Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

It's been nearly five years since the last time that Julio Franco both hit a home run and stole a base in the same game (June 24, 2002 against the Mets), so what he did in Friday's win over the Diamondbacks was a good while coming. But it's been more than 18 years since Franco last had a walk-off home run and a stolen base in the same game. In fact, in the career of a man who can say he's older than (Shea Stadium) dirt, such an instance has only happened once. The magic moments took place on April 28, 1989 when Franco, in a past life, was a member of the Rangers, facing the Red Sox. The stolen base was the easy part. That came in the first inning, against future Met catcher Rick Cerone. The home run was a little tougher in that it required the Rangers rallying from a 3-run deficit in the 8th inning against Bob Stanley and Lee Smith. Then, it needed for the game to get rather lengthy, which it did, stretching into the bottom of the 12th inning before Franco clubbed a 2...

Last night's game would make a good addition to this list, compiled this past winter. In case you missed it, it's a summary of the best Mets wins against the Diamondbacks. http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/11/best-games-i-know-mets-vs-diamondbacks.html Working on a new version for another team this weekend...

Regular readers may recall this tale, of "The Walk-Off That Wasn't," http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/walk-off-that-wasnt.html but today, I'm here to tell you the story of "The Walk-Off That Was." The anniversary of this is pertinent, since it took place on May 3, 1971, a game between the Mets and Cubs at Shea Stadium, which turned into a fine pitching duel between Ken Holtzman and Gary Gentry. It was a walk-off made possible by the events which took place in the top half of the 9th inning. The score was even to that point because the Cubs were able to tie it on a home run by Billy Williams off Gentry in the 8th inning, but unable to take the lead after subsequently loading the bases later in the frame. The last opportunity for the visitors in regulation commenced in the most frustrating of manners, with Gentry walking Holtzman before being pulled for Tug McGraw. Don Kessinger bunted but the Mets were unable to record an out, as second baseman Tim Fo...

Wanted to share a few discoveries from a couple days worth of studying. With the help of Baseball-Reference.com , I compiled a list of all the times the Mets had gotten a game-tying RBI (but not a game-winner), down to their final out in either regulation or extra innings (regardless of home/road location). It's something that's already happened twice this season, so I figured it was worth looking into. * Julio Franco's hit in Washington on Saturday marked the 74th time in club history that it got a game-tying RBI with 2 outs in the 9th inning. It happened twice last season (Xavier Nady in an eventual loss to the Brewers on May 14th and Carlos Delgado in a win over the Marlins in Florida on September 13th). It's something that has happened as often as four times a season in Mets history (most recently in the very forgettable 2004 season), and last happened at home on May 18, 2004 against the Cardinals (Kaz Matsui tied it with a hit and then Cliff Floyd followed with a w...

Ok, so here's what I've got... I can now tell you, on "pretty good" certainty that Bill Spiers and Endy Chavez are the only two players in Mets history to win a game with a bunt hit. I say this because I ran a series of checks through the notes in my database. In doing so, I made the following presumptions. * The Mets have never had a walk-off win via bunt double, triple, or home run. * The Mets have never won a game in which a bunt hit brought in two runs. Presuming those to be true left me with a list of games that the Mets won via one-RBI singles. I've had the good fortune to write about a significant number of those already and the good fortune to watch a good number of those games within my lifetime. Eliminating them left me with about 75 games as possibilities though some seemed highly illogical (I had serious doubts that Dave Kingman ever bunted to win a game). For those games, I ran a check of Retrosheet play-by-play data and doing so allowed me to elimina...

"You and your historic parallels..." a friend of mine IM'd me the other day after I shared a few interesting walk-off nuggets with him. Yesterday was one of those days with historic parallels all over the place... * Jake Peavy struck out 16 and his team lost via walk-off. The Mets were once struck out 15 times by Expos starter Mike Wegener on September 10, 1969 (in 11 innings), but won on a walk-off hit by Ken Boswell. (we'll convienently ignore the time El Sid whiffed 16 Braves but lost on a Lonnie Smith HR) http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/09/boswell-that-ends-well.html * The Braves had a 3-0 lead in the 9th against the Marlins and lost on a walk-off passed ball The Mets have never won via walk-off passed ball, but have won 10 games via walk-off wild pitch, including a rather famous occurrence against the Pirates on Oct. 3, 1999 http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/09/i-want-my-turn-at-bat.html * It took 16 innings to get a walk-off winner in the Astros-Pirate...

