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5 By 5

Here are the Mets hit totals from their last 4 games

5, 3, 1, 5

If the Mets get 5 hits or fewer in Monday's game against the Brewers, they will match a team mark for most consecutive games with 5 hits or fewer.

It's a mark shared by 3 teams. The 2004 Mets did it. So did the 1963 Mets.

What's most interesting is how the 1989 Mets did it.

May 4-May 9
1989 Mets Offense 5-Game Summary

.142 Batting Average
.206 Slugging Percentage
.424 OPS
42 strikeouts
14 walks
2 home runs

Those are the marks of a team that 99 times out of 100 would go 0-5.

This team didn't. The 1989 Mets somehow managed to go 3-2 in that span.

Win #1 was a 3-2 victory over the Reds in what was a matchup of first place teams. Ron Darling and Danny Jackson dueled for most of the night before Howard Johnson hit a walk-off home run, the Mets fourth hit of the game, to beat Rob Dibble in the 10th inning.

Win #2 was a 2-1 squeaker over the Astros. The Mets had all four of their hits by the end of the third inning, with the two runs coming home on a Johnson home run against Jim Clancy. David Cone finished what he started in thrilling fashion, as Gary Carter threw Terry Puhl out trying to steal second to end the game.

Loss #1 and Loss #2 were both shutouts. Jim Deshaies five-hit them on May 7 and beat Dwight Gooden 5-0 in the process. Jose Rijo, Norm Charlton and John Franco combo-jobbed them the next day, tallying 11 strikeouts while yielding only four hits, to top Bob Ojeda, 3-0.

Win #3, the final game in this sequence, was a 3-1 win over the Reds in Cincinnati. The Mets bunched four of their five hits together in the fifth inning, getting RBI singles from Kevin Elster, Mookie Wilson, and Johnson to support the fine pitching of Sid Fernandez. Elster ended two streaks that day- both the Mets scoreless string of 27 innings and his 88-game errorless skid. The former came via an unorthodox maneuver: a hit and run with baserunners Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter. "When I got the sign, I thought I was hallucinating," Hernandez told reporters afterwards.

Alas, that play was the spell that removed whatever was cast on those Mets. The next day, they managed a veritable outburst, 11 runs and 9 hits, in drubbing the Reds in the series finale.

The 5 x 5 Mets Fan Knows...This one's a little wordy, so I'll break it down...

In the Last 55 Years...

34 teams have had 5+ straight games of <=5 hits

The 1989 Mets are the only team with 3+ wins in such a stretch.

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