Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Ok folks, I'm back in business after my time of Mets mourning, and I'm eager to get started on offseason work. Here's what I have in mind writing-wise for the next few months. * I will put the wraps on the 2006 Mets season. I will do a walk-off year in review, as I did for 2005 . I'm also dabbling with the idea of writing a more all-encompassing Mets Moments Year in Review, but I'm not sure I'm going to do that yet. I also intend to share a thought or two on what it was like to be at Game 7 (the echoes from my cries of anguish still ring in the mens room in Grand Central), and why I blame Carlos Beltran for a piece of lost luggage. I think that it will be very theraputic. * I will do a thorough examination of the Mets offseason moves and other major baseball stories that shake down this winter, with the primary objective being to provide a walk-off perspective. You may recall that I did this last winter. Some of my most popular pieces have been trade and free ag...

Me, to anyone who would listen in June, July, August, September, and even early October: "The Cardinals season will end in unpleasant fashion. It is not meant to be for them." Oh well...Congrats to them! .

Answers to the Rockies-Red Sox quiz posted October 23, 2007 Questions here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/10/our-special-bonds-2007-world-series.html 1) Name the Mets pitcher whom Todd Helton historically crushed. There's no pitcher that Todd Helton has hit any better against than former Met (Righty) Bobby Jones. Helton went 16-for-25 against Jones with 5 home runs. That's ownership! 2) Name the Red Sox regular who hit a walk-off HR against the Mets. Former Marlin Mike Lowell homered off former Marlin Braden Looper, beating the Mets on May 29, 2004. 3) Name the former Met and Rockie against whom Manny Ramirez went 1-10 with 4 K. Bret Saberhagen , part of the Rockies last playoff push, in 1995, held his own against Manny Ramirez when the two went head-to-head, though they never faced each other when Sabes was a Met. 4) Terry Francona homered once against the Mets. Name the pitcher he homered off. Ed Lynch had the misfortune of giving up the home run to Francona in 198...

I'm taking a break from the blogging during the World Series. I have certain work obligations to fulfill and it's gona take awhile to recover from Thursday's game. That combination means a break is necessary.   Thanks for reading and I'll catch you down the road.

Here's the deal folks...biggest game of the year coming up and I have no time to post...sometimes that's the way it goes.... If anyone wants to post some walk-off thoughts, feel free to do so in the comments section... Enjoy the game and root for my prediction to come true.

Trying really hard to believe... Say the words "Game 6" To Red Sox fans, it brings back memories of Carlton Fisk and the left field foul pole or Curt Schilling and his bloody sock To Cardinals fans, it brings back memories of Jack Clark homering off Tom Niedenfuer or Jim Edmonds and the dramatics of 2004. To Royals fans, it brings back memories of Dane Iorg and Don Denkinger. To Indians fans, it brings back memories of Tony Fernandez and a surprise home run. To Blue Jays fans, it brings back memories of Joe Carter homering off Mitch Williams. To Yankees fans, it brings back memories of Reggie Jackson hitting 3 home runs. To Twins fans, it brings back memories of Kirby Puckett's one-man show To Marlins fans, it brings back memories of an unlikely helper named Steve Bartman To Angels fans, it brings back memories of the Rally Monkey and Scott Spiezio To Braves fans, it brings back memories of a crafty lefty pitching eight one-hit innings or maybe something else that we don...

Answers to the trivia quiz posted October 17, 2007, related to Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS. Questions found here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/10/our-special-bonds-grand-slam-single.html 1) Name the Met whose 3 1/3 inning stint was the longest for the Mets in Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS. Orel Hershiser relieved Masato Yoshii and came up clutch with 3 1/3 scoreless innings, to keep the score tied, 2-2. 2) Name the backup catcher, the starting outfielder, and the relief pitcher, the latter of whom was the losing pitcher in Game 4 of this series. Kudos if you got this one. The 3 Braves from this game with a Mets connection were leadoff hitter Gerald Williams , backup catcher Jorge Fabregas , and relief pitcher Mike Remlinger . 3) Name the (now-disdained) Met who had the team's highest batting average in the series Mets fans may not like Roger Cedeno now, but when he hit .500 in the 1999 NLCS, and scored a run in the 15th inning of Game 5, he was hearing lots of cheers. 4) Name the ...

