Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

One of the neat things about having a blog is that, in theory, anyone can read it, from anywhere. And they might not always be looking for your blog. The magic of the Google search has, for the most part, eluded this blog during its four years of existence. For the most part, when someone has found this blog via Google search it's because they knew of the blog, but didn't know the exact address, so they punched "Mets Walk Offs" into Google and got me. Most of those searches ended when the blog changed its URL to eliminate the "Blogspot" reference. And for the most part, so did the arrivals via Google search. That changed within the last 10 days however. On Friday, I got an e-mail from a reader who informed me he was looking for Brett Hinchliffe's whereabouts and stumbled upon my recent post. He thought I was being serious about Hinchliffe's return to the Mets (he wasn't the only one fooled by my Brett Favre parody) and was curious why he wasn...

The Mets won a game by the score of 10-3 on Thursday. I thought that was an unusual final score, but when I checked, I noticed that the Mets won by the score of 10-3 a month ago- July 25 in Houston. Then I checked a little further and noticed something really unusual. Here's a list of the last 10 times the Mets won a game by the final score of 10-3. 8/27/09 at Marlins 7/25/09 at Astros 6/25/05 at Yankees 8/19/04 at Rockies 6/12/01 at Orioles 8/10/00 at Astros 9/12/99 at Dodgers 8/3/99 at Brewers 4/9/99 at Expos 9/22/97 at Marlins Notice what they all have in common? They were all done on the road. The last time the Mets won a HOME GAME by a 10-3 final score, their starting shortstop was Manny Alexander and their starting moundsman was soon-to-be 4-0 Armando Reynoso, and we could rejoice in Carlos Baerga beating up the Phillies with four hits and four RBI. It was May 31, 1997. Since then, the Mets have scored 10 runs in a HOME GAME 24 times. They have excorcised every possible 10-ru...

Thursday marks the anniversary of a game that might be confused for one that took place in 2009. This one occurred in 1963 in Forbes Field against the Pirates, a team that gave the Mets plenty of trouble in their early days. An Al Moran single gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the second inning and Grover Powell, who pitched so well in his first big league start a week earlier, gave the visitors five very good scoreless innings. Powell's day ended prematurely when he was hit in the cheek by a line drive, which forced him to leave the game due to blurred vision. His replacement in the sixth, Galen Cisco, pitched credibly for three innings. In the home ninth, with the Mets still up, 1-0, Pirates shortstop Dick Schofield Sr. (father of the future Met) led off with a walk. The next batter, Manny Mota, bounced a game-ending single to centerfield. How can that be, you ask? A single with a man on first and nobody out. There should be two on, none out, but the Mets should still be ahead, 1-0, ri...

* A belated happy birthday to Choo Choo Coleman, who celebrated on Tuesday. Coleman has the distinction of having the second-lowest batting average for any Met to hit a walk-off home run. Coleman's .205 batting average trails only Jim Tatum's .180 for worst by a Mets walk-off home run hitter. * Johan Santana's 13 wins, not the record for most by a Mets pitcher making 25 or fewer starts in a season. Dwight Gooden holds that mark, with 15 wins in his 25-start 1987 season. * Billy Wagner departs as one of 10 Mets pitchers to strike out better than 10 batters per 9 innings in his Mets career. The full list: 18.00- Kenny Greer (2 strikeouts, 1 inning) 18.00- Bob Gibson (not the Hall of Famer, 2 strikeouts, 1 inning) 15.43- Kane Davis (14 innings) 13.92- Jorge Julio (21 1/3 innings) 13.50- Matt Franco (2 strikeouts, 1 1/3 innings) 13.50- Jesse Hudson (3 strikeouts, 2 innings) 11.83- Armando Benitez 11.57- Joe Vitko (6 strikeouts, 4 2/3 innings) 10.91- Billy Wagner 10.80- Rich Sau...

