Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

The history of walk-off shots in the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's basketball tournaments is extraordinarily well documented to the point where we're quite familiar with the likes of Christian Laettener's unbelievable shots for Duke against Connecticut and Kentucky, Tyus Edney's end-to-end dash for UCLA against Missouri, Charlotte Smith's 3-point buzzer beater that won a championship for North Carolina's women and now Kenton Paulino's amazing trifecta that enabled now-eliminated Texas to knock out West Virginia a few days ago. Those who know me know that my affinity for basketball goes well beyond the Division I level to the Division III game, having been weaned on such during my collegiate years and though I rarely intermix my appreciations, I felt it would be worthwhile to do so here, right during the heart of tourney time. So, in brief, here's a small sample of historic and memorable walk-offs from "The Little Dance," as it was refer...

Alrighty, a rainout tonight, so I can catch up on this blogging thing a little bit. I like what Lastings Milledge brings to the table in a number of different respects. I think the best thing about Milledge is that every time I've seen him, he's done something different that impressed me. I drove three hours last year to soggy New Hampshire to watch Milledge and Yusmiero Petit near the conclusion of last season. Milledge rewarded me with an opposite-field home run and Petit, now a Marlin, pitched a gem. Milledge has been swinging a good bat all spring, and made a laser of a throw to home plate (he was cost a putout by the catcher, whomever it was) in that Orioles game that the Mets botched earlier this week. He's got a nice hop in his step when he runs, whether its on the bases, or in pursuit of fly balls. I've heard those on television describe Milledge as a "5-tool player," referencing his ability to hit, hit with power, run, field, and throw, but let us lau...

The Mets top prospect, Lastings Milledge had a walk-off hit last night, and were it to have taken place in a regular-season game, I'd regale you with details and trivia. Actually, I still want to do that, but I have to run to work. Perhaps when I return this evening, I'll post something on Milledge in greater detail. Check back after midnight or Friday morning. In the meantime, here's a link to a diary Lastings kept during Fallball out in Arizona. Note the reference to how much he enjoys getting walk-off hits. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051028&content_id=32169&vkey=news_l119&fext=.jsp&sid=l119 True Mettedge's know... Luis Lopez, released by the Baltimore Orioles yesterday, had a walk-off walk and a walk-off sacrifice fly during his Mets tenure (both of which I've written about). Ricky Bottalico, also cut by the Orioles, had one walk-off win in his Mets stint. He also was the losing pitcher in the Mets walk-off win ...

Al Leiter may be retired and Armando Benitez may be a few thousand miles away but the memory of the two still lingers in the form of a Tuesday defeat to the Orioles that would be considered appalling were it to occur a month from now. This is why you get eight weeks of warm-up games, so Victor Zambrano can frustrate and agitate in a Leiteresque manner (though this not walking guys thing is refreshing) and Bartolome Fortunato can foil a potential victory in Benitezian fashion. (it made me long for Danny Graves, or even Dick Tidrow) Hang around here and you'll probably hear that kind of Metsian phraseology a lot. It seems totally ridiculous to rail against a team for an exhibition performance, so I'll try not to take this game too seriously (though it may be too late for that...I feel like a caller to "Mike and the Mad Dog"), though it did offer a scary foreshadowing to the prospects of life without Mr. Wagner closing games out. I was originally going to write about Al ...

