Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

In a best-case scenario, Trot Nixon will turn out to be a lightning-in-a-bottle, older version of Ryan Church, sans concussions. In a worst-case scenario, I'm thinking Richard Hidalgo, Shane Spencer, or Karim Garcia. I like the idea of a youth movement, even if the youth comes in the form of a 34-year-old playing Triple-A with bad knees. In fact, I'd completely forgotten that he was still playing somewhere, and never would have guessed Arizona as his most recent residence. And I think we'll like Nixon (the ballplayer, not the walk-off president), at least for the short term. He plays hard, and with a lot of fire. Boston fans liked him, as he was an integral part of the 2004 championship team. (Clever banner possibility: Nixon for 'Resident) Trot is also the answer to two intriguing trivia questions. * Who had the last home run off Roger Clemens? Nixon did, in Game 3 of the 2007 ALDS, as a member of the Indians. He also had a go-ahead hit against the Red Sox in extra-inn...

If you know a Mets fan dad (ideally one of a young child), he's probably in need of a pick-me-up because of the way the team is playing in 2008. One possible gift (even if it's belated) would be a book I got in the mail today "The '86 Mets, Buckner & The Bambino," part of a series titled "Daddy's Heroes: Unforgettable Sports Moments To Share With Children." I don't usually do product reviews here, but I'm a sucker for the subject and I like to encourage entrepreneurial efforts, so I'll make an exception. In this edition, authors Tom Garcia and Karun Naga tell the story of my favorite game, Game 6 of the 1986 World Series in a manner in which young children can understand. They explain the origin of the Curse of the Bambino and summarize the history of events leading to the matchup between the Mets and Red Sox. They go through the key moments in Game 6, with special attention to Mookie Wilson's famous ground ball, weaving in the pr...

Not interested in talking about Thursday's loss. Have been wanting to put this out for awhile, so I'll do so today... Mets Walk-Up Win (n) - A Mets victory in which the decisive runs are scored in the bottom of the eighth inning. Said victory requires Mets pitchers to retire the side, maintaining the advantage, in the top of the ninth. Etymology: Fellow blogger Greg at Faith and Fear , invented the term. Date of origin, unknown. The Mets have 165 walk-up wins in their history, if we include the postseason, and we shall for the purposes of this tallying. * Their most frequent victim is the Braves. Most Mets Walk-Up Wins By Opponent Braves 22 Expos 19 Astros 16 Pirates 15 Dodgers 14 >> Includes Postseason * The most common type of go-ahead RBI in a walk-off victory comes from a single. Most Frequent Walk-Up RBI Mets History 1B 58 HR 55 (3 grand slams) 2B 29 SF 8 >> Least frequent among those that have happened: 1 passed ball, 1 triple, 1 groundout, and 1 hit-by-pitch ...

When I went to sleep, I was rather annoyed with the lack of Mets involved in the postgame "bunny hop" (Chris Russo's term) at home plate. I thought it paled in comparison to that which I saw from the Marlins after Dan Uggla's walk-off grand slam not long before, and its paled comparitively from those which I've seen from a team like the Rays (who as a colleague noted: "They're the team you wish yours was."). However, upon second look, thanks to a photo from the NY Daily News, and watching the highlight, I feel a little better. Those teams are younger, and a little more demonstrative. The Mets are old and creaky, so it's hard for them to match the spirit or leap-height of those other squads (didn't it look like Beltran jumped off the wrong foot?). It may have been a celebration lacking in fire , but not in numbers. I can see Beltran, Wright, Delgado, Schneider, Easley. Maine, and Aguila...via TV I saw Reyes (first one in line for any hopathon)...

Things would have been a lot simpler if home plate ump Jeff Nelson had just given Mark Reynolds first base... Let's call this a "Bail-out walk-off win." (as the New York Daily News basically did, as well) A bail-out walk-off is one in which the Mets "bail out" a reliever who blew a save in the 9th inning. (Bill James sometimes calls these "BS wins" Note that this does not encompass all relievers who blew leads in the 9th (you could have blown a lead in a non-save scenario) or all Mets walk-off wins in which they blew a 9th-inning lead (I'm ignoring scenarios where a pitcher in line to win the game, blew the lead in the 9th) Sometimes I worry that too many criteria make this hard to understand, so let's simplify In a "bail-out walk-off win" A) A pitcher screws up in a situation in which both he (with a save) AND ANOTHER PITCHER (with a win) would tangibly benefit. and B) The Mets bail the guy out by winning anyway, via walk-off. Used ...

