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Tying up some loose ends as I head to Shea Stadium on Saturday to celebrate the 31st anniversary of Joe Torre's managerial debut.

* The Mets Police has left a new comment on your post "Catchers Interference Minutiae":
Truly amazing. How do you come up with this stuff?!

For anyone else looking for catchers interference minutiae, or any other sort of minutiae for that matter, go to Baseball-Reference.com and click on "Play Index." It has a box score/play-by-play data search engine available for use for a small fee. Worth every penny.

*Chris D'Orso has left a new comment on your post "Catchers Interference Minutiae":
I believe those two catcher's interference calls were the only times Rich Becker reached base as a Met. I believe he struck out in every other plate appearance.(Or maybe it just seemed that way...)

It did just seem that way. Rich Becker had 19 hits, 21 walks, and a frightening 42 strikeouts in 100 AB for the 1998 Mets. He had a walk-off hit in the 13th inning of a 7-6 win over the Pirates on April 4, 1998.


* Stephen has left a new comment on your post "Tatis, Ta Ta":
At one point, John Maine entered the game for Delgado as a pinch runner (bottom of the 9th I think). Has the winning run in a Mets walkoff ever been scored by a pinch-running starting pitcher?

Yes!!! On May 9, 1963, the Mets beat the Phillies, 3-2, scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win, and complete a sweep of their 3-game series. The Mets tied the game on a 2-run single by Tim Harkness, then won on it when pinch-running pitcher Al Jackson "raced gleefully home and slid unneccessarily across the plate," (so said Leonard Koppett) on a wild pitch by Johnny Klippstein, on an 0-2 count to pinch-hitter Cliff Cook (the Rich Becker of his era).

Stephen's comment inspired me to add another detail to my database: "Winning run scored by..." However, I'm having an issue. On a multi-run game-winning HR that wins the game by more than one run, the winning run is technically scored by one of the baserunners, rather than the home run hitter, and I find that to be a little awkward. I have about 20 years to go, as far as entering the data, so I hope to incorporate some walk-off run scoring minutiae in the near-future.

* Gary Cohen, in the first inning of Friday's broadcast made a comment to the effect of: "Who knew that Joe Torre was going to be such a great manager?

I'll tell you who. The person who uttered this quote, which ran in the June 1, New York Times.

"The man respects me and I respect him. It's the start of another outstanding career for him. I think he'll be an excellent manager."

The quoted one happened to be Tom Seaver.

The Joe Torre era, by the way, consisted of 29 Mets walk-off wins.

* Jose Reyes reached base for the 30th straight game.
It was noted that he's 3 shy of Darryl Strawberry's single-season record. However, he's got a ways to go to catch the Mets real leader in that department, John Olerud.

Most Consecutive Games Reached Base
Mets History

John Olerud 47 (1998-1999)
David Wright 35 (2006-2007)
Carlos Delgado 34 (2007-2008)
Darryl Strawberry 33 (1987)
Jose Vizcaino 32 (1996-1997)
Keith Hernandez 32 (1983)

* Cliff Floyd hit a walk-off home run for the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
It was his first walk-off home run since the 3-run extra-inning home run to beat the Angels on June 11, 2005.

* The Cubs rallied from a 9-1 deficit to win at Wrigley Field Friday.
Not to dredge up bad memories, but the 1980 Mets (they of the Gary Cohen mentioned Mark Bomback-era, featuring Joe Torre as manager) blew a 9-1 lead at Wrigley Field on April 19, 1980. They lost to the Cubs, 12-9 on Dave Kingman's eighth-inning grand slam off Neil Allen. The Mets had walked Bill Buckner to pitch to Kingman with one out in the eighth.

* And so we end on a happy note...the Mets beat Brad Penny again on Thursday.
Penny is now 1-10 at Shea Stadium

Worst Record at Shea Stadium By Opposing Pitcher
Minimum 10 decisions

Brad Penny 1-10
Bill Singer 1-9
Milt Pappas 3-7
Mike Hampton 4-9
Bryn Smith 5-10
Carl Morton 4-8

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