"And when you write the story of this game, where in the world do you begin??" -- Al Michaels, after John Shelby caught the final out of Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS (IE: The Mike Scioscia HR Game) * I begin at the beginning, or at least the third batter of the game...Jayson Werth homering on the 12th pitch of his at-bat against Oliver Perez. Baseball-Reference has pitch data dating back to 1988, and the only 12-pitch at-bat resulting in a home run against the Mets was hit by Jose Gonzalez of the Dodgers, against Wally Whitehurst, on May 21, 1990. I'm guessing not many remember that, since the score was 12-2 Mets at the time. * I could have begun with Oliver Perez and the disgustingness that was his unfinished, 47-pitch first inning. There are no examples, dating back to 1988, of a Mets starter throwing 47+ pitches, while failing to get out of the first inning. The closest example to be found was the grossness of a Ron Darling start in Cincinnati, on July 19, 1988, in which he...

This weekend, we celebrate the accomplishments of mediocrity, and I say that with pride. The 1969 Mets were a great team and one of the best stories in baseball history. One thing they were not was an offensive juggernaut. The 1969 Mets hit .242 as a team. The only teams with a worse batting average were the two expansion franchises, the Expos and Padres. But it was a consistent .242. I looked up their offensive numbers from the season-ending surge that propelled them from 9 1/2 games out to the NL East title. In that stretch, they hit...242. The 1969 Mets slugging percentage of .351 ranked next-to-last in the NL, as was their .662 OPS. The 1969 Mets struck out 1,089 times- third-most in the National League. The 1969 Mets were the 11th-best team in the NL for hitting doubles, the eighth-best for hitting home runs and the eighth-best for stealing bases. They fare a little better, rankings-wise, when you include the AL within these tallies, but not by much. You know what offensive catego...

Appropos of nothing, I used Baseball-Reference to create a Mets grand slam database the other day. Figured my first use of it would be for some good, fun, trivia questions, ones a little tougher than "Who has the most grand slams in Mets history?" (Mike Piazza, 6). Answers in the comments section 1- The record for most grand slams allowed by a pitcher against the Mets is 3. Name the pitcher who allowed them. Hint: The Mets who hit them were Robin Ventura, Cliff Floyd, and David Wright. 2- Name the 3 Mets who hit multiple grand slams in 2006. Hint: Two are easy. One is hard. 3- Angel Pagan became the 2nd Met whose first name started with "A" to hit a grand slam. Who was the first? Hint: He played in the 1960s. 4- Four Hall of Famers have allowed a grand slam to the Mets. Name them. Hint: Steve Carlton and Don Sutton didn't... 5- What Met was the first to hit 3 grand slams for them in the same season, doing so in 1976? Hint: He played first base 6- Who is the only...

WALKOFFSVILLE, NY. (MW) – Brett Hinchliffe's latest retirement lasted all of eight years. The 0-5 career moundsman with the 10.22 ERA has done an about-face and will pitch for the Mets this season. "I felt I did everything I possibly could do to get where I need to be," Hinchliffe said Tuesday. "You're 35, your arm may not feel like it did at 21. But the pieces are in place that you don't have to do that much and I agree with that. If they were willing to take that chance, I was, too." If the wait for Hinchliffe's decision seemed never-ending, it was resolved in a few short hours. He jumped on a team plane and was picked up at LaGuardia Airport by manager Jerry Manuel himself. The two drove to the team's ballpark, where Hinchliffe waved to hundreds of cheering fans. No less than 90 minutes later, Hinchliffe was on the field in his familiar No. 32 jersey with blue shorts and a Mercury Mets hat, a vision that has had opposing fans cringing about fo...

Chipper Jones has accomplished a lot against the Mets in his career. But there's one area in which he's a little short. There are 7 players who have a 1.000 OPS against the Mets (on-base percentage + slugging percentage...minimum 150 plate appearances). Chipper Jones is not one of them. Chipper is the best of those who doesn't have a 1.000 OPS. His presently stands at .993. The "Magnificent 7" are an interesting group- one that includes two former Mets players and a former Mets manager. Best OPS vs Mets Minimum 150 Plate Appearances 1.086- Albert Pujols 1.078- Frank Howard 1.066- Rico Carty 1.056- Mike Piazza 1.038- Derek Jeter 1.028- Todd Helton 1.001- Claudell Washington.

