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Simply Perfect

The last time someone pitched a perfect game in the majors was the day that Twins starter Johan Santana's 20-start unbeaten streak came to an end against the Blue Jays.

And the Mets got themselves a walk-off win.

May 18, 2004 was a pretty good baseball day even without Johnson's perfect game.

From a Mets fan's perspective, there was perfection too. The Mets won, and the Yankees lost.

The 5-4 victory over the Cardinals was probably the most dramatic walk-off win of the Art Howe era (error?).

The hosts bailed starter Tom Glavine out of a 4-1 hole, but it wasn't easy. They scored twice in the sixth to cut the lead to 4-3, but didn't tally again until the last possible moment. A key double play in the ninth (on Marlon Anderson's bunt attempt) begun by catcher Jason Phillips, kept the score within reach.

The bottom of the 9th of this game ran concurrent to Johnson's efforts against the Braves. Walks to Mike Cameron and Karim Garcia gave the Mets a two-on, one-out threat, but Eric Valent struck out swinging.

Next up was Kazuo Matsui, whose broken bat first-pitch single tied the score, 4-4. Matsui, as noted by Adam Rubin of the Daily News, was screaming "ochiro, ochiro, ochiro" as the ball landed safely (Japanese-to-English translation: "drop, drop, drop."

Cliff Floyd followed, slamming a 1-1 pitch for a single to right center field, to plate the winning run. Right at about the same instant, Johnson was finishing his perfect game.

True Metfectos know...Thanks to the Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers website, I've put together what I think is the following full list, one Ramon Castro joined Thursday.

(EDITORS NOTE: Not one of my better days...had to add 3 names to the list after re-checking...)

Caught No-Hitter
Also Played for Mets During Career

Yogi Berra (3)
Gary Carter
Alberto Castillo
Ramon Castro
Duffy Dyer
Joe Ginsberg
Jerry Grote
Eli Marrero
J.C. Martin
Jerry May
Brent Mayne
Mike Piazza (2)

Castro and Berra are the only two to catch a perfect game and play for the Mets at some point in their career.

Comments

Binny said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
7:58 PM
Unknown said…
Argh! I spend twenty minutes crunching the exact same list only to find out you've already done the hard work. I came to the same total.
3:45 PM
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