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 ...

"The marriage may come and go, but the game must go on." -- Felix, to Oscar Divorced myself from the first three hours of Mets-Yankees baseball on Saturday. Had to. Felt better when I heard that Luis Castillo didn't sleep well on Friday night. I didn't either. A few laughs at the local community theater (can you guess which show I saw?), and I'm ready to recap the win. * The Mets set a club record of sorts by scoring only six runs. That's the fewest runs they've ever scored in a 9-inning WIN in which they had at least 17 hits. Forgive all the qualifiers here, but I'm trying to make the point that the Mets should have scored more. They've now won 79 games in regulation in which they had 17 hits or more, but scored at least 7 runs in each of the other 78 games. * Omir "Most Valuable President" Santos joined Mike Piazza as the only catchers in Mets history with a 3-RBI game against the Yankees in the regular season. Piazza did it three times...

Dear Pen pal... You'll never guess what happened today At the baseball game. It's hard to believe, what happened today At the baseball game. I was the manager, Schroeder was catcher And all of the team was the same as always But somehow or other disaster struck At the baseball game. * Mets walk-off loss # 384 was their 4th of the season and their first since May 18 when they lost to the Dodgers on Jeremy Reed's throwing error in another one of those stupid regrettable games that will haunt them when they finish with 85 wins. * It is their 4th walk-off loss against the Yankees, the first since Jason Giambi beat them with a two-run single against Braden Looper on June 26, 2005. That Mets team was managed by a second baseman who used two hands to catch pop ups. I pitched my curve, but somehow they hit it. A good strong clout "Lucy" I hollered, "It's coming right to you" She caught it as easy as pie Then dropped it. I don't think it's good for a ...

Who: Tom Seaver What: Pitching and winning a baseball game When: June 12, 1977 Where: Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas Why: Everyone else is gonna write about the Yankees or Phillies today. I'm going to write about the 32nd anniversary of Tom Seaver's first "last start" for the Mets. And How: Art Howe, former Astros second baseman. I happened to have a copy of this game on audio tape, and in listening to it, a couple of things stood out. * There was no mention at any time of Tom Seaver dealing with any issues with Mets management or the media. This despite the fact that a trade with the Reds was within three days of occurring, and was the dominant subject in the New York Times game story the next day. Seaver's post-game comment: "Leave me alone, please." * One-minute commercial breaks really speed up a game. * This may be sacrilege for a Mets fan to say this, but I didn't like Lindsay Nelson's announcing. The accent was too strong for me, and hi...

I've maintained a degree of anonymity since I began blogging four years ago. But I've dropped a few hints of things I like, other than the Mets. Such as... I am a Man Who Likes His Tidbits Ever since I was little, I've had the ability to discover and recall the most unusual bits of information. My brain is compartmentalized such that I find these nuggets fascinating and store them away in the deepest parts of my brain, ready for instant recall. Sometimes the information manifests itself as a blog entry. Sometimes it's just a reference under "True ___ know..." Some of my favorite blog-related findings include ... * Bill Buckner's team lost the game in which he made his major-league debut when a ball rolled through an infielder's legs. * Jesse Orosco, whose primary uniform number as a Met was 47, finished his career with a record of 47-47. * Don Florence holds the Mets record for most wins without a loss, with three. I am a Man who Likes His Wordplay One...

A Mets pitcher has allowed 4+ HR in a game on 26 different occasions. Only twice has that pitcher been credited with a win. Like the blogger who writes about the history of 6-5 final scores a few hours before a 6-5 win, Johan Santana may have gotten a little help from some friendly baseball gods. I think the only other Mets pitcher to allow 4 homers in a game HE won did as well. The last of Rob Gardner's four wins as a Met came against the Pirates on August 18, 1966. Bill Mazeroski homered twice against Gardner. Donn Clendenon and Jerry May each hit one against him. The Mets didn't homer once. Yet the Mets won, 9-5. The reason for the victory? The play of Pirates third baseman Jose Pagan, who pulled his team out of first place by going 0-for-4 with four errors. The Mets scored three unearned runs in the first inning, thanks partly to a Pagan miscue, and three unearned runs in the fourth inning thanks to three(!) Pagan misplays. The Mets added three insurance runs (Eddie Bresso...

