Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Read from the bottom up... 4:15 PM, 7-4 Mets Final score Ok, so what do I put in the books? My happy recap would include... * The Mets are now 26-35 against the Yankees, 1-0 this season. * It's the first time that the Mets ever got HR from David Wright and Jose Reyes in the same inning. * The superstars were pretty good: Wright, Carlos Beltran and Derek Jeter each had 3 hits. * Wright is now 24-for-70 against the Yankees. His .343 batting average ranks 6th-best among active players, minimum 75 plate appearances. Marlon Anderson, with his 0-for-1, still leads with a .382 batting average against the Yankees. * Johan Santana: Now 4-0 career against the Yankees in the regular season. The only active pitcher to match that is Dan Haren, also 4-0. * The Mets are now 7-2 in Johan Santana's starts this season. 4:11 PM- 7-4 Mets, bottom 9th ongoing Billy Wagner in 1st 8 saves: 2 hits allowed Saturday so far: 2 hits allowed In fact, Wagner had not allowed a hit in 16 road at-bats this sea...

7:15 PM Ok, so since the game is postponed, I'm calling off this plan...maybe I'll do it Saturday. We'll see... But let's answer the trivia question. Against which team did Willie Randolph have his highest batting average? The answer is...the Yankees. The beleagured Mets manager (don't feel much like talking about that) hit .349 against his former team during the 1990-1991 seasons. 7:00 PM Ok, so what are we gonna do here? (especially if we've got a rain delay) I don't know. I was just looking for a way to have a little fun, since I'm hanging at home today, prior to my trip to Atlanta for Mets-Braves next week, and doing some writing on Mets-Yankees seemed to be a good way to go. I remembered a conversation that I had with someone at work, the day after the season ended, and after I was able to provide rapid-response details on something he considered baseball-significant, he made the comment: "Your brain works a little differently than other people...

A Super-Express Versions of Things I Learned While Looking For Weird Notes On the Mets and the Yankees Rivalry * The Mets all-time leader in Subway Series batting average is Richard Hidalgo , who hit .524 with 5 home runs in 6 games against the Yankees. The top 5 makes for a great list. Highest Subway Series Batting Average For Mets, minimum 25 plate appearances Richard Hidalgo .524 Derek Bell .417 Mo Vaughn .409 Jason Phillips .371 Paul Lo Duca .366 * You would think Mike Piazza had the most home runs in Subway Series play for the Mets. You'd be part-right. He shares the lead with Cliff Floyd . Each hit 8. Most Subway Series Home Runs For Mets Mike Piazza 8 Cliff Floyd 8 Richard Hidalgo 5 David Wright 5 Carlos Beltran 4 Ty Wigginton 4 * Al Leiter 's 5 wins and 5 losses are the most wins and losses by any Mets pitcher in Subway Series play. Most Wins In Subway Series For Mets Al Leiter 5 Tom Glavine 3 John Franco 2 Steve Trachsel 2 Oliver Perez 2 Most Losses in Subway Series F...

I like the lead of the game story from the July 11, 1963 edition of the New York Times and it works perfectly for any 1-0 game in which a baserunner is doubled up to end things. "Sometimes the Mets are tortured into defeat, but last night at the Polo Grounds, they were dispatched with one quick knife thrust." -- Leonard Koppett on a 1-0 loss to the Dodgers, in a game played July 10, 1963 The manner in which that one ended was only slightly similar to Thursday's, but would have evoked the same kind of reaction. Carlton Willey, not Mike Pelfrey, was the pitcher that day, and his work was stellar but for one blemish, a John Roseboro home run in the 8th, which put the anemic Mets offense (the team had lost 10 straight) behind. Nonetheless, the home squad fought back gallantly in the 9th against Dodgers starter Johnny Podres. With one on and one out, Frank Thomas mashed a drive to deep leftcenter, an estimated 400 feet away, which looked like it would be a game-winning home ru...

