The final part in our series on the top 60 regular season home runs in Mets history. To read the full series, click here, or on the "Best Mets HR" label at the bottom of this post.
10- Carl Everett, September 13, 1997 (#4,040)
I know that there are home runs that ranked lower on the list for which you could make a good argument that they belong higher, but I really, really, really like this home run.
To reset the circumstances: The Mets were trailing the Expos 6-0 with two outs and two men on base in the ninth inning. Roberto Petagine scored two runs with a single, and then hits by Luis Lopez and Matt Franco loaded the bases with two outs.
The odds against a comeback when you're down 6-0 with two outs in the ninth inning are astronomical, but given that Everett is a man with significant doubts about the astronomical (he believes the moon landing was faked), I'm guessing that he neither cared nor realized that the chances of success were minimal.
On a 3-2 pitch, Everett defied the odds with a grand slam-- described by Howie Rose as “a brand new shiny one!” The Mets would win in the 13th on a walk-off home run by Bernard Gilkey.
True Mets home run historians know...The game-tying bottom-of-the-ninth grand slam became nearly extinct after that one. The next one wasn't hit until 2005, by Khalil Greene.
9- Steve Henderson, June 14, 1980 (#1,782)
When I e-mailed word of this project to “This Date in Mets History” author Dennis D'Agostino, he noted that his primary curiosity was to see where I'd rank the Steve Henderson home run. It's amazing to me how many lives this home run touched.
Any time I talk to a Mets fan old enough to remember this game, one in which the Mets rallied for five runs in the ninth inning to beat the Giants, 7-6 (capped by Henderson's first home run of the year, a three-run shot), they recall it with such excitement.
As does Henderson, and it was one of this blog's early coups to score an interview with him right around the date of the 25th anniversary. It was one of those games that gave a lot of people hope at a time when the Mets were thought to be hopeless. The magic was back.
“I could just feel that the guys in the dugout were waiting for me to hit a home run,” Henderson said. “I was known for ending games and they were counting on me to deliver.”
True Mets home run historians know...Steve Henderson specialized in hitting home runs against game closers. He had three home runs apiece vs Kent Tekulve and Bruce Sutter.
8- Edgardo Alfonzo, October 4, 1999 (#4,374)
After sweeping the Pirates in three excruciating games to force the one-game playoff with the Reds, the Mets needed to make an early statement in Cincinnati. There was no better hitter to do that in 1999 than Edgardo Alfonzo.
The Mets second baseman homered on a line to straightaway centerfield, putting the Mets up 2-0. It felt like it was 10-0, and that a huge weight had been lifted off the team. The rest of the 5-0 win, putting the Mets into the postseason for the first time since 1988, was easy, relatively speaking.
True Mets home run historians know...Edgardo Alfonzo's first career home run came in Cincinnati, an inside-the-park home run on May 6, 1995.
7- Tommie Agee, September 8, 1969 (#803)
Tommie Agee finished a distant sixth in the 1969 NL MVP voting, but given the games that he basically won, by himself, that season, a higher presence would be justifiable.
This was one of those games, probably as important as any for the 1969 Mets, a 3-2 win over the Cubs to move within 1 ½ games of the NL East lead. Agee got brushed back by a pair of Bill Hands pitches in the first, but then got revenge with a home run in the third. In the sixth, he'd snap a 2-2 tie by scoring the win on an extraordinarily close play at the plate.
This is the play with the famous video you've probably seen of Cubs catcher Randy Hundley leaping in the air to argue. We don't think he and the ump were discussing Agee's MVP candidacy. But they should have been.
True Mets home run historians know...Tommie Agee is the Mets single-season leader for most home runs out of the No. 1 slot in the lineup. He had 24 in 1970, and ranks second with his 22 in 1969.
6- Ron Swoboda, September 15, 1969 (#807, 808)
Ralph Kiner was not just a fine broadcaster during the 1960s. Apparently he dispensed some good advice to the Mets players as well.
“I knew I was swinging the bat well at the time,” Swoboda told Stanley Cohen in the book “A Magic Summer” after he homered twice to beat Steve Carolton and the Cardinals, on a day in which Carlton whiffed 19. “Ralph Kiner had been working with me in the batting cage, and I was in a good groove.”
The win widened the Mets lead to 4 ½ games in the NL East, though psychologically, it had to be worth more than one game for opposing teams to see that the Mets beat a pitcher who had fanned that many. These are the kinds of games you win when it's meant to be your year.
Howard Blatt had a great quote in his book: “Amazin Met Memories” from former Tigers manager Mayo Smith, who said “Swoboda is what happens when a team wins a pennant.”
True Mets home run historians know...Three other Mets have homered twice against a pitcher who struck out at least a dozen batters in a game...Joe Torre in 1976 (vs John Candelaria), and both Marv Throneberry and Frank Thomas in 1962 (vs Art Mahaffey...the Mets hit 4 HR and lost, 9-4).
5- Mike Piazza, June 30, 2000 (#4,477)
It's very rare that you would equate wins in June with those in October, but if you want to have a discussion about all-time great Mets wins, the comeback from 8-1 down in the eighth inning against the Braves deserves inclusion in conversation. In the annals of Mets victory stories, this one was one of the most ridiculously absurd.
Two hits and four straight walks with two outs in the eighth (including three walks on 3-2 counts) set the stage for Edgardo Alfonzo's game-tying hit, followed by Piazza's at-bat.
The turn was brief, and was over as quick as the ball cleared the fence on a line, down the left field line (actually very resemblant to Mark McGwire's 62nd home run in 1998). It was not your typical Piazza home run, but as most of the media wrote the next day, this was a Mets win that would be known as far from typical.
True Mets home run historians know...Mike Piazza's 16 go-ahead home runs in 2000 tied the Mets club record, which he now shares with Gary Carter (16 in 1985).
4- Tommie Agee, August 19, 1969 (#784)
If you didn't think it was going to be a special year for the 1969 Mets, after their 1-0 14-inning victory over the Giants on Tommie Agee's game-ending home run against Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, then maybe you were following the wrong team.
Agee got his 500th career hit, a home run on pitch number 151 (details we know thanks to the account from Times writer Joe Durso) over the Giants bullpen in left field.
Forgive the name-drop, but I once had the opportunity to eavesdrop on a conversation in which Marichal talked about that home run. “I can still see it today,” he said wistfully.
This game should be known not just for the home run that was, but the one that wasn't as well. In the visitors 13th, with Willie McCovey up, manager Gil Hodges must have had some sort of premonition, because he alligned his defense with a four-man outfield. That allowed left fielder Cleon Jones just enough time to get back to the fence and rob McCovey with a leaping catch.
True Mets home run historians know...In the last 55 years, only three times has a team won a game, 1-0 on a solo walk-off home run in the 14th inning or later. Agee's was the first since Willie Mays hit one for the Giants against Warren Spahn and the Braves, in the 16th inning on July 2, 1963. The only one since Agee was hit by the Mets Dave Kingman against Charlie Hough and the Dodgers, in the 14th inning on June 17, 1976.
3- Gary Carter, April 9, 1985 (#2,205)
“There aren't enough words to describe what I felt,” Carter told the media after his walk-off home run beat the Cardinals in his Mets debut on Opening Day, 1985.
We've got two-- pleasure-- obviously-- and pain. Carter is the only player in Mets history to twice be hit by pitches in an Opening Day game. On a 42 degree day, Carter took one pitch off his left elbow and another in his lower back, not to mention the beating he took behind the plate. But there was enough good, in the form of a home run off a Neil Allen curveball, to shake off the discomfort. It was somewhat symbolic of all that Carter would endure during his tenure with the Mets.
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets have hit 51 Opening Day home runs. Darryl Strawberry and Todd Hundley each have the most with four.
2- Darryl Strawberry, October 1, 1985 (#2,334)
When we say a player really clocked one, we are paying tribute to one particular moment in Mets history. If you were going to rate Mets games by tension level, this one would exceed any other I know from my nearly 30 years as a fan, and I would imagine it would rate at the top of the list for anyone who has lived longer than I.
This stomach-knotter between the Mets and Cardinals in the final days of the NL East race was a battle of mental stamina between Cardinals ace John Tudor and Mets upstart Ron Darling, who rose to the challenge by pitching nine shutout innings.
So did Darryl Strawberry. It was common for Strawberry, during his Mets tenure, to go into funks against left-handed pitchers. Some days he'd look fantastic. Others, he'd look lost.
Strawberry was in the midst of one of those bad stretches when he came to bat against lefty Ken Dayley, in a scoreless game in the top of the 11th.
In his last 16 at-bats against southpaws, Strawberry had only one hit. He'd match that with a humongous swing at a hanging curveball. The ball would soar to the highest heights, until it hit a clock, way, way up in the right field stands. The Mets were 1-0 winners and the clock had not yet struck on their pennant hopes.
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets have nine 1-0 road wins, in which the only run of the game scored on a home run. Strawberry's was the first in 12 years, the first since Wayne Garrett led off with a home run in a 1-0 win in Montreal in the first game of a doubleheader, on September 7, 1973. Also of note: Of those nine 1-0 road wins, in which the only run of the game came on a home run, four have come since 2004.
