Skip to main content

Me and Julio Down By the Ballyard

One of two posts for Wednesday, the other of which will recap Tuesday's win. It can be found here

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/08/oy-vey-what-game.html

It's August 23, so that means that we wish a happy 48th birthday to Julio Franco, a current Met whose exploits we previously chronicled rather tidily in the offseason at this link

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/12/needle-in-haystack.html

Unbeknownst to us at the time, Old Man Baseball actually has five walk-off hits, though he's been waiting more than 10 years since his last one.

Anticipation was actually the theme of his most recent walk-off, back on July 2, 1996.

Franco sat out that day with a bum hamstring against the last-place Royals and his teammates struggled a little bit with the bats against Tim Belcher. Indians starter Chad Ogea kept his team in the contest, despite 3 hits by current Met Michael Tucker and 2, with an RBI from wannabe Met Jose Offerman.

The Indians took a 2-1 lead in the 8th when Omar Vizquel's sacrifice fly plated ex-Met Jeromy Burnitz, but the Royals tied the game with 2 outs in the 9th on Tom Goodwin's hit off struggling closer Jose Mesa.

Belcher remained in the game for the 9th and got the first 2 outs, but than surrendered consecutive hits to Manny Ramirez and still-useful Roberto Alomar, prompting skipper Mike Hargrove to call upon Franco to pinch-hit for soon-to-be Met Alvaro Espinoza. Belcher fumed when removed by manager Bob Boone, as did the Baseball Gods. As Hipolito Pichardo trotted in from the bullpen, a rather strong storm necessitated an immediate postponment.

The wait was 50 minutes for 3 pitches. On the last one, Franco singled to right, bringing Ramirez home with the winning run.

The delay didn't bother me," Franco told the media afterwards. "I know that pitcher, but it doesn't matter who the pitcher is. I don't hit the pitcher, I hit the baseball."

That philosophy is one that has stood the test of time, so who are we to quibble with it?

True Metcos know...Paul Simon (he of the songwriting referenced in the title...with slight alteration of the last word) sang the National Anthem prior to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The reference to "Anticipation" was thrown in because this blogger wanted to be clever, and as a means of working in a reference to another singer with a Mets connnection- Carly Simon- who once dated Keith Hernandez.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walk-Offs in Movies, TV, and Other Places

Note: I'm leaving this post up through the end of the week, a) because I don't have time to pump out something new and b)because I was hoping to build a really good list of entertainment industry walk-offs...so if you're looking for something new, check back on Monday or so... Of course, if there's a major trade or move, I'll adjust and try to post something... In the meantime, click on the "Table of Contents" link as well. It has been updated. SPOILER ALERT: Read at your own risk Caught the ending of "A League of Their Own" on one of the movie channels the other day and it got me to thinking that it would be fun to compile a list of walk-offs from movies, television, and other forms of entertainment. Here's the start, and only the start, as I spent about 30 minutes or so thinking it over Help me fill in the blanks by filling out the comments section. "A League of Their Own"-- Racine beats Rockford for the All-American Girls Profess...
10 comments
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

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