Skip to main content

Just Say No-No

The Mets have never had a walk-off win on July 21st, but that date has had an unusual share of metmorable events, both for good and for bad.

On July 21, 1965, Al Jackson took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before it was broken up with one out by future Hall of Famer Willie Stargell.

On July 21, 1972, Willie Mays homered in his return to San Francisco as a Met.

On July 21, 1975, Joe Torre hit into four double plays in a 4-2 loss to the Astros. ("Tom Seaver said he'd hide me in his trunk to get me out of here," Torre said to reporters afterwards.)

Of greater recency, it's the anniversary of a 12-0 pasting of Jake Peavy (2005) and John Maine's first career shutout (2006).

July 21 also marks the date of one of the most unusual wins in Mets history, a 3-0 road victory over the Padres in 1970.

What was odd about this victory was that it came in a game in which the Mets were being no-hit for the first eight innings.

In fact, the Padres pitcher, Clay Kirby, left with a no-hitter intact, trailing, 1-0 through eight innings.

The Mets scored in the first inning via a pair of walks, a double steal, and a groundout by Art Shamsky.

The Padres would be 30 games out of first place after this game, so it would have been the highlight of their season for a pitcher to have thrown nine no-hit innings. But when Kirby's spot was due up in the home eighth, with two outs and nobody on, manager Preston Gomez sent up a pinch-hitter. Current Blue Jays skipper Cito Gaston struck out to end the inning.

The frustration of those who followed the Padres was apparently at a level comparable to those currently following the Mets. The New York Times tells how one fan actually stormed on to the field by the Padres dugout to express his displeasure.

The no-hit bid ended with the first batter of the ninth inning, when Bud Harrelson singled off reliever Jack Baldschun. The Mets added two more runs to pad their lead. The Padres lost, 3-0.

Perhaps forgotten in the tale of this game is that it was one of Jim McAndrew's best efforts as a Met- a three-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and no walks.

The truly no-hit Mets fan knows...The Mets have at least three wins in games in which they were no-hit for 8+ innings.

They beat Jim Maloney, 1-0 after being no-hit by him for 10 innings in 1965.

They beat Larry Dierker, 1-0 in 1966, after Dierker pitched a perfect game for eight innings

And they beat Clay Kirby and the Padres in the game referenced above.

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