1- Mike Piazza, September 21, 2001 (#4,705)
I remember being really nervous about going to the ballpark for this game, the first baseball game back in New York since the World Trade Center attacks on September 11. But looking back, I'm really glad that I was at Shea Stadium that night. It was important to be a part of the moment.
Afterwards, I remember telling my mother that I thought that while the night was very dramatic and touching, that I thought Liza Minelli's rendition of “New York, New York” was a bit over-the-top. My mom explained to me that Minelli had to do it that way, because that was her style. It wouldn't have been right to do it any other way.
Just like it wouldn't have been right for the Mets to have won any other way than they did-- in come-from-behind fashion on a home run in the eighth by Piazza, best described as over-the-top.
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets enter the 2010 season with 6,010 home runs, and each one is special and worth remembering in its own way.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Back in a Bit
MetsWalkoffs will return after the World Series concludes, with our first order of business being to rank the top 10 Mets regular season home runs.
Go...um.....hmm....well, never mind.
Go...um.....hmm....well, never mind.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Fifteen, Count Em, Fifteen (The Most Metmorable Postseason Home Runs)
Chances are that you know the stories of these moments, so the descriptions are brief, but we figured we should rank the postseason home runs as well. Our top 15:
15- Robin Ventura, 2000 NL Division Series Game 4
It was a lot easier for Bobby Jones to relax and throw his one-hit shutout, knowing he had the cushion of a lead from the first inning on, thanks to Ventura's two-run home run.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Robin Ventura had 7 singles (including his grand slam single), 5 doubles, and 2 home runs in his Mets postseason career.
14- Mike Piazza, 1999 NL Championship Series Game 6
This game-tying shot off John Smoltz in the seventh inning would have made the top couple had Kenny Rogers not walked Andruw Jones in the series-concluding moment.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Mike Piazza and Al Weis are the only two Mets to hit a game-tying home run in the 7th inning or later of a postseason game.
13- Gary Carter x 2, 1986 World Series Game 4
The Mets didn't hit Al Nipper all that well, early in Game 4, but once Carter hit his first of two home runs that day, the team managed to get the job done, evening the series, 2-2 with the win.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Four catchers have had a multi-homer game in the World Series: Gary Carter, Johnny Bench (1976), Gene Tenace (1972), and Yogi Berra (1956).
12- Edgardo Alfonzo, 1999 NL Division Series Game 1
There is no one I would have wanted at the plate more in the situation of tie game, bases loaded in the ninth inning, than Alfonzo, whose grand slam off Diamondbacks reliever Bobby Chouinard gave the Mets a win in their first playoff game in 11 years.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Your Mets leaders in postseason go-ahead home runs: Rusty Staub 3, Edgardo Alfonzo 3, Carlos Delgado 3.
11- Darryl Strawberry, 1986 World Series, Game 7
With the Mets clinging to a lead in the eighth inning, Strawberry's mammoth blow off Al Nipper helped ensure that a World Series title was on the precipice of occurring.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...The last 3 National Leaguers to homer in the 7th game of a World Series are Bobby Bonilla (1997), Darryl Strawberry, and Ray Knight.
10- Darryl Strawberry, 1986 NL Championship Series, Game 5
Nolan Ryan didn't allow a baserunner, and might not have for the rest of his day, had Strawberry not hit a missile down the right field line for a game-tying home run in the fifth inning.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Darryl Strawberry had 35 at-bats against Nolan Ryan in regular season play. He had only one home run, and five hits, to go along with 15 strikeouts. The home run came in 1986.
9- Darryl Strawberry, 1986 NL Championship Series Game 3
Strawberry's three-run, first-pitch home run off Bob Knepper in the sixth inning brought the Mets from way back, a 4-1 deficit, to even, in a game that would be decided by another longball, three innings later.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Darryl Strawberry had 3 game-tying postseason home runs as a Met. No other Met has more than one.
8- Lenny Dykstra, 1986 World Series Game 3
It was important in Game 3 that Boston fans had absolutely nothing to cheer about, even with a 2-0 lead heading into the series. Dykstra's leadoff home run opened the floodgates against Oil Can Boyd, on the way to an easy Mets victory.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...The last six times a player has led off the top of the first inning of a World Series game with a home run, his team has won. It has happened nine times overall, and the team whose player homers is 7-2 in those games.
7- Tommie Agee, 1969 World Series Game 3
Agee's leadoff home run against Jim Palmer set the stage for a day in which all the magic moments (including two amazing catches) belonged to him, and gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the World Series.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...The two innings in which the Mets have hit the most postseason home runs are the fourth (12) and the first (10).
6- Benny Agbayani, 2000 NL Division Series Game 3
"Hawaiian Punch!" said Fox analyst Tim McCarver after the Aloha State native smacked a walk-off home run in the 13th inning against Giants reliever Aaron Fultz.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Four players whose first name starts with B have hit a postseason walk-off home run: Bill Mazeroski, Bert Campaneris, Bernie Williams, and Benny Agbayani. The only player, besides Agbayani, whose last name started with A, who hit a postseason walk-off home run is Alan Ashby.
5- Todd Pratt, 1999 NL Division Series Game 4
Diamondbacks centerfielder Steve Finley came pretty close, but didn't get enough spring into his leap to deny Pratt and the Mets a series-clinching walk-off home run.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...The most common position for a player who hit a postseason walk-off home run is catcher. Six have hit postseason walk-off home runs: Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Alan Ashby, Tony Pena, Jim Leyritz, and Todd Pratt.
3- Donn Clendenon and Al Weis, 1969 World Series Game 5
If they can split the World Series MVP, they can tie for this spot. Clendenon's home run, following the shoe-polish play, brought the Mets to within a run in the sixth, and Weis's surprise blow tied the score at three in the seventh inning.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Donn Clendenon is the Mets all-time leader in World Series home runs with 3.
Al Weis's seven career regular-season home runs are by far the fewest of anyone who played for the Mets who hit a postseason home run.
2- Lenny Dykstra, 1986 NL Championship Series Game 3
The home run that launched Dykstra's mark as a clutch postseason performer was this stunning two-run walk-off shot to beat the Astros and closer Dave Smith in a game that turned out to be a must-win, with Mike Scott pitching in the next contest.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Lenny Dykstra also had two sacrifices in his Mets postseason career. Oft forgotten is one in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the World Series in which Dykstra ended up safe by fielder's choice, helping set the Mets up to tie the game.
1- Ray Knight, 1986 World Series Game 7
Oh what a Knight it was for the Mets third baseman, whose presence was so vital to the team's success that season. It was appropo that he hit the deciding blow, a go-ahead home run vs Calvin Schiraldi in the seventh inning.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Five players have hit a go-ahead run in the 7th inning or later of Game 7 of a World Series: Roger Peckinpaugh (1925), Hal Smith (1960), Bill Mazeroski (1960), Ray Knight, and Alfonso Soriano (2001).
15- Robin Ventura, 2000 NL Division Series Game 4
It was a lot easier for Bobby Jones to relax and throw his one-hit shutout, knowing he had the cushion of a lead from the first inning on, thanks to Ventura's two-run home run.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Robin Ventura had 7 singles (including his grand slam single), 5 doubles, and 2 home runs in his Mets postseason career.
14- Mike Piazza, 1999 NL Championship Series Game 6
This game-tying shot off John Smoltz in the seventh inning would have made the top couple had Kenny Rogers not walked Andruw Jones in the series-concluding moment.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Mike Piazza and Al Weis are the only two Mets to hit a game-tying home run in the 7th inning or later of a postseason game.
13- Gary Carter x 2, 1986 World Series Game 4
The Mets didn't hit Al Nipper all that well, early in Game 4, but once Carter hit his first of two home runs that day, the team managed to get the job done, evening the series, 2-2 with the win.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Four catchers have had a multi-homer game in the World Series: Gary Carter, Johnny Bench (1976), Gene Tenace (1972), and Yogi Berra (1956).
12- Edgardo Alfonzo, 1999 NL Division Series Game 1
There is no one I would have wanted at the plate more in the situation of tie game, bases loaded in the ninth inning, than Alfonzo, whose grand slam off Diamondbacks reliever Bobby Chouinard gave the Mets a win in their first playoff game in 11 years.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Your Mets leaders in postseason go-ahead home runs: Rusty Staub 3, Edgardo Alfonzo 3, Carlos Delgado 3.
11- Darryl Strawberry, 1986 World Series, Game 7
With the Mets clinging to a lead in the eighth inning, Strawberry's mammoth blow off Al Nipper helped ensure that a World Series title was on the precipice of occurring.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...The last 3 National Leaguers to homer in the 7th game of a World Series are Bobby Bonilla (1997), Darryl Strawberry, and Ray Knight.
10- Darryl Strawberry, 1986 NL Championship Series, Game 5
Nolan Ryan didn't allow a baserunner, and might not have for the rest of his day, had Strawberry not hit a missile down the right field line for a game-tying home run in the fifth inning.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Darryl Strawberry had 35 at-bats against Nolan Ryan in regular season play. He had only one home run, and five hits, to go along with 15 strikeouts. The home run came in 1986.
