Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

So after doing the Tom Seaver compilation, I felt like I should go in the opposite direction. Instead of looking up the best wins from the best starter in Mets history, why not look up the best WINS by the WORST starters in Mets history. Admittedly, worsthood is in the eye of the beholder, so there's some significant subjectivity involved in this list. I made a printout of every Mets starting pitcher's linescore for games IN WHICH THEY WON and had a Game Score of 80 or better, than sifted through the names. If my initial reaction on seeing a name was "(SIGH)," he's on this list. The 82 Mike Bruhert: 9 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 5 K, W, 2-0 at Phillies, September 17, 1978 No offense to the former pitching coach at Fordham University (he was also Gil Hodges' son-in-law for a time), but I think even Mike Bruhert would tell you that he didn't have a particularly good season in his one year in the big leagues. Consider that in 1978: * His ERA was 4.78 in a year in which th...

And then there are some perfectly good pitchers whose asses the Mets have thoroughly kicked. They are the anti-Hong-Chih Kuo's of the world... Like Brad Penny 5-12 against the Mets 88-57 against others Like Steve Carlton 30-36 against the Mets 299-208 against others Like Rick Reuschel 14-25 against the Mets 200-166 against others Like Nelson Briles 5-16 against the Mets 124-96 against others Like Ken Holtzman 5-11 against the Mets (though he beat the Mets twice in the 1973 WS) 169-139 against others Like Roger Clemens 3-6 against the Mets (with a 4.89 ERA) 351-178 against others Those who will truly save a penny on tickets at Citifield know... Hong Chih-Kuo has the same number of wins against the Mets as Roger Clemens.

All you need to know about this game Only two pitchers in Dodgers history have thrown 3+ hitless innings, with 8 or more strikeouts against the Mets. Hong Chih Kuo did it on Tuesday. Sandy Koufax did it, in his no-hitter against the 1962 Mets. Hong-Chih Kuo, 3-0 vs Mets in regular season (0-1 in playoffs) Hong Chih Kuo, 1-11 vs all other teams Let's move on to something else, shall we?

The highest game score recorded by a WINNING Mets pitcher not named Tom Seaver or David Cone is a 96, but it's not likely you'll be able to guess who recorded it. It wasn't Jerry Koosman or Nolan Ryan. It wasn't Dwight Gooden or Sid Fernandez. It wasn't Tom Glavine, or Pedro Martinez. It wasn't Jon Matlack or Ron Darling. It was by Dick Selma. On September 12, 1965, Selma, a prized 21-year-old righthanded Mets prospect making his second major-league appearance, pitched one of the best games in Mets history, certainly the best one to that point. "He's the best pitcher the Mets have ever put out there on the mound," Milwaukee Braves manager Bobby Bragan told the media afterward, and admittedly that wasn't saying much considering how pathetic the Mets had been, but it was still a nice compliment coming from someone whose lineup that day featured, among others, Rico Carty, Joe Torre, and Eddie Mathews. Those three, by the way, were a combined 0-for...

Wanted to do a series this week on notable players and their best games as a Met. Kind of similar to the "Best Games I Know" only centered around the individual, rather than the team. And yes, similar to the "teams" series, it's going to require, at least for pitchers, that the individual chosen got the win (thus making for some notable omissions). Tom Seaver has earned his way to doing this list in a couple of different way. I'm going to take the easy way out and use the mathematical method, rather than the emotional one. There is a statistic devised by Bill James called "Game Score" which rates a pitchers start based on a number of criteria, such as innings pitched, runs allowed, hits allowed, strikeouts, and walks. An average start would rate around a 50, an awful score would be below 10 and a supremely great score would either approach or surpass 100. Game score is not perfect. It does not factor in quality of opponent or impact of game on penn...

For those who forgot the definition of a wall-off, go here http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/04/fools-gold.html For those who remember, add another one to the list... May 4- Chris Snyder triples off the very top of the left field fence. Instead of a two-run home run, and a one-run lead in the 9th inning, the Diamondbacks settle for being tied with the Mets, who score 3 times in the 9th to win. By the way- a little justice in this world for Tom Glavine and Kenny Rogers being staked to huge leads on Sunday, but unable to come away with wins for themselves (or in Rogers case, for his team).

