Skip to main content

The Old Man And The ...

Jamie Moyer is pitching for the Phillies tonight. He's an old fellow at more than 44 1/2 years old.

But regardless of what happens this evening, he will not be the oldest pitcher to lose a game to the Mets.

That distinction belongs to Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm and the circumstances for such are as follows.

It was September 28, 1970 and the Mets had just been knocked out of the NL East race by the Pirates, so spirits were a little dampened on this particular date. It didn't help that upon getting his first major league hit, outfielder Leroy Stanton (soon to be traded with Nolan Ryan) got conked in the head by a relay throw to third base, and had to be removed from the game. He would turn out to be alright.

By the ninth inning, the Mets found themselves in a 3-1 hole, with fine-twirling southpaw Ken Holtzman dominating them. Both Rod Gaspar and Wayne Garrett fanned to start the frame, so the home club was down to its last out.

Improbably though, they rallied. Cleon Jones singled to right and Donn Clendenon followed with a game-tying two-run home run, which took starting pitcher Gary Gentry off the hook and gave Clendenon, for the moment, the single-season Mets RBI record with 95 (one better than Frank Thomas in 1962).

That sent us to bonus baseball where the dispirited Cubs went 1-2-3 in the 10th against Danny Frisella. Wilhelm, acquired by the Cubs from the Angels just three weeks prior, than relieved Holtzman. At 48 years and 64 days old (he'd pitch one more season), his repetoire was pretty predictable. He was going to throw knuckleballs.

Jerry Grote got good wood on one Wilhelm offering leading off the 10th, starting things out with a double. A Bud Harrelson sacrifice moved pinch-runner Al Weis to third, but there he'd stay after Art Shamsky missed out on his first walk-off RBI by bouncing back to the pitcher. Dave Marshall pinch-hit for Gaspar, who had replaced Stanton in centerfield and Wilhlem walked him.

That brought up Garrett, a good contact hitter, who made good contact. His home run to right field gave the Mets a 6-3 victory and ensured Wilhelm of a nifty spot in the club's long and storied walk-off history.

The truly Metderly know...That the three pitchers older than Moyer who have lost to the Mets are Wilhelm, Charlie Hough (twice, at 45, and 46), and John Franco (44, but a slightly older 44 than Moyer).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

Minutiae Break: Worst Mets Relievers

It occurs to me after 79 straight walk-off related posts and some fatigue still remaining from Saturday's finish that I did promise to bring Metspective on other issues related to the Flushing 9, so I offer this posting up as a "Minutiae Break." This came about after several discussions related to the offhand Dick Tidrow/Danny Graves remark the other day , the conclusion of which indicated that it would be fun to create a list of the worst Mets relievers of all-time. I don't want to step on the territory of other bloggers, like " Faith and Fear in Flushing ," Mets Guy in Michigan " and " Metstradamus ," so I'll tread carefully here, aided by their influence. Should any friends, family members, or fans of these pitchers visit this site, I mean no harm. I'm just here to have a little fun with this topic. The ground rules are as follows: The pitcher must have had a Mets stint as long as Dick Tidrow's (11 games, 15 2/3 innings), for wh

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