Apparently there's some sort of basketball tournament taking place these weeks, with 16 franchises remaining to see who's the best of the best. My interest in that is somewhat minimized because I can't really seem to find a rooting interest. I didn't attend one of those Division I places where they make such a big deal about basketball that you'd think they actually make money off the games. Likewise, I haven't really cared too much for this World Baseball Classic and must admit that the other day, when I saw Alex Rodriguez batting in the ninth inning against Mexico, I was hoping that he would enter a state of eternal goathood, even at the expense of a Team USA defeat. Maybe I'll write about this NCAA Tournament at some point, but since the World Baseball Classic went down to the final two teams last night (Japan and Cuba for those as unintrigued as I), I'll pen something related to that competition. It caught my ear the other day that the Japanese baseb...

for those visitors from Metsblog, rest of site available at http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com Parents give you a lot of advice when you're a little kid. Eat your vegetables. Look both ways when you're crossing the street. Don't talk to strangers. I'd like to focus on one particular suggestion offered to me and millions of other youngsters by wise adults worldwide. I've ascended and descended a lot of sets of stairs in my time, and I've always maneuvered best when I've held on to the bannister. I mention this because my subject of choice today is Brian Bannister, longshot contender for the No. 5 spot in the Mets starting rotation this year. It is totally unfair to judge a pitcher based on one minor-league performance, but I'm going to do so anyway. I saw one Bannister start for the Binghamton Mets last season and it was a work of brilliance. Its origins date back to a game between the Binghamton Mets and Norwich Navigators last June 12 (thanks to B-Mets pl...

I'm still in once-a-week mode, probably until the last week of March when some other obligations lessen. Next posting likely either Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, a new movie is opening up. The film takes place on October 25, 1986, a subject with which we are quite familiar. Link is here at http://www.game6film.com I'll probably write about it when I get around to seeing it. That could be this weekend, or it might be a few weeks away. Also, a friend told me that Bobby Valentine is now a blogger. His website is http://bobbysway.jp Check it out, and hopefully when he sees he got hits from a link called "Metswalkoffs" he'll come by and check this site out.

If you say "Game 6" to a New York Mets fan, he or she knows immediately that you're either referencing the 1986 National League Championship Series or the 1986 World Series but will have to ask you which because the stories of both are equally astounding and amazing. If you say "Game 6" to a Twins fan, there's only one contest to which you could be referring. A more appropriate title would be "Kirby's Game." If I was going to rate the World Series I've seen in which my native city was uninvolved (DQ'ing any Mets or Yankees participation), the one that took place in 1991 would rank at the top. That's easy to say from a blogging perspective because the series featured four walk-offs, including one by the Twins in the final game, a contest that should rank among the best baseball games ever played. That Game 7 never would have been played were it not for what took place the night before, which should be considered as one of the best on...

Though he probably won't get within a runaway No. 7 trainride of Shea Stadium, I like that Darren Oliver is in Mets camp, trying to make the team as a lefty specialist. I like the attitude that comes with someone who has made more than $27 million in his career saying he emerged from retirement because he wants a championship ring (see NY Daily News story from a few days ago). I also like that he reminds me of the Mets walk-off that took place on August 22, 1999. There are little bits of minutiae that I seem to recall from each of my frequent trips to Shea Stadium. From this contest, there is much to remember. I remember the game's beginning distinctly, more than anything, because I missed it. It's rare that I arrive at the Flushing ballpark late, as even though my trip is a lengthy one, I always afford myself plenty of time for the journey. Whatever the reason was, for this game, a doubleheader, between the Mets and Cardinals, my dad and I were a smidge slow getting out of...

I watched an auto race yesterday as part of my job, supposedly it was an important one, though I wouldn't know any better because that's not a sport I follow. Apparently hundreds of thousands of people gather in this section of Florida, one that's better known for this big event than for the former Met who was born there. The story of Daytona Beach native Ed Charles is one of perseverance, dedication, and yes, walk-offs. Born in 1933, Charles signed with the Boston Braves in 1952, after they spotted him playing semi-pro ball, but since he was a third baseman for a team that had Eddie Mathews manning the position, Charles got stuck in the minor leagues. There's more to the story, as described in Maury Allen's book "After the Miracle" as Charles believed there was a quota for black players in the Braves organization and he didn't make the roster because of it. The Braves traded Charles to the Kansas City Athletics in December 1961 and his career began th...

