The Most With The Least: Benny Agbayani (1999-2000)

There are some players who become folk heroes without ever being expected to produce 500 at-bats or 30 starts in a season.  Players like Johnny Podres of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, Bucky Dent of the 1978 New York Yankees and Francisco Cabrera of the 1992 Atlanta Braves come to mind.  The memorable moments they produced in those seasons have lived on long after their playing careers were over.  In some cases - Buddy Biancalana's postseason for the 1985 Kansas City Royals comes to mind - their moments in the sun completely overshadowed the fact that save for the magical game or stretch of games, they did not have particularly good careers in the major leagues (Biancalana batted .205 and had a -1.5 WAR in parts of six seasons with the Royals and Houston Astros).

Some folk heroes who don't play every day actually do have good careers.  However, their careers are sometimes overlooked because they were never among the league leaders in any categories due to the lack of steady playing time.

Several Mets players have achieved folk hero status and a lifetime of adulation and respect even without the gaudy numbers put up by some of the hitters and pitchers currently in the team's Hall of Fame.  One such player became beloved for what he did during a two-year stretch, despite not being an everyday player.  His numbers were not All-Star worthy, nor will he ever be enshrined in the Mets Hall of Fame.  But his clutch performances in his limited appearances were crucial to the team's success during those two seasons and he will forever be remembered for his efforts.

Mahalo, Benny Agbayani!  You gave Mets fans plenty to cheer about.  (AP photo by Ron Frehm)

Benny Peter Agbayani was one of five Hawaiian-born players who suited up for the Mets over the years (the others were Carlos Diaz, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez and Tyler Yates).  However, he was the only one of the five who wasn't a pitcher and the only native Hawaiian originally drafted by the Mets who played for the team.  Like many roads on the island state, Agabyani's path to the majors was long and winding.  He was drafted in the 30th round of the 1993 June amateur draft and toiled in the minor leagues for nearly six full seasons (which included a regrettable turn as a replacement player in spring training due to the 1994-95 players' strike) before being called up by the Mets for the first time in June 1998.  Agbayani had three separate stints with the Mets in 1998, but only got into 11 games.  His infrequent appearances at the plate led to an underwhelming debut, as he batted .133 with no RBI during his time at the big league level.

After his brief stays with the Mets, the team placed Agbayani on waivers, but no other club was interested in his services.  The following offseason, the Mets once again dangled Agbayani for other teams to claim in the Rule V draft.  No one took the bait.  Despite the team's best efforts to end their relationship with Agbayani, the outfielder remained property of the Mets heading into the 1999 campaign.

Agbayani began his seventh professional season in 1999 at AAA-Norfolk and before too long, he made it impossible for the Mets not to notice him.  In 28 games with the Tides, Agabyani batted .356 and posted a whopping 1.139 OPS.  He averaged an extra-base hit every six at-bats, including eight home runs in the first month of the season.  A year after Agbayani couldn't crack an outfield that included the declining Bernard Gilkey and Butch Huskey at his worst, Agabyani got a second chance at the big league level in 1999.  Both Gilkey and Huskey were no longer on the team, with Gilkey having been dealt to Arizona at the trade deadline in 1998 and Huskey being shipped off to Seattle five months later.

Manager Bobby Valentine, who was Agbayani's skipper at Norfolk in 1996, had always praised the stocky slugger in the minors, and continued to believe in him once he made it to the majors.  Injuries to Bobby Bonilla and Rickey Henderson opened up a roster spot for Agabyani in mid-May and the six-year minor leaguer took full advantage of the opportunity, homering in his first game after the call-up.  Agabyani continued to hit with power and by June 13, he had already amassed ten home runs in his first 73 at-bats of the season - a feat no Met had ever accomplished.

Fans at Shea Stadium immediately gravitated to the hard-working Agabayani, and remained supportive even after Agbayani went through the inevitable home run drought that followed his month-long power surge.  Although Agbayani started just 70 games for the Mets in 1999, the team's record was 46-24 in those starts, making Agbayani a key cog in the Mets' machine that went on to make its first trip to the postseason since 1988.