Remember when the Mets were an exciting first-inning team, one that bludgeoned opponents early? What happened to that squad? I trace it to the returned impatience of Jose Reyes. There was a stat on the Mets telecast Wednesday about how as Reyes goes, the Mets go. Actually, this year, I think that's more of a David Wright thing, but here's one more note on Reyes. It's a rather disturbing stat. Reyes is hitting .229 in his first AB leading off a game in 2008. He's drawn one game-opening walk and scored six runs. In 2007, Reyes led off a game 160 times. He hit .303, but more importantly, he had 15 game-opening walks. He scored 37 runs. That's a pretty significant difference, but one I'd hope is fixable. --- By the way, if you haven't already, check out http://www.garykeithandron.com/ , as the Mets broadcast crew now has its own website and is selling t-shirts to raise money for a few worthy charities. Looking forward to seeing if Keith Hernandez joins the world...

I was as surprised as Gary Cohen when Keith Hernandez said on Tuesday night's broadcast that Woodie Fryman was the most terrifying pitcher he ever faced. Granted, I'm 33, and my only recollection of Fryman is of an old man on a Fleer baseball card, and don't pretend to know too much about his career, but for one thing. Fryman didn't just scare Hernandez. He scared the Mets too. He's one of an elite group of pitchers to have allowed a base hit to the first batter of the game, then not allowed another runner to reach the entire game. That happened on July 1, 1966, when the Mets were mediocre and Fryman was a 26-year-old rookie southpaw from Kentucky. After the Pirates were retired in the home first, Ron Hunt singled to start the Mets half. It was an infield hit, a clean single over the mound, that the New York Times had no quibbles with. Eager to create some early offense, Hunt was thrown out trying to steal second. That was that. Fryman struck out eight and his teamm...

So I've got a few laments for today I'm lamenting the likely end of Nelson Figueroa's Mets career (he wasn't exactly helped by his defense) I'm lamenting the hiring of Mike D'Antoni over Mark Jackson (Though I've abandoned my gut reaction of "I won't watch" in favor of "Let's see..." And I'm lamenting that the Mets don't play the Rays this year. We've got interleague play coming up on Friday, and the team we're playing first is the team that's lost two straight to Tampa Bay heading into Wednesday, including Tuesday's game, which featured what I'm guessing was the biggest walk-off celebration in Rays history. I like interleague play. I think it's cool and different, and I like the randomness of the opponents. But there's a glitch in the system somewhere. The Mets played the Rays in each of the first four years of interleague play (the highlight of which, as I was reminded by a colleague yesterday...

So I hear that Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling will be broadcasting from upper deck seats during Thursday's Mets-Nationals game. Gary requested that they do a game from the spot where he spent his younger days learning about the Mets. I like it, because it brings back memories of my years "broadcasting" from Shea's highest level. From 1992 to 1996, I was a "regular," usually somewhere around Section 3 Row S, honing my skills, with aspirations of becoming the next voice of the Mets/Knicks. I'm not the only one to have done this. I've heard Howie Rose tell stories of similar practice, both at Mets and Rangers games and it's worked out pretty well for him. And though I'm not the voice of the Mets/Knicks, it's worked out pretty well for me too. Unfortunately, during my years of calling maybe 50-or-so games (a glutton for punishment was I, that 20+ were in 1993), the Mets were pretty miserable, but on the bright side, there were pl...

Had I known what I know now, I might have rooted a little bit differently on Saturday. Or maybe not. On my train ride home, I was trying to recall an instance in which the Mets won a game by a 12-6 score. Turns out, that wasn't a big deal. The Mets have seven wins by the count of 12-6 (call it a "clockhands" win), with the most recent prior to Saturday afternoon having been against the Nationals on September 23, 2006. HOWEVER The Mets have never, never ever, in their glorious, illustrious, amazing history spanning 46 years and 7,000 games, never won a game in which the final score was 12-7. Using the handy-dandy, Baseball-Reference PI tool, I went through every possible score combination. I learned a lot. Things like... * The Mets have won 113 games by a 1-0 score. * The Mets have scored at least 4 runs in their last 11 wins * Willie Randolph has won games as Mets manager by every score involving the Mets scoring from 1 and 8 runs, except 8-6 (the last 8-6 win was in 2003...

Many scores and 46 years ago (May 12, 1962), Hobie Landrith set forth upon Mets country the first walk-off home run in Mets history, described here, in our first true blog post... http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/and-so-we-begin.html True Metdriths know... Perhaps Hobie Landrith's greatest non-Mets claim to fame is that he was the first catcher for Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal (who went on to beat the Mets 19 straight times). Marichal pitched a 1-hit shutout in his MLB debut, on July 19, 1960, carrying a no-hitter until two were out in the eighth. Landrith, his catcher, had two hits that day.

