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The Milner's Tale

In their esteemed history, the New York Mets have had three players do what this Big Papi fellow on the Red Sox has done, get walk-off hits in back-to-back games.

The first to do it was Jerry Buchek, and I've written about his feats here.

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/07/baseballs-been-jerry-jerry-good-to-me.html

The last to do it was Mike Cameron, and I wrote about that accomplishment here

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/11/cameron-yards.html

The middle man in this trivia trove is John Milner and I suppose it's time I wrote about him.

On August 21 and 22, 1973 Milner got the decisive hit in walk-off wins over the Dodgers. I'm only going to write about the first one today and due to various constraints, I'm going to be rather brief about it. I shall summarize in 118 words, one for every minute it took for that particular game to be played.

The quickest walk-off win in regulation time, in Mets history was one in a series of comebacks during the run to the 1973 NL East title.

The two teams combined for nine hits with the last one being decisive. With one out in the ninth, Wayne Garrett walked, then went to second on a groundout.

Dodgers manager Walter Alston, faced with a decision that has plagued many, requested Rusty Staub be issued a walk, bringing Milner up.

Milner was the Mets version of Ortiz in more ways than one. His nickname was “The Hammer” and he promptly nailed a Don Sutton curve into centerfield. Garrett scored the winning run.

And then the next day, Milner did it again. (118 words on the nose)

True Metners know... That you can read more about David Ortiz, whose 10 walk-off hits are the most by any player since 2003, here...

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/10/other-monster.html
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