Agbayani finished his first major league season with a .286/.363/.525 slash line, contributing 18 doubles, three triples, 14 homers and 42 RBI in just 276 at-bats, earning him a spot on the Mets' playoff roster.  Although he started just four of the Mets' ten postseason games against the Diamondbacks and Braves, he still reached base eight times in 21 plate appearances for a .381 on-base percentage.  Agbayani's RBI double in the sixth inning of Game Four of the division series broke a 1-1 tie in a game the Mets eventually won in ten innings.  Facing the Braves in the sixth game of the NLCS, Agabyani reached base three times even though he didn't get into the game until the sixth inning.  In the eighth frame, Agbayani led off with a single and later scored the go-ahead run on a hit by Melvin Mora.  The Braves then rallied to tie the game and send it into extra innings.  Once again, Agbayani led off the tenth inning by reaching base, drawing a walk from John Rocker.  Three batters later, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Todd Pratt to give the Mets another one-run lead.  Unfortunately, the Braves tied it again in the bottom of the tenth and went on to win the game and the National League pennant an inning later.

Despite a fantastic rookie season that ended with valuable postseason experience, Agbayani was not guaranteed a spot on the roster as the 2000 regular season approached.  Rickey Henderson was still the team's left fielder, newcomer Derek Bell was brought in to play right field and top prospect Jay Payton was ready to play every day in the major leagues as the team's center fielder.  But Agbayani caught a break when the Mets broke camp to fly to Tokyo for their season-opening series against the Chicago Cubs.  The quirky schedule during the first week of the season meant the Mets would only need to carry ten pitchers on the roster instead of the usual eleven.  That opened up a spot for Agbayani to make the trip with the team to Japan.  And with one swing of the bat, he made sure he'd make the flight back to New York with his teammates instead of another trip back to Norfolk.

Agbayani did not play in the first game, nor did he play in the first ten innings of the second affair in the Tokyo Dome.  But with the game deadlocked in the 11th inning, the Mets loaded the bases against Cubs reliever Danny Young.  Young had retired the first two batters he faced, but then allowed a single to Todd Zeile and back-to-back walks to Rey Ordoñez and Melvin Mora.  With pitcher Dennis Cook slated to bat for the Mets, Valentine decided to use the right-handed hitting Agbayani against the southpaw Young, who was making his first appearance in the big leagues.  Young threw a first-pitch ball, then fired a low fastball to the plate that Agbayani golfed over the center field fence for a grand slam.  The blast led to a 5-1 victory and gave the Mets a split in their season-opening series.  And even though Agbayani was due to the be sent down to the minors once the team needed to use their fifth starter, he never played a single game below the major league level in 2000, due mostly to his game-winning grand slam in Japan.

Melvin Mora (left) and Todd Zeile (right) flank Benny Agbayani as he crosses the plate in Tokyo.  (MLB.com screen shot)

Although Agbayani remained with the team once they returned to the United States, he was relegated to a bench role over the first month of the season.  But Rickey Henderson, who drew the ire of the front office for playing cards with Bobby Bonilla during Game Six of the 1999 NLCS, was off to a horrendous start in 2000, struggling to stay above the Mendoza Line.  Through May 9, Henderson was batting .207 and had stolen just two bases.  It was a far cry from his fantastic 1999 campaign, when he batted .315 and had 37 steals.  The Mets were also just 13-13 in Henderson's 26 starts through early May.  Meanwhile, Agbayani was continuing to deliver for the Mets, albeit in limited action.  Agbayani started a mere five games in April and had batted just 32 times through month's end, but in that small sample size, he posted a .321/.387/.571 slash line, produced five extra-base hits and drove in nine runs.  More importantly, the Mets won all but one of the games Agbayani started in April.

