Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Random blogger minutiae and reminiscing from a Friday night ... * Carlos Delgado has 13 seasons of 20+ HR. How many players who have played for the Mets have managed that? Hit 20+ HR in 13+ Seasons Played for Mets at Some Point 17- Willie Mays 16- Eddie Murray 13- Carlos Delgado >> Mike Piazza, Jeff Kent and Dave Kingman each had 12 such seasons Interesting piece of trivia...the last 4 players that Carlos Delgado passed on the Mets all-time HR list (he has 82)... Cliff Floyd (81) Keith Hernandez (80) Robin Ventura (77) Rusty Staub (75) Delgado now tied with Mets Hall of Famer Tommie Agee for 16th on the team's all-time home run list. * Argenis Reyes is the 336th player to hit a HR for the Mets. He and Jose Reyes have now combined for 57 home runs. By the way, the club record for most HR by 2 players sharing the last name- 202 by Howard (192) and Lance Johnson (10). * I know Mike Pelfrey's numbers are going to be all the rage on Saturday, but let's look at how much his...

reminder: A walk-up win is a win in which the winning runs are scored in the bottom of the 8th inning. * Walk-up win number 167 was the Mets 3rd walk-up win of the season and their second this month. The last was on July 11 against the Rockies (Damion Easley HR). * Carlos Delgado got his first walk-up RBI since August 30, 2005, when he had a two-run go-ahead triple off Ray King in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving the Marlins a 6-5 lead against the Cardinals. The Marlins would win the game, 7-6. * This was the 11th Mets walk-up win against the Phillies. They had one last year, April 9, 2007, in which the go-ahead run scored on Geoff Geary's 8th inning wild pitch. * It was the first Mets walk-up win in which the go-ahead hit was a double since Roberto Alomar had a go-ahead double in the eighth inning against the Phillies on July 11, 2002. * Oliver Perez had 12 strikeouts. Only 2 other Mets LEFTHANDERS have struck out 12+ Phillies in a game- Sid Fernandez (twice- 1985 and 1990)...

So apparently the Mets and Nikon have teamed up to honor the 10 greatest moments at Shea Stadium, allowing fans to pick from a ballot of 75 choices. Granted, we're not going to have agreement (nor accuracy, based on preliminary research by another blogger...and we may examine that at another time) on every choice for ballot inclusion, but there were a couple of decisions made that seem ridiculous without the benefit of explanation. Nikon inclusion: 1981 Season: The Home Run Apple Hat "arrived" before the 1981 campaign. My take: I'm not a "Save The Apple" diehard, but I appreciate it for the fan-friendly being that it is. It is included however, at the expense of ignoring Tom Seaver's return to Shea Stadium on Opening Day, 1983. Nikon inclusion: June 13, 1997 - First Interleague game at Shea: The Red Sox down the Mets 8-4, with 44,443 in attendance. My take: I would bet that if you asked 100 "Beer Money" contestants which team the Mets faced in ...

I just got finished watching the Mets latest press conference and I have to say I'm stunned. In case you missed it, here's a quick recap: Jerry Manuel, out as Mets manager. Boy that was quick. The new Mets manager is Mike Scioscia. Sandy Alomar Sr, have a happy retirement The new Mets bench coach is Kirk Gibson . Howard Johnson...see you at the 2029 Mets Hall of Fame induction. Hope you're still alive to be a part of it. The new Mets hitting coach is Terry Pendleton. Ken Oberkfell...That didn't last long. The new Mets first base coach is Brian Jordan . And wow, how about that trade? Fernando Martinez, Jonathan Niese, and future considerations for Yadier Molina . Oh, the irony. "We wanted to surround Luis Aguayo with the best possible people," said Mets general manager Omar Minaya, speaking of the only Mets coach who survived the purge. "The people around him were inhibiting his ability to be a successful third base coach. Never mind that we had two coac...

#10 ( April 28, 1984 ) Jonesing For a Win This one makes the list for purely personal reasons (see the link a few lines down), but it was a significant win in showing the Mets that they could be legitimate winners after seven straight seasons of living in loserdom. The Mets had lost three of four to the defending NL East champs prior to their meeting on this Saturday. They’d trail 3-2 in the eighth inning before rallying on a home run by Darryl Strawberry and a walk-off double from Ross Jones (his only Met hit), the first of five straight victories that would set them up for one of the most exciting seasons in Mets history. Previously written about: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/06/whos-ross.html True Metophiles know …The next walk-off hit allowed by Al Holland came against current Mets first base coach Ken Oberkfell. #9 ( May 15, 1970 ) I’m a Be-Seaver You could probably argue that Tom Seaver’s 1970 season against the Phillies was the best by any Mets pitcher against any oppon...

