Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Let's celebrate 2010, and not just with my brand new "Images of Shea Stadium" 2010 calendar, whose cover features the ballpark's namesake giving a ceremonial wreath to Joe Torre on Opening Day, 1978 (they didn't have a more apt image than that?) I'm in a joyful mood, and not just because it's the New Year. I've finally found a needle in my haystack, and wouldn'tcha know who was involved, albeit indireectly. Those of you who know this blog know that there's one type of ending that I was particularly intrigued by , but had been unable to find evidence of it occurring in a major league game. It turns out that it has happened, more or less. I'm referring to the Dodgers-Reds game, the only documented one to end in this manner within the last 55 years, on August 1, 1971. Our protagonist didn't make his impact until the 11th inning of this game, or rather, the game made an impact on him. With one out and the bases loaded, Bill Buckner was hit

Some things about Jason Bay that you probably don't know... * He's Canadian, from Trail, British Columbia. He'll be the 6th Canadian-born Met, joining, in order of success: Ron Taylor (1969 closer), Tim Harkness (early-years infielder), Ken MacKenzie (winning record for 1962 Mets), Ray Daviault (not much to say about him), and Brian Ostrosser (1973 cup-of-coffee guy). Harkness is the only one of those to hit a home run. * He's 59-for-his-last 66 in stolen base attempts (13-for-16 last season) That's 89 percent, which is quite good. * Jason Bay was NL Rookie of the Year in 2004. Rookies of the Year for Others Went on to Play for Mets Hideo Nomo Mike Piazza Vince Coleman Pat Zachry Willie Mays Angel Berroa Carlos Beltran Sandy Alomar Jr. Eddie Murray Tommie Agee * He went to Gonzaga That was also the school of choice for former Mets Tom Gorman (6-0 for the '84 Mets) and Rick Sweet (ex-backup catcher). * He's hit Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte, and Brad Lidge

Let's play a little end-of-decade trivia. Answers in the comments section. 1- Two pitchers had the most shutouts for the Mets in the decade. The easy one is better known for a shutout he pitched in another decade. The harder one allowed only nine hits over the 36 innings of those four shutouts. Name them. 2- What Mets pitcher do we remember for having the most strikeouts in a game in the 2000s? 3-In the very first game of the decade, a Mets pitcher came within one ____ of tying a club record. Fill in the blank, name the pitcher, and name the pitcher who is the record-holder for that stat (hint: they share a first name). 4- Every Mets starting pitcher in a game this decade retired at least one batter, except one, who left with an injury that would sideline him for a month. This pitcher had an ERA over 5 in his lone season of the decade with the Mets, but is remembered pleasantly. Name him. 5- Among pitchers with 10+ starts for the Mets this decade, this one had the LOWEST percentag

The Ultimate Mets Database tells me that 874 players have played in a game for the New York Mets. I'd guess if you were going to rate them on performance, compared to expectations, Roberto Alomar would rank 850th or below (but I haven't actually done this). It is very hard for me to reconcile the Roberto Alomar, Mets version, with the one that, in my mind, is a pretty easy check-off for this year's Hall of Fame class. It is essentially a case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, or in this case Robbie Fameful and Roberto Shameful. In 2001, for the Indians, Alomar had the best statistical season of his career. He hit .336. He never had a better batting average than that. He had an OPS of .956. He never had a better OPS than that. He had 100 RBI. He only had one season with more than that. He had 113 runs scored. He only had two seasons with more runs scored than that. In 2002, for the Mets, Alomar had the worst statistical season of his career. He had a .266 batting average. To that p