When Agbayani started, he produced and the Mets won.  When Henderson started, he did not produce and the Mets were mediocre.  Henderson also whined and was generally a malcontent, while Agbayani had a positive outlook and a winning demeanor.  The writing was on the wall for Henderson, and by mid-May, he had been released by the Mets and Agbayani was given a shot to start more games.

Three days after Henderson was released, the Mets found themselves in fourth place in the N.L. East with a 20-20 record.  But with Henderson gone and Agbayani finally getting a chance to prove himself, the Mets responded by winning eight of their next ten games.  Agbayani started seven of those contests, batting .348 and reaching base at a .423 clip.  The Mets went on another hot streak from mid-June through early July, winning 12 out of 16 affairs.  Among the key contributors in that sizzling skein was Agbayani, who torched opposing pitchers with a .357/.429/.833 slash line during the two-and-a-half week period.  The left fielder started a dozen times during the 16-game stretch, reaching base on 21 occasions, smacking six home runs and racking up 14 RBI.

As the calendar flipped from July to August, the Mets were on a roll and Agbayani was putting up gaudy numbers.  By August 11, the day the Mets got to 20 games over .500 for the first time in 2000, Agbayani was the owner of a robust .315/.404/.502 slash line.  Only Mike Piazza (.349/.416/.676) and Edgardo Alfonzo (.328/.427/.519) had better slash lines on the team than Agbayani.  Agbayani remained above the .300/.400/.500 mark until mid-September, when a late slump and the loss of playing time to September call-up Timo Perez brought him under those figures.  But by then, it had become a foregone conclusion that the 2000 squad was going to crash the playoff party, unlike the 1999 campaign, when the Mets needed to play a 163rd game to qualify for the postseason.  And a big reason why they were returning to the playoffs was the decision to start Benny Agbayani with more regularity, as the Mets went 57-37 when the outfielder was in the starting lineup in 2000.

Agbayani was going to the playoffs for the second time in his two full seasons in the big leagues.  However, unlike the Mets' 1999 postseason run, when he started just four games, Agbayani was expected to be a key contributor if the Mets were going to have a deeper playoff run, especially after having just completed a season in which he finished fourth on the team in batting average (.289), third in on-base percentage (.391), third in slugging percentage (.477) and third in oWAR (2.1).  He also added 19 doubles, 15 home runs and 60 RBI in just 350 at-bats.

The Mets' division series opponent was the San Francisco Giants, who produced the best record in baseball during the 2000 campaign with a 97-65 mark.  The Mets split the first two games at Pac Bell Park, with Agbayani reaching base five times in eight plate appearances.  In Game Three, Agbayani was kept off the bases in each of his first five plate appearances.  He had been removed for a defensive replacement in each of the first two games, a practice that Agbayani was quite familiar with, as manager Bobby Valentine had removed Agbayani in 51 of the 94 games he started during the 2000 regular season.  But as the game progressed into extra innings, Valentine did not take Agbayani out of the game, allowing him to bat for a sixth time in the bottom of the 13th, even after he had failed to get a sacrifice bunt down in his previous at-bat when the Mets had two runners on and nobody out.

Valentine noticed Agabyani was disgusted with himself after his failure to move the runners over cost the Mets a chance to win the game in the 11th, saying, "He really felt like he let the team down.  He was kind of pacing in the dugout, just hoping to get another chance."

And with one mighty swing of the bat, Valentine was rewarded for his decision to stick with him.

Video courtesy of MLB.com YouTube channel

On a 1-0 pitch from Giants reliever Aaron Fultz, Agabyani ended the taut affair with a long home run into the Shea Stadium left field bleachers.  The blast gave the Mets a 3-2 victory and a 2-1 series lead.  The following night, the Mets took the series from the Giants on a one-hit shutout by Bobby Jones.  Agabyani had more hits in Game Four than the entire Giants lineup, as he went 2-for-4 in the Mets' division series-clinching victory.

