Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

You may recall that about a year ago I detailed my affinity for the Rays , while the Mets were slumping. Guilt-free rooting, I called it, and it was something I enjoyed so much that I decided to carry it over to the 2009 season. It hasn't been quite the same kind of magical season for the Rays yet. Their problems resemble those of the Mets (injuries, an offense whose inability to get the key hit makes its numbers misleading). This weekend, they'll intertangle at Citi Field and with no Scott Kazmir or Victor Zambrano in the house, the luster of this series is minimal. But I'm quite excited for it. I figured this would be a good day to mix my interests, so hopefully you'll enjoy the minutiae regarding both franchises that I've provided below. And if anyone's wondering, I will be rooting solely for the Mets. As if there was any doubt. Greatest Players To Play For Mets and Rays 1- Dwight Gooden 2- Cliff Floyd 3- Steve Trachsel 4- Ty Wigginton 5- Chad Bradford The G

The "Aubrey Huff Series" ended with Mets walk-off loss #385, their 5th of the season, and second within the past week. * It's the 2nd time the Mets have lost to the Orioles via walk-off. The other was August 29, 1997 on Cal Ripken Jr.'s 12th-inning single off John Franco. * Francisco Rodriguez gets his 2nd walk-off loss as a Met and his first deserved one. It's the third time that he's walked in the tying run in the 9th inning of a game, the first time he's done so with the Mets. * June 18 is a horrendous day in Mets walk-off history: Mets Walk-Off Losses On June 18 2009- Orioles (Aubrey Huff single) 1997- Yankees (Tino Martinez single) 1989- Phillies (Von Hayes home run...Mets traded Dykstra and McDowell for Juan Samuel) 1979- Astros (Craig Reynolds single...18th inning!) 1978- Giants (Rob Andrews single) 1975- Expos (Pete Mackanin single) >> Mets walk-off wins on June 18 in 1967, 1988, and 2004 * Robert Andino hit his 3rd career home run. Two have

An alert reader pointed out to me that Tim Redding is now six starts into his Mets career without recording a victory. We did a whole writeup on pitchers who were winless for their careers when the Mets obtained Pat Misch not long ago, but now we turn our attention to the Mets pitcher who went winless the longest (in terms of number of starts) from the beginning of his career with the team. It has been awhile since a Mets pitcher went winless in the first six starts of his career (the last was Hideo Nomo in 1998) but that pales in comparison to the record-holder. In 1962, Bob L. Miller went winless in his first 20 Mets starts. That must have been pretty frustrating, especially considering that 7 of those 20 starts were of quality (3 earned runs in 6 inning or fewer). In that span, Miller got through 7 innings on five occasions. The Mets lost two of those games (both by a run) and won three, but didn't triumph until Miller didn't factor into the outcome. It took until the next-t

It seems obligatory that I write something about 1969 these days, but I'm wondering how much I can tell you that you haven't already heard before. If you're reading this blog, you probably know the basics about how the Miracle Mets overcame a huge deficit to top the Cubs and win the NL East, than shocked the Orioles to win the World Series. I was watching a documentary about Ron Santo on TV the other night and it spent a good chunk of time documenting the heartache of the 1969 Cubs. I was already familiar with the basics of that story, but after watching video of a number of victory celebrations, I learned something new. I would have liked the 1969 Cubs, and the 1969 Orioles as well, because they both had amazin' seasons when it came to walk-off wins. The 1969 Cubs had 11 walk-off wins, one more than the 1969 Mets did, and if you saw the manner in which they won some of these games, you probably would have been easily convinced that it was meant to be their year. On Apr

So we've played our two biggest interleague rivals now. Those are the two rivalries that I consider solid and well-established (maybe it's because I live halfway between New York and Boston). Among the other AL teams, we don't have any other true rivals, and that's too bad. I like interleague play, but to really get worked up about facing any of these other teams is a little tough. I thought that maybe something would start to stir if I did a little research on our history with some of these squads. With that in mind, I thought I'd take a closer look at our rivalries with our AL opponents not named the Red Sox or Yankees. Angels All-time Mets Record : 5-4 Noteworthies : Jose Reyes, a career .371 hitter against the Angels, hit his first career home run against them, a grand slam. How do I feel about em? I'm still peeved about the Ryan-Fregosi trade. Best Game I Know: This is actually a pretty easy one...June 11, 2005. Mets trail the Angels in the 9th inning whe

OK, so we're all a little nervous about Mr. Santana's health. The numbers aren't good across the board lately. He hasn't quite been the same pitcher since slipping while fielding that bunt in Pittsburgh. Our memories of the spring training arm issues are a little too fresh for our liking. But at least for now, I'm here to offer comfort, not to fret. What can I offer in the way of a remedy? How about the game of September 16, 1972? That contest was played in a ballpark that could be as home run friendly as the joke that is Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field on a day where the wind was blowing out big-time. Tom Seaver was starting for the Mets and there were some concerns. Seaver had aggravated a muscle injury in his buttock in his previous start, which limited him to five innings. I'm guessing there were some lingering effects based on the way Seaver pitched. The line was Johan-esque: 2 1/3 innings 8 runs 6 hits 5 walks The ultimate blow: a grand slam by Cubs pitcher