Skip to main content

Del-GONE-o

Somehow, the news that Steve Henderson is back in the major leagues (Devil Rays hitting coach) pales by comparison.

Welcome to New York, Carlos Delgado and a Happy Thanksgiving to all as Santa Minaya left an early holiday present under the tree for Mets fans in the form of a player whose career home run total matches that of Ralph Kiner (who once noted, according to one site tracking such statements that "Solo homers usually come with no one on base.")

Delgado has 369 career home runs and while Shea Stadium might hold him back from a few, we project his power display to be Kingmanesque (his defense too). Delgado has three career walk-off home runs, all with the Blue Jays, and it seemed like a good idea to share the details of those.

The first came on May 16, 1999, a three-run shot with nobody out in the ninth inning against Red Sox reliever Kip Gross, giving the Blue Jays a 9-6 victory.

The second occurred on August 16, 2000, a two-run blast in the ninth inning against Angels reliever Lou Pote, handing Toronto an 8-6 triumph.

The most recent one was also his most dramatic. On July 8, 2004, the Blue Jays trailed the Mariners, 8-7 in the ninth inning, with Seattle's closer Eddie Guardado one out away from closing the game out. There were two men on base, two men out, and the recently activated Delgado, who was out with a rib injury, was up. In both the first and second innings, Delgado came up with the bases loaded. Both times he popped out. Both times, his home fans booed (note to Carlos: Get used to it).

As Bob Murphy liked to say "Baseball is a game of redeeming features" and Delgado got back into everyone's good graces by booming the first pitch into the second deck in right field for a game-winning three-run home run.

"In the same game you're terrible and you're a hero," Delgado told reporters afterwards (nice game account from the Canadian Press, Canada's version of AP), so it's clear he understands what he'll be getting himself into here.

True Metgados know...Delgado and Kiner are tied for 61st on the all-time home run list. Next up is former Mets manager Gil Hodges, who had 370. Besides both being first basemen, Hodges and Delgado share this in common. To this point, both have had 369 home runs that weren't walk-offs for the Mets.

Thanks to those who helped make November 23, the most popular day for this site. To those who came here from Metsblog.com, if you want to see the rest of the site, go to http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com. Happy Thanksgiving!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The best Mets ejections I know

When you think of the Mets and famous ejections, I'm guessing you first think of the famous Bobby Valentine mustache game, when after Valentine got tossed, he returned to the dugout in disguise. You know it. You love it. I remember being amused when I asked Bobby V about it while we were working on Baseball Tonight, how he simply said "It worked. We won the game." (true) But the Bobby V mustache game of June 9, 1999 is one of many, many memorable Mets ejection stories. And now thanks to Retrosheet and the magic of Newspapers.com , we have a convenient means for being able to share them. Ever since Retrosheet's David Smith recently announced that the Retrosheet ejection database was posted online , I've been a kid in a candy store. I've organized the data and done some lookups of media coverage around the games that interested me post. Those newspaper accounts fill in a lot of blanks. Without further ado (and with more work to do), here are some of my findings ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 'Duca of Earl (and walk-offs)

If I told you that the Mets had just obtained a guy who is a career .316 hitter with runners in scoring position? How about if I told you that the Mets just traded for a hitter who has consistently ranked among the toughest in baseball to strike out? Or if I mentioned that the Mets just dealt for a player who was selected to the NL All-Star team the last three seasons, with the last honor coming via a vote by his peers? So, although he's on the down side age wise, his throwing arm isn't as good as it used to be, and he doesn't provide much power, there are a lot of good things that Paul Lo Duca brings to the New York Mets. For example: He'll sacrifice his body for the good of the team The Dodgers and Braves squared off on August 23, 2002 and Lo Duca made an impact both on the start and finish of this game. Three pitches after being dusted by Greg Maddux, Lo Duca made him pay with a first-inning home run. The Braves rallied to tie the game, 3-3 in the ninth, but their bu...
8 comments
Read more

Been There, Won That

The Dodgers had 19 hits in their loss to the Mets on Thursday night in a game that, no offense (pardon the ironic pun), was excruciating to watch for many, many reasons, none of which I feel like getting into at this hour. Willie Randolph summed it up in his press conference afterwards, saying simply "It's not fun!" I wonder if Tom Hanks, Alyssa Milano, Ray Romano and Kareeem Abdul-Jabaar (all in attendance) stuck around for the finish? I do wish to note briefly, again with the aid of Baseball-Reference, that the last time the Dodgers had 19 hits and lost a game, it was to the Mets. The difference between that game and this one was that this contest, of May 24, 1973, lasted an interminable 19 innings., with the Mets winning, 7-3. Rusty Staub's fifth hit of the game drove in the go-ahead run. Ken Boswell added an RBI single and Ed Kranepool salted the game away with a two-run double. Some other noteworthy anecdotes from a quick box score gleaning: * Like Thursday's...
9 comments
Read more