All information is current through the morning of May 8, prior to the Mets series opener with the Phillies. I had remarked to a blogging colleague a couple of years ago that I thought it would be neat to look at the best Mets wins by score of game. The reality of the matter is that such a project is extremely ambitious, but I decided recently that it would be worth trying to do for the scores of games that I found interesting. I find no score in Mets history to be more significant than 6-5. The reasoning is simple. That was the final score of the World Series game played on October 25, 1986. It has also been the final score to a great number of Metmorable wins in franchise history. Here are some of the highlights. The First (May 15, 1962) The first 6-5 win in Mets history came in their 26th game, though it would be in their next game that they would get their second. The first one, against the Cubs, required 15 walks and 13 innings, and required rallies from deficits of 1-0, 4-1, and 5...

News item: Mets claim lefthanded pitcher Patrick Misch on waivers from the Giants. "I'll always be a winner, and you'll always be a loser," This is the second time I've quoted the same line of the Seinfeld episode, "The Revenge." and its appropriate here with the news that the Mets added Misch to their major-league roster. Mishmash is more like it. Patrick Misch sports a win-loss record of which only Charlie Brown could be proud. If Misch never pitches in the majors again, he'd be one of 15 pitchers since the advent of the major leagues to sport a record of no wins, and at least seven losses. That's a fun list of pitchers to look through. It's one that includes the likes of Tommy McCarthy , who has no relation to the former Met broadcaster (not that I know, anyway), but is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. McCarthy wasn't much for moundsmanship, going 0-7 for the 1884 Boston Reds of the Union Association, but was quite an able bats...

Wednesday was National Fistbump Day, but the Mets were a little tardy in allowing us to celebrate. We'll provide taps of honor to the oft-criticized Tim Redding and Sean Green for fine work in Friday's win in Washington. * It was the 180th extra-inning ROAD win in club history, by our count, the first such win of the season, and the first since a 6-5 win over the Brewers on September 2, 2008. * The Nationals are 0-7 in extra-inning road games. Earlier today I noticed an article on Hardball Times that their predecessors of 40 years, the 1969 Expos, went 0-12 in extra-inning games. The Mets had a road extra-inning win against that team too- On July 20, 1969, man walked on the moon, and the Mets won Game 2 of a doubleheader in Montreal, 4-3, on a squeeze bunt by Bobby Pfeil. * It is the first time in 20 years that the Mets won an extra-inning game by the exact score, 3-1. The last was a 3-1 win in 10 innings over the Giants on May 31, 1989. * David Wright now has 2 game-winning ex...

There's a new Will Ferrell movie coming out today, and though I'm someone who thinks he's very hit-or-miss, I've gained a new appreciation for him recently. A couple of weeks ago, Ferrell was on Saturday Night Live, and one reran sketch featured him as an attorney named Wade Blasingame, best known for filing lawsuits against misbehaving dogs. Those who know Ferrell's work know he is a legit sports fan (favorite player: Pirates catcher Manny Sanguillen), and it made me laugh to see that he made it a point within the sketch to note that he was not playing the baseball player sharing the name of that attorney. Turns out that Wade Blasingame dogged the Mets pretty good during his day, of the ilk of a Josh Johnson or fellow southpaw Randy Tomlin . From 1964 to 1970, Blasingame went 9-0 against the Mets. That run of starts included May 20, 1965, in which he beat Warren Spahn, 7-1, and was kept from a no-hitter only by a Ron Swoboda seventh-inning single. One of the reason...

Johan Santana, 11 starts to his name in 2009, is 1/3 of the way through his season, with a 7-3 record, and a 2.00 ERA. If we presume he maintains the same pace through a full schedule of 33 starts, here's what we'll have. * The first Mets pitcher with 21+ wins since... Dwight Gooden went 24-4 in 1985. The only pitchers with a 21+ win season as a Met are Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Dwight Gooden. He'd be the first 20-game winner since Frank Viola in 1990. * The first Mets pitcher with 267+ strikeouts since... Dwight Gooden had 268 strikeouts in 1985. 267 would put Santana 5th in Mets history behind two seasons apiece of Msrs. Seaver and Gooden. * The first Mets starting pitcher to average 11+ K per 9 since... Dwight Gooden's 1985 season is the only one by a Mets starter (10+ starts) averaging 11-strikeouts per game or better. Santana's 11.13 is just a shade below Gooden's 11.39. * The lowest ERA by a Mets starter since... Dwight Gooden had a 1.53 ERA in 1985. ...