Appropos of nothing, other than that I haven't written one of these in awhile. Part of our continuing series regarding Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Other stories in the series can be found here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/search/label/Bill%20Buckner I just noticed that if you include the World Series in your tally, Bill Buckner played in 162 "other" games against the Mets. That is the equivalent of a full major league season. So how did he fare? Among our discoveries: * Bill Buckner had 174 hits in 623 at-bats in those "other" 162 games against the Mets, good for a .279 batting average. That's about 10 points below what he normally hit, so the Mets did a good job of keeping him in check. * Bill Buckner had 8 home runs and 55 RBI in those games against the Mets. He played at least 140 games against 9 other teams. The Mets held him to fewer RBI than any of those teams. * Of the 8 home runs that Buckner hit against the Mets, 7 gave his team the lead. ...

Dear Chipper Jones, You're our Reggie Miller. You dominate us and you enjoy it. Here are your career numbers against our team. BA- .330 HR- 39 RBI- 121 Hits- 219 Games- 184 (Batting Average is 3rd-best all-time against the Mets, behind Tony Gwynn and Matty Alou) When you play against us, the Braves are 107-77. When you hit a home run against us, the Braves are 26-8. That's ridiculous. We're supposed to hate you. But you're making it harder. First, you're the subject of a really nice profile in Sports Illustrated. Then, at the All-Star Game, you start tossing bouquets to the likes of Jay Horwitz in the hopes that he'll give you something from Shea Stadium before its torn down. You note that you'll be legitimately sad to see Shea Stadium go. Really. And you go and say stupid things like this "I'm a huge David Wright fan. I mean, he's the next big thing, if he's not already there - a guy who can hit for power, average. He's got a 'Web G...

Watching the Dan Uggla stonehands exhibition during the All-Star Game the other day, I couldn't help but be reminded of Roberto Alomar. The Roberto Alomar is a Good Met era lasted maybe 5 minutes longer than our love for Bill Pecota. He became a shell of the player he previously was, both offensively and defensively as his career evaporated before our eyes. The Roberto Alomar lasted about 100 plate appearances from July 4-28, 2002. In that 21-game span, Alomar hit .371, scored 18 runs and drove in 12. Within that stretch were six games against the Reds, four of which the Mets won. In those four wins, Alomar was the ultimate pest, with 10 hits in 17 at-bats, along with five RBI. The best of those games was a walk-off win on July 26 (a game witnessed in person by none other than Bill Buckner), a game that began with Alomar getting his 2,500th career hit in the first inning, as Merengue Night began on a happy note, with the Mets taking a 2-0 lead. Alomar drove in the second run with h...

A friend of mine says that I've gotten away from reminiscing about previous Mets walk-offs on this site, and in scouring through my database, looking for games I haven't written about, I realized that there are some good stories left to be told, ones that are just as good as winning 10 in a row by rallying from two runs down in the ninth.. Since we're currently in a Mets-Reds phase, we might as well tie them into the mix, and we can do so by reminiscing about the matchup of Darryl Strawberry and John Franco. As most of you know well, Franco's sinkerball vexed many a lefthanded hitter. Lefthanders had 1,100 at-bats against Franco and managed a slugging percentage of only .306 with 11 home runs. Barry Bonds hit .229 against Franco, and made a rather enormous couple of outs against him in the 2000 postseason. Mark Grace, another solid lefthanded batsman of the era, managed just a .148 batting average against Franco. Strawberry wasn't even that good. In 14 at-bats, he m...

The Mets "I Can't Believe They Started On Opening Day" team Apologies to the folks at MetsGeek or FaithandFear if they'd already written this, but I knew it would aid in my quest... C- Tim Spehr '98 1B- Mike Marshall '90 2B- Ricky Gutierrez '04 SS- Al Moran '63-64 3B- Bill Pecota '92 LF- Gene Clines '75 CF- Ryan Thompson '94 RF- Mike Howard '83 P- Randy Jones '82 True Metsomniacs know... The Mets have had walk-offs by both Billy's and Joel's. Billy Baldwin's only Mets home run was a walk-off home run against the Cubs on September 24, 1976. Joel Youngblood had three walk-off hits for the Mets, a single, a double, and a home run.

