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Showing posts from June 17, 2007

Our Special Bonds: The Nibbler (Questions)

Tom Glavine is having trouble getting to 300 wins. The Mets, as a franchise, can sympathize, although as an inanimate object, I don't know that they're capable of such emotion. It took the Mets seven tries to get from their 299th win to their 300th win all-time, something they finally did on August 1, 1967 when Don Shaw's five scoreless innings of relief nabbed the club a 5-1 victory over the Astros. But that's not the story. The chase for 300 is much more interesting, particularly the Mets first attempt at getting their 300th win as a team. Harken back with us to July 27, 1967 with this blog post and then take our Tom Glavine-themed trivia quiz (question assistance provided by Baseball-Reference.com ) By the way: If you like Mets trivia, it's worth trying to find the book Amazing Mets Trivia (published in 2004) online (as I did a week ago). You'll find the questions to be of a similar nature and as enjoyable as those found here. Tom Glavine trivia, with answers

First Time For Everything

Thanks to reader Daniel Altman for the tip on this... Well, at least the Mets didn't lose the way that their Double-A Binghamton squad did in Game 2 of its doubleheader against the Reading Phillies on Wednesday night. The B-Mets dropped a game in a manner I've never heard of before for any game at any level: walk-off catchers interference. The details are a little sketchy at this point, but I'll try to find out some more. The B-Mets press release (put out by occasional reader/contributor Robert Ford) simply states "The score remained tied until the bottom of the seventh, the last scheduled inning. Spidale led off with a single before Jesus Merchan bunted him to second. After (Robert) Paulk (2-1) intentionally walked Mike Costanzo, Randy Ruiz reached on a fielder’s choice that moved Spidale to third. Once Jacobs was intentionally walked to load the bases, (Jason) Hill reached on catcher’s interference by Mike Nickeas, bringing home Spidale with the winning run." Th

Dis'Gust'ing Baseball

You may think that this month is among the worst in Mets history, but I don't know that you'd do that if you were familiar with August, 1966. The Mets were actually midly respectable at 47-55 through the first 4 months of that season and we say that relatively speaking because the previous four campaigns were disastrous. There weren't any delusions of a pennant chase, with the team being 12 1/2 games out but there was the hope of at least avoiding the loveable losers tag. This was a team that was good enough to avoid losing by walk-off at any point during the season. Then came August. It wasn't so much that the Mets went 11-21 that month that was bothersome. It was how they managed to salvage so many defeats from victory that had to really bug manager Wes Westrum, a man best known for saying after defeats "Oh my gosh, ain't that awful?" On the first day of the month, the Mets blew a 2-0 lead and lost to the Giants, 4-2. That set the tone. Of the 21 games t

X Marks The Spot

Regular blog reader Ron Rohn chimes in with the following contribution. Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments section. "Lately I've been thinking about Shea not being there in a few years. I'm sure next year there will be many remembrances, as for most Met Fans it is the only home we have ever known. Once Shea is gone, a parking lot will take it's place. In Philly they painted home plate and the bases were at the old Vet. In my opinion they should paint those, plus the foul - lines, and where the dugouts were etc, so Met fans can always walk and view where some of their favorite memories happened. I started thinking, if they were going to place a marker ( like a pole with a small plaque or something ) at spots on the field where "special" things happened, what would you put in your Top Ten???? Most would have to be defensive, since offensive plays don't happen in the field per se. But you could pick anything. Here's my shot at a list to s

Twin Thrilling

The Mets are the team that made Johan Santana three years ago. Would getting a walk-off win in return for that be too much to ask? Let me offer a better explanation and that requires flashing back to June 9, 2004, when Santana was just an ordinary pitcher. Yes, he was coming off a 12-3 campaign the year before, but he entered his start against the Mets having dropped four starts in a row, allowing 19 runs in 22 1/3 innings in that stretch. So ordinary seems an apt choice of word considering he was 2-4 with a 5.50 ERA. I have a vague recollection of the game that night and the New York Times story barely acknowledges how good Santana was, because much of the focus was on the hangover from the day before, a 2-1 walk-off loss, and the game most people remember from this series was the next day's, a 15-inning defeat best recalled for Matt Lecroy's "mad dash" to score the tying run . Santana allowed one run in seven innings, struck out 10, and won 5-3. It's a sign of

We all have our rituals

I can recall, at an NBA playoff game I attended a decade or so ago, that I was so frustrated by the performance of the Knicks that I took a moment in the third quarter for a "protest possession" in which I chose not to watch, or react to, the action on the court, during one Knicks trip. John Starks scored. The Knicks came back to win the game. I think, inspired by some reading I did over at Faith and Fear that I shall take a symbolic "protest possession" for today and not blog. Besides, do you really want to read about the minutiae of the worst 15-game Mets streaks of all time?