Well, kudos to commenter JB from Long Island. He remembered that Bill Spiers once won a game with a walk-off bunt, one of a slightly more daring variety, on August 18, 1995. The scenario was that the Mets and Dodgers were tied, 2-2, in the bottom of the ninth inning, with Ryan Thompson on third base and one out. The manager, Dallas Green, was a slightly more daring skipper than Willie Randolph and elected to gamble to try to win the game. It was a particularly fitting maneuver that he planned to execute considering that the Mets had just traded their best bunter, Brett Butler, who was in the Dodgers lineup that day. Green sent up Spiers, who was in a David Wright-esque 0-15 slump but an ideal candidate for a suicide squeeze. With Thompson charging from third base on the first pitch, Spiers bunted past Dodgers moundsman Mark Guthrie, and Thompson scored the winning run. "Finessed to perfection" as New York Times writer George Willis described it and I think that description a...

updated April 25 at 11:50am with another Mets walk-off bunt (thank you, JB), and a list of pitchers whose first MLB win was a Mets walk-off. The one walk-off scenario that I've been dreading was the kind the Mets got on Tuesday night, a bunt single to beat the Rockies, giving the team its first walk-off victory of the season. I must admit to being unprepared to answer the following question. Have the Mets ever won a game on a walk-off bunt? Fairly early on in the history of this blog, a reader asked that very question, and my answer was "I don't believe so," but I never did the legwork (and there's a lot that needs to be done) to check it. I did go through This Date in New York Mets History and found no references to any, but that's as far as my research has taken me. So I put the call out to you, loyal readers, to assist me. If you know that there's been one, please reference it in the comments section and cite source material. Otherwise, I've got a ...

Monday's win provided me the inspiration to look up a pair of things that intrigued me over the course of this contest. As the AP game story so eloquently noted, last July, John Maine beat Taylor Buchholz, as supported by a home run and four RBI from Jose Valentin. Monday, John Maine beat Taylor Buchholz, as supported by a home run and four RBI from Jose Valentin. So it got me to wondering: Has the same hitter ever beaten the same pitcher, in the same fashion for a Mets walk-off victory in consecutive seasons? The answer is no, though there are a couple that we could note as "close calls." In 2000, Jay Payton hit a walk-off HR versus Brewers reliever Juan Acevedo. The next season, Payton beat Acevedo, who had moved on to the Marlins, again. Only this time, he did so with a double, instead of a home run. In 1982, Hubie Brooks beat Pirates reliever Kent Tekulve with a walk-off fielders choice. In 1983 he beat him again, only this time more cleanly, with an RBI single. That...

I'm a little worried that we're not gonna get a walk-off this month. The Rockies come to town and the Mets don't exactly have the best walk-off history against Colorado. The Mets last walk-off win against the Rockies came 3,626 days ago on May 19, 1997, and we wrote about it here. http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/12/rud-awakening.html The only lengthier wait than this one is for another walk-off win against the Red Sox. The Mets last walk-off win against the Red Sox was October 25, 1986 (7,485 days ago). We've written about that one, a lot :) Good things come to Mets who wait, who know... The longest span between Mets walk-off wins against one opponent is 10,480 days (nearly 29 years). The Mets had a walk-off win against the Orioles on October 15, 1969 (World Series) and didn't have another one against them until June 25, 1998.

