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Showing posts from September 16, 2007

A Quick Observation

And we thank Scott "I'm Jewish but my favorite holiday is Christmas" Schoenweis for not taking Friday night off to observe Yom Kippur. And to reward those who endured that particular game, we offer up the following tidbit. This was the third time in Mets history that they scored at least nine or more runs, but the opposing staff yielded one earned run or fewer. The most recent occurrence, I believe I've referenced before: a 16-4 victory over the Astros in the opener of a doubleheader on July 27, 1985 (attended by this blogger, than a puzzled 10-year-old scorekeeper), in which all 16 runs were unearned, thanks to five Astros errors. The other was a 10-inning 11-9 loss to the Braves on June 5, 1963, a game in which the Mets rallied from 9-1 down to tie, only to lose in extra innings.

Uggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!

* Walk-off loss #370, arguably one of the most brutal regular season ones of my lifetime was the Mets 4th walk-off loss of the season. Notice that I skipped over #369, and that's because I discovered I was missing a game from 2005 from my database (blocked it from memory, so to speak). So I've added September 7, 2005, when Ryan Langerhans beat Shingo Takatsu with a two-run, 10th inning bases-loaded single (uggggggggggggggggg!) to the list and thus my documented tally is now at 370 and counting. * It was their first walk-off loss against the Marlins since August 1, 2006, when Josh Willingham beat them with a 2-run HR off Billy Wagner. * It was the first 8-7, 10-inning walk-off loss in Mets history and the 7th Mets walk-off loss to be decided by such a score. The last such 8-7 loss was on September 6, 1996, when Terry Pendleton (ugggggggggggggg!) and the Braves beat them with a 9th-inning single. * Dan Uggla is the second Dan to beat the Mets with a walk-off hit. Dan Driessen bea

Cardinals Walk-Offs and Other Minutiae

"You should treat that Cardinals-Phillies game like a Mets walk-off win. It was as important as any Mets win this season." -- E-mail from my dad at around midnight, as we chuckled at the notion of the season coming down to rooting for Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina. OK, I can do that... * Let's start here: Yadier Molina is the first player in baseball history to beat the Mets with a Game 7 9th inning home run, then help them out with a walk-off hit the following season. * It was Molina's 3rd career walk-off hit, his first since 2005. The first of the three came against the Mets and Mike Stanton, on August 7, 2004, a bases loaded, two-out single to give the Cardinals a 2-1 win. * Molina's 3 walk-off hits break a tie with Bengie for most hits by a Molina brother. Bengie has 2. Jose has none. * It was the Cardinals 4th walk-off win of the season and their first against the Phillies since a Jim Edmonds 13th inning walk-off home run on April 29, 2004. * It was the P

Mission Accomplished but Another Awaits

As Greg over at Faith and Fear noted on Monday, the Mets were at the point at which they had met one of my silly preseason goals. They were assured of finishing 2007 with a worse record than they had in 2006. Y'all may remember my preseason slogan- "Ya Gotta Get Worse!" in which I illustrated how the Cardinals took the biggest tumble among teams from 2005 to 2006, yet still won the World Series and how I felt if the Mets took a small step back, they'd be able to take a small step forward in October. Looking back on it today, I can tell you this. That mantra sucks. This is no fun. But I'm not ready to start an essay on Mets Choke-Offs and Other Minutiae just yet. Instead, let's for a moment harken back and remember the way of the 2005 Indians. The AL Central wasn't really a race that season, not until the very end. On August 17, the Indians got shut out by the Rangers and were 11 games out of first place. The White Sox were the team to beat, having played g

Our Special Bonds: Ron Darling (questions)

Equal time for the other member of the Mets broadcast crew as we continue to wallow in the misery of this great malaise Answers here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/09/our-special-bonds-ron-darling-answers.html 1) Ron Darling lost to the Phillies in his major-league debut. I'd ask who the winning pitcher was for the Phillies, but I don't believe that's a challenging question, once I refer to him as a former Met. So I ask instead: What future Hall of Famer struck out as the first batter of that game? 2) On the subject of strikeouts. Name the Hall of Famer who was Darling's most frequent strikeout victim? From 1983 to 1991, this player (not a pitcher) had 82 AB against Darling and whiffed 21 times. 3) The first 3 batters to hit home runs against Ron Darling all played for the Mets at some point in their careers. The first played only a season for them, playing 79 games, with 10 home runs on a team that didn't hit many home runs. The second hit a grand slam, one

Our Day Was Ruined

Please try to think happy thoughts today. I know its difficult, but at least let me offer this as consolation. Monday marks the 21st anniversary of the Mets NL East division clinching. And keep this in mind: The 1986 squad couldn't beat the Phillies either. And they turned out just fine. The 1986 Mets went 8-10 against the Phillies, the only team against which they had a sub-.500 record. And the Phillies beat them 6 straight in one stretch, including a 3-game sweep when the Mets needed only 1 victory to clinch the NL East. Those Phillies were a pain in the ass. Von Hayes was their Chase Utley, hitting .357 against the Mets with four home runs and 16 RBI in 17 games. Mike Schmidt was Ryan Howard, hitting .373 with 15 RBI against the Mets, and he copped an MVP along the way. And while the rotation wasn't too impressive, it did feature a rookie lefty, Bruce Ruffin, who pilfered two victories from the Flushing 9. Had their been a wild-card in 1986 (though with 2 divisions, that wo