The newest Met, Chris Aguila, doesn't have any walk-off history from his time in the majors, but he should make the walk-off celebrations (and the home run handshakes) a little more interesting. Aguila's family, based on accounts I've read, is very into Polynesian dancing (his mother is a combination of Polynesian, Samoan, Tongan, and Fijian). This is not your typical exercise. It involves a little bit more risk. "Because of the danger, I wasn't taught the Fire Knife Dance until I was 16," Aguila once told the media. "Basically, it's twirling and spinning a burning knife while someone is playing the drums. Sometimes I'll put it on my tongue. It's a lot of fun." Just do yourself a favor, Chris. If you do anything like that...keep Jose Reyes a safe distance away.

Happy anniversary, Cliff Floyd! http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/cliff-notes.html and Steve Henderson (3 days from now...duh!) http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/hendu-can-do.html http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/hendu-part-ii.html

We're a little fatigued today and are going to work on some database maintenance, but we'll leave you with a tidbit we learned from a colleague in the last week. If Willie Randolph does get fired, and we're not expecting it this week, it will actually be his first walk-off since July 25, 1998. How can that be possible, considering that Randolph retired in 1992? Well, it turns out that Randolph hit a walk-off home run that day, one that gave the Yankees Oldtimers a 1-0 four-inning victory over the Dodgers Oldtimers in a pre-game exhibition at Yankee Stadium. True Mettimers know... That June 10 marks the 25th anniversary, not of a significant trade (that's coming soon though), but of the latest walk-off home run in Mets history, Dave Kingman's 17th-inning blast to beat the Expos, 4-2. No Met has hit a walk-off home run later than the 17th inning.

Today seems like a good day to unveil the product of a previous period of Mets frustration. The following is a yearly list of which pitchers beat the Mets the most in each of the teams respective seasons of play. It is the place where Pat Combs and Chris Nabholz can cross paths with the likes of Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal and Don Drysdale, trading stories of how they caused great bouts of mental anguish to good folks like you and me. Most Regular Season Wins vs Mets Year By Year 1962 65 pitchers, 120 wins vs Mets Jack Sanford 5 Jim Golden 5 Bob Friend 5 1963 60 pitchers, 111 wins vs Mets Jim Maloney 5 Juan Marichal 4 Sandy Koufax 4 Don Drysdale 4 Lew Burdette 4 Dick Ellsworth 4 1964 59 pitchers, 109 wins vs Mets Don Drysdale 5 Jim Bunning 5 Gaylord Perry 4 Larry Jackson 4 Bob Gibson 4 Bob Friend 4 Dick Ellsworth 4 1965 58 pitchers, 112 wins vs Mets Juan Marichal 5 Bob Gibson 5 Don Drysdale 5 1966 59 pitchers, 95 wins vs Mets Sandy Koufax 4 Tony Cloninger 4 Clay Carroll 4 1967 59 pitch...

Cha Seung Baek was the latest pitcher to shut the Mets down, on Saturday night. And thus continued a trend that is rather disturbing in this rather unpleasant 2008 campaign. The Mets are not beating righthanded starting pitching. And that's a very bad sign. The Mets are 16-23 in games in which the opposition starts a righthanded pitcher. That seems rather odd considering that they can throw out a lineup in which six or seven bats will bat from the left side of the plate, and remember how concerned we were about this team being too lefthanded. Last season, an NL team, on average, faced a righthanded starter 112 times, and a lefthanded starter 50 times. Translate the pace that you set at 16-23 too 112 games and you get a record of 46-66. You know where teams that finish 46-66 against righthanded starters finish? Last place. And yet, the Mets have beat up some righthanders, like Chien-Ming Wang and Brad Penny pretty well this year. But they're not doing it on a consistent basis. B...

* Mets walk-off loss #375 (postseason included) was their second in the last three days and fourth this season. It is the second time this season that they've lost a game on a walk-off home run. * The four losses match the Mets walk-off total for all of 2007. * It is the first time that the Padres got two walk-off wins against the Mets in a season since 1995. * The Mets have 25 walk-off losses against the Padres. Seven of them have been by a 2-1 score. * It marked the first time in Pedro Feliciano's career that he gave up a walk-off hit. * Scott Hairston is the 5th Padre to hit a walk-off home run against the Mets Walk-Off HR vs Mets Padres History 2008 Scott Hairston 1995 Brian Johnson 1989 Chris James 1986 Tony Gwynn 1979 Jerry Turner * Scott Hairston now has 3 walk-off home runs, all of which have come since August 3, 2007, all for the Padres. In fact, Hairston also had the go-ahead extra-inning home run for the Padres in their one-game playoff against the Rockies last seaso...