For an introduction, see the other "Best Games I Know" installments Arizona Diamondbacks St. Louis Cardinals (pre-2006 playoffs edition) It should be noted that these are difficult to write. The original draft of this installment was penned in November, but I've hemmed and hawed over these for a good while. Narrowing the field down to 10 games wasn't easy, nor was trying to figure out what to write for each contest. Hopefully it will stir up some thought and discussion. Best Games I Know Mets vs Braves #10 (May 12, 1962 G1 , G2 ) The First Walk-Offs Wins number 6 and 7 in Mets history were the first walk-off wins for this franchise in regular-season play. That they got a pair on the same date via walk-off home runs by Hobie Landrith (off Hall of Famer and future Met Warren Spahn) and (should-be Hall of Famer) Gil Hodges was rather neat and rather historic. It was the first time that both games of a doubleheader ended in that fashion, a feat that has only been repeat...

It is my philosophy this season not to dwell on that which you do not possess, as right alongside "Ya Gotta Get Worse!" I've decided to embrace the belief "Enjoy what you have" simply because it makes my life a lot more pleasant to do so. And what the Mets do have is 341 walk-off wins (and yes, to the anonymous poster from yesterday, a walk-off triple (click on the link) is among them), which I plan to relish in this space on a regular basis. Besides, I'm not sure why everyone's moaning and groaning about no-hitters today. The Mets have had them before. Or do you not remember March 22, 1965? That was the day the Mets took down, as the New York Times called them, "the hottest spring training team in Florida." Credit for the ultimate pitching success goes to Gary Kroll and Gordon Richardson, who combined on nine hitless frames in blanking the Pirates, 6-0. Kroll worked the first six and Richardson closed with a strong last three. At one point the...

Source: Baseball-Reference.com Play Index * Longest Hit Streaks Mets History David Wright 2006-07 24 Hubie Brooks 1984 24 Mike Piazza 1999 24 John Olerud 1998 23 Mike Vail 1975 23 Cleon Jones 1970 23 * Longest Hit Streaks From Start of His Season, Mets History David Wright 2007 12 Ed Kranepool 1965 12 Johnny Lewis 1965 11 * Longest Multi-Season Hit Streaks Mets History David Wright 2006-07 24 Jose Vizcaino 1995-96 16 Gary Carter 1986-87 16 Rusty Staub 1973-74 16 * The longest hit streak of a multi-hit variety in Mets history is 8 games, by Steve Henderson (1979). Thirteen players have reached 6 games, including Carlos Beltran (2006) and Jose Reyes (2003). * The longest hit streak by a Mets pitcher is held by Jerry Koosman, at 6 games (1974) * The longest hitless streak by a Mets position player is 20 games, by David Wright's good friend, Joe McEwing (2002). * The longest "reached base at least once" streak in Mets history is 47 games, set by John Olerud (1998-99). Jose Vi...

As he approaches 300 wins, Mets pitcher Tom Glavine should be thankful for a handful of instances in which his team really helped him out. Of Glavine's 292 victories, four came in games in which his team won via walk-off and twice, his teams turned a potential Glavine defeat into victory in that final turn. The first of those instances was on May 7, 1994, against the Expos, a contest in which Glavine carried a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning. The problem was that as well as Glavine pitched, Jeff Fassero was just as good and he matched Glavine's zeroes into the 9th inning. With two outs and nobody on in the Montreal ninth, Glavine finally ran into trouble from which he could not escape successfully. A double by Larry Walker preceded an intentional walk to Moises Alou and an unintentional pass to Randy Milligan (aka the scout who signed David Wright). With the bases loaded and two outs, Glavine got ahead of Lenny Webster, 1-2, but Webster reached on an infield single. Walk...

You're going to read a lot today about the start of Jackie Robinson's major-league career, but my focus will be on one particular game related to the conclusion of his playing days. Game 6 of the 1956 World Series took place a day following a perfect game by Yankees pitcher Don Larsen and it was a worthy follow-up to that masterpiece, though it's not anywhere near as heralded. The Yankees were one victory away from clinching the series, ahead 3 games to 2, but the Dodgers were determined to deny their championship and force a seventh game. It was a bright, sunny afternoon, and that would play a role in this contest. Both Dodgers starter Clem Labine and Yankees starter Bob Turley pitched masterfully, though Turley walked eight, two intentionally, matching shutout frame for shutout frame. Labine escaped jams by getting Mickey Mantle out in the third and Billy Martin in the sixth with two men on base. Turley survived two major threats, in the sixth and eighth, and both requir...

