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

Best Games I Know: Phillies (Updated)

  The best wins against the Phillies in Mets history …   May 5, 2022 – Mets 8, Phillies 7 The Mets score 7 runs in the 9 th inning to overcome a 7-1 deficit and win in Philadelphia.   April 29, 2022 – Mets 3, Phillies 0 Tylor Megill and 4 Mets relievers combine on the second no-hitter in franchise history.   September 22, 2016 – Mets 9, Phillies 8 (11) The Mets tie it in the 9 th on a Jose Reyes home run and win it in the 11 th on a 3-run home run by Asdrubal Cabrera.   July 17, 2016 - Mets 5, Phillies 0 Jacob deGrom pitches a one-hitter. Only hit is a single by Zach Eflin in the 5 th inning.   August 24, 2015 – Mets 16, Phillies 7 David Wright homers in his first at-bat in more than 4 months. The Mets hit a team-record 8 home runs.   July 5, 2012 – Mets 6, Phillies 5 The Mets score 2 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9 th to beat Jonathan Papelbon. The winning run scores on David Wright’s bloop down the right field line.   August 13
Post a Comment
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

Trip(le) Through Time

In their illustrious history, the Mets have had one 'Triple Crown Winner,' so to speak and I'm not talking about the typical meaning of the term. I've gotten some queries recently as to whether a walk-off triple is even possible and I'm here to tell you that it is. There has been one, and only one, in Mets history, though I don't have the full explanation of circumstances that I would like. It took place against the Phillies on September 10, 1970. This was a marathon game that would have fit in perfectly with those having taken place so far this season and allowed the Mets to maintain a temporary hold on first place in an NL East race oft forgotten in team history. It went 14 innings, with a tinge of controversy in a negated Ken Boswell home run, a thrilling play by Bud Harrelson, who stole home in the third inning, and some stellar relief pitching, in the form of five scoreless innings from Danny Frisella, aided by Tim McCarver getting thrown out in a rundown b
Post a Comment
Read more