Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

So after doing the Tom Seaver compilation, I felt like I should go in the opposite direction. Instead of looking up the best wins from the best starter in Mets history, why not look up the best WINS by the WORST starters in Mets history. Admittedly, worsthood is in the eye of the beholder, so there's some significant subjectivity involved in this list. I made a printout of every Mets starting pitcher's linescore for games IN WHICH THEY WON and had a Game Score of 80 or better, than sifted through the names. If my initial reaction on seeing a name was "(SIGH)," he's on this list. The 82 Mike Bruhert: 9 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 5 K, W, 2-0 at Phillies, September 17, 1978 No offense to the former pitching coach at Fordham University (he was also Gil Hodges' son-in-law for a time), but I think even Mike Bruhert would tell you that he didn't have a particularly good season in his one year in the big leagues. Consider that in 1978: * His ERA was 4.78 in a year in which th

And then there are some perfectly good pitchers whose asses the Mets have thoroughly kicked. They are the anti-Hong-Chih Kuo's of the world... Like Brad Penny 5-12 against the Mets 88-57 against others Like Steve Carlton 30-36 against the Mets 299-208 against others Like Rick Reuschel 14-25 against the Mets 200-166 against others Like Nelson Briles 5-16 against the Mets 124-96 against others Like Ken Holtzman 5-11 against the Mets (though he beat the Mets twice in the 1973 WS) 169-139 against others Like Roger Clemens 3-6 against the Mets (with a 4.89 ERA) 351-178 against others Those who will truly save a penny on tickets at Citifield know... Hong Chih-Kuo has the same number of wins against the Mets as Roger Clemens.

All you need to know about this game Only two pitchers in Dodgers history have thrown 3+ hitless innings, with 8 or more strikeouts against the Mets. Hong Chih Kuo did it on Tuesday. Sandy Koufax did it, in his no-hitter against the 1962 Mets. Hong-Chih Kuo, 3-0 vs Mets in regular season (0-1 in playoffs) Hong Chih Kuo, 1-11 vs all other teams Let's move on to something else, shall we?

The highest game score recorded by a WINNING Mets pitcher not named Tom Seaver or David Cone is a 96, but it's not likely you'll be able to guess who recorded it. It wasn't Jerry Koosman or Nolan Ryan. It wasn't Dwight Gooden or Sid Fernandez. It wasn't Tom Glavine, or Pedro Martinez. It wasn't Jon Matlack or Ron Darling. It was by Dick Selma. On September 12, 1965, Selma, a prized 21-year-old righthanded Mets prospect making his second major-league appearance, pitched one of the best games in Mets history, certainly the best one to that point. "He's the best pitcher the Mets have ever put out there on the mound," Milwaukee Braves manager Bobby Bragan told the media afterward, and admittedly that wasn't saying much considering how pathetic the Mets had been, but it was still a nice compliment coming from someone whose lineup that day featured, among others, Rico Carty, Joe Torre, and Eddie Mathews. Those three, by the way, were a combined 0-for

Wanted to do a series this week on notable players and their best games as a Met. Kind of similar to the "Best Games I Know" only centered around the individual, rather than the team. And yes, similar to the "teams" series, it's going to require, at least for pitchers, that the individual chosen got the win (thus making for some notable omissions). Tom Seaver has earned his way to doing this list in a couple of different way. I'm going to take the easy way out and use the mathematical method, rather than the emotional one. There is a statistic devised by Bill James called "Game Score" which rates a pitchers start based on a number of criteria, such as innings pitched, runs allowed, hits allowed, strikeouts, and walks. An average start would rate around a 50, an awful score would be below 10 and a supremely great score would either approach or surpass 100. Game score is not perfect. It does not factor in quality of opponent or impact of game on penn

For those who forgot the definition of a wall-off, go here http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/04/fools-gold.html For those who remember, add another one to the list... May 4- Chris Snyder triples off the very top of the left field fence. Instead of a two-run home run, and a one-run lead in the 9th inning, the Diamondbacks settle for being tied with the Mets, who score 3 times in the 9th to win. By the way- a little justice in this world for Tom Glavine and Kenny Rogers being staked to huge leads on Sunday, but unable to come away with wins for themselves (or in Rogers case, for his team).

Ranking the 29 players to get 6+ RBI in a game against the Mets (one did it twice)...from worst to best 1- Augie Ojeda, 2008 2- Dave Kingman, 1980 3- Adolfo Phillips, 1967 (7) 4- Tony Batista, 2004 5- Cody Ross, 2006 (7) 6- Tom Pagnozzi, 1991 7- Jim Morrison, 1984 8- Joe Randa, 2005 9- Bob Bailey, 1973 10- Felipe Lopez, 2008 11- Corey Patterson, 2003 (7) 12- Lee Stevens, 2001 13- Jerry Morales, 1974 14- Willie Montanez, 1976 15- Ron Gant, 1990 16- Brandon Phillips, 2007 17- Bobby Higginson, 1997 (7) 18- Von Hayes, 1985 19- Tom Herr, 1987 20- Deron Johnson, 1971 21- Tim Wallach, 1994 22- Jimmy Wynn, 1967 23- Dick Allen, 1968 (7) 24- Billy Williams, 1968 25- Albert Pujols, 2006 (7) 26- Alex Rodriguez, 2006 (7) 27- Mike Schmidt, 1980 28- Willie McCovey, 1962 (7), 1970 29- Hank Aaron, 1966 True Metjedas know... Albert Pujols had 7 RBI in a game in a Mets walk-off win, on August 22, 2006. Tom Herr had 6 RBI, including a walk-off grand slam against the Mets on April 18, 1987.