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Showing posts from March 30, 2008

Our Special Bonds: The Spy (Questions)

In honor of the scourge pitching against the Mets on Saturday... Answers here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/04/our-special-bonds-spy-answers.html 1) Who has more World Series titles- the Mets franchise or Tom Glavine? 2) Of the 181 hitters to have a .300 career batting average against Tom Glavine (minimum 10 plate appearances), name any of the 40 that currently or formerly played for the Mets. 3) What would be the historical significance if Tom Glavine allowed 196 earned runs without retiring a batter in his start against the Mets? 4) In the process of doing that, Glavine would jump from 19th to 6th on the all-time list for most career earned runs allowed. What two former Mets lefthanders would he pass? 5) Tom Glavine lost to the Braves 11 times in his Mets tenure from 2003 to 2007. How many other pitchers, in that span, lost to the Braves at least 11 times? 6) If Tom Glavine drove from Shea Stadium to Turner Field immediately following his final Mets start (to celebrate his d

MetsWalkoffs is Calling from Somewhere

"Yes, hello...Thank you for taking my call. I want to answer Ron Darling's question about the biggest complete-game shutout in Mets history." "Thanks, Gary...You guys actually had the answer. It was that 14-0 win over the Cubs on July 29, 1965. Of the 306 complete game shutouts (as opposed to team shutouts) in Mets history, that's the biggest one." "Yep...the pitcher was a guy you'll remember, probably more as a pitching coach. Galen Cisco." "Yeah, Keith, that's right. He was pretty good that day. He threw a four-hitter against a lineup that featured Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, and Ron Santo." "Yeah Ron, not too shabby. He had a good day with the bat too. You'd have been envious. Two hits, three runs scored and an RBI." "Good question, Gary. They left him in because this was their second doubleheader against the Cubs in as many days at Wrigley Field. And the day before, they ran through their bullpen. They star

Fool Me Once, Shame on You, Fool Me Twice...

Memo to Matt Wise from Keith Herandez: Don't throw the high change twice in a row. * Walk-off loss number 372 is the earliest walk-off loss in Mets history BY DATE. The previous mark was held by the 6-5 12-inning walk-off loss against the Padres on April 2, 1997, when Chris Gomez beat Toby Borland with a walk-off single. * The walk-off home run by Robert Andino was the 105th walk-off home run allowed in Mets history. It was the 5th walk-off home run by a Marlin against the Mets, the first since Josh Willingham hit one off Billy Wagner on August 1, 2006 * It was Andino's first career home run. The last player to hit his first career home run against the Mets, and make it a walk-off was Dodgers catcher Dioner Navarro on August 12, 2005. * It was the Marlins 13th walk-off win against the Mets, their first since Dan Uggla's walk-off double against Jorge Sosa on September 20, 2007. * The last time the Mets lost via walk-off in their second game of the season was in 2001, when th

Fool's Gold

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 in each of the last two years, but my foolish pursuit to chronicle the history of Mets walks lasted merely one day, and likewise, my intent to break down every Mets chalk-off turned into a brief endeavor. 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 34 months ago, I came across a blog that was very unique- PlunkBiggio , which was devoted to recording Craig Biggio's (since retired) 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. My original intent was to change this blog to one about Mets

Giving the New Guy The Ball

The new guy gets the ball on Monday, and I'm obviously psyched for the debut of Johan Santana as a Met, but at the same time, I'm a little cautious. The Mets are 1-5 (with an asterisk) on Opening Days in which they give the new guy the ball. The last time we gave the new guy the ball was in 2005, and while that opener started well, it didn't end in a positive fashion. Pedro Martinez struck out a dozen in six innings, and fellow new guys Manny Aybar and Dae Sung Koo looked pretty stellar for an inning apiece. But then the holdover came in and screwed everything up by allowing back-to-back homers, including the walk-off to Joe Randa. The new guy got the ball in 2003 and that game isn't worthy of more than a sentence. Suffice it to say, Tom Glavine set the tone for his entire tenure with the stinkeroo that was a 15-2 loss to the Cubs. They gave the new guy the ball to kick off 2000, and he couldn't throw it over the plate. Mike Hampton walked nine in five innings,