9- Darryl Strawberry, 1986 NL Championship Series Game 3
Strawberry's three-run, first-pitch home run off Bob Knepper in the sixth inning brought the Mets from way back, a 4-1 deficit, to even, in a game that would be decided by another longball, three innings later.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Darryl Strawberry had 3 game-tying postseason home runs as a Met. No other Met has more than one.
8- Lenny Dykstra, 1986 World Series Game 3
It was important in Game 3 that Boston fans had absolutely nothing to cheer about, even with a 2-0 lead heading into the series. Dykstra's leadoff home run opened the floodgates against Oil Can Boyd, on the way to an easy Mets victory.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...The last six times a player has led off the top of the first inning of a World Series game with a home run, his team has won. It has happened nine times overall, and the team whose player homers is 7-2 in those games.
7- Tommie Agee, 1969 World Series Game 3
Agee's leadoff home run against Jim Palmer set the stage for a day in which all the magic moments (including two amazing catches) belonged to him, and gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the World Series.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...The two innings in which the Mets have hit the most postseason home runs are the fourth (12) and the first (10).
6- Benny Agbayani, 2000 NL Division Series Game 3
"Hawaiian Punch!" said Fox analyst Tim McCarver after the Aloha State native smacked a walk-off home run in the 13th inning against Giants reliever Aaron Fultz.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Four players whose first name starts with B have hit a postseason walk-off home run: Bill Mazeroski, Bert Campaneris, Bernie Williams, and Benny Agbayani. The only player, besides Agbayani, whose last name started with A, who hit a postseason walk-off home run is Alan Ashby.
5- Todd Pratt, 1999 NL Division Series Game 4
Diamondbacks centerfielder Steve Finley came pretty close, but didn't get enough spring into his leap to deny Pratt and the Mets a series-clinching walk-off home run.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...The most common position for a player who hit a postseason walk-off home run is catcher. Six have hit postseason walk-off home runs: Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Alan Ashby, Tony Pena, Jim Leyritz, and Todd Pratt.
3- Donn Clendenon and Al Weis, 1969 World Series Game 5
If they can split the World Series MVP, they can tie for this spot. Clendenon's home run, following the shoe-polish play, brought the Mets to within a run in the sixth, and Weis's surprise blow tied the score at three in the seventh inning.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Donn Clendenon is the Mets all-time leader in World Series home runs with 3.
Al Weis's seven career regular-season home runs are by far the fewest of anyone who played for the Mets who hit a postseason home run.
2- Lenny Dykstra, 1986 NL Championship Series Game 3
The home run that launched Dykstra's mark as a clutch postseason performer was this stunning two-run walk-off shot to beat the Astros and closer Dave Smith in a game that turned out to be a must-win, with Mike Scott pitching in the next contest.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Lenny Dykstra also had two sacrifices in his Mets postseason career. Oft forgotten is one in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the World Series in which Dykstra ended up safe by fielder's choice, helping set the Mets up to tie the game.
1- Ray Knight, 1986 World Series Game 7
Oh what a Knight it was for the Mets third baseman, whose presence was so vital to the team's success that season. It was appropo that he hit the deciding blow, a go-ahead home run vs Calvin Schiraldi in the seventh inning.
True Mets postseason home run historians know...Five players have hit a go-ahead run in the 7th inning or later of Game 7 of a World Series: Roger Peckinpaugh (1925), Hal Smith (1960), Bill Mazeroski (1960), Ray Knight, and Alfonso Soriano (2001).
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sixty, Count Em, Sixty (Part V)
Continuing along with out list of the top 60 Mets regular season home runs of all-time. You may have to wait a bit for the top 10 to come out...
20- Ray Knight, July 3, 1986 (#2,413)
One of my all-time favorite regular season moments is this one, the conclusion of a Mets-Astros game that foreshadowed how the key game in October would play out. The Mets and Astros went to the 10th inning tied, 3-3. Houston scored twice on a two-run home run by Phil Garner.
The Mets responded quickly in the home half when Darryl Strawberry hit a monstrous game-tying home run against Astros reliever Frank Dipino.
Knight came up a couple batters later. He had fanned four times previously against the combo of Jim Deshaies and Charlie Kerfeld. This time, he got up, 2-0, and took advantage, homering to left field to win the game. It was the first time that season that the Mets had rallied with three runs in the 10th to win a game, 6-5. It wouldn't be the last.
True Mets home run historians know...Four Mets have struck out four times and hit a home run in the same game- Bobby Bonilla, Knight, Dave Kingman, and Tommie Agee.
19- Darryl Strawberry, May 3, 1988 (#2,712)
The game in which Darryl Strawberry set the new Mets career home run record is oft-forgotten, because the contest was not close. Straw's homer didn't even earn top billing in the New York Times or Newsday the next day, as that was dedicated to David Cone's first career shutout. That seems rather shabby in hindsight, considering that Straw's final mark still stands 21 years later.
The homer that passed Dave Kingman was number 155 in Strawberry's career and came with two men on base against Braves reliever Juan Eichelberger, with the Mets up 5-0 at the time.
The best quote I could find came from USA Today, and it didn't even seem like Strawberry was really enjoying the moment.
“Everybody expected 50 homers a year from the start,” Strawberry said. “I'm just happy to have been in a position to break it.”
True Mets home run historians know...Strawberry's next home run after this one was more meaningful. It was a two-run walk-off home run to beat John Franco and the Reds, 4-3 in 10 innings. The Mets had two outs with nobody on base when Keith Hernandez walked. Strawberry hit the next pitch off the scoreboard in right center.
18- Darryl Strawberry, April 4, 1988 (#2,681)
Randy St. Claire got fired as Nationals pitching coach not too long ago, so now he's back to being best known not for that job, but for yielding one of the longest home runs in Mets history. With the Mets leading 7-4 in the 7th inning on Opening Day, St. Claire delivered a pitch that Darryl Strawberry put into a monstrous orbit with a huge uppercut swing. It hit the Olympic Stadium roof in right field before coming down.
This was part of a day in which the Mets broke the 1932 Yankees record for home runs on Opening Day by clocking six. As much as Strawberry's record-breaking home run has been ignored, this one has been played up quite a bit.
“Just another home run,” Strawberry told the media afterwards. Marty Noble got a great quote from Tim Teufel into his story the next day:
“Maybe we can convince someone to climb out (on the roof) and look for a dent. Where's the great Wallenda?”
True Mets home run historians know...Darryl Strawberry hit the most home runs at Olympic Stadium of any Met. He had 16. Mike Piazza and Howard Johnson are tied for second with nine.
17- Tommie Agee, April 10, 1969 (#708)
Since we're saluting long home runs, we might as well go back-to-back here with the famous Tommie Agee home run, the only one to ever reach the left field upper deck at Shea Stadium. It came in the second inning of a 4-2 win over the Expos. The New York Times estimated that tier of seats to be 100 feet off the ground, and the angle and distance required to put a ball into that spot makes it easy to understand why that was the sole ton of swat (a previously referenced pun) in that section. For good measure, he'd hit another in this game.
The Times also noted how this was an important stepping-stone game for Agee, who'd been awful in 1968, partly due to the aftereffects of a Bob Gibson beaning. These two home runs set the stage for a magical season.
True Mets home run historians know...If you were to list the Mets home run hitters alphabetically by last name, Tommie Agee would come third, after Kurt Abbott and Benny Agbayani.
16- Johnny Lewis, June 14, 1965 (#382)
One of the most amazin' wins in the history of the Mets was this one, in an otherwise mostly-meaningless season (save for Casey Stengel's retirement). The Mets had lost 10 in a row, including a three-game stretch against the Hall of Fame combo of Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, and Sandy Koufax. But this would be the game in which they were dominated most.
Red pitcher Jim Maloney took a no hitter through 10 innings, with 17 strikeouts to that point. He actually got stronger as the game lasted, having allowed no baserunners from the fourth through 10th innings. He entered the 11th having struck out seven of the last nine batters he faced. But since the Reds couldn't push a run across either (Maloney actually could have won his own game with a base hit in the 10th, but was unsuccessful), the score was still tied.
Johnny Lewis led off the 11th, hitting a 2-1 pitch “that sped on an ascending line to straightaway center. There it cleared the inside barrier that delineates the field of play with at least five feet to spare and slammed into the outer wall erected recently to screen off the glare of traffic on a new superhighway” reads the description in the New York Times. The Reds went down with a whimper in the home half and Maloney finished an 18-strikeout, two-hit loser. The Mets winning ways didn't last long. They dropped their next five.
It's too bad the Mets couldn't play extra-inning games every day. They went 8-6 when the game lasted beyond regulation, 41-106 otherwise.
True Mets home run historians know...Johnny Lewis hit three home runs against Jim Maloney, his most against any pitcher.
