Those of you who are religious readers of my work here may recall my tale of woe regarding a game in which I departed prior to the Mets winning in walk-off fashion.
For those who don't: (http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/07/crying-uncle.html)
I mentioned that there was one other occasion in which I departed early. That took place on October 1, 2000.
The 2000 season was remarkable, not only because the Mets won the National League pennant, but also because it included one of the most remarkable runs I've had in attending baseball games. If you include the postseason contests for which I was among those in the stands, I had a streak of in-person viewing of 13 consecutive Mets victories. The ninth of those, the October 1 contest, has an asterisk next to it because of my premature departure.
A work shift on the sports desk at the Trenton Times that evening meant that I had to bail out after this regular-season finale (aka "Closing Day") between the Mets and Expos concluded the 10th inning. That leaves me with a rather unpleasant memory of this contest. My guess is that current White Sox World Series hero Geoff Blum wishes he had left early as well, because he closed out the 2000 season wearing the goat horns instead of the heroes laurels that waited in his future.
Perhaps you heard a little bit of the Geoff Blum story after his 14th inning home run helped Chicago win Game 3 of the Fall Classic. Earlier this season, good things came in threes for Blum, whose wife gave birth to triplet daughters while he was a member of the San Diego Padres, prior to being traded in midseason.
Five years ago, bad things came in threes, as in addition to closing out the season with an 0-for-5 at the plate for Montreal, Blum made three errors. The last one came in the last of the 13th inning, with the game tied at two. With two men on base, Blum, playing third base, fielded Jorge Velandia's bunt, but in trying to get the lead runner at third, ended up throwing the ball away. Benny Agbayani came home with the winning run and the Mets ended their season with 94 victories and the wild card spot.
It's funny to look back at one of Blum's post-game comments and see how it applied to his 2005 season, particularly the World Series, as well.
"The whole culmination of the season was in this one game," Blum told reporters that day. "It just seemed like this was the kind of stuff that happened to us this year."
True Metsedniks know...Scott Podsednik's ninth-inning home run in Game 2 ended the 54th game decided in walk-off fashion in World Series history.
There have been 27 walk-off singles, 14 walk-off home runs, five walk-off doubles, four walk-off sacrifice flies, three walk-off errors (two in games won by the Mets), and one walk-off wild pitch.
The American League has won 32 of the 54 games decided via walk-off. Hall of Famer Goose Goslin is the only player with more than one World Series walk-off hit. He has two. Dennis Eckersley and Jack Bentley are the only pitchers to have been on the mound for two World Series games that ended in walk-off fashion.
There have been 11 World Series that have ended via a walk-off (1912, 1924, 1927, 1929, 1935, 1953, 1960, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2001)
For those who don't: (http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/07/crying-uncle.html)
I mentioned that there was one other occasion in which I departed early. That took place on October 1, 2000.
The 2000 season was remarkable, not only because the Mets won the National League pennant, but also because it included one of the most remarkable runs I've had in attending baseball games. If you include the postseason contests for which I was among those in the stands, I had a streak of in-person viewing of 13 consecutive Mets victories. The ninth of those, the October 1 contest, has an asterisk next to it because of my premature departure.
A work shift on the sports desk at the Trenton Times that evening meant that I had to bail out after this regular-season finale (aka "Closing Day") between the Mets and Expos concluded the 10th inning. That leaves me with a rather unpleasant memory of this contest. My guess is that current White Sox World Series hero Geoff Blum wishes he had left early as well, because he closed out the 2000 season wearing the goat horns instead of the heroes laurels that waited in his future.
Perhaps you heard a little bit of the Geoff Blum story after his 14th inning home run helped Chicago win Game 3 of the Fall Classic. Earlier this season, good things came in threes for Blum, whose wife gave birth to triplet daughters while he was a member of the San Diego Padres, prior to being traded in midseason.
Five years ago, bad things came in threes, as in addition to closing out the season with an 0-for-5 at the plate for Montreal, Blum made three errors. The last one came in the last of the 13th inning, with the game tied at two. With two men on base, Blum, playing third base, fielded Jorge Velandia's bunt, but in trying to get the lead runner at third, ended up throwing the ball away. Benny Agbayani came home with the winning run and the Mets ended their season with 94 victories and the wild card spot.
It's funny to look back at one of Blum's post-game comments and see how it applied to his 2005 season, particularly the World Series, as well.
"The whole culmination of the season was in this one game," Blum told reporters that day. "It just seemed like this was the kind of stuff that happened to us this year."
True Metsedniks know...Scott Podsednik's ninth-inning home run in Game 2 ended the 54th game decided in walk-off fashion in World Series history.
There have been 27 walk-off singles, 14 walk-off home runs, five walk-off doubles, four walk-off sacrifice flies, three walk-off errors (two in games won by the Mets), and one walk-off wild pitch.
The American League has won 32 of the 54 games decided via walk-off. Hall of Famer Goose Goslin is the only player with more than one World Series walk-off hit. He has two. Dennis Eckersley and Jack Bentley are the only pitchers to have been on the mound for two World Series games that ended in walk-off fashion.
There have been 11 World Series that have ended via a walk-off (1912, 1924, 1927, 1929, 1935, 1953, 1960, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2001)
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