Ranking the 29 players to get 6+ RBI in a game against the Mets (one did it twice)...from worst to best 1- Augie Ojeda, 2008 2- Dave Kingman, 1980 3- Adolfo Phillips, 1967 (7) 4- Tony Batista, 2004 5- Cody Ross, 2006 (7) 6- Tom Pagnozzi, 1991 7- Jim Morrison, 1984 8- Joe Randa, 2005 9- Bob Bailey, 1973 10- Felipe Lopez, 2008 11- Corey Patterson, 2003 (7) 12- Lee Stevens, 2001 13- Jerry Morales, 1974 14- Willie Montanez, 1976 15- Ron Gant, 1990 16- Brandon Phillips, 2007 17- Bobby Higginson, 1997 (7) 18- Von Hayes, 1985 19- Tom Herr, 1987 20- Deron Johnson, 1971 21- Tim Wallach, 1994 22- Jimmy Wynn, 1967 23- Dick Allen, 1968 (7) 24- Billy Williams, 1968 25- Albert Pujols, 2006 (7) 26- Alex Rodriguez, 2006 (7) 27- Mike Schmidt, 1980 28- Willie McCovey, 1962 (7), 1970 29- Hank Aaron, 1966 True Metjedas know... Albert Pujols had 7 RBI in a game in a Mets walk-off win, on August 22, 2006. Tom Herr had 6 RBI, including a walk-off grand slam against the Mets on April 18, 1987.

Ok, so on Friday's SNY broadcast, Gary Cohen told you of Harry Danning, the last player nailed trying for an inside-the-park home run with a cycle at stake...What they didn't tell you, besides Danning's status as the greatest Jewish catcher of all-time (so says his Baseball-Reference.com page ), was... * That Jose Reyes became the first player in Mets history with a single, a double, and two triples in a game. While that had never been done by the Mets, it had been done against them. I could give you 800 guesses at the former Met who put forth that kind of game and you wouldn't get the name. Only 829 players have played for the Mets (so says Ultimate Mets Database ), but I bet it would take until guess 801 to come up with this guy... Junior Noboa. Two great notes from that game of June 5, 1990 1) Mets broadcaster Ron Darling allowed the double, and the second triple to Noboa. 2) Despite Noboa's unbelievable effort, his team didn't win. The Mets did...in walk-off...

Let's just pretend Thursday's game didn't happen... Things I Learned While Trying to Put David Wright's .465 batting average with the bases loaded into proper perspective He's Positively Tablerian Pat Tabler hit .282 in a major league career that spanned 12 seasons and more than 1,200 games. But his biggest value was what he did when the bases were loaded. He was 43-for-88, and even if you factor in his nine sacrifice flies (which batting average doesn't), his numbers are still off-the-charts good. David Wright's .465 is in the Tabler stratosphere (Tabler-Rosa?) and that's pretty impressive. Of course, Wright will never be able to match Tabler's 2-for-2 performance with the bases loaded as a 17-game Met. That's perfection. He's Not The Best In The Majors, But He's Close Enough So Taguchi is a .500 hitter with the bases loaded (20-for-40). Jose Lopez is a .484 hitter with the bases-loaded (15-for-31) Ichiro is a .473 hitter with the bases ...

I really thought, off the swing, that David Wright had hit his first career walk-off home run. It wouldn't have been the first walk-off home run of Wright's major league career. It wouldn't have been the first walk-off home run of Wright's professional career. It would have been the first walk-off home run that David Wright had ever hit in his life. I know this because, in the bizarrest of coincidences, my quest to find out whether David Wright had ever hit a walk-off home run ended about 10 hours earlier when a Mets PR person replied to a request I had made a few days before. I'm told that Wright pondered the query for a couple minutes before answering that he had never hit one. Never as in never ever. My reply to the Mets official was: "Thank you. I look forward to his first." So you can imagine my reaction when the ball left the bat, and of course, I'm at work and sitting in a part of our offices in which ones rooting interest should not get in th...

7 More Things I Learned While Putting Nelson Figueroa's 2 Wins As a Mets Starter Into Perspective (A continuation of : http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/04/were-number-won.html ) * Tom Seaver has held the Mets STARTERS wins record for a long time On June 8, 1969, Tom Seaver struck out 14 Padres in a 3-2 victory, his 41st as a Mets starter, breaking the previous record for most wins by a Mets starting pitcher. Three weeks later, he'd win his 44th game, breaking the mark for most wins by a Mets pitcher OVERALL, both records set by Al Jackson. On July 4, 1975, Seaver officially put the starting pitcher's mark out of reach with his 158th victory, a 4-3 triumph in Philadelphia, won on Jerry Grote's 2-run home run with two outs in the ninth, off former teammate Tug McGraw. He could have stopped there and still had the mark, as the second-closest Mets starter, Dwight Gooden, finished at 157. To put Seaver's mark of 198 wins as a Mets starter in its proper place: Nelso...