Dare to dream... This Date in Mets History tells us that on August 16, 1969 "The Mets amazing stretch drive, one that would carry them to the World Championship begins..." Fistbumps to Daniel Murphy, Mike Pelfrey, and David Wright. * Walk-off win number 360 (including postseason) was the Mets 4th walk-off win of the season, their first since May 29. * It was Murphy's first walk-off RBI as a Met and the first by a Mets lefthanded hitter against a lefthanded pitcher since Carlos Delgado beat Scott Eyre and the Cubs with a two-run walk-off single on May 17, 2005. * It was the Mets 71st walk-off 3-2 win, their first since beating the Nationals, 3-2 in 14 innings, on April 17, 2008. * It was the Mets first 3-2 walk-off win IN REGULATION since a 3-2 walk-off win over the Marlins on April 9, 2006. * It was the Mets 26th walk-off win against the Giants, the most famous of which was also a 3-2 final score, in 13 innings in Game 3 of the 2000 NLDS. * It's the second tim...

Normally when I sit at a game with Greg from Faith and Fear, I try to bring with me a couple of really challenging trivia questions. Friday night, I came, as the Giants did, with nothing. He hit me with a good one... What do the combination of Andre Dawson Gary Varsho Ryan Theriot have in common? I'll acknowledge being stumped at the trio's distinction, which I'll share momentarily, after allowing you to ponder for a few moments. When I woke up this morning and web-surfed a bit, I discovered that Angel Pagan had made himself part of a significant trio in Mets history. First Mets To Hit Leadoff HR in Home Ballpark Polo Grounds- Felix Mantilla (1962) Shea Stadium- Billy Cowan (1965) Citi Field- Angel Pagan (2009) It only took three home games for Mantilla to make the list, but it would take a bit longer for a Met to christen Shea with a leadoff home run. Cowan hit his on June 29, 1965, but it would be rendered insignificant by later long balls from Hank Aaron and Ed...

Forty years ago Thursday is a significant date in Mets history. It was the bottoming out point for the 1969 Mets. An 8-2 loss to the Astros in Houston dropped them to 62-51. By the end of the day, after the Cubs had beaten the Padres, the 1969 Mets were 9 1/2 games out of first place, in third place in the NL East. For whatever reason, the 1969 Astros were the Mets bugaboo. In 12 meetings, Houston won 10, and the Astros outscored the Mets, 78-36. But once the Mets were done with them, something magical took place. It would be nice if the 1969 Mets could transfer their invincibility cloak forward 40 years hence, but I'm not expecting it. But then again, who would have expected something like this. Over their last 49 regular season games, the 1969 Mets highlights included... - Going 38-11 - Going 15-2 in 1-run games - An ERA of 2.06 and an opponents batting average of .207 - Tom Seaver: 9-0, 1.24 ERA - Jerry Koosman: 8-1, 2.35 ERA - Tug McGraw: 4-1, 5 SV, 0.61 ERA - Ron Swoboda: tea...

I didn't really watch the Mets last night, other than for a quick peek at the score on a couple of occasions. Tuesday might be more of the same, but for a different reason. The Mets have a terrible walk-off history on August 11. They've never won via walk-off on this date. And they've lost via walk-off on this date 6 times. It's been awhile though. The last time the Mets lost via walk-off on this date was in 1994. Some may remember it as the last game of the 1994 season. It was the game that wouldn't end between the Mets and Phillies, a pretty good pitchers duel between Jason Jacome and Phillie-for-a-minute Fernando Valenzuela. Each pitcher allowed one run- Jacome through seven innings and Valenzuela through eight. I remember remarking that it felt like neither team wanted the game to end. Evidence of that: In the first 14 innings, neither team got a hit with a runner in scoring position. The Mets lone tally came via Jim Lindeman home run. The Phillies scored on a B...

In the 556 days we've had Johan Santana. * He ranks tied for 4th in MLB with 29 wins (tied with sandwich-mate CC Sabathia). * He ranks 3rd in ERA at 2.72. * He ranks 3rd in opponents batting average at .234. * He ranks tied for 8th in MLB with 344 strikeouts * He ranks 13th in win percentage at .659 (pitchers with at least 20 decisions).

The Mets have now lost 386 games by walk-off, including postseason. 7 of them have been by walk-off grand slam. Do you really want to know any more than that?