So after doing the Tom Seaver compilation, I felt like I should go in the opposite direction. Instead of looking up the best wins from the best starter in Mets history, why not look up the best WINS by the WORST starters in Mets history. Admittedly, worsthood is in the eye of the beholder, so there's some significant subjectivity involved in this list. I made a printout of every Mets starting pitcher's linescore for games IN WHICH THEY WON and had a Game Score of 80 or better, than sifted through the names. If my initial reaction on seeing a name was "(SIGH)," he's on this list. The 82 Mike Bruhert: 9 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 5 K, W, 2-0 at Phillies, September 17, 1978 No offense to the former pitching coach at Fordham University (he was also Gil Hodges' son-in-law for a time), but I think even Mike Bruhert would tell you that he didn't have a particularly good season in his one year in the big leagues. Consider that in 1978: * His ERA was 4.78 in a year in which th...

And then there are some perfectly good pitchers whose asses the Mets have thoroughly kicked. They are the anti-Hong-Chih Kuo's of the world... Like Brad Penny 5-12 against the Mets 88-57 against others Like Steve Carlton 30-36 against the Mets 299-208 against others Like Rick Reuschel 14-25 against the Mets 200-166 against others Like Nelson Briles 5-16 against the Mets 124-96 against others Like Ken Holtzman 5-11 against the Mets (though he beat the Mets twice in the 1973 WS) 169-139 against others Like Roger Clemens 3-6 against the Mets (with a 4.89 ERA) 351-178 against others Those who will truly save a penny on tickets at Citifield know... Hong Chih-Kuo has the same number of wins against the Mets as Roger Clemens.

All you need to know about this game Only two pitchers in Dodgers history have thrown 3+ hitless innings, with 8 or more strikeouts against the Mets. Hong Chih Kuo did it on Tuesday. Sandy Koufax did it, in his no-hitter against the 1962 Mets. Hong-Chih Kuo, 3-0 vs Mets in regular season (0-1 in playoffs) Hong Chih Kuo, 1-11 vs all other teams Let's move on to something else, shall we?

The highest game score recorded by a WINNING Mets pitcher not named Tom Seaver or David Cone is a 96, but it's not likely you'll be able to guess who recorded it. It wasn't Jerry Koosman or Nolan Ryan. It wasn't Dwight Gooden or Sid Fernandez. It wasn't Tom Glavine, or Pedro Martinez. It wasn't Jon Matlack or Ron Darling. It was by Dick Selma. On September 12, 1965, Selma, a prized 21-year-old righthanded Mets prospect making his second major-league appearance, pitched one of the best games in Mets history, certainly the best one to that point. "He's the best pitcher the Mets have ever put out there on the mound," Milwaukee Braves manager Bobby Bragan told the media afterward, and admittedly that wasn't saying much considering how pathetic the Mets had been, but it was still a nice compliment coming from someone whose lineup that day featured, among others, Rico Carty, Joe Torre, and Eddie Mathews. Those three, by the way, were a combined 0-for...

Wanted to do a series this week on notable players and their best games as a Met. Kind of similar to the "Best Games I Know" only centered around the individual, rather than the team. And yes, similar to the "teams" series, it's going to require, at least for pitchers, that the individual chosen got the win (thus making for some notable omissions). Tom Seaver has earned his way to doing this list in a couple of different way. I'm going to take the easy way out and use the mathematical method, rather than the emotional one. There is a statistic devised by Bill James called "Game Score" which rates a pitchers start based on a number of criteria, such as innings pitched, runs allowed, hits allowed, strikeouts, and walks. An average start would rate around a 50, an awful score would be below 10 and a supremely great score would either approach or surpass 100. Game score is not perfect. It does not factor in quality of opponent or impact of game on penn...