10 Things I Learned After Trying To Establish Where Nelson Figueroa's 2 wins ranked among Mets STARTING pitchers...(with apologies to "Studes" at the Hardball Times for utilizing his format for such articles) The one-win STARTERS are best remembered for being traded... Tom Parsons got 1 win as a Mets starter. So did Rick Ownbey. As did Bill Denehy. And David West, too. They're better known as the guys dealt for Jerry Grote, Keith Hernandez, Gil Hodges (managerial version) and Frank Viola. The twos aren't so terrible... Some good pitchers won twice as a Mets starting pitcher. John Candelaria. Dock Ellis. Brian Bannister (grr...). And now, Nelson Figueroa. Calvin Schiraldi even won two games as a Mets starter, though he's certainly best known for losing two against the Mets in a relief role. Johan Santana enters Monday with as many wins as a Mets starter (3) as John Pacella I apologize to any Pacella fans (and I'm one, having written a Where Are They Now a...

If you came straight to this post, please check out my other post today at http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/04/were-number-won.html There was some major weirdness in that Friday night game, in which the Mets drew 3 CONSECUTIVE bases-loaded walks, producing their only runs of the night. Three bases-loaded walks, while unusual, is not unheard of in Mets history. I'm guessing more than a few readers will recall the 10-run eighth inning against the Braves on June 30, 2000, capped by Mike Piazza's go-ahead home run. What you may have forgotten in the rally from that 8-1 deficit is that the reason the Mets got close in that game is because they drew 3 consecutive bases-loaded walks (Mark Johnson, Melvin Mora, and Derek Bell). However, I'm guessing most readers here will not recall another such occurrence, the one from June 29 , 1962. You could argue that this game, between the Mets and the Dodgers, was one that had major implications on the pennant race, since the Dodgers fi...

I'm glad that David Wright broke his career worst 0-for string on Saturday, because the matchup on Sunday, while fascinating, is a bit troubling. John Smoltz pitches for the Braves on Sunday and he's essentially the kryptonite to David Wright's Superman status. Smoltz has struck Wright out 19 times in 52 meetings (plate appearances) in holding him to a .233 batting average. Why is that significant? Take a look at this list. Most K By David Wright vs Pitchers John Smoltz 19 Brett Myers 7 Dontrelle Willis 7 Jason Bergmann 6 Randy Johnson 6 Mike Mussina 6 (in 8 plate appearances, 7 AB!) Among active players, there's no one who Smoltz, who just passed 3,000 career strikeouts, has whiffed more than David Wright. That's particularly amazin' considering that Wright has only played the equivalent of 3.5 major league seasons. Not only has Wright struck out 19 times. He's gone to a 2-strike count against Smoltz 34 times (well more than half their meetings), going 4-fo...

Randy Tomlin Getting back to the subject of Mets frustration (and Friday seems like a good day to do so, given Thursday's events), you may have heard on Sunday that Phillies starter Adam Eaton is one of baseball's all-time best pitchers against the Mets, with a 5-0 mark. In fact, there's only one retired pitcher with a better perfect record against the Mets. That would be former Pirate Randy Tomlin, who currently works as a pitching coach for the Potomac Nationals , a Class-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. For those who don't recall, this, in a nutshell, is Randy Tomlin's career, which spanned from 1990-1994. That coincides with a time in which the Pirates were on the rise, and the Mets were on a steep decline. Tomlin vs Mets W-L 9-0 (4-0 at Shea) ERA 2.05 Opp BA .216 Tomlin vs Everyone Else W-L 21-31 ERA 3.55 Opp BA .277 Randy Tomlin's nickname was "Whispers" and we thought it could be because the Mets couldn't get within earshot of a vic...

