolt...