Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Joe Torre managed the Mets from May 31 1977 to the end of the 1981 season. I'm going to ask you some questions. The answers are in the comments section, so you can check yourself. Can you tell me, in that time period... * Who led Mets pitchers in wins? * Whose win-loss record was a paltry 8-30? * Which 3 pitchers beat the Mets the most (8 times)? * Which pitcher the Mets beat the most (10 times)? * The 2 pitchers who pitched complete game 1-hitters against the Mets? * The Met who struck out 8 in 3 2/3 innings against the 1978 Reds, yet allowed 4 home runs in the same game? * Who led the Mets in both walk-off hits and triples? * Who hit .373 against the Mets, with 20 HR and 53 RBI in 45 games? * Who the only Met was to hit 3 HR in a game? * Who were the 3 Mets who went 0-for-7 in a game?

So a friend of mine was telling me about some message board posts he saw regarding changing the name of CitiField. I'll throw my $.02 worth of suggestions into the fray. One possibility...how about "citYfield" The "Y" is capitalized as in "Y did we ever get into bed with Citigroup in the first place?" My other thought... 2Shea Say it aloud and you'll get it :) I don't know that I'm gonna get into the merits of the Oliver Perez re-signing just yet (let's just say I'm re-signed to the fact that we're stuck with him), but would prefer to focus on something of a happier note- the signing of Bobby Kielty. I like what Kielty brings to the ballpark in a couple of respects. He has a stellar walk-off history, with two home runs, a single, a sac fly, and a fielder's choice. He also has the distinction of having the best World Series record any player could possibly achieve (1 pitch faced, 1 home run, for the 2007 Red Sox). That makes ...

You want Manny Ramirez. They give you Rob Mackowiak. Well, there is one area in which Rob Mackowiak has Manny Ramirez beat. But only one. Rob Mackowiak and his wife have a son, Garrett, who was born at around 11 a.m., May 28, 2004. That wasn't the only highlight of the day. Rob decided to go to work that evening, which meant partaking in a doubleheader for his team, the Pirates, against the Cubs. He arrived at 4pm for a 5pm start. Mackowiak was hitless in his first four at-bats that day, but his fifth at-bat was as good as it gets. With the score tied 5-5, and the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Mackowiak cracked a walk-off grand slam to right-center field against Cubs closer Joe Borowski. With lefthander Glendon Rusch starting for the Cubs in Game 2, Mackowiak was not put into the lineup sent out behind future Met Oliver Perez. He'd make an appearance as part of a double-switch in the seventh inning, just in time to play hero again. Mackowiak came up in ...

The Mets have a new outfielder, and it's one who holds a major league record unlikely to be broken. Jose Reyes figures to be quite envious. Colorado newspapers are saying that Cory Sullivan signed with the Mets and we have no qualms with that move, since reports are that Sullivan has Endy Chavez-like defensive skills, and the team could use a player like that. The move did make us laugh because of the distinction that Sullivan holds. A few months back, a couple of colleagues and I were thumbing through the baseball record book, when I came upon the only active player to have two triples in an inning. I offered them 50 guesses, or even 100, to try to name the player, even offering his initials. They had no chance. Tripling twice in an inning is extraordinarily rare. When Sullivan did it , against the Padres on April 9, 2006, he became the first player with two triples in an inning since 1951 (Gil Coan, Senators), and the first National Leaguer to do so since 1926 (Curt Walker, Reds)...

By the time you read this on Monday, Jim Rice should be a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. I think he's deserving. There is an ongoing debate regarding Rice's Hall worthiness among members of the blogosphere and the mainstream media, and I tend to fall in line with the supporters. I'm a hair too young to have followed Rice when he was at his most dominant, but from what I've read, he was the kind of player who made you say "Oh , we've gotta face him today." That litmus test works for me. I'm excited for Rice's induction, but not for reasons you think. I'm psyched because it will add another notch to Neil Allen's baseball belt. Yes, you read that last sentence right. I uttered it because Neil Allen is my all-time favorite Met. In 1983, not long before Allen was dealt for Keith Hernandez, to show my fanhood, I wore a t-shirt with Neil's rookie card on it, and got to meet him at a baseball card show. Neil was incredibly nice about it...