For some reason, I was going around telling myself that Mike Pelfrey was the most unlikely Mets NL Player of the Week selection since John Pacella. This is not to be confused with undeserving, as I felt Pelfrey was rightly selected for his 15 shutout innings. I just think that there are a bunch of other Mets who would be more likely choices. John Pacella never won Player of the Week though, and I'm still wondering why I thought he had. But these unlikely pitchers did... Neil Allen Weeks ending July 6, 1980, and August 23, 1981 Yes, that's right: Neil Allen twice won Player of the Week honors, impressive now since I don't think closers win this award too often any more. Allen's first award was given for a three-appearance stretch in the midst of the time when it seemed like the magic was back. He threw 6 2/3 shutout innings of relief, earning a pair of saves, and may have been more of an award for the two-month spurt in which he managed 10 saves and an 0.96 ERA. Allen we...

George: Is there a pinkish hue? Jerry: A pinkish hue? George: Yes, a rosy glow. Jerry: There's a hue. Seinfeld, "The Fix-Up" (original airdate February 5, 1992) Go figure that the Mets are heading into the All-Star Break playing a brand of baseball unprecedented in modern times (this 3 hits or fewer in five straight games thing). The Mets got "fixed-up" albeit in a different manner from George Costanza. And for all those bloggers that put together First Half Report Cards, those can be ripped up right about now. In that same episode, Jerry made this notation in the opening monologue. I tell ya, I never really understood the importance of the conductor. I mean between you and me, what the hell is this guy doing? Well, apparently ours is doing something right these days. Enough to give me both a rosy glow and a pinkish hue when thinking about the team for which I root. On to the minutiae about Saturday's game (our next post will come after the All-Star Break)....

Reminder: A Mets Walk-Up win is a win in which the Mets score the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. A walk-up home run or RBI is the one that gives the Mets the lead for good. The term "walk-up" is an offshoot of walk-off and is used to describe the process of scoring to take the lead, and then walking up the dugout steps and back on to the field for the top of the 9th. * Mets Walk-Up Win # 166 was the Mets second walk-up win of the season. It was their first since May 31, when they scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat the Dodgers, 3-2. * The Mets have what you could call a walk-up imbalance. They have 7 walk-up wins against the Rockies, but only 4 walk-off wins against them. That's extremely unusual, considering that the Mets have more than twice as many walk-off wins (353) as walk-up wins (166). * Damion Easley's last two home runs against the Rockies have been a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 10th on April 24, 2007, and a wa...

It seems timely to mention that this year is the 40th anniversary of what some might say is the best pitching performance by a Met in All-Star Game history. 1968 was the Year of the Pitcher, so it's not at all stunning that that year's All-Star Game had a final score of NL 1, AL 0, especially when you consider that the National League's first four pitchers are all Hall of Famers. The last of that quartet was the least experienced of the four, 23-year-old Tom Seaver, who had already made a name for himself by closing out the 15th inning of the previous year's Midsummer Classic. But in this instance, he bettered that performance. Check out these reviews, courtesy of a great article in the New York Times "Seaver was the toughest...he threw the hell out of the ball." -- AL manager Dick Williams "Seaver throws awfully hard," -- Boog Powell "He battled me and never gave in to me." -- Carl Yastrzemski What did Seaver do to earn their compliments? ...

They say good things come in threes, so here are three notes off Thursday's game. * The Mets held the Giants to 3 hits in each of the 3 games in this series. The last time the Mets allowed 3 hits or fewer in 3 straight games, we were too busy celebrating to notice. It was Games 161, 162, and 163 of the 1999 regular season (otherwise known as: Rick Reed's best game as a Met, the wild pitch heard 'round NYC, and Al Leiter's best game as a Met) * The Mets have allowed 3 hits or fewer in 3 straight games one other time- April 28-30, 1992- against the Astros. The wins in those 3 games were 4-0, 1-0 and 4-3. * 3 players that I'm liking a lot at this point... Damion Easley, who came off the bench Thursday. Did you know the Mets are 51-30 in games that Easley has started over the last two years? Fernando Tatis, who now has as many 4+ RBI games as a Met as Moises Alou (1). Argenis Reyes, who reminds me of Jose Oquendo (5 career walk-off hits, none for the Mets). True Metple...