For those who forgot the definition of a wall-off, go here http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2008/04/fools-gold.html For those who remember, add another one to the list... May 4- Chris Snyder triples off the very top of the left field fence. Instead of a two-run home run, and a one-run lead in the 9th inning, the Diamondbacks settle for being tied with the Mets, who score 3 times in the 9th to win. By the way- a little justice in this world for Tom Glavine and Kenny Rogers being staked to huge leads on Sunday, but unable to come away with wins for themselves (or in Rogers case, for his team).

Ranking the 29 players to get 6+ RBI in a game against the Mets (one did it twice)...from worst to best 1- Augie Ojeda, 2008 2- Dave Kingman, 1980 3- Adolfo Phillips, 1967 (7) 4- Tony Batista, 2004 5- Cody Ross, 2006 (7) 6- Tom Pagnozzi, 1991 7- Jim Morrison, 1984 8- Joe Randa, 2005 9- Bob Bailey, 1973 10- Felipe Lopez, 2008 11- Corey Patterson, 2003 (7) 12- Lee Stevens, 2001 13- Jerry Morales, 1974 14- Willie Montanez, 1976 15- Ron Gant, 1990 16- Brandon Phillips, 2007 17- Bobby Higginson, 1997 (7) 18- Von Hayes, 1985 19- Tom Herr, 1987 20- Deron Johnson, 1971 21- Tim Wallach, 1994 22- Jimmy Wynn, 1967 23- Dick Allen, 1968 (7) 24- Billy Williams, 1968 25- Albert Pujols, 2006 (7) 26- Alex Rodriguez, 2006 (7) 27- Mike Schmidt, 1980 28- Willie McCovey, 1962 (7), 1970 29- Hank Aaron, 1966 True Metjedas know... Albert Pujols had 7 RBI in a game in a Mets walk-off win, on August 22, 2006. Tom Herr had 6 RBI, including a walk-off grand slam against the Mets on April 18, 1987.

Ok, so on Friday's SNY broadcast, Gary Cohen told you of Harry Danning, the last player nailed trying for an inside-the-park home run with a cycle at stake...What they didn't tell you, besides Danning's status as the greatest Jewish catcher of all-time (so says his Baseball-Reference.com page ), was... * That Jose Reyes became the first player in Mets history with a single, a double, and two triples in a game. While that had never been done by the Mets, it had been done against them. I could give you 800 guesses at the former Met who put forth that kind of game and you wouldn't get the name. Only 829 players have played for the Mets (so says Ultimate Mets Database ), but I bet it would take until guess 801 to come up with this guy... Junior Noboa. Two great notes from that game of June 5, 1990 1) Mets broadcaster Ron Darling allowed the double, and the second triple to Noboa. 2) Despite Noboa's unbelievable effort, his team didn't win. The Mets did...in walk-off...

Let's just pretend Thursday's game didn't happen... Things I Learned While Trying to Put David Wright's .465 batting average with the bases loaded into proper perspective He's Positively Tablerian Pat Tabler hit .282 in a major league career that spanned 12 seasons and more than 1,200 games. But his biggest value was what he did when the bases were loaded. He was 43-for-88, and even if you factor in his nine sacrifice flies (which batting average doesn't), his numbers are still off-the-charts good. David Wright's .465 is in the Tabler stratosphere (Tabler-Rosa?) and that's pretty impressive. Of course, Wright will never be able to match Tabler's 2-for-2 performance with the bases loaded as a 17-game Met. That's perfection. He's Not The Best In The Majors, But He's Close Enough So Taguchi is a .500 hitter with the bases loaded (20-for-40). Jose Lopez is a .484 hitter with the bases-loaded (15-for-31) Ichiro is a .473 hitter with the bases ...

I really thought, off the swing, that David Wright had hit his first career walk-off home run. It wouldn't have been the first walk-off home run of Wright's major league career. It wouldn't have been the first walk-off home run of Wright's professional career. It would have been the first walk-off home run that David Wright had ever hit in his life. I know this because, in the bizarrest of coincidences, my quest to find out whether David Wright had ever hit a walk-off home run ended about 10 hours earlier when a Mets PR person replied to a request I had made a few days before. I'm told that Wright pondered the query for a couple minutes before answering that he had never hit one. Never as in never ever. My reply to the Mets official was: "Thank you. I look forward to his first." So you can imagine my reaction when the ball left the bat, and of course, I'm at work and sitting in a part of our offices in which ones rooting interest should not get in th...