Skip to main content

Angel in the Infield

So this is what it's come to, celebrating the arrival of mediocre, journeymen has-beens (whatever happened to Wilson Valdez?). If we must, we must.

Angel Berroa beat the Mets with a walk-off hit once, something of which I have no recollection.

The game took place on June 12, 2004 and the Mets were in the midst of a 5-game losing streak. This was one that would have fit in well in 2009.

A 2-0 Mets lead disappeared when Berroa hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning against Al Leiter. In the seventh, Leiter found success against Berroa, getting him to pop out to help escape a runner on third, one-out jam.

The Royals took the lead in the home eighth when Carlos Beltran singled, stole second (Joe McEwing failed to get down a tag) and scored on Mike Sweeney's hit off David Weathers.

The Mets tied the game in the ninth on Todd Zeile's RBI double, but Zeile would get doubled off second on Kaz Matsui's fly out to end the inning. Zeile evidently was at home plate when the double play was completed. It was one of four double plays the Mets hit into during this game.

The Royals would win in regulation and the three playerswho batted in the inning all have a Mets connection. Met in Name but Not In Game Joe Randa led off with a hit, and pinch-runner Wilton Guerrero would move to second on Kelly Stinnett's sacrifice (The game stories note Guerrero would have been out easily at second if Weathers handled the bunt cleanly). Berroa followed with a single to right that plated the winning run.

Newspaper accounts note that Mets catcher Vince Wilson tagged Guerrero with his glove, while holding the ball in his bare hand, a very 2009ian kind of miscue.

"Overall, we played one of our poorer games of the year," Howe told reporters afterwards. "We got what we deserved right there."

True Metroas know...Angel Berroa won the 2003 AL Rookie of the Year Award. He'll be the 5th AL Rookie of the Year to play for the Mets,

AL Rookie of The Year Winners
Played for Mets

Sandy Alomar
Carlos Beltran
Eddie Murray
Tommie Agee

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

Walk-Offs in Movies, TV, and Other Places

Note: I'm leaving this post up through the end of the week, a) because I don't have time to pump out something new and b)because I was hoping to build a really good list of entertainment industry walk-offs...so if you're looking for something new, check back on Monday or so... Of course, if there's a major trade or move, I'll adjust and try to post something... In the meantime, click on the "Table of Contents" link as well. It has been updated. SPOILER ALERT: Read at your own risk Caught the ending of "A League of Their Own" on one of the movie channels the other day and it got me to thinking that it would be fun to compile a list of walk-offs from movies, television, and other forms of entertainment. Here's the start, and only the start, as I spent about 30 minutes or so thinking it over Help me fill in the blanks by filling out the comments section. "A League of Their Own"-- Racine beats Rockford for the All-American Girls Profess