Skip to main content

Believing in Myself

I can't believe that I've never written about the Mets walk-off win of July 9, 1973.

But after multiple unsuccessful searches, I've come to the conclusion that I have not written about the game played the day that Tug McGraw first uttered "Ya Gotta Believe!" during a pre-game team meeting with chairman Donald Grant.

Perhaps I have, in which case you're treated to a blogging rerun, but it's not checked off in the "written" column of my database, which seems like an odd oversight on my part.

McGraw's yelp is much more remembered than the game, which sounds like it would have been a good fit for an instant classic. Pitchers Tom Seaver and Don Wilson were in charge for six innings before Lee May homered for a 1-0 Houston lead in the seventh.

The score stood that way until the home ninth, and the Mets survived being down to both their last out and their last strike before Jim Beauchamp tied the game with a two-on, two-out single to left center. The Mets ended up loading the bases but failed to score, sending the game to extra innings.

The Astros put two on the 10th and two on in the 11th, but Harry Parker prevented scoring on a day in which McGraw did not make a mound appearance.

Wilson finally yielded to reliever Jim York in the 12th and the Mets took advantage. Willie Mays singled with one out, and advanced to second on a Wayne Garrett groundout, on a hit-and-run. Felix Millan's subsequent single brought Mays home with the winning run.

There is no mention of McGraw's comments to the team in the New York Times that day. The significance of them, and the win that stopped a skid of seven losses in eight games, would not be known until later in the season.

True Metlievers know...The Yankees, in first place on that date in 1973, blew a 3-0 lead and lost to the White Sox, 4-3, on Pat Kelly's walk-off single. Though they'd recover shortly thereafter with a spurt of six wins and seven games, the Yankees belief system did not match the Mets that season. Though in first place as late as August 2, they closed the season with a 20-33 skid to finish 80-82 and in fourth place in the AL East.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trip(le) Through Time

In their illustrious history, the Mets have had one 'Triple Crown Winner,' so to speak and I'm not talking about the typical meaning of the term. I've gotten some queries recently as to whether a walk-off triple is even possible and I'm here to tell you that it is. There has been one, and only one, in Mets history, though I don't have the full explanation of circumstances that I would like. It took place against the Phillies on September 10, 1970. This was a marathon game that would have fit in perfectly with those having taken place so far this season and allowed the Mets to maintain a temporary hold on first place in an NL East race oft forgotten in team history. It went 14 innings, with a tinge of controversy in a negated Ken Boswell home run, a thrilling play by Bud Harrelson, who stole home in the third inning, and some stellar relief pitching, in the form of five scoreless innings from Danny Frisella, aided by Tim McCarver getting thrown out in a rundown b

Best Games I Know: Phillies (Updated)

  The best wins against the Phillies in Mets history …   May 5, 2022 – Mets 8, Phillies 7 The Mets score 7 runs in the 9 th inning to overcome a 7-1 deficit and win in Philadelphia.   April 29, 2022 – Mets 3, Phillies 0 Tylor Megill and 4 Mets relievers combine on the second no-hitter in franchise history.   September 22, 2016 – Mets 9, Phillies 8 (11) The Mets tie it in the 9 th on a Jose Reyes home run and win it in the 11 th on a 3-run home run by Asdrubal Cabrera.   July 17, 2016 - Mets 5, Phillies 0 Jacob deGrom pitches a one-hitter. Only hit is a single by Zach Eflin in the 5 th inning.   August 24, 2015 – Mets 16, Phillies 7 David Wright homers in his first at-bat in more than 4 months. The Mets hit a team-record 8 home runs.   July 5, 2012 – Mets 6, Phillies 5 The Mets score 2 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9 th to beat Jonathan Papelbon. The winning run scores on David Wright’s bloop down the right field line.   August 13

The best Mets ejections I know

When you think of the Mets and famous ejections, I'm guessing you first think of the famous Bobby Valentine mustache game, when after Valentine got tossed, he returned to the dugout in disguise. You know it. You love it. I remember being amused when I asked Bobby V about it while we were working on Baseball Tonight, how he simply said "It worked. We won the game." (true) But the Bobby V mustache game of June 9, 1999 is one of many, many memorable Mets ejection stories. And now thanks to Retrosheet and the magic of Newspapers.com , we have a convenient means for being able to share them. Ever since Retrosheet's David Smith recently announced that the Retrosheet ejection database was posted online , I've been a kid in a candy store. I've organized the data and done some lookups of media coverage around the games that interested me post. Those newspaper accounts fill in a lot of blanks. Without further ado (and with more work to do), here are some of my findings