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Possible Playoff Preview: Cardinals

Third in a series...
 
Potential Opponent
 
* Cardinals (NL Central champs)
 
Mets Walk-Off Wins vs Opponent
 
*31
 
Mets Walk-Off Losses vs Opponent
 
* 32
 
Postseason Walk-Off History vs Opponent
 
* None, though I prefer to think of a walk-out instead of a walk-off, when while walking down the Shea Stadium ramps following Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS, my dad turned to me and said "Mike Hampton will pitch the game of his life tomorrow."
 
Most Recent Walk-Off Win vs Opponent
 
* August 22, 2006, when the Mets rallied from a 7-1 deficit to beat one-man-show Albert Pujols on Carlos Beltran's 2-run home run off Jason Isringhausen.
 
Longest walk-off win vs opponent
 
* September 29, 1993, when the Mets beat the Cardinals 1-0 in 17 innings at the close of a season of misery. Kenny Greer earned his first and only major-league win as human scourge Jeff Kent drove in the winning run with a double off Les Lancaster
 
Noteworthiest walk-off wins vs opponent
 
* The Mets clinched a tie for the NL East in 1969 with a 3-2 walk-off win on September 23, 1969. Bud Harrelson singled in the winning run in the last of the 9th off Bob Gibson, against whom Harrelson had much success in his career.
 
* The Mets briefly moved ahead of the Cardinals into first place in the NL East with a 6-5 walk-off win on September 12, 1985. Keith Hernandez drove in the winning run with a single off Ken Dayley, a day after Cesar Cedeno beat the Mets, 1-0 with a 10th inning home run. The Mets also had a walk-off win that Opening Day when Gary Carter hit a game-winning home run off Neil Allen in his first game with the Mets.
 
Most unusual walk-off wins vs opponent
 
* Gary Cohen referred to this as one of the most memorable walk-off wins he's ever broadcast, a 1-0 13-inning triumph on April 23, 1992. The game ended when Darryl Boston got plunked by Juan Agosto, for the only walk-off hit batsman in Mets history.
 
* On July 7, 1967, the Mets beat the Cardinals, 5-4, when St. Louis pitcher Nelson Briles threw a wild pitch on Ball 4 to Tommie Reynolds, allowing Bud Harrelson to score the winning run.
 
Metscellaniest walk-off tidbit regarding opponent
 
* The Mets have 5 walk-off wins against the Cardinals in which they've trailed at the time of the walk-off hit (ie: Beltran's HR with them down by a run). The only team against whom they've had more is the Pirates, with 6.
 
Opponents Mets walk-off history
 
* Injured Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen has one walk-off win for the Mets and two walk-off losses against them. The walk-off win is our "asterisk game," (September 25, 1995 vs Reds) which ended in the sixth inning when Tim Pugh threw a wild pitch that brought in the go-ahead run. A weather stoppage followed after which the game was called.
 
* Current Cardinals closer Braden Looper had 6 walk-off wins (and 5 walk-off losses) for the Mets during his two seasons with the team.
 
* Jose Vizcaino, best remembered for something not worth remembering, had 3 walk-off hits for the Mets, all singles.
 
* The "other" Cris Carpenter (not the current Cardinal, but the former one) allowed a walk-off HR to Mets first baseman Eddie Murray on April 22, 1992.
 
* Catcher Gary Bennett, a former Met-for-a-minute, had back-to-back game-ending hits, including a grand slam, against the Cubs earlier this season.
 
Walk-off reasons to feel good about opponent
 
* Tony La Russa was the manager of the Athletics in 1988 and was thus on the losing end of one of the great walk-off home runs of all-time- Kirk Gibson's 2-run home run with 2 outs in the 9th inning of Game 1 of the World Series. Many believe that the term "walk-off" was invented after this game by home run giver-upper Dennis Eckersley.
 
* The Cardinals lost both the 2001 NLDS and the 2002 NLCS in walk-off fashion against the Diamondbacks and Giants respectively.
 
True Metnals Know...

* Vince Coleman (ugh!) is the only player in baseball who can say he had a walk-off hit for the Mets against the Cardinals AND had a walk-off hit for the Cardinals against the Mets.

 
 
 
 

Comments

Anonymous said…
When did we know that the good times were about to stop rolling. Probably with this loss in St. Louis:

http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B06010SLN1991.htm

This is the one when the bat went flying at Dave Magadan playing first. With it came rushing at him seven years of winning baseball. The Mets lost that game and began losing an entire decade, at least until 1997.
1:57 PM
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