Unlike the 1999 National League Championship Series, when every game was decided by one or two runs, the 2000 NLCS wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking, as the Mets defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in five games, with three of their four wins in the series coming by four or more runs.  Agbayani had a stellar series, reaching base ten times in the five games, including two doubles, four walks and three RBI, but once again he was overshadowed by the great performances of Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Piazza (both hit over .400 in the series and combined to produce seven extra-base hits), as well as Timo Perez, who set a club record with eight runs scored in the series, and Mike Hampton, whose two wins earned him the NLCS Most Valuable Player award.

It was on to the Fall Classic for Benny and the Mets, where they would square off against their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees, in the first Subway World Series since 1956.  Agbayani and the Mets would drop the first two games to the Bronx Bombers, with Agbayani collecting hits in each of those games.  The Mets absolutely had to win Game Three, and when the eighth inning rolled around with the score tied at 2, it was up to Agbayani to deliver.  And that's exactly what he did.

With one out and Todd Zeile at first, Agbayani stepped up to the plate to face Yankees starter Orlando Hernandez, who had struck out 12 Mets batters in seven and a third innings.  Agbayani refused to give El Duque a baker's dozen, lining a double into the left-center field gap.  Zeile motored all the way around from first base to score to go-ahead run.  The Mets added another run in the inning and held on to win the game, 4-2.

The game-winning double gave Agbayani hits in all 12 games the Mets had played up to that point in the 2000 postseason, setting a franchise record for longest hitting streak in a single postseason.  It also gave Agbayani a 13-game postseason hitting streak, dating back to the final game of the 1999 NLCS.  That tied Edgardo Alfonzo's club record and was only four short of the major league record of 17 straight games, which was set by Hank Bauer from 1956 to 1958 and matched by Derek Jeter from 1998 to 1999.

Agbayani's hitting streak came to an end in Game Four, although he did reach base on a walk.  He was back to his clutch hitting ways in Game Five, giving the Mets a temporary 2-1 lead with an RBI single off Andy Pettitte.  (Agabyani made a career out of hitting Pettitte, going 8-for-18 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI off the lefty.)  However, the Mets failed to score another run after Agbayani's hit, dropping the game and the series to the Yankees.

Benny Agbayani receives a hand (or two) from his teammates in the 2000 World Series.  (Don Emmert/Getty Images)

The following season, the Mets failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1998.  A year after he maintained a .300/.400/.500 slash line well into September, Agbayani regressed, especially in the power department.  Although his .277 batting average and .364 on-base percentage were still among the highest on the team, he produced just 22 extra-base hits in 339 plate appearances for a .399 slugging percentage.  As a result, he lost playing time in left field to rookie Tsuyoshi Shinjo (24 games), Darryl Hamilton (20 games) and Joe McEwing (18 games).  He lost his job for good during the off-season, when he was part of a three-team trade that netted the Mets outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, starting pitcher Jeff D'Amico and four other players.

Just as the Mets crumbled in 2002, so did Agbayani's career in the majors.  He split the season between the Colorado Rockies and the Boston Red Sox in 2002, then played in the Kansas City Royals organization in 2003 after being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds.  He then moved on to the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan's Pacific League for six seasons.  The time away from the United States led to Agbayani's renaissance in baseball, as he had a career year in 2004 (.315, 35 HR, 100 RBI) and was part of Chiba Lotte's first championship in 31 years during the 2005 campaign.  Agbayani achieved both personal and team success under the tutelage of his favorite skipper, Bobby Valentine, who took the job overseas two years after being relieved of his managerial duties in New York.  When Valentine was fired by the Marines in 2010, Agbayani walked away from the game, pledging his loyalty to his former manager and his disdain for the way he was unceremoniously let go.

Agbayani never had more than 350 at-bats in any of his four seasons with the Mets.  Nor was he ever expected to play every day for the team.  But he was a key player in two postseason runs by the Mets, producing timely hit after timely hit, making him a fan favorite during his short time in New York.  Fans loved and respected Agbayani so much, they were quick to forgive him when he suffered a defensive lapse in 2000, giving a ball that was still in play to a young fan in the stands - a gaffe that allowed two runs to score.  But it was easy to overlook the occasional lapse in judgment once his entire body of work was considered.