Here, we pay tribute to Billy Wagner, who has thrown eight no-hit innings this year, the first pitcher in Mets history to open a season with eight straight hitless appearances of at least one inning each. He's also the first pitcher in Mets history to have nine straight hitless outings of at least an inning each. You may recall (or blocked it out) that Wagner's last appearance in 2007 (7-4 loss to the Marlins on the final Friday) yielded a hit-free inning. So he's basically pitched the equivalent of a no-hitter, at nine innings and counting. The Mets have never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter in a regular season game. However, they've had "mini" no-hitters. Many of them. * It was the 3,270th time that a Mets pitcher appeared in a game, PITCHED AT LEAST ONE INNING, and finished with no hits allowed. John Franco is your all-time leader with 238 full-blown "minis." Your Top 5 Mets "Mini" No-Hit Outings (ie: 1+ innings, finished with no hits) J...

For those linked directly to this page, might I also interest you in what I wrote yesterday? http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/04/darryl-strawberry-your-time-has-come.html As well as something I wrote on Billy Wagner's hitless innings streak http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/04/no-no-hitters-but-many-minis.html How's this for synergy? About 2 minutes after I win a Brian Bannister bobblehead doll on E-Bay, Johan Santana became the first Mets pitcher with two doubles in a game since ... Brian Bannister tore his hamstring doing so, against the Giants on April 26, 2006. It's an eclectic group of pitchers that have twice doubled in a game for the Mets: Johan Santana (2008) Brian Bannister (2006) Bobby Jones (1997) Sid Fernandez (1986) Mike Scott (1982) Tom Seaver (1967) Gerry Arrigo (1966) For the record, the only pitcher to lose a game in which he doubled twice for the Mets was Seaver, who got beat that 1967 day on a walk-off home run by Joe Torre. For those curious abo...

Since the current team isn't worth talking about at the moment... I was, at some point, going to write an article about how the Mets next inductees ino the club Hall of Fame is a slam dunk: that you could coincide the opening of a real Mets Hall of Fame at Citifield with the induction of the entire 1969 Mets team, from 1-game wonder Jesse Hudson to Tom Seaver, they should all have their photos/names on display for all to see. But in thinking about it, I also began to ponder this. What to do about Darryl Strawberry? Darryl Strawberry has the most home runs (252) and most RBI (733) in Mets history. David Wright may surpass Strawberry someday as the best Mets home-grown position player, but that day has not come yet. Strawberry was a member of the team for eight seasons and in seven, the Mets were legit World Series contenders. He had an extraordinary number of positive contributions to the team. When he left, the Mets went south, and were a non-contender for a LONG time. Say what you...

Agbayani List : List of hard-to-spell Mets. Agent Zero : A player who has had zero (singles, doubles, etc) in their Mets career Agony To Ecstasy Finish : Game won when the final out is recorded on an opponents base hit. Armando Junior: A 30+ pitch 1-inning save. Bail-Out Walk-Off : Walk-off in which a save chance is blown in the top of the 9th. Benitezian Save : Save in which a pitcher walks 4+ in an inning or less Best Games I Know: Favorite Mets wins, sorted by opponent. Bugaboo : Pitcher against whom you have no HR, or no hits. Caught-Off: Game that ends on a caught stealing Chalk-Off: When a ball, on the precipice of fair/foul status, hits chalk. Charles Schulz : Wise American philosopher, though not a Mets fan. Clockhands Final : Game in which the final score is 12-6. Didja Ever Notice ?: Name given to questions regarding the events of October 25, 1986. GT2O RBI : Abbreviation for Game-Tying RBI with 2 outs in the 9th. HOTWOOD : Stands for "Home Openers That Weren't O...

I don't get many visitors on Sunday's, but just to have some fresh material up on site... David Wright currently leads the NL in RBI. He'd be trying to become the 2nd Met to lead the NL in RBI, joining hitting coach Howard Johnson (1991). By my count, 12 others, who played for the Mets at some point in their careers, have led their league in RBI (8 NL, 4 AL). Originally, I had hints listed...no one posted a guess in the comments section, so the answers are now listed below the hints. 2003 NL- Son of Dad Preston Wilson 1989 NL- "curveball, and that's gonna be hit to centerfield, base hit." Kevin Mitchell 1984 NL- Soonafter a Met Gary Carter 1976-78 NL- Metsmerize this George Foster 1971 NL - Skipper Joe Torre 1964 NL- In the Cards Ken Boyer 1962 NL- Initials are same as football scoring play Tommy Davis 1955 NL- Royalty Duke Snider 2003 AL- Slumping Carlos Delgado 1995 AL- He wasn't facing a pitching machine Mo Vaughn 1981 AL- Surly star Eddie Murray 1963 A...