15- Carlos Beltran, August 22, 2006 (#5,526)
Good things happen to those who swing the bat. This was how the 2006 NLCS should have ended, with Carlos Beltran capping a great come-from-behind win by slamming a walk-off home run against the Cardinals closer (in this case Jason Isringhausen, not Adam Wainwright). This was one of the more fun days of the season, with Carlos Delgado joining the 400 home run club, in addition to the Mets rallying from six runs down, and a tally behind when Beltran launched his big swing.
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets have hit 24 walk-off home runs in situations in which they were trailing at the time. This was the most recent one.
14- Mike Piazza, June 9, 2000 (#4,450)
This is the kind of walk-off we like a lot:
“By the time Roger Clemens walked off the mound, almost every Yankees fan in the ballpark was booing, except for mayor Rudolph Giuliani.”
That was the lead of the AP story the day after Mike Piazza belted a grand slam against Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, as part of a 12-2 Mets rout in the Bronx, a day in which Clemens matched a career-high with nine runs allowed. All part of the continued avenging of Clemens act of bullpen vandalism during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
True Mets home run historians know...Of the 20 players who, since the Mets inception, have hit 30+ home runs against the Yankees, only one- Carlos Delgado- has played for the Mets.
13- Howard Johnson, April 24, 1986 (#2,346)
The race for first place in the NL East essentially concluded 11 games into the season, or more specifically, with one out in the home ninth inning of the Mets-Cardinals game that day. It was then that Howard Johnson hit a game-tying home run against Cardinals closer Todd Worrell. The two-run shot tied the game, 4-4, and the Mets would win in 10 on George Foster's RBI hit.
The win made the Mets winners of six in a row and the Cardinals losers of four straight. The Mets had a 1 ½ game lead in the standings, but it might well have been what it ended up at after 162 games- 21 ½ games. The Mets would go on to sweep the series and bury any team that came close to them the rest of the season.
True Mets home run historians know...Howard Johnson career vs Todd Worrell: 6 for 13, 4 home runs, 6 walks. The other pitchers whom Howard Johnson owned were Mike Lacoss (5 HR, 22 AB), Pat Perry (4 HR, 13 AB), and Jim Acker (4 HR, 15 AB).
12- Donn Clendenon, September 24, 1969 (#813, 815)
The game that clinched the 1969 NL East title was never in doubt and the man who made sure of that was the one who was credited with having the biggest impact on the team's fortunes over the last three-and-a-half months of the season. Four batters into the game with the St. Louis Cardinals, Clendenon clinked a three-run home run off Steve Carlton. The Mets scored five runs in the first inning, which held up under Gary Gentry's fine pitching. Clendenon added another home run in the fifth to account for the final tally.
True Mets home run historians know...The 1969 Mets tied a club record at the time by having 10 instances in which a player hit two home runs in a game. The mark had previously been established by the 1962 Mets. The current record is 18 instances, by the 2008 squad.
11- Willie Mays, May 14, 1972 (#1,048)
I'm sure I'm going to get some arguments from people who feel that this home run belongs in the top 10, but I'm going to spot it right here. I was born in 1975, and had I lived through this moment, I probably would have rated it higher. I'll grant you that it was a pretty Amayzin' (deliberately spelled that way) moment for Willie Mays to hit what turned out to be the game-winning home run in his first game with the Mets (against the Giants, no less). But this one is about sentiment, more than significance, so it nestles into this location in the rankings.
True Mets home run historians know...Twelve of Willie Mays' 14 home runs with the Mets came with the score within three runs, one way or the other.
20- Ray Knight, July 3, 1986 (#2,413)
One of my all-time favorite regular season moments is this one, the conclusion of a Mets-Astros game that foreshadowed how the key game in October would play out. The Mets and Astros went to the 10th inning tied, 3-3. Houston scored twice on a two-run home run by Phil Garner.
The Mets responded quickly in the home half when Darryl Strawberry hit a monstrous game-tying home run against Astros reliever Frank Dipino.
Knight came up a couple batters later. He had fanned four times previously against the combo of Jim Deshaies and Charlie Kerfeld. This time, he got up, 2-0, and took advantage, homering to left field to win the game. It was the first time that season that the Mets had rallied with three runs in the 10th to win a game, 6-5. It wouldn't be the last.
True Mets home run historians know...Four Mets have struck out four times and hit a home run in the same game- Bobby Bonilla, Knight, Dave Kingman, and Tommie Agee.
19- Darryl Strawberry, May 3, 1988 (#2,712)
The game in which Darryl Strawberry set the new Mets career home run record is oft-forgotten, because the contest was not close. Straw's homer didn't even earn top billing in the New York Times or Newsday the next day, as that was dedicated to David Cone's first career shutout. That seems rather shabby in hindsight, considering that Straw's final mark still stands 21 years later.
The homer that passed Dave Kingman was number 155 in Strawberry's career and came with two men on base against Braves reliever Juan Eichelberger, with the Mets up 5-0 at the time.
The best quote I could find came from USA Today, and it didn't even seem like Strawberry was really enjoying the moment.
“Everybody expected 50 homers a year from the start,” Strawberry said. “I'm just happy to have been in a position to break it.”
True Mets home run historians know...Strawberry's next home run after this one was more meaningful. It was a two-run walk-off home run to beat John Franco and the Reds, 4-3 in 10 innings. The Mets had two outs with nobody on base when Keith Hernandez walked. Strawberry hit the next pitch off the scoreboard in right center.
18- Darryl Strawberry, April 4, 1988 (#2,681)
Randy St. Claire got fired as Nationals pitching coach not too long ago, so now he's back to being best known not for that job, but for yielding one of the longest home runs in Mets history. With the Mets leading 7-4 in the 7th inning on Opening Day, St. Claire delivered a pitch that Darryl Strawberry put into a monstrous orbit with a huge uppercut swing. It hit the Olympic Stadium roof in right field before coming down.
This was part of a day in which the Mets broke the 1932 Yankees record for home runs on Opening Day by clocking six. As much as Strawberry's record-breaking home run has been ignored, this one has been played up quite a bit.
“Just another home run,” Strawberry told the media afterwards. Marty Noble got a great quote from Tim Teufel into his story the next day:
“Maybe we can convince someone to climb out (on the roof) and look for a dent. Where's the great Wallenda?”
True Mets home run historians know...Darryl Strawberry hit the most home runs at Olympic Stadium of any Met. He had 16. Mike Piazza and Howard Johnson are tied for second with nine.
17- Tommie Agee, April 10, 1969 (#708)
Since we're saluting long home runs, we might as well go back-to-back here with the famous Tommie Agee home run, the only one to ever reach the left field upper deck at Shea Stadium. It came in the second inning of a 4-2 win over the Expos. The New York Times estimated that tier of seats to be 100 feet off the ground, and the angle and distance required to put a ball into that spot makes it easy to understand why that was the sole ton of swat (a previously referenced pun) in that section. For good measure, he'd hit another in this game.
The Times also noted how this was an important stepping-stone game for Agee, who'd been awful in 1968, partly due to the aftereffects of a Bob Gibson beaning. These two home runs set the stage for a magical season.
True Mets home run historians know...If you were to list the Mets home run hitters alphabetically by last name, Tommie Agee would come third, after Kurt Abbott and Benny Agbayani.
16- Johnny Lewis, June 14, 1965 (#382)
One of the most amazin' wins in the history of the Mets was this one, in an otherwise mostly-meaningless season (save for Casey Stengel's retirement). The Mets had lost 10 in a row, including a three-game stretch against the Hall of Fame combo of Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, and Sandy Koufax. But this would be the game in which they were dominated most.
Red pitcher Jim Maloney took a no hitter through 10 innings, with 17 strikeouts to that point. He actually got stronger as the game lasted, having allowed no baserunners from the fourth through 10th innings. He entered the 11th having struck out seven of the last nine batters he faced. But since the Reds couldn't push a run across either (Maloney actually could have won his own game with a base hit in the 10th, but was unsuccessful), the score was still tied.
Johnny Lewis led off the 11th, hitting a 2-1 pitch “that sped on an ascending line to straightaway center. There it cleared the inside barrier that delineates the field of play with at least five feet to spare and slammed into the outer wall erected recently to screen off the glare of traffic on a new superhighway” reads the description in the New York Times. The Reds went down with a whimper in the home half and Maloney finished an 18-strikeout, two-hit loser. The Mets winning ways didn't last long. They dropped their next five.
It's too bad the Mets couldn't play extra-inning games every day. They went 8-6 when the game lasted beyond regulation, 41-106 otherwise.
True Mets home run historians know...Johnny Lewis hit three home runs against Jim Maloney, his most against any pitcher.
15- Carlos Beltran, August 22, 2006 (#5,526)
Good things happen to those who swing the bat. This was how the 2006 NLCS should have ended, with Carlos Beltran capping a great come-from-behind win by slamming a walk-off home run against the Cardinals closer (in this case Jason Isringhausen, not Adam Wainwright). This was one of the more fun days of the season, with Carlos Delgado joining the 400 home run club, in addition to the Mets rallying from six runs down, and a tally behind when Beltran launched his big swing.
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets have hit 24 walk-off home runs in situations in which they were trailing at the time. This was the most recent one.
