Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

I've sung the praises of this new Baseball-Reference Play Index tool a few times already, so I'll tell you again how wonderful it is to be able to use it to share some more minutiae with you. People like to speak of the excitement of the multi-homer game. A multi-triple game, like the one Jose Reyes had in another rout on Friday, is as exciting, and a lot more rare. * It was the 3rd multi-triple game of Jose Reyes' career. The two previous ones came in 2005- on May 18 against the Reds and May 26 in Florida against the Marlins. * The 3 multi-triple games are a team record, breaking the mark he previously shared with Doug Flynn (who once had a 3-triple game) and Lance Johnson. * Johnson had 8 multi-triple games, most by any player within the last 50 years, one more than George Brett and two more than Willie Mays. The active leaders are Carl Crawford and Omar Vizquel, who have 5. * Among the other notable players to have had 3 multi-triple games: Joe Morgan, Pete Rose (2 comin...

I know many of you are preoccupied with thoughts today about how the Braves are a formidable foe (not to brag, but we knew that on Tuesday ), but I'm going to focus elsewhere. So apparently Daisuke Matsuzaka proved he was the real deal on Thursday, striking out 10 in his major-league debut as the Red Sox beat the Royals. Every baseball pundit in America (and Japan) is analyzing the performance today, guessing what it means for the future of this young, Japanese attention-getter. It got me to wondering what the Mets record was for strikeouts by a pitcher in a major-league debut. It turns out that the answer is eight and that two pitchers share the mark. The 40th anniversary of their debuts comes in the next week, so it seems appropriate to reference it now. I presume most of you reading this blog know who Tom Seaver (the pitcher, not the winemaker who likes to leave games early) is, so I won't go into explaining his background or the postscript, but just tell you his debuting de...

I'd imagine the Cardinals approval ratings are about as low as our current President, especially after... * This, which was the third time in the history of the Mets-Cardinals rivalry that the Mets scored 10 or more runs and the Cardinals tallied none. The first was a Jon Matlack 13-0 shutout at home on July 1, 1976. The second was an 11-0 Sid Fernandez gem in St. Louis on August 1, 1989. * It was the first time the Mets beat the Cardinals by 10+ since a 13-1 romp on September 7, 1989. * The 2 runs allowed by the Mets in their first three games were the fewest they've surrendered in an opening trio in team history. The previous best was 4, in 1981, a season interrupted by strike. The Mets are 3-0 for the first time since 1994, also a season wiped out by strike. * John Maine became the 2nd Mets starter ever to pitch at least 7 innings, allowing 1 hit or fewer, within his team's first 3 games of the season. The other was the "great" Bruce Berenyi, who matched Maine...

It was about a year ago at this time that we honored the Mets for reaching the 10,000 double plateau. We have no such milestones approaching for double plays, but since they've been the most important thing to come out of the two victories so far, we thought we'd pay homage. * With 7 double plays turned in 2 games, the Mets are on pace to turn 567 for the season. That would shatter the club record of 171, previously set in 1966 and 1983. It would also destroy the major-league record of 217, set by the 1949 Philadelphia Athletics. * The Mets turned 4 DP on Opening Day and 3 in the second game of the season. The record for double plays turned in a game is 5, previously set August 8, 1962 (a 5-2 win vs the Giants), May 24, 1973 against the Dodgers (7-3 19-inning win), June 9, 1983 against the Cubs in Wrigley Field (6-4 11-inning win) and June 5, 1997 at home against the Marlins (a 6-0 regulation victory). * The information is a little more easily accessible on ground-ball double ...

I hope it's not a sign of the times but we went walk-off-less on Opening Monday for the first time this century, though we can rest our hopes today on the debut for the Giants and Padres if we so choose. Did you know that it's been 33 years since the Phillies last had a walk-off win on Opening Day? Mike Schmidt hit the winning homer off Mets closer Tug McGraw that day and that became relevant yesterday in the final frames of the Phillies-Braves game, which brings me to the point I wanted to make today. I know there's a lot of talk (much from Jimmy Rollins) about how this year's NL East race is about the Phillies and the Mets. I choose to differ with that viewpoint. I think it's about the Mets and the Braves. And that worries me. I picked the Braves to go to the World Series in my preseason predictions (to face the other NY team) and the reason for that was on display in the latter part of yesterday's game. The Phillies should have scored at least once in the las...

Without further ado, answers to the queries posed here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/06/our-special-bonds-ownership.html 1- You may recall us mentioning once before that Bud Harrelson had significant success against Hall of Famer Bob Gibson , but so did Wayne Garrett and Ed Kranepool. 2- Steve Carlton lost to the Mets 3 times on Opening Day. Rick Reuschel was one better, with four Opener defeats against the Mets. Lee Mazzilli homered three times against both of them. 3- By far, my favorite question of these 10. Tom Seaver homered in his only plate appearance against accused scuffballer Dave Smith and convicted felon Denny McLain . 4- Ya gotta know that the all-time Mookie Wilson triples-yielding king is Tug McGraw. 5- Those of you who remember that Curt Schilling was with the Astros in his pre-Phillies days should have gotten that one right. Anthony Young was 3-2 vs Houston, 12-46 against everyone else. 6- All of these men share the distinction of having pitched even after R...

The last time the Mets opened a season in St. Louis (1992, for those curious) their second baseman was their future (now current) manager. Perhaps the next time they open in St. Louis, the second baseman of today will be their future general manager (or some other front-office position appropos for someone who runs a winter-league team). I think the best thing to come out of Opening Day from a walk-off perspective (that's what we do here) is that a few of the Flushing geriatrics, in whom I'm currently showing little faith, walked-off the field on their own power. I told someone the other day that by the end of the season that David Newhan would be the everyday second baseman and Endy Chavez would be the regular left fielder. That person shunned and mocked my thinking, particularly after what Msrs. Valentin and Alou showed from a defensive perspective in Game 1. I didn't write a season-preview piece but had I done so, I would have voiced significant concerns over both of tho...

With the birth of a new year upon us, I feel it necessary, once again, to both reintroduce and reinvent myself to fit the needs of the blogging community. Walk-offs have run (or walked) their course and it's time to focus on something new. You may recall that I dabbled in such a thought at this time last year, but my foolish pursuit to chronicle the history of Mets walks lasted merely one day. I don't profess to be an expert in this blogging thing by any means, but I think it has been a worthwhile experience. About 22 months ago, I came across a blog that was very unique- PlunkBiggio , which is devoted to recording Craig Biggio's hit-by-pitch count. It is rare to find such a cleverly done "niche blog" and in thinking about it, I decided that my niche just isn't clever enough. To make a long story short, I have decided to retool my blog to focus not on walk-offs, but on chalk-offs. For those who don't understand the meaning, think of how a ball must be clea...