Mike Pelfrey had his start pushed back from Saturday to Monday, allowing him to be with his wife for the birth of their child. So he won't be pulling a Jon Matlack. This Date In Mets History is great for anecdotes and one-liners that allow us to learn things such as what happened on July 2, 1975. "Hours after the birth of his son, Danny, Jon Matlack beats the Cubs, 7-2." There's a little more to it than that, as I gleaned from reading newspaper accounts of the game, going. beyond the basics (Felix Millan's four RBI and a Joe Torre home run) For one, Matlack was up at 6 a.m. to get his wife to the hospital for the birth of their third child (a boy). For another, he pitched a complete game, scattering eight hits., making for a heck of a long day. Lastly, he somehow managed to walk three times as a hitter . He was the second Mets pitcher to do that, joining Jay Hook, while tying a major league record in the process (the last MLB pitcher with three walks in a game- J...

In 1964, Braves outfielder Rico Carty, who made a career of putting up Amazing numbers against the Mets, hit .509 against them, with eight home runs and 27 RBI. Albert Pujols didn't quite take his game to that astronomical level, but hius 2009 season against the Mets was a near duplicate of that of the man he figures to rreplace as the greatest Cardinal of all-time. Check this out: Stan Musial vs 1962 Mets- .468 BA, 4 HR, 15 RBI, 2 K, 11 BB Albert Pujols vs 2009 Mets- . 469 BA, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 2 K, 7 BB What's particularly impressive from a Pujols perspective is that he put up those numbers in 9 games. Musial did his damage in 17 games. Stan the Man does have one accomplishment on his resume that Pujols doesn't, at least not yet. Musial hit three home runs in a game against the Mets on July 8, 1962. Pujols has five multi-homer games against the Mets, but has yet to hit three against them in one contest. Most Multi-HR Games vs Mets 8- Willie McCovey 6- Willie Mays 5- Albert Pu...

The folks at "Faith and Fear" told you on Wednesday morning that 'Stranger Things Haven't Happened' in regards to this Mets team. And then came Wednesday's game. Let's review. * Mets starter Jonathon Niese pitched 1 2/3 innings, and the Mets won, 9-0. The Mets have never thrown a shutout in a game in which their starter lasted fewer than two innings. * Reliever Nelson Figueroa, who pitched on Monday, not only pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings; he also tripled AND drew a walk. Nelson Figueroa is the second pitcher in Mets history to triple and draw a walk in the same game. The other did it twice (1970 and 1983): Tom Seaver. * I repeat: Mets reliever Nelson Figueora tripled and walked. A major league relief pitcher had not tripled and walked in the same game since Astros reliever Ron Cook...in 1970! * I repeat again: Mets reliever Nelson Figueroa tripled... The Mets are 4-0 all-time when they have a relief pitcher hit a triple. The 3 others: Eric Cammack (2000)...

Look at it this way...at least you got to see a Met rarity on Tuesday night. Mark DeRosa's go-ahead HBP in the 10th inning marked the first time that the Mets have ever allowed a go-ahead, extra-inning HBP IN THEIR HOME BALLPARK. Would like to compile a list of the dumbest injuries in Mets history. Luis Castillo is not the first Met to be a dugout-steps victim (Pat Zachry, after allowing a hit to Pete Rose to extend Rose's hit streak, kicked the dugout steps and broke his ankle), but he seems a worthy candidate for such a list. The truly down Mets fan knows... This marked the 2nd time the Mets have allowed a go-ahead extra-inning HBP in any ballpark. The other, amazingly enough, also came against the Cardinals. It was a walk-off hit by pitch, drawn by Jerry Davanon against Jack Aker on July 25, 1974.

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, I want Nelson Figueroa inducted. To complete the sentence...I want Nelson Figueroa inducted into the Minor League Baseball Hall of Fame. Nelson Figueroa's career minor league record is 119-79. That's perseverance, dedication, and greatness. When we think of Mets pitchers with extended minor league careers, we think Rick Anderson, Terry Leach, and Rick Reed among others. But Figueroa's numbers dwarf all of them. Figueroa's career winning percentage in the minor leagues is .601. For comparitive purposes: Win Percentage in MLB Tom Seaver: . .603 Tom Glavine: .600 So it's safe to say that Nelson Figueroa, from a minor league perspective, is in pretty good company. For what it's worth, I'd watch a Figueroa minor league start over a Glavine Mets start any day. True Metgueroas know... Nelson Figueroa's 10-21 career MLB record is a near match for former Met reliever Jeff Innis (10-20).