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Possible Playoff Preview: Dodgers

First in a series looking at the Mets walk-off history against potential first-round foes.

Repeat after me: "I will not be concerned by the Mets foibles at the finish...I will not be concerned by the Mets foibles at the finish...I will not be concerned by the Mets foibles at the finish."

Potential Opponent

Dodgers (NL West champ or wild card)

Mets walk-off wins vs opponent:

29

Mets walk-off losses vs opponent

36

Postseason walk-off history vs opponent

None to speak of, though the Dodgers did beat the Mets in the 1988 NLCS, and the Mets came within a few feet of a walk-off in Game 4 (the Mike Scioscia HR game) when, after Darryl Strawberry popped out, Kevin McReynolds flied out to shallow center to end the game against Orel Hersisher and the Dodgers, with the Mets trailing by a run in the last of the 12th inning.

Most recent walk-off win vs opponent

* May 20, 2001- Tsuyoshi Shinjo wins it for Armando Benitez with a walk-off single off Terry Adams with 2 outs in the last of the 9th.

Longest walk-off win vs opponent

* A 1-0 15-inning triumph on June 4, 1969 when Willie Davis misplays Wayne Garrett's single, allowing Tommie Agee to score the winning run.

Noteworthiest walk-off win vs opponent

* Either the one referenced above, or another, from August 23rd of that same season when Jerry Grote drove in the winning run with a 9th inning double. The Mets had two walk-off wins against the Dodgers both in 1969 and 1973 (as well as 1971, 1977, and 1992).

Most unusual walk-off win vs opponent

* July 24, 1970: Tommie Agee steals home in the last of the 10th inning, giving the Mets a 2-1 triumph.

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/07/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go.html

Metscellaniest walk-off tidbits regarding opponent

* Rodney McCray's only Met at-bat produced a walk-off single against the Dodgers on May 8, 1992

* The quickest 9-inning walk-off in Mets history came against the Dodgers on August 21, 1973, when John Milner's game-winning single concluded a 1-hour, 58-minute contest.

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/08/quickies.html

* Only once in Mets history has a player hit a 3-RBI double to end a walk-off win. That player was John Stephenson, who did so against the Dodgers on August 24, 1965.

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/his-old-friend-john.html

Opponents Mets walk-off history

* Jeff Kent's walk-off double mercifully ended a 1-0 17-inning win over the Cardinals on September 29, 1993.

* Marlon Anderson's 9th inning game-tying inside-the-park home run set the stage for Cliff Floyd's game-winning three-run home run in the 10th in a 5-3 win over the Angels on June 11, 2005.

Mets with a walk-off connection to their opponent

* Shawn Green had 5 walk-off RBI for the Dodgers from 2001 to 2004, including one vs (then-Marlin) Braden Looper in 2002. The 5 walk-off RBI is coincidentally the same number that ex-Met Mike Piazza had while with the Dodgers (and one more than Darryl Strawberry).

Walk-off reasons to feel good about facing opponent

* Manager Grady Little skippered the Red Sox when Aaron Boone beat them in Game 7 of the ALCS with a walk-off home run. He received much criticism for sticking with a certain starting pitcher for a few batters too many, which led to his eventual firing in the offseason.

* In 1951, the Dodgers allowed perhaps the most famous walk-off home run in baseball history, and it came against a New York foe. That, of course, refers to Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard Round the World, which beat the Dodgers, 5-4 in the last game of a 3-game playoff for the NL crown.

True Metgers know...

Bill Buckner had three walk-off hits for the Dodgers (none against the Mets), the last being a walk-off home run against Elias Sosa and the Giants on June 21, 1974. A little less than year later, Sosa would lose a game for the Braves against the Mets by throwing a walk-off wild pitch.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Not a walkoff loss, not even a walkup (top of the final inning) loss, but perhaps the worst Mets regular-season loss to the Dodgers ever:

http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08270NYN1976.htm

Grote tied it on a homer in the seventh and the Dodgers took right back in the eighth. It stands out for me as the very first time I swore I wasn't going to root for this team anymore.

Yeah, that took.
3:44 AM
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