I'm having a hard time reconciling the fact that Rickey Henderson is back in a Mets uniform, albeit as a "coach," with the memories of one of the most frustrating days of baseball I can remember- September 26, 1999. The second of what appeared to be annual Mets freefalls was in the midst of occurring that day. The team was in the process of gagging away a playoff spot having lost five straight, including three crushers to the Braves. Yet on this Sunday afternoon, my friend Barry Federovitch and I trekked to Veterans Stadium from Trenton to torture ourselves by watching the Mets take on the Phillies. I think the ticket sales windowperson sensed that we were not pro-Philadelphia people and decided to punish us, telling us the best available seats, on a day the ballpark was more than half empty, were buried out towards centerfield, with a mix of some rather grotesque townsfolk (no offense to the residents of that city). No offense was what the Mets had that day, as they were...

There are a number of things I like about Willie Randolph. I think one of them is that he's a guy who usually ends up on the right side of games like the one that took place between the White Sox and the Brewers on May 1, 1991. You may forget that Willie Randolph was a Brewer, but he was for one season and a pretty good one at that. He hit .327, played his usual steady second base and walked nearly twice as much as he struck out, which wasn't too bad for a guy who turned 37 in midyear. Speaking of which, this turned out to be a game for the ages, though no one seemed to know it when it began. It looked like it was going to be a White Sox runaway in the early going. Frank Thomas homered in the first inning and Chicago pounded out five runs in the first three frames. The Brewers rallied with a six-run fifth inning, capped by a go-ahead three-run home run by Franklin Stubbs. Randolph hit into what appeared to be a rally-killing double play in that frame, but was bailed out by a ba...

They are throwing a parade on Tuesday for Pittsburgh's newest sports heroes, the Super Bowl champion football team that plays in that city, and they are a rightfully deserving group. But we're going to throw our own little parade here, paying tribute to another of Pittsburgh's finest for a walk-off of a rather impressive nature. I'm referring, of course, to the game between the Mets and Cardinals that took place on July 9, 1964, a couple of weeks in which Shea Stadium was witness to a feat that, while not quite as amazing as the 23-inning game that took place a little more than a month prior, or as impressive as Jim Bunning's perfecto a few weeks hence, was worthy of high acclaim. The Cardinals would eventually prove to be parade-worthy themselves, and on this day, they jumped on Mets starter Al Jackson for two first-inning runs and handed the ball to lefty twirler Curt Simmons, a pitcher whose reliability earned him two World Series starts that October. Simmons had...

Continuing our series of essays tying in various aspects related to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. We've talked in the past about the signs indicating that its your year and how so many events foreshadowed the end result for the 1986 New York Mets, but those same mysterious powers were at work for a couple of other baseball teams that season. That's what I like so much about that particular season. My fellow bloggers over at Faith and Fear in Flushing are relating, on a weekly basis, their favorite thoughts about that campaign and I encourage you to indulge them every Friday. I don't know what their topic of choice is this week, but I'm going to write about one of my favorite 1986 games, one that I've never even seen, other than in boxscore form. If you thought the Mets comeback on October 25, 1986 was improbable, fasten your seatbelts, as a wise man once said, for one that surpasses it in terms of amazingness and includes a couple of Metsian blasts from the past....

January 31 is the best birthday in baseball. You know why? Because it's the birthday of Jackie Robinson, a baseball pioneer of great courage and fortitude who stood up to racism and oppression and paved the way for those who followed his path. Because it's the birthday of Ernie Banks, a man who loved baseball so much that he'd always rather play two. The 512 career home runs were a pretty good reason why. Because it's the birthday of Nolan Ryan, a pitcher of great strength and endurance, who sent 5,714 batters muttering and cursing back to the dugout in frustration. Because it's the birthday of Charlie Robertson who showed that perfection can be attained (see Tigers vs White Sox, April 30, 1922) even in the face of mediocrity (see a 49-80 career record). Because it's the birthday of Duke Maas, Pinky Hargrave, Stuffy Stewart, Steamboat Williams, Goat Cochran, Honey Barnes, whose presence reminds us of the wonder of the nickname, to have fun with the sport, and to...