14- Mike Piazza, June 9, 2000 (#4,450)
This is the kind of walk-off we like a lot:
“By the time Roger Clemens walked off the mound, almost every Yankees fan in the ballpark was booing, except for mayor Rudolph Giuliani.”
That was the lead of the AP story the day after Mike Piazza belted a grand slam against Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, as part of a 12-2 Mets rout in the Bronx, a day in which Clemens matched a career-high with nine runs allowed. All part of the continued avenging of Clemens act of bullpen vandalism during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
True Mets home run historians know...Of the 20 players who, since the Mets inception, have hit 30+ home runs against the Yankees, only one- Carlos Delgado- has played for the Mets.
13- Howard Johnson, April 24, 1986 (#2,346)
The race for first place in the NL East essentially concluded 11 games into the season, or more specifically, with one out in the home ninth inning of the Mets-Cardinals game that day. It was then that Howard Johnson hit a game-tying home run against Cardinals closer Todd Worrell. The two-run shot tied the game, 4-4, and the Mets would win in 10 on George Foster's RBI hit.
The win made the Mets winners of six in a row and the Cardinals losers of four straight. The Mets had a 1 ½ game lead in the standings, but it might well have been what it ended up at after 162 games- 21 ½ games. The Mets would go on to sweep the series and bury any team that came close to them the rest of the season.
True Mets home run historians know...Howard Johnson career vs Todd Worrell: 6 for 13, 4 home runs, 6 walks. The other pitchers whom Howard Johnson owned were Mike Lacoss (5 HR, 22 AB), Pat Perry (4 HR, 13 AB), and Jim Acker (4 HR, 15 AB).
12- Donn Clendenon, September 24, 1969 (#813, 815)
The game that clinched the 1969 NL East title was never in doubt and the man who made sure of that was the one who was credited with having the biggest impact on the team's fortunes over the last three-and-a-half months of the season. Four batters into the game with the St. Louis Cardinals, Clendenon clinked a three-run home run off Steve Carlton. The Mets scored five runs in the first inning, which held up under Gary Gentry's fine pitching. Clendenon added another home run in the fifth to account for the final tally.
True Mets home run historians know...The 1969 Mets tied a club record at the time by having 10 instances in which a player hit two home runs in a game. The mark had previously been established by the 1962 Mets. The current record is 18 instances, by the 2008 squad.
11- Willie Mays, May 14, 1972 (#1,048)
I'm sure I'm going to get some arguments from people who feel that this home run belongs in the top 10, but I'm going to spot it right here. I was born in 1975, and had I lived through this moment, I probably would have rated it higher. I'll grant you that it was a pretty Amayzin' (deliberately spelled that way) moment for Willie Mays to hit what turned out to be the game-winning home run in his first game with the Mets (against the Giants, no less). But this one is about sentiment, more than significance, so it nestles into this location in the rankings.
True Mets home run historians know...Twelve of Willie Mays' 14 home runs with the Mets came with the score within three runs, one way or the other.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Happy Anniversary, 1969 Mets
We'll return to the home run tracking next week. In the meantime, we've got an anniversary to celebrate...
On October 16, 1969, the Mets won the World Series...
* They won, despite being at a nine-win disadvantage to the Orioles in regular season play (100 to 109). After the 1969 Mets, no NL team won a World Series at that big a disadvantage until 1988, when the 94-win Dodgers beat the 104-win Athletics.
* They beat a team with 109 wins. Only two teams have won the World Series by beating a team with more wins: The 1954 Giants (54 Indians won 111) and the 1906 White Sox (06 Cubs won 116)
* They held the Orioles to a .146 batting average. That's the second-lowest batting average a team has ever had in the World Series. Only the 1966 Dodgers (.142) hit worse.
* They won despite hitting .242 in the regular season- Only 4 Mets teams have had a worse batting average since (1972, 1974, 1983, 1992)
* Jerry Koosman allowed 11 baserunners in 17 2/3 innings, for a WHIP of 5.6. Only one pitcher, who pitched at least 15 innings in a World Series, has had a better WHIP since- Steve Blass (1971 Pirates, 5.5).
* Koosman pitched a complete game to clinch the World Series, something only three NL pitchers have done since (Steve Blass, Orel Hershiser, and Josh Beckett). Koosman is the last NL pitcher to throw a complete game AT HOME to clinch the World Series.
On October 16, 1969, the Mets won the World Series...
* They won, despite being at a nine-win disadvantage to the Orioles in regular season play (100 to 109). After the 1969 Mets, no NL team won a World Series at that big a disadvantage until 1988, when the 94-win Dodgers beat the 104-win Athletics.
* They beat a team with 109 wins. Only two teams have won the World Series by beating a team with more wins: The 1954 Giants (54 Indians won 111) and the 1906 White Sox (06 Cubs won 116)
* They held the Orioles to a .146 batting average. That's the second-lowest batting average a team has ever had in the World Series. Only the 1966 Dodgers (.142) hit worse.
* They won despite hitting .242 in the regular season- Only 4 Mets teams have had a worse batting average since (1972, 1974, 1983, 1992)
* Jerry Koosman allowed 11 baserunners in 17 2/3 innings, for a WHIP of 5.6. Only one pitcher, who pitched at least 15 innings in a World Series, has had a better WHIP since- Steve Blass (1971 Pirates, 5.5).
* Koosman pitched a complete game to clinch the World Series, something only three NL pitchers have done since (Steve Blass, Orel Hershiser, and Josh Beckett). Koosman is the last NL pitcher to throw a complete game AT HOME to clinch the World Series.
*Al Weis hit .455 in the World Series, which stands as a Mets record to this date. Next-best was Rusty Staub, who hit .423 in 1973.
* In the clinching game, the Orioles did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position. I intend to check, but I don't believe this has happened in a World Series game since then.
* The Mets clinched by rallying from 3 runs down to win. Only three teams since then have clinched the World Series by rallying from 3 runs down to win the clincher- the 1970 Orioles, the 1975 Reds, and the 1986 Mets.
* The 1969 Mets won 4 straight games to close out the postseason. The longest Mets postseason win streak is 5 games, spanning the end of the 2000 NLDS and the start of the 2000 NLCS.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Sixty, Count Em Sixty! (Part IV)
Better late than never...continuing our countdown of the 60 best Mets regular-season home runs.
30- Carlos Beltran, September 28, 2008 (#5,915)
The last good thing that happened to the 2009 Mets was their last home run in 2008. This was supposed to be the home run that was going to make the closing of Shea a great day- a two-run game-tying shot against Marlins starter Scott Olsen, in the sixth inning. It was supposed to be the home run that erased the memory of that last at-bat in 2006. It was supposed to be the home run that would springboard the 2008 Mets into the postseason.
It was not.
True Mets home run historians know...Carlos Beltran has the Mets lead for most home runs against the Marlins, with 18. Mike Piazza is next with 16, David Wright is next with 12, followed by Jeromy Burnitz with 10.
29- Howard Johnson, September 10, 1985 (#2,317)
The home run that put Howard Johnson on the map as a Met was this one. The Mets and Cardinals entered their 136th games of the season tied in the standings at 82 wins apiece. The Cardinals struck first against Ron Darling when Tommy Herr homered in the opening inning.
The Mets were in need of a quick response against Danny Cox and got it. Keith Hernandez singled in a run, and after an intentional walk and hit batsman loaded the bases, Johnson crushed a grand slam. After George Foster was hit by a pitch, the benches cleared, though no punches were thrown. Johnson took personal offense.
“It was their way of saying they'd rather pitch to me,” Hojo said to the media afterwards. “They felt they could get me, but I got them.”
The Mets had to sweat this one out, but Roger McDowell gutted through 2 2/3 innings of relief to earn the save in a 5-4 victory, putting the Mets into first place in the NL East.
True Mets home run historians know...This was Howard Johnson's second career grand slam. He hit his first while with the Tigers against Bob Gibson...not the Hall of Famer, but the former one-outing Met, in 1984.
28- Gary Carter, August 11, 1988 (#2,781)
Gary Carter hit both his 100th and 200th home runs against the Mets. He hit number 300 for the Mets, but boy was it ever a torturous exercise to get there. Perhaps we should have braced ourselves for this adventure with what happened in going from 99 to 100. Carter hit 29 home runs in 1980, but it took him three weeks to advance from double to triple digits (vs Mark Bomback, May 10, 1980).
But perhaps we got teased by the ease with which The Kid went from 199 to 200, by homering in both ends of a doubleheader (against Ron Darling and Mike Torrez) to make the climb an easy one.
The pressure of hitting number 300 got to Carter, as we've previously detailed, and lasted nearly three months. He finally got there on August 11, 1988, after nearly three months of effort, against Al Nipper at Wrigley Field. Nipper was a familiar foe to Carter, who must have been pretending it was Game 4 of the 1986 World Series when he clocked one to lead off the top of the second inning.
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets record for most consecutive games WITH a home run is 5, set by Richard Hidalgo in 2004.