Sorry if I flu the coop in terms of blogging lately, and yes I do mean flu, since I've been bogged down by illness. Speaking of coop-flews, how funny is it that both Pat Burrell and John Smoltz bolt the NL East, but the Mets will see both of their new AL teams in 2009? As for this Tim Redding signing, a couple observations. * His career record does the likes of ex-Mets Pete Smith (47-71), Glendon Rusch (65-99), and Jay Hook (29-62) proud. I know that wins are considered a misleading stat, but would you want a pitcher on your team of whom you could say: 948 pitchers have had at least 80 decisions since the season after the end of World War II (1946). Tim Redding's .400 win percentage ranks 36th-worst. In other words, Tim Redding ranks among the bottom 4 percent of pitchers in that time. * Baseball-Reference.com can tell you who the most similar player is to another from a statistical perspective. At age 25, Redding's best statistical comp was Jason Isringhausen. At age 30, i...

The Yankees go out and sign Mark Teixeira. The team you root for has a counter move in mind- Andruw Jones. Same old Mets, eh? But look at it this way, at least you can taunt the Yankee fan you know that if you're gonna go get a player making $18 million+ a year, you have this advantage: Andruw Jones: 6 career walk-off home runs Mark Teixeira: 0 career walk-off home runs There's another issue in play here, and though it's 10 years in the past, I think it's best to avoid it until we're beyond the rumor-mill stage. As my father said: " I dont want to be reminded of it 160 games a year." * The truly Jonesing Mets fan knows that there are 4 surnames which have had multiple Mets with walk-off RBI. Castillo-- Alberto and Luis Hodges-- Gil and Ron Johnson-- Bob, Howard, and Lance Jones-- Cleon, Chris, and Ross So a walk-off RBI by Andruw Jones, the Met, would give the name Jones four different players with a walk-off RBI, the most among any surname.

It used to drive me crazy to hear Fran Healy describe pitches as being "down low." There is no such thing as a pitch being "down high." Healy's use of "down low"was a redundancy, one of several issues that fans had with his broadcast style. There's talk that the Mets are close to signing a pitcher named Lowe, who likes to keep the ball down. In fact, that's the key to his success. And it could play very well in his new home. On page 162 of the The Hardball Times 2009 Baseball Annual, writer Greg Rybarczyk, as intense a historian of home run distances as I am of walk-offs, issues a warning about Citi Field to those fans of the New York Mets. In describing how CitiField's outfield fence distances are significantly greater than the major-league average, Rybarczyk writes: "In spring 2009, baseball fans are going to get a live demonstration of what happens when a team sets out to design a pitcher's park and overdoes it..." That b...

I would like to wish all of my readers a happy Shawnukkah and a Met-ry Chris-miss. Those familiar may recall the celebration of Shawnukkah, but you're probably wondering what a Met-ry Chris-miss is. I offer up this simple definition: A Metry Chris-miss is a Mets victory that ends with a player named Chris striking out to end the game. Ideally, the strikeout is of the swinging variety (a true "Chris-miss") but it does not have to be the case, because the presumption is that the hitter swung and whiffed at least once. By my count, we've had a few such instances. May 23, 2007- Chris Woodward (Mets 3, Braves 0) The truly Metry know... Twas one of 4 Oliver Perez victories against the Braves that season. September 19, 2006- Chris Aguila (Mets 3, Marlins 2) The truly Metry know...Twas the night after clinching, and a two-run eighth-inning rally, capped by Michael Tucker's RBI single, gave the hosts the win. September 2, 2006- Chris Burke (Mets 4, Astros 2) The truly Metr...

It's hard to write walk-off related stories about closers who don't drop throws back from the mound (see the piece below) to lose games, and I don't want to write just any old story about J.J. Putz. Needless to say, I like the acquisition, and here's why, in it's simplest form... Alex Rodriguez career vs J.J. Putz 0-for-7, 2 K David Ortiz career vs J.J. Putz 0-for-7, 5 K Derek Jeter career vs J.J. Putz 1-for-8, 4 K Manny Ramirez vs J.J. Putz 2-for-11, 7 K That's a combined 3-for-33 with 18 strikeouts against four elite hitters with whom we've become quite familiar. I have a feeling Mr. Putz is going to handle New York just fine.

This blog's primary concern regarding the acquisition of Francisco Rodriguez: This is a man who once lost a game via walk-off when he muffed a return throw from the catcher. I'm referencing August 11, 2005, a vital game for the Angels and Athletics at the time, since the two were tied for first place. This was a game in which the Angels had a 4-0 lead after six-and-a-half innings, leaving Angels manager Mike Scioscia comfy enough to pull Paul Byrd (104 pitches) in favor of Brendan Donnelly. The good feelings didn't last long. Former Met Jay Payton started the rally with a home run on Donnelly's first pitch. That should have been a sign that it wasn't Donnelly's day. By the end of the inning, the score was tied, thanks to an Eric Chavez home run. The game remained even into the bottom of the ninth, and Scioscia turned to Scot Shields, keeping his closer Rodriguez, who hadn't pitched for five days, ready if needed. His services were required when the Athletics...

Congratulations to Gil Hodges, the newest member of the Mets Walk-Offs Hall of Fame I realize this is of little consolation to his widow, Joan, and to those who are great supporters of his candidacy to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I think the timing is right. Hodges got shafted again in the latest Veterans Committee vote, and it seems unlikely that he'll ever get in under the current system, which awards every living Hall of Famer a vote, requiring 75 percent of votes to get inducted. The problem is that Hodges' supporters are old men, like Duke Snider, Yogi Berra and Tom Seaver (yes, he qualifies as old). They don't release each players Hall of Fame ballot, but I'd bet that almost every vote for Hodges came from someone who either played with, for, or against him. And those guys are dying quicker than they're getting elected. Let's be realistic. Unless they have a finer appreciation for the game than I'm giving them credit for, the likes of Rich Gossage, ...

One of the best Mets books I've read is The Amazin' Mets 1962-1969 published earlier this year by the small, specialty publisher McFarland, and I highly recommend it if you're looking for a holiday gift for a Mets fan. The best thing I could say about this book is that I wish I had written it. The author, Connecticut-based finance professional William Ryczek interviewed more than 100 former players from that era, and went well beyond the basic stories that you may know about each season. Each chapter is thoroughly researched, informative, and entertaining. Every season is covered in thorough detail and every bit of Mets minutiae you could hope for is included. The writing style is ideal for a quick, comfortable read. Basically what I'm saying is: Buy the book :) I had the chance to exchange e-mails with the author and got his thoughts on this book and the team. Here's his take: * What made a finance professional, who has previously written about baseball in the 186...

I have no reason to write this post, other than that in a blog by the fine writer, Joe Posnanski, he referenced that Mike Vail's 23-game hitting streak was the longest in the majors in 1975. Some other minutiae about Mets single-season hitting streaks, thanks to Baseball-Reference. * Catcher Jesse Gonder had the longest Mets hitting streak in 1963, a 14-gamer from July 19 to August 4. That was more than double the length of his next-longest hit streak (6 games) for the Mets. * In 1968, the year of the pitcher, no Met had a hit streak longer than Tommie Agee's 12-gamer. This streak was a big deal because, as it came in September, it set the tone for Agee's great 1969 season. Agee hit .189 entering the streak, then .422 over the dozen games it spanned. * The Mets longest hit streak in 1969 was 11 games (Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones). Yes, that's right. The Mets longest hit streak in their championship season was shorter than their longest hit streak in the year of the pitcher...

For a guy who was such an ordinary player, new Mets first base coach Luis Alicea was pretty good at this walk-off thing. Eight times in his 13-season career, Luis Alicea won a game with a walk-off something. That account includes three sacrifice flies and five singles, which is a pretty decent ledger for an MLB tenure. A couple of neat Mets-related twists to his walk-offs. * The first of those 3 walk-off sacrifice flies came against Mike Maddux and the 1993 Mets. Alicea did a nice job battling back from an 0-2 count before smacking a liner to center that plated future Met Todd Zeile with the winning run. * Alicea also had two walk-off RBI against pitchers who pitched for the Mets- Ricky Bottalico in 1996 and Pat Mahomes in 2001. * Among those whom Alicea has driven in via walk-off: current Mets Fernando Tatis (in 1998!) and Carlos Beltran (2001). True Meticea know... Luis Alicea hit .181 against the Mets and .177 at Shea Stadium in his career. His one home run against them was a game-...

