Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

I'm going to Atlanta for the three Mets/Braves games this weekend as part of an unusually timed vacation, and I'm looking forward to the trip. The one thing that has me a little wary is that on all three occasions in which I've mixed major league baseball games and vacations, I've seen walk-offs. I would hope not to see one these next three days. The first occurrence came on August 23, 1990 when my family visited Toronto on my first and only sojourn outside of the 50 states. A friend of my father's knew a season-ticket holder who provided us with two terrific seats in the SkyDome for a Blue Jays-Red Sox game during the heart of the AL East race between the two squads. We were 10 rows off the field, at most, behind the third base dugout, the perfect view from which to get an awesome photograph of Wade Boggs lining a single. With no rooting interest for either team, my father and I cheered for ex-Met Mookie Wilson and our applause was rewarded. Wilson singled in the g

If I were going to catalog my Barry Bonds memories, I think the earliest may come from a game relevant given Tuesday's events, particularly Bonds' futile 3-inch vertical try for Xavier Nady's go-ahead home run. In July of 1988 the Mets were locked in a race for the NL East title with the surprising Pittsburgh Pirates, whose squad featured a host of young up-and-comers like Bonds, then a thin leadoff hitter with both pop and speed, and a Bronx-born power hitter named Bobby Bonilla. Pittsburgh came to town on July 29 with a little confidence, trailing in the standings by only two games, and sending talented southpaw John Smiley to the hill against Mets lefty Bob Ojeda. I remember attending this game. I went with my uncle Zachary and my friend David Cooper. Our seats were really good, box seats along the left field line, which gave us a nice vantage point for long fly balls. There weren't too many of those on this particular Friday evening because the two starters got invo

Moises Alou had 5 RBI against the Mets on Monday night, thus continuing a rather bothersome family trend for which perhaps a dose of Steve Bartman is needed. Moises' father, Felipe Alou, a career .286 hitter, hit .303 in 509 lifetime AB against the Mets. He's also 69-66 against them as a manager. His uncle, Matty Alou (Felipe's brother), a career .307 hitter, hit .333 in 513 lifetime AB against the Mets. His other uncle, Jesus Alou (Felipe and Matty's brother), a career .280 hitter, hit .306 in 396 lifetime AB against the Mets and .265 in 102 AB for them. His cousin, the infamous Mel Rojas, who went 3-2 with 12 saves and a 3.48 ERA against the Mets, and a rather misleading 5-4 with four saves and a horrendous 5.74 ERA. A fellow tried to convince me the other day that Lance Johnson for Brian McRae was a good swap, but he neglected to mention that the actions of Mel Rojas canceled out any benefits from either McRae or Turk Wendell. But since we're here to speak good o