27- Willie Mays, July 21, 1972 (#1,091)
Less heralded than his first home run with the Mets, was his fourth home run with the Mets. Mays returned to San Francisco for his first game in front of the Giants fans who had pulled for him since the team moved to the city in 1958.
This may be less noted because there were only about 18,000 or so in the stands at Candlestick Park that day (Murray Chass wrote in the papers the next day that turnout was low because Yogi Berra had planned not to play Mays). In his first at-bat, he grounded out. In his second at-bat, he flied to center. In his third at-bat, he hit a two-run home run, turning a 1-0 Mets lead into a 3-0 advantage.
True Mets home run historians know...Willie Mays homered AGAINST 22 different Mets pitchers, but went homerless, with five hits and nine strikeouts in 24 at-bats against Tom Seaver.
26- Edgardo Alfonzo, August 30, 1999 (#4,344, 4,347, 4,348)
The best day ever for a Mets batsman was this one, in which Alfonzo got six hits, scored six runs, hit three home runs, and drove in five. He did it in the Astrodome, which wasn't exactly the most hitter-friendly baseball facility. Alfonzo actually had a chance for a four-homer game when he came up in the ninth inning, but settled for a double in a 17-1 romp.
Two folks who have seen a lot of baseball- Mets manager Bobby Valentine and Astros skipper Larry Dierker- said afterwards that it was the best offensive performance they'd ever seen. Who are we to challenge them?
True Mets home run historians know...Since the Mets inception in 1962, only two major leaguers: Shawn Green (2002) and Edgardo Alfonzo have had a three-homer, six-hit game.
25- Marlon Anderson, June 11, 2005 (#5,256)
I've written about this game many times previously, so it's hard to come up with some fresh material. I made sure to include this one in the top 25, as its one of my all-time favorites, for those unfamiliar, a game-tying inside-the-park home run off Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth inning.
“It's exciting when you watch and nerve-wracking when you're running around there and can't see anything,” Anderson said, describing his path around the bases.”
Steve Finley is known as the man who just missed Todd Pratt's walk-off home run to end the 1999 Division Series. He just missed this one as well, in a different way, watching the ball kick off his knee and roll away, allowing Anderson to race the bases.
“It tipped off the end of my glove and hit my knee,” Finley said. “It's just a tough luck play, a freak play. You can't defend that.”
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets have hit 67 game-tying home runs in the ninth inning or later. This is the only one that was an inside-the-park home run.
24- Jim Hickman, August 9, 1963 (#209)
Before there was Anthony Young and his gargantuan losing streak, there was Roger Craig. Craig was an average pitcher in a well-below-average situation. In two seasons with the Mets, he went 15-46. For all other teams, he was 59-52.
Over a three-month stretch in 1963, Craig went 0-18, and it was a rather grim 0-18. Craig pitched eight complete games. In 10 of his 19 starts, the Mets lost by either one run or two runs. Twice he started, the Mets won, and he pitched great...but alas, he got a no-decision.
Craig finally broke the losing streak on August 9, when he broke a 3-2 lead, but stuck around for the finish, and was rewarded when Jim Hickman hit a walk-off grand slam.
The famous kicker to the story- Craig had changed his uniform number for the game, switching from No. 38 to No. 13.
True Mets home run historians know...At the end of the 1960s, the Mets all-time home run leader board was led by Ed Kranepool (62), Ron Swoboda (60), and Jim Hickman (60).
23- Tim Harkness, June 26, 1963 (#186)
The best of the home runs of the Mets first two seasons of hopelessness came from Harkness, and it came in the most ultra-dramatic of fashions. The Mets had rallied from 4-0 down at home against the Cubs to tie and force extra-innings. It took until the 14th for anyone else to score, and Chicago tallied twice on an inside-the-park home run by Billy Williams.
In the home 14th, the Mets nearly bungled their way out of a rally when Jim Hickman was thrown out trying to take third base on Ron Hunt's single. Two walks, sandwiched around a flyout loaded the bases for Harkness, who stretched Jim Brewer's count all the way to 3-and-2. The payoff pitch was clubbed down the right field line for a game-ending grand slam- one of two the Mets would hit that season (see previous HR listed).
This one was celebrated in a big way, as a group of fans made there way down to the field, and paraded out to the team's locker rooms, which were located in center field. They wouldn't leave until Harkness came out for a curtain call.
The photo caption in the Chicago Tribune described the newfound popularity of the Mets hero, noting Harkness was the “Newest threat for write-in election as mayor of New York.”
True Mets home run historians know...Tim Harkness was the first Met to bat at Shea Stadium and the first Met to get a hit (a single) there.
22- Keith Hernandez, September 1, 1985 (#2,305)
If at first you don't succeed, keep on swinging. Comparatively speaking, Keith Hernandez was mediocre in August of 1985. A 1-for-17 drought in his last four games finished him at .268 with 13 RBI...decent for some, lousy for Mex. So he ended up on the bench for a game in San Francisco, not called upon until the most important moment.
The Mets were down a run in the ninth inning with a man on second and one out in the ninth when Davey Johnson pulled out his best bench bat. The Giants countered with lefty Mark Davis, who was especially tough for lefty hitters to face. On a 1-2 count, Hernandez homered. He'd refer to it in his book, published in 1986, as “the only homer I ever hit into the upper deck anywhere.”
It was a home run of significant value, because it got the Mets a win on a day that it looked like they would lose. And it shook Hernandez out of his funk. “Can one swing turn around a hitter? Absolutely,” Hernandez asked and answered. You know what he did in the next game? 5-for-5? You know what he hit in September? .395.
True Mets home run historians know...The most home runs Keith Hernandez hit against any pitcher is six, against former Met Mike Scott.
21- Mookie Wilson, September 20, 1981 (#1,880)
The faux pennant race post-strike 1981 was one in which the Mets had deep involvement, down to the season's final days. As one Mets book quotes Joe Torre as saying: “You could steal a pennant.”
The closest thing the Mets had to a pennant thiever was Mookie Wilson, whose error on Tito Landrum's triple in the top of the ninth put the Mets in a one-run hole against the Cardinals in a game that was a must-win, late in the year, for the Mets to have any NL East second-half title hopes. In the bottom half, Wilson atoned for his mistake, with a two-out, two-run walk-off home run, which completed a comeback from an early 5-0 deficit and gave the Mets a wild, 7-6 win and pull within 3 ½ games of first.
“I'm as high as I can get right now,” Wilson said in the locker room afterwards.
True Mets home run historians know...Mookie Wilson also homered against Hall of Famers Rich Gossage and Steve Carlton.
Be sure to check out the ongoing series on Mets one-hitters at http://nonohitters.com
30- Carlos Beltran, September 28, 2008 (#5,915)
The last good thing that happened to the 2009 Mets was their last home run in 2008. This was supposed to be the home run that was going to make the closing of Shea a great day- a two-run game-tying shot against Marlins starter Scott Olsen, in the sixth inning. It was supposed to be the home run that erased the memory of that last at-bat in 2006. It was supposed to be the home run that would springboard the 2008 Mets into the postseason.
It was not.
True Mets home run historians know...Carlos Beltran has the Mets lead for most home runs against the Marlins, with 18. Mike Piazza is next with 16, David Wright is next with 12, followed by Jeromy Burnitz with 10.
29- Howard Johnson, September 10, 1985 (#2,317)
The home run that put Howard Johnson on the map as a Met was this one. The Mets and Cardinals entered their 136th games of the season tied in the standings at 82 wins apiece. The Cardinals struck first against Ron Darling when Tommy Herr homered in the opening inning.
The Mets were in need of a quick response against Danny Cox and got it. Keith Hernandez singled in a run, and after an intentional walk and hit batsman loaded the bases, Johnson crushed a grand slam. After George Foster was hit by a pitch, the benches cleared, though no punches were thrown. Johnson took personal offense.
“It was their way of saying they'd rather pitch to me,” Hojo said to the media afterwards. “They felt they could get me, but I got them.”
The Mets had to sweat this one out, but Roger McDowell gutted through 2 2/3 innings of relief to earn the save in a 5-4 victory, putting the Mets into first place in the NL East.
True Mets home run historians know...This was Howard Johnson's second career grand slam. He hit his first while with the Tigers against Bob Gibson...not the Hall of Famer, but the former one-outing Met, in 1984.
28- Gary Carter, August 11, 1988 (#2,781)
Gary Carter hit both his 100th and 200th home runs against the Mets. He hit number 300 for the Mets, but boy was it ever a torturous exercise to get there. Perhaps we should have braced ourselves for this adventure with what happened in going from 99 to 100. Carter hit 29 home runs in 1980, but it took him three weeks to advance from double to triple digits (vs Mark Bomback, May 10, 1980).
But perhaps we got teased by the ease with which The Kid went from 199 to 200, by homering in both ends of a doubleheader (against Ron Darling and Mike Torrez) to make the climb an easy one.
The pressure of hitting number 300 got to Carter, as we've previously detailed, and lasted nearly three months. He finally got there on August 11, 1988, after nearly three months of effort, against Al Nipper at Wrigley Field. Nipper was a familiar foe to Carter, who must have been pretending it was Game 4 of the 1986 World Series when he clocked one to lead off the top of the second inning.