So it looks like Tony La Russa has left the door ajar for the Mets to beat Chris Carpenter in walk-off fashion. Following the announcement of Monday's rainout, La Russa indicated that he'd stick with Jeff Weaver in Game 5 and save Chris Carpenter for the possible clincher/eliminator in Game 6, a move that makes sense since it allows both pitchers to start on normal rest. It also prevents Weaver from pitching in a scenario such as that he was in against the Marlins in the 2003 World Series, when Alex Gonzalez beat him in Game 4 with a walk-off home run. You get the feeling in that such a big game that La Russa might hang with Carpenter for as long as he possibly can. There's precedent for that from earlier this regular season when Carpenter lost a couple of leads late in games. This is the pitcher that La Russa trusts the most and for good reason, based on his record the last three seasons. If you told Willie Randolph right now that his team might be in walk-off position aga...

Answers to the quiz posted on October 16, 2007. Questions here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/10/our-special-bonds-miracle-mets.html 1) You can't name any of the teams that finished a regular season with 100 wins prior to the 1969 Mets. There are none. 2) Art Shamsky wrote a book about the 1969 season, but any personal reminiscence of the World Series could not include him describing his base hits. He went 0-for-7, the Mets worst 0-for of the series. 3) Gary Gentry may have been among the worst hitting pitchers ever, but he did have a hit and drive in two runs in Game 3, the game better known for Tommie Agee's home run and great catches. 4) Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson, made the 2nd out of the 9th inning, leading up to Davey Johnson's final at-bat. 5) Mighty mite Al Weis, the super-sub of the New York Mets (as he was referred to on the Fleetwood record commemorating the championship), hit seven regular season home runs in a career spanning 800 games, but he can ...

More to come later in day... * Oliver Perez, adequate-pitching savior that he is, joined Tom Seaver (1969 NLCS Game 1- the Mets first postseason game) as the only Mets pitchers to allow 5 runs and win a postseason game. * Pitching 0 innings in a postseason game against the Mets is a rare honor, reserved for an elite group that includes walk-off error giver-uppers Pete Richert (1969 World Series Game 4, Orioles) and Bob Stanley (1986 WS Game 6, Red Sox), but Josh Hancock is the first in that group to allow as many as 5 runs. The previous record of 2 runs in 0 IP against the Mets in the postseason has been done twice- by Horacio Pina (1973 WS Game 2, Athletics) and, of all people, Jesse Orosco (1988 NLCS Game 3, Dodgers). * Albert Pujols is without an RBI for 5 games. The last time an opposing starting first baseman went through five games in a series against the Mets without driving in a run was in 1986, and that first baseman happened to be friend o'site Bill Buckner, who failed to...

Answers to the Game 6 quiz posted October 15, 2007 Questions here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/10/our-special-bonds-1986-nlcs-game-6.html 1) Astros final out, Kevin Bass , who trailed Tony Gwynn (.404), Mike Schmidt (.373), Robby Thompson (.364), and Von Hayes (.357), had the best batting average against the Mets among those on his team, .347. 2) Craig Reynolds had 2 walk-off hits against the Mets in his career, though he couldn't get one in the bottom of the 16th, since his team trailed by 3 runs at the time of his leadoff AB. Reynolds is also the batter who hit into a double play (although he was actually safe at first on replay) in the 2nd inning of Game 5, denying the Astros an early run. 3) The two hits that the Mets had through the first eight innings against Bob Knepper were by the starting DP combo of Tim Teufel and Rafael Santana . The finishing DP combo was Wally Backman and Kevin Elster. 4) We're referring to the 19-inning game between the Mets and Braves ...