For those curious... * The Mets have had 214 walk-off wins under Republican rule, 142 under Democratic rule. But they've had more walk-off wins under Bill Clinton than any other president. Mets Walk-Off Wins By Presidential Administration 65-Bill Clinton 64-Ronald Reagan 61-George W Bush 46-Richard Nixon 31-Lyndon Johnson 28-George HW Bush 26-Jimmy Carter 20-John F. Kennedy 15-Gerald Ford * The first African-American Met with a walk-off hit was Choo Choo Coleman. You can read about it here. http://www.metswalkoffs.com/2005/11/little-engine-that-could.html * The most successful election years for Mets walk-off wins were 1996 and 1988. Mets Walk-Off Wins In A Presidential Election Year 1996-10 1988-10 1984-9 2008- 8 2004- 8 1980- 8 2000- 7 1972- 7 1976- 7 1992- 6 1964- 6 1968- 3

For a guy whose major-league career consisted of 81 at-bats, new third base coach Razor Shines (yes, that's his real name...Razor is a middle name, passed down in his family through multiple generations) sure has a lot of connections to the New York Mets. * Razor made his major-league debut on September 9, 1983, and shall be forever known as "The Guy Whom Frank Howard didn't feel comfy about Tom Seaver pitching to..." Simple version of the story: Razor came up as a pinch-hitter with two men on base and one out. Howard pulled Seaver for Jesse Orosco and Expos skipper Bill Virdon countered with Jim Wohlford, denying Shines his first AB. Orosco struck out both Wohlford and Tim Raines to end the game. That, combined with a Phillies win, knocked the Expos out of first place in the NL East. * Razor's first MLB hit came in a Mets walk-off win, on October 2, 1983, the final game of the season, and the second game of a doubleheader between the Mets and Expos. Shines batted...

Answers in the comments section 1- How many former Mets played for the 2008 Phillies? 2- Name the members of the 1986 Mets who also played for the Phillies at some point in their career. 3-Name the former Met who hit exactly 100 career home runs for the Phillies, most for anyone who played for both the Phillies and Mets. 4- Name the only pitcher to win 40+ games for both the Phillies and Mets. 5- Tug McGraw and this pitcher both pitched for the Mets, and the 1980 Phillies, at some point in their career. Name him. 6- Two infielders who pitched for the Mets also played for the Phillies at some point in their careers. Name them. 7- Name the only player to play for the 1962 Mets and the 1964 Phillies team that choked away the NL pennant. 8- Name the former Met who struck out with the bases loaded and two outs to end GAME 5 of the 1980 World Series. 9- Of those who played for both the Mets and Phillies, who had the most stolen bases FOR THE PHILLIES? 10- Name the members of the 2008 Mets wh...

Favorite Shea memories will have to wait... Headed out of town for a bit... Next posting comes after the World Series ends... If you're wondering who I'm rooting for... http://www.metswalkoffs.com/2008/06/my-fair-weather-friends.html http://www.metswalkoffs.com/2008/05/ray-of-nope.html

You know what else was cool about Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series? He didn't just hit it against Joe The Plumber. He hit it against Hall of Fame relief ace Dennis Eckersley, among the best pitchers in the game. That got me to thinking. The Mets have had walk-off wins against everyone from Juan Acevedo to Pat Zachry. But who's the best pitcher against whom they've ever had a walk-off win? You can vote in the poll on the right. The candidates... Steve Carlton Opening Day 1975 (Joe Torre). Carlton was in a 2-year stretch in which he wasn't quite the pitcher who twice won 20 games previously, but he was in the prime of his career, and won 20 four more times afterwards. Dennis Eckersley April 4, 1996 (Brent Mayne). The Mets got to the 42-year-old version of Eck, who was still pretty good, posting 30 saves, and getting the Cardinals to within one win of the World Series. Bob Gibson September 23, 1969 (Bud Harrelson). Gibson was one year ...