Big Brown is going for the Triple Crown on Saturday. So I looked up a few things related to that * While no Met has ever won the Triple Crown, their have been six instances in which a Met won the "Team Triple Crown." This required leading the Mets in batting average, home runs, and RBI in the same season. Led Mets in BA, HR, RBI Same Season 2001 Mike Piazza 2000 Mike Piazza 1995 Rico Brogna 1989 Howard Johnson 1971 Cleon Jones 1967 Tommy Davis >> Tied for team lead in HR The most interesting of these is Mike Piazza's capture of the crown in 2000. He won in a photo finish with Edgardo Alfonzo. Piazza batted .32365, while Alfonzo hit .32352, meaning Piazza won the Mets batting race by one-tenthousandth of a point. * Dwight Gooden won the NL's pitching Triple Crown in 1985, leading the NL in wins, ERA and strikeouts. Tom Seaver never did that as a Met. The three times he led the NL in both ERA and strikeouts (1971, 1973, 1975), he got beaten out for the wins lead. ...

I haven't done the research on Ike Davis and his walk-off resume, but I did come across a rather gruesome discovery. I knew that Ike's dad, Ron Davis, despite registering 130 saves, had his share of struggles during his major league career. But I didn't realize just how deep (and you'll pardon the pun in a second) they ran. Ron Davis gave up a walk-off RBI on 26 occasions in his walk-off career. That strikes me as significant. That's enough to create a sub-site, I'm thinking "Ron Davis Walk-Offs and Other Minutiae" won't get too many visitors. How amazin' is that? You could create an All-Star lineup of players to get a walk-off RBI against him Let's make that our first order of business. 1B- Eddie Murray 2B- Lou Whitaker SS- Robin Yount 3B- Paul Molitor LF- Jim Rice CF- Fred Lynn RF- Don Baylor DH- Kirk Gibson C- Clint Hurdle (ok...that's a stretch) Bench- Don Mattingly, Frank White, Lloyd Moseby Manager- Willie Randolph(!) Coach- Tom N...

Heard a bunch of folks say that they like what Mets first-round pick (the non-Glavine compensation one) Reese Havens brings to the table, describing him as a "real baseball player." We like him because of his walk-offs. During his collegiate career at South Carolina, Havens had four walk-off RBI, three in 2008. Two were of great significance, and there's a neat coincidence attached to one of them. Havens is going from one team with a ballpark-closing scenario to another (though who knows if he's familiar with Shea Stadium's final campaign). The Gamecocks closed out their 29-year-old ballpark, Sarge Frye Field, on May 17. The game against Tennessee was significant, since the winner would get a spot in the SEC Tournament. What better way to close it out with a walk-off? And Havens did. With the score tied, 8-8 after a three-run Vols rally in the vistiors ninth, South Carolina pulled out the win. With a man on second and one out, Havens hit a 2-2 pitch over the right...

I think you'd rather read this http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/06/reeses-pieces.html ---- * Walk-off loss # 374 was the 3rd Mets walk-off loss of 2008 * It was the Mets 25th walk-off loss against the Padres, the first since April 21, 2006 (Brian Giles 14th-inning double). * This was the 3rd time in Mets history that they lost a game on a walk-off hit by pitch. The other 2 instances happened in 1974 (vs Cardinals, Jack Aker hit Jerry DaVanon) and 1997 (vs Astros, Greg McMichael hit Luis Gonzalez). * The last time a Mets opponent left 15+ men on base and still got a walk-off win within 9 innings was September 5, 1990, when the Pirates beat the Mets, 1-0. The Pirates held the Mets to 1 hit, left 15 on base, and won on Barry Bonds walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th. It was their only hit with a runner in scoring position for the game. * The closest instance I could find to a similar such loss was a 4-3 loss to the Expos on July 2, 1972. Bob Rauch walked 4 batters in the bot...