* An unpleasant family tradition continued on Friday, though I was not in attendance, my sister was in the ballpark for So Taguchi home run. We also had family presence at two other unfortunately significant Cardinals home runs at Shea Stadium: Cesar Cedeno (September 11, 1985) and Terry Pendleton (September 11, 1987) for those who need reminding. * This is the 2nd time in Mets postseason history that they lost a game in which the decisive run was scored in the top of the 9th inning. The other was Game 5 of the 2000 World Series. * So Taguchi joins Wilson Betemit and Josh Willingham as opponents who hit go-ahead home runs off Billy Wagner this season (I believe that's the full list...). For those curious, Taguchi had never homered against the Mets before and was 0-5 against Billy Wagner. * That was the 2nd go-ahead HR hit against Wagner in postseason play. The other was hit by Chipper Jones. * The 9 runs allowed is the most allowed by the Mets in a postseason game since allowing 10...

I begin with a question... I've seen a couple of colleagues note how important Paul Lo Duca's hit was, just prior to Carlos Beltran's go-ahead two-run home run, and I totally agree with them. My first look at the replay tells me that Jeff Weaver made a great pitch, and Lo Duca used his great bat control to place the ball in just the right spot. There's luck involved once the ball is hit, but putting the ball in play is the key to success. Anyone out there who can think of other Mets postseason scenarios in which a Mets batsman came through in a big spot against a GREAT pitch. The one example that comes to mind (and perhaps this is a blog entry in itself) is Ray Knight fighting off an 0-2 pitch that jammed him almost in on the bat handle, for a base hit to center field, keeping alive the 2-out rally just prior to Mookie Wilson's AB in the last of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the World Series. Wilson's foul ball on a 2-2 count (the one after which Dwight Evans lea...

Since our LDS predictions were successful though not accurate, we thought it appropriate to give it another go for the League Championship Series, and to expand our prognostications to cover some of the most unique walk-offs in LCS history. We believe that the Mets will become the first team to win all of its games in a postseason series in walk-off fashion, and they'll do so in this manner. Game 1: Lifelong Mets admirer, 14-year-old Louie Govnor earns his place in Mets fans hearts, lunging to the edge of the bleachers in the 8th inning to catch David Wright's long fly ball, an admirable feat considering the degree of difficulty . Tony La Russa pleads for a fan interference call to no avail, despite replays showing he's right , and Wright's drive is ruled a game-tying home run. Carlos Beltran sends everyone home for the night, wrapping a drive around the foul pole in left field against Tyler Johnson in the 11th inning. Game 2: In one of the weirdest endings you'll ...

Well, this is what happens when I get a day off from work and can't find a way to get baseball out of the brain. I challenged myself to come up with a list of the 10 best Mets wins over the Cardinals in the history of the rivalry. The criteria was simple: If I felt it belonged on the list, it made it. I may have wrongfully included and excluded...that's up for you to decide. Hopefully you'll enjoy the stroll down memory lane. Oh, and when you're done, click on my other blog entry for the day, a nice companion to this list. #10 Games 1 and 4 of the 2000 NLCS ( October 11 and 15 ) These games don’t stick in the minds of Mets fans as much as some of the others on this list will and that’s okay because Metmorability tends to clutter the brain a bit. A brief refresher tells us that the Mets set the tone for the series with two runs in the top of the first inning of Game 1. Timo Perez started things off with a leadoff double and after that, the Cardinals were never able to...

Every bit of minutiae you ever wanted to know about the Mets and Cardinals, but didn't know where to go to look it up... * The Mets are 311-352 against the Cardinals in regular-season play and 4-1 against them in postseason play (31-32 in walk-off decisions). The Mets have won the regular-season series against the Cardinals 15 times, tied the regular-season series 6 times, and lost the regular-season series 24 times. * The longest win streak for the Mets against the Cardinals is 8 games, accomplished during the 1986 season. The last of those victories happened to be a walk-off win, referenced here http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/08/mitch-in-time-saves-nine.html * The most runs the Mets have ever scored against the Cardinals is 15, on October 3, 1964. The Cardinals record for runs against the Mets is also 15, accomplished 4 times. * A total of 112 players have played for both the Mets and Cardinals, including 45 pitchers. Among those 112 are 7 whose playing career was spent on...