The folks at MikeMav.com were kind enough not only to confirm my belief that Jack Clark was tied for most walk-off RBI in the 1980s, but to provide a list of the walk-off RBI leaders by each decade in which the Mets have existed. The most intriguing list comes from the 1960s: Most Walk-Off RBI 1960s 13- Frank Robinson 13- Bob Aspromonte 13- Roberto Clemente 11- Felipe Alou 10- Ron Santo What name doesn't belong? I'll give you a hint: Frank Robinson ranked 3rd in the 1960s with 1,011 RBI Ron Santo ranked 5th in the 1960s with 937 RBI Roberto Clemente ranked 8th in the 1960s with 862 RBI Felipe Alou ranked 30th in the 1960s with 611 RBI The other guy on the list, Bob "I was the last active player who was a Brooklyn Dodger" Aspromonte, had 417 RBI, the 71st-most in the decade. A quick look at his career totals indicates that on his best day he was decent, and for the most part, he was a very average player. But one with one skill. For whatever reason, Bob Aspromonte was...

Continuing our game summary noting Mets past and present who were born during the championship season of 1969. Part I is linked here: http://www.metswalkoffs.com/2009/05/in-summer-of-69-part-i.html (Thanks again to http://metstats.wordpress.com/ for the birthday data) June 2, 1969 (Kurt Abbott) The Mets got to .500 to stay with a 2-1 win over the Dodgers, evening their record at 23-23. Jerry Koosman rescued the Mets after a dicey start to the ninth inning put a Dodgers runner on third with no outs, coaxing a pair of popouts before getting Jim Lefebvre on a fly to left to end the game. The Mets got their lone runs on consecutive fourth-inning RBIU hits by Jerry Grote and Al Weis. Those celebrating a happy Mets birthday know... Kurt Abbott's lone Mets walk-off hit was a home run to beat the Orioles on June 8, 2000. August 19, 1969 (Matt Franco) One of the most famous Mets regular season walk-off wins came on the same day that a player who would shine in an equally famous walk-off wi...

I'm getting old. I saw Jack Clark on the Cardinals post-game show on Friday night, and had to educate a couple of the young pups on why I found that significant. Jack Clark was one of the scariest players of my childhood. If you watched a Mets-Cardinals game in either 1985 or 1987, the entire game seemed to be built around when two players would be coming to bat. One was Darryl Strawberry. The other was Jack Clark. My father and I had a conversation at Monday's game about players we liked on other teams. Clark would definitely be a rep if we did an 80s squad. Clark was 6-2 going on 6-6, 205 pounds, but built more like 230, since his height and weight were well-sized for that time period. The best adjectives to describe him as a hitter were "frightening," and "powerful." Clark played for a number of teams, but I remember him best on the Cardinals and Giants. A lot of hitters put up good numbers in 1987 and one of those who took incredible advantage of the su...

Three fistbumps for Friday, and they go to Gary Sheffield, Omir (President) Santos and Mike Pelfrey. * Mets walk-off win #359 was their third walk-off win of the season and second this month. They are 3-3 in walk-off games this season. It is the third time in the last four seasons that the Mets won a May 29 game via walk-off. Those are the only three walk-off wins in Mets history that took place on May 29. * The Mets have had a walk-off on the 29th day of a month in each of the last four seasons. Last year, they had one on April 29 against the Pirates. * The Mets actually had a May 28 walk-off win against the Marlins last season, so this one nearly came a year to the day of that one. * Omir Santos gets his first career walk-off hit. It was the first walk-off hit by a Mets catcher since Ramon Castro (how about that?) beat the Marlins with one on April 16, 2005. Coincidentally, Castro homered in that game, as Santos did in this one. * The last three Mets catchers to win a game with a wal...