Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

June 9 (Saturday) marks the second anniversary of our first blog posting. It also marks the anniversary of three Mets walk-off wins and while you're bowing your head in shame after the events of the past three days, I figured I'd share the story of one of the two that I haven't written about in my previous 448 posts. Some people have told me that my blog is unappreciated by the masses (recent day tallies include fewer than two dozen visitors)and that's okay, because I've got a hit counter of 61,000+ that keeps me pretty happy. But to appease those folks, I thought I'd draw the parallel with a Met for whom June 9, 1964 is a day of significance. Well, maybe not really, but I find it so. On that date, Larry Bearnarth set a Mets record that has yet to be broken. In fact, in the last 30 years, no one has come close to approaching it. In the first game of a doubleheader against the Cubs, Bearnarth labored through 10 innings- as a RELIEVER.. In this day and age clubs c

About a week ago we added a "YankeeMet" blog called Eephus to our linkslist and on the day we did so, the blogger, a former Village Voice sportswriter cleverly wrote of the "horrible, no good, very bad day" in describing a Yankees defeat. That's what today feels like if you're a Mets fan. I've used this phrase before and I'm guessing I'll use it again. Yesterday's loss wasn't a walk-off, but it might as well have been. I have maintained an optimistic viewpoint for much of the last six weeks, but that game, as well as my dad's jinxlike comment on Tuesday that "this is DEFINITELY a playoff team" have sapped some of my mental strength. With my fingernails shredded from the chewing that was Tuesday's game, I'm left to pick at scabs, and since I don't have any at the moment, it becomes the kind of day where I gripe about things like how of Paul Lo Duca's last 17 hits, 15 have been singles. I made a reference in t

Among the sightings at Shea Stadium on Tuesday were a fan in a Joe McEwing jersey, what I'm guessing was the father of two children wearing a t-shirt that read "I love my (balls)," a teen sporting a "Please hold this beer while I f*** your girlfriend" t-shirt, and a brawl between a mother-daughter combo more fit for Jerry Springer than the returning No. 7 train. Other than the McEwing jersey, I found the other sites rather discomforting, particularly that of baseball clearing fence in the 11th inning. Tuesday was the first time all season that the Mets were tied entering the 9th inning and failed to win, basically meaning that it was the first time they'd had an opportunity for a walk-off in which they failed to convert. It was an odd night, one in which I'm embarassed to admit that I got stumped by a between-innings trivia question for which I should have known the answer, and I'll post it here as a public service to those who may also be uninformed

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