Answers to the questions found here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/10/our-special-bonds-october-notables.html 1) Jorge Posada joins current Mets manager Willie Randolph as the only Yankees to strike out to end a postseason series. Randolph pulled a Carlos Beltran, striking out looking to end Game 3 of the 1980 ALCS against the Royals. 2) A tough one for you youngsters...The Giants catcher the day of Bobby Thomson's HR was the second Mets manager, Wes Westrum . The Dodgers catcher later became pitching coach and worked under Gil Hodges on the 1969 Mets, Rube Walker . 3) "Future" Met is the clue that tells you that the answer wasn't Jesse Orosco. Instead, it was Alejandro Pena , who got the win when Kirk Gibson homered off Dennis Eckersley. 4) The Braves used a former Met, Jeff Reardon , to close the top of the 9th, prior to Francisco Cabrera's walk-off hit in the bottom of the frame, which clinched the 1992 NLCS for Atlanta. 5) 1960 World Series goat (and...

*The Mets concluded their 13th postseason series by sweeping the Dodgers in 3 games. Of the 13 postseason series in which the Mets have appeared, this is the 7th in which there have been no Mets walk-off wins. * This will be the 4th time that the Mets played in an NLCS against an opponent whom they had walked-off against during the regular season. They previously did so in 1969 (Braves), 1986 (Astros) and 1988 (Dodgers) * The Mets have had 3 NLCS walk-off wins- 2 in 1986 (Len Dykstra HR and Gary Carter single) and 1 in 1999 (Robin Ventura single). The Cardinals have had 3 as well- 1 in 1982 (Ken Oberkfell single in Game 2), 1 in 1985 (Ozzie Smith HR in Game 5), and 1 in 2004 (Jim Edmonds HR in Game 6). * The Mets have had 1-run walk-off wins against the Cardinals by scores of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, 5-4 etc....all the way up to 10-9. * Fill-in SNY broadcaster Todd Zeile had a walk-off hit for the Cardinals against the Mets (1992). Absentee SNY broadcaster Keith Hernandez had 2 walk-off hit...

We'll have another post summarizing the series, probably on Monday... * The Mets completed their second postseason sweep in franchise history with this Game 3 win. The only other one was in the 1969 NLCS against the Braves. * The win combined with the Yankees loss marked the first time that the Mets completed a postseason series victory on the same day that the Yankees were eliminated from the postseason. * The 3-hours, 51 minutes of angst was the second-longest nine-inning Mets postseason win in terms of time, surpassed only by the 3-hour, 59-minute torturefest that was Game 2 of the 2000 NLCS * The first seven batters in the Mets starting lineup each scored a run. That's a Mets franchise first for a postseason game. * Shawn Green and Paul Lo Duca each had 2 RBI, among a group of many who have had at least 2 RBI in a Mets postseason clincher. The team record for RBI in a postseason clincher is 3- by Ken Boswell (1969 NLCS), fill-in broadcaster Todd Zeile (2000 NLCS) and absent...

Better late than never... * The Mets improved to 8-5 in Game 2s with their victory on Thursday. If you were going to rate them based on levels of angst, this one would probably rank in the Top 3 among angst-free victories, alongside Game 2 of the 1969 NLCS (an 8-0 lead turned into an 11-6 win) and Game 2 of the 1986 NLCS (a 5-1 win for Bob Ojeda) and slightly ahead of Jon Matlack's 2-hit shutout in Game 2 of the 1973 NLCS (a 5-0 win, and a 2-hitter, but it was a 1-0 game going into the 9th) * Jose Reyes had 2 RBI. It was the first RBI for a Mets starting shortstop in a postseason game since Rey Ordonez had one in Game 3 of the 1999 NLDS against Arizona. It marked the 1st time in team history that a Mets starting shortstop had 2 RBI in a postseason game. * Tom Glavine joined Jon Matlack and Bob Ojeda as lefthanders who won their Mets postseason debut. * Billy Wagner joined Jesse Orosco (1986 World Series) as the only Mets pitchers to save 2 games in the same postseason series. * Jul...