So I was in the midst of my first media-guide surfthrough of the season the other day and that's normally a rather pleasant experience. But then I came across something that really bothered me. It came to my attention that Luis Aguayo is now a Met. Just my luck. Aguayo the team's field coordinator, meaning that he oversees spring training for the Mets minor league teams, extended spring training, and the Mets instructional league team and for all I know, he may absolutely fantastic at handling the duties of that position. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Luis Aguayo is a Mets fans source of absolute heartbreak, not quite on the scale of Yadier Molina, but close enough in my mind to warrant thoughts of disdain. It was the fall of 1987, some 20 years previous, when the Mets limped, stumbled and staggered their way to 92 victories despite a mess of injuries and the drug-related downfall of the Doctor. (Gooden). There were a lot of bad losses that season and though many...

The post counter on my blogger page tells me that this is post #411 and I'll go with that, even though some of them consist of me merely saying "No post today, back tomorrow." With that in mind, my goal today is to be as informative as I was in post #410, which I'd have to rank among my all-time favorites (maybe at 500, we'll do a "best of"). So today, rather than pay tribute to Mets killers, I'm going to borrow an idea from Jerry Seinfeld and do the opposite. It's my little tribute to his tv show (and George's gym teacher, Mr. Heyman) that I'm going to refer to the players I write about today as "Metskilledya." Again, following the Q and A format, with mucho kudos to the Play Index section at Baseball-Reference.com Who holds the record for longest "hitless" streak against the Mets? Well, in order to do this, we have to adjust our criteria to suit what Baseball-Reference can handle, and as a result, there are several a...

I'd been wanting to write something on Mets-killers and streakholders for quite some time and the news of Ryan Howard's accomplishment Monday struck me as a good chance to do so. For those unaware, Howard became the first player since Hank Aaron to homer in 5 consecutive games against the Mets. That's pretty impressive company, perhaps even more so considering that Aaron did it back in 1962-63. So, with the help of those new handy-dandy Retrosheet search engine tools on Baseball-Reference.com , I thought I'd take a look at other noteworthy streakholders against the Mets. To make it an easier read (and perhaps inspire a trivia question or two), we'll offer it up in a Q and A format. Who holds the record for the longest hitting streak against the Mets? Matty Alou, 22 games, spanning from 1971 to 1973. Steve Finley (1995-97) and Gary Templeton (1978-79) rank 2nd with 21-game streaks. Who holds the record for longest hitting streak against the Mets, at Shea Stadium? Lui...

Have the Mets ever won a game via walk-off due to a shortstop's miscue? You betcha. In fact, we've written about it twice previously http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/fatherson-walk-off-memory.html http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/win-like-flynn_21.html Those two games represent half the number of times that the Mets have triumphed via the E6 and for the purpose of moving towards completing the set, we'll tell you about the most recent of this quartet of occurrences today. Even though the Mets home opener wasn't a walk-off win (and the E6 only tied the game), there is a parallel to what happened Monday at Shea (and if you couldn't tell, we love historical parallels) in that the game a)took place in April and b) was against a team from Pennsylvania, but we doubt that Pirates shortstop Kevin Polocovich made any comments about his squad being a team to beat. It's a good thing because the Pirates went on to finish 69-93 and games like this didn't ...

It's a beautiful day for baseball this Monday (more or less) as the game returns to Flushing for the first time this season and we're excited that there's finally a chance for walk-off wins again. That got us to doing some research into what we're calling HOTWOOD. No, that has nothing to do with the Mets bats from their first few games, nor is it the town in Indiana where (name that obscure Met) grew up. HOTWOOD stands for Home Openers That Weren't On Opening Day. And here's what we can tell you about them... * The Mets are 12-9 all-time in HOTWOOD, a good record, but far shy of their 29-17 Opening Day mark. *The Mets have won 5 HOTWOOD in a row, though that comes with an asterisk attached to the 2000 HOTWOOD win. When the Mets opened in Japan in 2000, they were technically the home team on Opening Day, but to call that game the "home opener" would be inappropriate, as it would also be to acknowledge the second "fake" Opening Day" that c...