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets record for most consecutive games WITH a home run is 5, set by Richard Hidalgo in 2004.
27- Willie Mays, July 21, 1972 (#1,091)
Less heralded than his first home run with the Mets, was his fourth home run with the Mets. Mays returned to San Francisco for his first game in front of the Giants fans who had pulled for him since the team moved to the city in 1958.
This may be less noted because there were only about 18,000 or so in the stands at Candlestick Park that day (Murray Chass wrote in the papers the next day that turnout was low because Yogi Berra had planned not to play Mays). In his first at-bat, he grounded out. In his second at-bat, he flied to center. In his third at-bat, he hit a two-run home run, turning a 1-0 Mets lead into a 3-0 advantage.
True Mets home run historians know...Willie Mays homered AGAINST 22 different Mets pitchers, but went homerless, with five hits and nine strikeouts in 24 at-bats against Tom Seaver.
26- Edgardo Alfonzo, August 30, 1999 (#4,344, 4,347, 4,348)
The best day ever for a Mets batsman was this one, in which Alfonzo got six hits, scored six runs, hit three home runs, and drove in five. He did it in the Astrodome, which wasn't exactly the most hitter-friendly baseball facility. Alfonzo actually had a chance for a four-homer game when he came up in the ninth inning, but settled for a double in a 17-1 romp.
Two folks who have seen a lot of baseball- Mets manager Bobby Valentine and Astros skipper Larry Dierker- said afterwards that it was the best offensive performance they'd ever seen. Who are we to challenge them?
True Mets home run historians know...Since the Mets inception in 1962, only two major leaguers: Shawn Green (2002) and Edgardo Alfonzo have had a three-homer, six-hit game.
25- Marlon Anderson, June 11, 2005 (#5,256)
I've written about this game many times previously, so it's hard to come up with some fresh material. I made sure to include this one in the top 25, as its one of my all-time favorites, for those unfamiliar, a game-tying inside-the-park home run off Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth inning.
“It's exciting when you watch and nerve-wracking when you're running around there and can't see anything,” Anderson said, describing his path around the bases.”
Steve Finley is known as the man who just missed Todd Pratt's walk-off home run to end the 1999 Division Series. He just missed this one as well, in a different way, watching the ball kick off his knee and roll away, allowing Anderson to race the bases.
“It tipped off the end of my glove and hit my knee,” Finley said. “It's just a tough luck play, a freak play. You can't defend that.”
True Mets home run historians know...The Mets have hit 67 game-tying home runs in the ninth inning or later. This is the only one that was an inside-the-park home run.
24- Jim Hickman, August 9, 1963 (#209)
Before there was Anthony Young and his gargantuan losing streak, there was Roger Craig. Craig was an average pitcher in a well-below-average situation. In two seasons with the Mets, he went 15-46. For all other teams, he was 59-52.
Over a three-month stretch in 1963, Craig went 0-18, and it was a rather grim 0-18. Craig pitched eight complete games. In 10 of his 19 starts, the Mets lost by either one run or two runs. Twice he started, the Mets won, and he pitched great...but alas, he got a no-decision.
Craig finally broke the losing streak on August 9, when he broke a 3-2 lead, but stuck around for the finish, and was rewarded when Jim Hickman hit a walk-off grand slam.
The famous kicker to the story- Craig had changed his uniform number for the game, switching from No. 38 to No. 13.
True Mets home run historians know...At the end of the 1960s, the Mets all-time home run leader board was led by Ed Kranepool (62), Ron Swoboda (60), and Jim Hickman (60).
23- Tim Harkness, June 26, 1963 (#186)
The best of the home runs of the Mets first two seasons of hopelessness came from Harkness, and it came in the most ultra-dramatic of fashions. The Mets had rallied from 4-0 down at home against the Cubs to tie and force extra-innings. It took until the 14th for anyone else to score, and Chicago tallied twice on an inside-the-park home run by Billy Williams.
In the home 14th, the Mets nearly bungled their way out of a rally when Jim Hickman was thrown out trying to take third base on Ron Hunt's single. Two walks, sandwiched around a flyout loaded the bases for Harkness, who stretched Jim Brewer's count all the way to 3-and-2. The payoff pitch was clubbed down the right field line for a game-ending grand slam- one of two the Mets would hit that season (see previous HR listed).
This one was celebrated in a big way, as a group of fans made there way down to the field, and paraded out to the team's locker rooms, which were located in center field. They wouldn't leave until Harkness came out for a curtain call.
The photo caption in the Chicago Tribune described the newfound popularity of the Mets hero, noting Harkness was the “Newest threat for write-in election as mayor of New York.”
True Mets home run historians know...Tim Harkness was the first Met to bat at Shea Stadium and the first Met to get a hit (a single) there.
22- Keith Hernandez, September 1, 1985 (#2,305)
If at first you don't succeed, keep on swinging. Comparatively speaking, Keith Hernandez was mediocre in August of 1985. A 1-for-17 drought in his last four games finished him at .268 with 13 RBI...decent for some, lousy for Mex. So he ended up on the bench for a game in San Francisco, not called upon until the most important moment.
The Mets were down a run in the ninth inning with a man on second and one out in the ninth when Davey Johnson pulled out his best bench bat. The Giants countered with lefty Mark Davis, who was especially tough for lefty hitters to face. On a 1-2 count, Hernandez homered. He'd refer to it in his book, published in 1986, as “the only homer I ever hit into the upper deck anywhere.”
It was a home run of significant value, because it got the Mets a win on a day that it looked like they would lose. And it shook Hernandez out of his funk. “Can one swing turn around a hitter? Absolutely,” Hernandez asked and answered. You know what he did in the next game? 5-for-5? You know what he hit in September? .395.
True Mets home run historians know...The most home runs Keith Hernandez hit against any pitcher is six, against former Met Mike Scott.
21- Mookie Wilson, September 20, 1981 (#1,880)
The faux pennant race post-strike 1981 was one in which the Mets had deep involvement, down to the season's final days. As one Mets book quotes Joe Torre as saying: “You could steal a pennant.”
The closest thing the Mets had to a pennant thiever was Mookie Wilson, whose error on Tito Landrum's triple in the top of the ninth put the Mets in a one-run hole against the Cardinals in a game that was a must-win, late in the year, for the Mets to have any NL East second-half title hopes. In the bottom half, Wilson atoned for his mistake, with a two-out, two-run walk-off home run, which completed a comeback from an early 5-0 deficit and gave the Mets a wild, 7-6 win and pull within 3 ½ games of first.
“I'm as high as I can get right now,” Wilson said in the locker room afterwards.
True Mets home run historians know...Mookie Wilson also homered against Hall of Famers Rich Gossage and Steve Carlton.
Be sure to check out the ongoing series on Mets one-hitters at http://nonohitters.com
Monday, October 05, 2009
Save The Best for Last
We'll resume the home run countdown in the next two days, but wanted to pass along some kudos to Angel Pagan and Nelson Figueroa.
* Angel Pagan is the 10th player in Mets history to have at least two doubles, and a triple, in the same game. He can thus be linked to, among others, Duffy Dyer, Joel Youngblood, and Alex Ochoa.
As for Figueroa...
* He's the 5th pitcher this season to strike out 7+ in a walk-free shutout, allowing four hits or fewer. The other 4:
Tim Lincecum
Josh Beckett
Aaron Harang
Jonathan Sanchez (in his no-hitter)
* He is the 15th pitcher in Mets history with that sort of start (SHO, 7 K, 0 BB, <=4 H), the first since Johan Santana against the Pirates on August 17.
As my dad said: "We should have pitched him in the last game of the season in 2007 or 2008."
* Angel Pagan is the 10th player in Mets history to have at least two doubles, and a triple, in the same game. He can thus be linked to, among others, Duffy Dyer, Joel Youngblood, and Alex Ochoa.
As for Figueroa...
* He's the 5th pitcher this season to strike out 7+ in a walk-free shutout, allowing four hits or fewer. The other 4:
Tim Lincecum
Josh Beckett
Aaron Harang
Jonathan Sanchez (in his no-hitter)
* He is the 15th pitcher in Mets history with that sort of start (SHO, 7 K, 0 BB, <=4 H), the first since Johan Santana against the Pirates on August 17.
As my dad said: "We should have pitched him in the last game of the season in 2007 or 2008."
Friday, October 02, 2009
The Mets Walk-Offs Player of the Year
I have no interest in awaiting the results of the weekend's games, so I'm declaring the winner of the First Annual Mets Walk-Offs Player of the Year competition right now.
This year's recipient is Omir (President) Santos.
Being named the most valuable player on this team is an honor of which VERY few are worthy, but I find that Santos is the most deserving.
Santos received four fistbumps this season, with those being awarded to the player whose contributions were extremely valuable to a walk-off, walk-up (bottom of 8th) or walk-down (top of 9th/extra innings) victory.
