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Watch Out

I didn't really watch the Mets last night, other than for a quick peek at the score on a couple of occasions.

Tuesday might be more of the same, but for a different reason.

The Mets have a terrible walk-off history on August 11.

They've never won via walk-off on this date.

And they've lost via walk-off on this date 6 times.

It's been awhile though.

The last time the Mets lost via walk-off on this date was in 1994. Some may remember it as the last game of the 1994 season.

It was the game that wouldn't end between the Mets and Phillies, a pretty good pitchers duel between Jason Jacome and Phillie-for-a-minute Fernando Valenzuela.

Each pitcher allowed one run- Jacome through seven innings and Valenzuela through eight.

I remember remarking that it felt like neither team wanted the game to end. Evidence of that: In the first 14 innings, neither team got a hit with a runner in scoring position. The Mets lone tally came via Jim Lindeman home run. The Phillies scored on a Billy Hatcher groundout.

Doug Jones, Toby Borland and Tom Edens shut the Mets out from the ninth through 15 innings, a rather unimpressive display of batsmanship by the visitors.

It allowed the home team to break through in the 15th. A Hatcher bunt single, a wild pitch and a flyout put a runner on third with one out. Mauro Gozzo then intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases.

The hitter was Kim Batiste, who had burned the Mets the previous season with a walk-off grand slam. This time, the Mets would get the better of him, as Gozzo recorded the strikeout. But Ricky Jordan ripped Gozzo's next pitch on a line drive to left, bringing home the winning run.

The players strike, which began the next day, made this one a walk-off that lasted through the fall and into the next spring.

True Metsochists know...The 1994 season ended with a Mets walk-off loss and the 1995 season began with a Mets walk-off loss (Dante Bichette's game-winning home run).

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