Balloting closes at 5pm for the Final Vote competition at MLB.com. Here are 5 minutiae reasons to vote for No. 5, David Wright. 1) He's a .367 career hitter with 22 RBI in 24 games at Yankee Stadium. He's 12-for-25 with 2 home runs there this season. 2) He's a .326 hitter in interleague play, with 14 home runs and 50 RBI in 59 games. 3) In the final man role, he's most likely to be used as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner. He's a perfect 1.000 hitter as a pinch-hitter (1-for-1!) and is 87-for-108 career in stolen base attempts (80.6 percent successful). 4) He's got a walk-off hit against Mariano Rivera, whom he'd likely face late in the game, so he won't be intimidated by facing the AL's top closer in a critical spot, with home-field advantage on the line. 5) He has a sense of what's meaningful to Mets fans, having already previously homered against Kenny Rogers in an All-Star Game (joining Lee Mazzilli as the only Mets to homer in an All-Star Game...

It's not my usual style to insult teams, but the current state of the Giants offense can be summed up in this manner. You could in one moment watch them send up a batter named Emmanuel, then within a few eye-blinks be watching them send up a batter named Lewis. They also happen to have a shortstop whose offensive skills would make Mario Diaz look like Babe Ruth (Trivia here: One of two calls to WFAN in my lifetime was a plea, about 15 years ago, that the Mets not trade Bobby Jones for Omar Vizquel...Howie Rose agreed, saying he'd be very "squeamish" about trading Bobby Jones. I still wouldn't make the deal, today :) ) This marks the first time in a LONG time that the Giants have a team without a significantly scary offensive threat. Your Giants of Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent, of Will Clark, Jeff Leonard, and Kevin Mitchell, even those of Jack Clark, and Chili Davis, are long, long, long, long gone. Of course, I say this, and they'll probably put up 40 runs in th...

We can expect another one of these in a couple of weeks. Or maybe in this next series, since the Giants bring this kind of game out of us as well. The last time the Mets won a 10-9 game in Philadelphia was July 25, 1990, and if you've read your Metstradamus or Faith And Fear , you were probably reminded of how Mario Diaz (much like Bobby Richardson circa Game 7, 1962 World Series) was in the right place at the right time, snuffing out a potentially miraculous six-run Phillies rally in the 9th inning, with the catch of a line drive at shortstop. It brought an utterance of "damn" from Bob Murphy, probably the closest that the Hall of Fame announcer ever came to swearing on air. Slightly less than a month later, on August 19, the Mets and Giants played virtually a twin affair to that contest, on a Sunday at Candlestick Park. Much like Pedro Martinez, alleged Mets ace Dwight Gooden was struggling, coming off a two-start stretch in which he allowed eight runs in 11 innings. I...

Visitors who came from MetsBlog...please check out the rest of the site: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com Let's play multiple-choice trivia, since my plans for a couple lengthy essays were scuttled by a 12-hour workday. Which Sports Night character did the proprietor of this blog most resemble during Fernando Tatis's home run? No hints, other than to say that if you read my blog two years ago, you might recall the reference. A- Danny He was embarassing himself during a conversation with Hillary Clinton at the time of the Tatis HR. B- Jeremy He was playing sports trivia in a local bar with an adult film actress/choreoanimator at the time of the Tatis HR. C- Isaac He was in the bathroom at the time of the Tatis HR D- Dana He was at a showing of "The Lion King" at the time of the Tatis HR I'll keep you all in suspense...The answer is in the comments section. True Metnights know... Sports Night debuted on September 22, 1998, a dark day in Mets history, at it marked t...

Inspired by the noticing that Rickey Henderson never had a triple for the Mets. An Agent Zero (named after a fictitious movie reference in Seinfeld) is a player who never had a (fill in the blank) for the Mets. For the purposes of these lists, I did include pitchers within the tally. Agent Zeroes Mets History Most Plate Appearances, No Singles 47- Randy Tate 34- Brian Daubach 23- Andy Hassler 22- Sandy Alomar Sr. 21- Mike Remlinger >> Next position player: Ross Jones, 13 Most Plate Appearances, No Doubles 252- Pat Zachry 183- Jeff Duncan 179- Nolan Ryan 162- Roger Craig 118- Glendon Rusch >> Next position player: Dick Stuart, 96 Most Plate Appearances, No Home Runs 798- Alex Trevino 657- Chris Cannizzaro 541- Jon Matlack 457- Al Leiter 455- David Cone 355- Tom Glavine 340- Phil Linz Most Plate Appearances, No RBI 78- Eric Hillman 73- Doug Saunders 63- Ray Burris 62- Anthony Young 58- Charlie Puleo 57- Neil Allen >> Next position player: Harry Chiti, 43 Most Plate Appe...