Santos made his 2009 debut in the Mets first walk-off win of the season. With runners on first and second and one out in a tie game on April 17 against the Brewers, Santos did the best possible thing he could, without getting a hit. He dribbled a grounder too slow for the Brewers to start a double play. Milwaukee could get only one out, and the Mets subsequently won the game on Luis Castillo's base hit. The next day, Santos finished off a 1-0 win by completing a strikeout-throwout double play with an impressive peg to second base. A new star was born.
Too often this season, the Mets were rally killers, specializing in making nothing out of something. Santos, for the most part, was an exception to the rule- a guy you could count on to get the runner home with a runner on third and less than two outs. He enters the weekend tied for the team lead with six sacrifice flies.
Entering Friday, the Mets were 33-40 in games that Santos started. They were 34-52 when he didn't start, so the benefits to his presence were significant.
The Mets had one month in which they were a worthy baseball team. In May, they went 19-9 and Santos was an important reason why. They went 12-3 in his 15 starts at catcher. It was a month in which he hit .278 with 14 RBI.
David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Gary Sheffield all had better numbers that month, but that's something you would expect. The emergence of Santos was totally unexpected.
It's rather frightening when the best thing you can say about a season is that the Mets found themselves a decent backup/platooning catcher for 2009, but that is the case in this season of horrors and hardships.
So we congratulate Omir (President) Santos. He gets our vote for 2009 Mets Walk-Off Player of the Year.
Be advised, our next edition in our series on the top 60 Mets Regular Season HR may be delayed until Tuesday/Wednesday. Thanks for your patience.
This year's recipient is Omir (President) Santos.
Being named the most valuable player on this team is an honor of which VERY few are worthy, but I find that Santos is the most deserving.
Santos received four fistbumps this season, with those being awarded to the player whose contributions were extremely valuable to a walk-off, walk-up (bottom of 8th) or walk-down (top of 9th/extra innings) victory.
Santos made his 2009 debut in the Mets first walk-off win of the season. With runners on first and second and one out in a tie game on April 17 against the Brewers, Santos did the best possible thing he could, without getting a hit. He dribbled a grounder too slow for the Brewers to start a double play. Milwaukee could get only one out, and the Mets subsequently won the game on Luis Castillo's base hit. The next day, Santos finished off a 1-0 win by completing a strikeout-throwout double play with an impressive peg to second base. A new star was born.
Too often this season, the Mets were rally killers, specializing in making nothing out of something. Santos, for the most part, was an exception to the rule- a guy you could count on to get the runner home with a runner on third and less than two outs. He enters the weekend tied for the team lead with six sacrifice flies.
Entering Friday, the Mets were 33-40 in games that Santos started. They were 34-52 when he didn't start, so the benefits to his presence were significant.
The Mets had one month in which they were a worthy baseball team. In May, they went 19-9 and Santos was an important reason why. They went 12-3 in his 15 starts at catcher. It was a month in which he hit .278 with 14 RBI.
David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Gary Sheffield all had better numbers that month, but that's something you would expect. The emergence of Santos was totally unexpected.
It's rather frightening when the best thing you can say about a season is that the Mets found themselves a decent backup/platooning catcher for 2009, but that is the case in this season of horrors and hardships.
So we congratulate Omir (President) Santos. He gets our vote for 2009 Mets Walk-Off Player of the Year.
Be advised, our next edition in our series on the top 60 Mets Regular Season HR may be delayed until Tuesday/Wednesday. Thanks for your patience.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Good God, K-Rod...
Just when you think you've seen it all...
Walk-off loss #388.
Think that's the 7th walk-off grand slam the Mets have allowed (2nd to the Expos/Nats franchise)...
That's about all the energy to check notes that I have right now.
Walk-off loss #388.
Think that's the 7th walk-off grand slam the Mets have allowed (2nd to the Expos/Nats franchise)...
That's about all the energy to check notes that I have right now.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
New Domain Name Alert: Back to Blogspot
Hello
Due to a variety of circumstances, I no longer own the domain "Metswalkoffs.com"
The domain expired, was auctioned off, and purchased by someone else. They can do with it what they wish.
For the time being, I am now going to stick with what we were originally
http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com
A little harder to remember, but if you bookmark it, you should be ok...if I change the name, you will end up getting redirected to the new link.
My apologies for your inconvenience, and if there's a lesson to be learned here, it's "Check ALL e-mail accounts you've ever signed up for, regularly."
Due to a variety of circumstances, I no longer own the domain "Metswalkoffs.com"
The domain expired, was auctioned off, and purchased by someone else. They can do with it what they wish.
For the time being, I am now going to stick with what we were originally
http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com
A little harder to remember, but if you bookmark it, you should be ok...if I change the name, you will end up getting redirected to the new link.
My apologies for your inconvenience, and if there's a lesson to be learned here, it's "Check ALL e-mail accounts you've ever signed up for, regularly."
One Singular Sensation
Please read Part III of my "Most Metmorable HR Series" here ...
http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2009/09/sixty-count-em-sixty-part-iii.html
A total of 66 Mets contributed to the club's home run annals by hitting exactly one home run for the team.
How did Frank Taveras celebrate his 500th plate appearance as a Met? By homering against Mike Lacoss on August 18, 1979, a game the Mets would tie on a 9th-inning home run by John Stearns, only to lose in walk-off fashion (Dave Concecpcion, double). Taveras would get 1,083 cracks at home run number two, only to come up empty on each occasion.
Taveras greatly outdistances Bob Bailor (867 plate appearances) in terms of home run unlikelihood. Some may recall Bailor's sole effort of herculean clout as a Met against the Phillies, on April 13, 1983. Most probably want to forget it, since that's also the day Bo Diaz beat Neil Allen with a walk-off grand slam.
This is a list that is chock full of middle infielders, like Tim Foli (773 PA), Jose Oquendo (564 PA), Al Moran (395), and Tony Fernandez (204). It's also chock full of nuts, or at least one nut, the late Tug McGraw, whose only homer in 178 turns as a Met came against Expos pitcher Carl Morton, on September 8, 1971.
I count 17 pitchers on this list. John Maine (192 PA and counting) stays for now and we'll remember that he can form the battery with catcher Brent Mayne (113 PA).
Esix Snead (14 PA), Billy Baldwin (24 PA), Craig Brazell (35 PA) and Hobie Landrith (54) made their sole ton of swat count (wordplay alert!) in a big way. For each of those men, their only Mets home run was a walk-off shot.
I must get in some more wordplay, as I'm bored, and it strikes me as better entertainment value than trying to think of notes for Steve Trachsel (334 PA).
Gus Bell rang once for the Mets in 115 plate appearances. Give John DeMerit (18 plate appearances) a badge for his lone shot, which isn't quite as shiny as the trophy we'd award Phil Lombardi (53 plate appearances) for his only Mets homer. The Butler, as in Brett did it once in 418 showings.
In the future, I promise not to be so into the puns, or maybe not. And on the subject of future promise, let's hope Fernando Martinez (100 plate appearances), hits more home runs as a Met. We don't want him to be one and done.
http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2009/09/sixty-count-em-sixty-part-iii.html
A total of 66 Mets contributed to the club's home run annals by hitting exactly one home run for the team.
How did Frank Taveras celebrate his 500th plate appearance as a Met? By homering against Mike Lacoss on August 18, 1979, a game the Mets would tie on a 9th-inning home run by John Stearns, only to lose in walk-off fashion (Dave Concecpcion, double). Taveras would get 1,083 cracks at home run number two, only to come up empty on each occasion.
Taveras greatly outdistances Bob Bailor (867 plate appearances) in terms of home run unlikelihood. Some may recall Bailor's sole effort of herculean clout as a Met against the Phillies, on April 13, 1983. Most probably want to forget it, since that's also the day Bo Diaz beat Neil Allen with a walk-off grand slam.
This is a list that is chock full of middle infielders, like Tim Foli (773 PA), Jose Oquendo (564 PA), Al Moran (395), and Tony Fernandez (204). It's also chock full of nuts, or at least one nut, the late Tug McGraw, whose only homer in 178 turns as a Met came against Expos pitcher Carl Morton, on September 8, 1971.
I count 17 pitchers on this list. John Maine (192 PA and counting) stays for now and we'll remember that he can form the battery with catcher Brent Mayne (113 PA).
Esix Snead (14 PA), Billy Baldwin (24 PA), Craig Brazell (35 PA) and Hobie Landrith (54) made their sole ton of swat count (wordplay alert!) in a big way. For each of those men, their only Mets home run was a walk-off shot.
I must get in some more wordplay, as I'm bored, and it strikes me as better entertainment value than trying to think of notes for Steve Trachsel (334 PA).
Gus Bell rang once for the Mets in 115 plate appearances. Give John DeMerit (18 plate appearances) a badge for his lone shot, which isn't quite as shiny as the trophy we'd award Phil Lombardi (53 plate appearances) for his only Mets homer. The Butler, as in Brett did it once in 418 showings.
In the future, I promise not to be so into the puns, or maybe not. And on the subject of future promise, let's hope Fernando Martinez (100 plate appearances), hits more home runs as a Met. We don't want him to be one and done.
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