Jorge Julio is too similar to Armando Benitez to make me optimistic that he's going to succeeed in New York. The only game in which I saw him pitch, in person, took place on August 10, 2003 between the Orioles and Red Sox at Fenway Park. I fast-forward this one to the ninth inning, since that's what's most relevant, with the Orioles holding a 5-3 lead. In trots Baltimore's closer and I do a double-take. Despite being three inches shorter, Julio bears a striking resemblance to Benitez. Like Benitez, he's a gas guzzler, spitting out pitches that hit 98 on the radar gun at the expense of stamina and control. My nickname for Benitez during his Mets tenure was "Ball One." I'm thinking of christening Julio as "Ball II" even though he signficantly reduced his walk total last season. The final frame of this contest would have made for a great Mylanta commercial. It commenced with Trot Nixon drawing a leadoff walk. Been there, seen that too many times...

I think that one of the factors that hurt Rich Gossage's Hall of Fame candidacy is that he hung around the game a bit too long. Whether or not he deserves to be punished for that is a matter for another discussion, but he's topical, or was last week at least, when Gossage griped to anyone who would listen that he should have been elected along with Bruce Sutter. The freshest memory I have of Gossage is not that of the dominant, overpowering Hall of Fame worthy closer, who was one of the key members of World Series bound Yankees and Padres squad, but rather of a chunky, over the hill, overthrower who played a role in one of the weirdest walk-offs in Mets history. The game to which I am referring took place on May 19, 1989 between the Mets and San Francisco Giants. The Mets were a first-place team at that point in the season with hopes of defending their 1988 National League East Division title. David Cone started for the Flushing 9 that day and had to really battle his way throu...

I've never been one for neatness, so you might say I'm a little messier than the average guy. Or, if we're talking hockey, you could also say I'm a little Messier than the average guy and I'd be okay with that too. Of course, in that case, we're talking about ex-New York Rangers legend (and that is the appropriate word here) Mark Messier They raised the captain's No. 11 to the rafters of Madison Square Garden on Thursday night in what by all accounts was a touching display, and Jaromir Jagr took the proverbial torch from the Rangers captain and lit the lamp for the game-winning goal in overtime as the Rangers defeated the Edmonton Oilers. Mark Messier shall be hailed forever in New York sports as the leader of the team that ended a 54-year drought without a Stanley Cup championship. You can place him on a level with the all-time greats who have played for city teams, and if you insist on separating the imports from the homegrowns, his place belongs right alo...

This is one of those weeks where I'm too busy to get everything on my plate done. So, while I may get around to a fresh post sometime in the next day or two, I'm going to post links to the two previous posts I've written that referenced walk-offs in which the Mets beat the newest Hall of Famer, Bruce Sutter. http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/07/mookie-proof-walk-off.html http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/hendu-part-ii.html Enjoy...

So basically Bret Boone is Andres Galarraga without the goodwill vibe. It's hard to get excited about this guy, who who will be 37 a couple of days after the season opens. You can count the number of 37-year-old second baseman who had good years on your fingers (Nap Lajoie and Eddie Collins, he's not) and the number of 37-year-olds who had good years a season after hitting a rather pathetic .221 on your toes and you'll have, at the very least, your pinkies left over. That might be one of the weirdest sentences I've written on this blog, but I like it, as I'm not feeling particularly inspired by this move. I guess the way that Omar Minaya looks at it like this. Maybe Boone's presence will push Msrs. Kaz Matsui, Jeff Keppinger and Anderson Hernandez in spring training. Maybe Boone will turn into this year's Roberto Hernandez and be the feel-good reclamation project of the summer. At the very least, it's a favor for someone's agent, and you can never do...