Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Those that listened to Billy Wagner's press conference last week might have heard him reference former Mets catcher Ron Hodges with whom he discussed the city and the idea of playing baseball for the Flushing 9. I remember Ron Hodges as over the hill, slow and on his last legs as a major league player when I first started following the team, but apparently others, like Wagner think rather highly of him. It probably has something to do with both being from Virginia. Hodges from Rocky Mount and that name has farm town written all over it. If you're old enough, you probably remember Hodges because of the famous "Ball on the Wall" game from 1973, in which Hodges got the winning hit (a link to which can be found at: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/09/ball-on-wall-remembered.html ), but that wasn't the only time that Hodges had a significant game-ending hit. On September 20, 1975, the NL East race was close to decided and the Mets decided to stomp on the Phillies

When's the Tike Redman press conference? On back-to-back days, the Mets paraded their newest acquisitions- Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner- in front of the New York media, eager to gloat about the bold moves that management hopes will make this a banner summer for the Flushing 9. Alas, baseball is a 25-man game and pennants are not won in November. The best moves aren't necessarily the ones you don't make, but rather the ones that go unnoticed (Raise your hand if you were at last year's press conferences announcing the signings of Roberto Hernandez, Marlon Anderson, and Chris Woodward). That brings us to Redman (his real first name is Julian), who has a connection with Mets closers past and the Mets closer of the future. By purchasing Redman's contract from the Pirates, the Mets made a bold and smart move. They prevented the 29 other teams from picking him up. You remember Redman, don't you? It was this past July 8th when the Mets suffered one of the most pathet

We're a little busy at the moment, but within 24-48 hours, we'll fill this space with a Billy Wagner-themed post. One of the issues is that we have some homework to do...Billy never pitched in a Mets walk-off win, so we have to do some investigating into his walk-off background to paint the proper picture. In the meantime, take a gander through the archives by clicking on one of the links to your right...

There's no truth to the rumor that Saturday's Knicks hero, 5-foot-7 guard Nate Robinson, grew up a member of the "Midget Mets" Booster Club. Robinson put himself into Knicks walk-off lore with his buzzer-beating 3-pointer against the 76ers at Madison Square Garden. The littlest Knick has already put his stamp on the game, and drawn the ire of head coach Larry Brown for being too much of a human highlight film. The littlest Met to hit a walk-off home run also was the recipient of commentary from his skipper, Casey Stengel, as being a good "low-ball catcher," which wasn't meant so much as praise but as a commentary that the rest of his game wasn't too nifty. Clarence Coleman, best known to Mets fans by the nickname "Choo Choo" (source of which is unverified) is listed at 5-foot-9, two inches taller than Robinson, but still rather small for a ballplayer who wasn't a good glove. Anyways, Coleman was known for being a little quiet and innoc