Regular reader Student of the Game chimes in with this note: Mets' Series in San Francisco Game results, in order 2008 Loss Win by 3 Win by 2 2007 Loss Win by 3 Win by 2 2006 Loss Win by 3 Win by 2 Anyways...I'm a little busy today, so that's all you get. Those who are truly Giant Mets fans know... * First-Round Picks to get a walk-off RBI for the Mets 2001- David Wright 1994- Jay Payton 1985- Greg Jefferies 1980- Darryl Strawberry 1978- Hubie Brooks 1977- Wally Backman 1973- Lee Mazzilli 1968- Tim Foli * Second-Round Picks to get a walk-off RBI for the Mets 1987- Todd Hundley 1983- Dave Magadan 1977- Mookie Wilson * Third-Round Picks to get a walk-off RBI for the Mets 1978- Brian Giles

Dear No. 18 and No. 33, On Thursday, whatever your names are, we welcome you to the New York Mets organization. You are ours because he (who shall go unnamed) is theirs (who shall go unnamed). Apparently, the way that this thing works is that when he (who shall go unnamed) bolted southbound not long after flushing our season down the toilet, we get what is called compensation. The last time this happened, it worked out pretty well. After taking us to the World Series, another lefthander bolted, in this case westward. Something about the educational benefits of living in the Mountain Time Zone. He eventually ended up southbound as well. We ended up with a third baseman and a setup man. By the time you end up with us, one of those men will be your captain, and one almost surely won't be here. Even if you don't stick around, chances are you have some value to us. A quarter-century ago, we lost another southpaw to the South, and for some reason still unbeknownst to us, were rewarde...

OK, so I have successfully input into my database a list of every walk-off run scored in Mets history. The definition of a "walk-off run" is a run scored that statistically clinches a walk-off win. * Your all-time leader in Mets walk-off runs scored is Mookie Wilson, with 12. Most Walk-Off Runs Scored Mets History, including postseason Mookie Wilson 12 Bud Harrelson 10 Cleon Jones 9 Lee Mazzilli 8 Tommie Agee 7 Carlos Beltran 6 Len Dykstra 6 John Stearns 6 * We mentioned previously that Al Jackson is the only pinch-running pitcher to score a walk-off run for the Mets. Two other pitchers have scored walk-off runs for the Mets: Danny Frisella and Paul Siebert. Frisella scored on Mike Jorgensen's walk-off hit that beat the Phillies on September 12, 1971. Siebert's run counts on a technicality, as he crossed the plate first on Lenny Randle's 2-run home run, giving the Mets a 7-5 walk-off win over the Expos on July 9, 1977. * We also mentioned previously that we were c...

You may recall hearing Keith Hernandez pontificate about which pitchers scared him the most, and how he surprised Gary Cohen with his pick of Woodie Fryman (he also made a recent allusion to having difficulty with Jerry Koosman, against whom he batted .154). But if he was going to talk about what cities gave him the most difficulty, at least for his Mets days, the answer would have to be San Francisco. That too should surprise the Mets broadcast crew, considering it is the city near where Hernandez grew up. Here's a closer look at the numbers. Keith Hernandez With Mets, in San Francisco BA .250 HR 2 RBI 15 OBP .326 SLG Pct .336 K-BB 31-15 Games 34 Keith Hernandez With Mets, elsewhere on road BA .294 HR 40 RBI 238 OBP .382 Slg Pct .441 K-BB 213-220 Games 413 There are a couple of oddities here. For one, Hernandez was pretty good in San Francisco with the Cardinals (.317 BA). Hernandez also had significantly greater success against the Giants at Shea Stadium, hitting .333 against the...

Well, you don't see that one every day, as far as victories go. Nor do you see a 7-foot Mets fan, or folks wearing jerseys or t-shirts saluting Todd Zeile, Ty Wigginton, a Pena (maybe Alejandro?), a Taylor (guessing not Sammy, maybe Billy?), Tom Glavine (almost as disturbing as the four Yankee-attire clad fans who graced the seats in front of us for 2 innings), and Jay Payton, but all figured into my Saturday viewing experience at Shea. It was one in which I uttered "Carlos Beltran has 4 home runs in May...awful!" and "Fernando Tatis can't get around on 97 miles-per-hour" in a successful reverse-jinxing effort. I had the chance to meet Metstradamus (sporting the Zeile attire) for the first time, and we debated which one of us was more "honored" to be in the presence of the other (he is to Photoshop what I am to Minutiae), chatted about obscure jerseys (Eric Gunderson vs Doug Simons) with his game guest (Greg from Faith and Fear ), talked trivia (19...