Benny Agbayani had 1,084 plate appearances for the Mets.  On a team that has had great hitters and power threats like Rusty Staub, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza and David Wright, many people would be surprised to discover that of all players to surpass 1,000 plate appearances in franchise history, Agbayani ranks sixth in lifetime OBP (.372), tenth in career slugging percentage (.461) and eighth in OPS (.833).  He reached base more often than Edgardo Alfonzo (.367 OBP as a Met), had a higher slugging percentage than Howard Johnson and Dave Kingman (.459 and .453, respectively) and produced a higher OPS than Keith Hernandez (.816).

The Hawaiian also provided punch in the playoffs, producing seven extra-base hits in 67 postseason at-bats.  Agbayani is one of six Mets to amass 20 or more lifetime postseason hits, joining Edgardo Alfonzo (26 hits), Cleon Jones (23), Mike Piazza (22), Lenny Dykstra (21) and Keith Hernandez (20) as the only Mets to do so.  With 14 career walks in the playoffs, Agbayani reached base via hit or walk 34 times in 22 games.  Only Alfonzo (26 hits, 10 walks) reached base more often in the postseason than Agbayani.

Getty Images

"I hope Met fans always remember me as a great ballplayer, someone who gave his all, was always there in the clutch."

--Benny Agbayani, as told to Anthony McCarron/Daily News

No one will ever say that Benny Agbayani was one of the best players to ever play for the Mets.  But he certainly gave his best with the little playing time he received.  And when he did play, the team won, as evidenced by their 103-61 record in Agabyani's 164 starts between the 1999 and 2000 campaigns.  (They were 88-73 when he didn't start.)  Furthermore, no one can argue against Agbayani being one of the franchise's most clutch hitters in high pressure situations, especially in the postseason.

Bobby Valentine always believed in Agbayani's ability on the baseball field.  He believed in it when both men were at AAA-Norfolk in 1996.  He believed in it again from 1998 to 2001, when Agbayani and Valentine were together on the Mets.  And he believed in it for a third time when they were reunited in Japan at the end of Agbayani's career.

Valentine knew what he was getting in Agbayani.  He was a fine hitter who exhibited patience at the plate and was aggressive when the situation called for it.  The numbers don't lie, even if the playing time wasn't there the way it was for more experienced hitters.  Agbayani made the most out of his brief opportunity with the Mets and it led to him becoming the beloved folk hero he is today among Mets fans, nearly a generation after he played his final game with the team.


Note:  The Most With The Least is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who performed at a high level without receiving the accolades or playing time their more established teammates got, due to injuries, executive decisions or other factors.  Please come back next week for the next installment.
 

The Mets That Got Away: Jeff Kent

There have been countless players who were drafted by the Mets or made their major league debuts wearing orange and blue.  Some of these players became very successful in New York (Tom Seaver, David Wright), while others saw their careers fizzle once they made it to the majors (Bill Pulsipher, Paul Wilson).

There have also been quite a few players who weren't necessarily drafted by the Mets, but established themselves as major leaguers in New York.  However, some of these players fell short of expectations and were later shipped off to another team, becoming stars for their new employers.  One such player is Jeff Kent.

In 1992, the Mets acquired Kent from Toronto in a much-maligned trade for David Cone.  Cone went on to win the World Series that year as a Blue Jay, then won a ring for each of his other four fingers as a member of the Yankees.  Jeff Kent, on the other hand, never got to experience a winning season in New York.

Although Kent was producing offensive numbers the Mets had never seen before at the second base position, he wasn't about to replace David Cone in the hearts of Mets fans.  Couple that with the fact that Kent was a loner in a city where no one is ever left alone and you have the recipe for a future trade.  And that's exactly what happened four years after the Mets first acquired Kent.  This time, a change in scenery did wonders for Kent's career.

Jeff Kent's cap didn't fit him in New York, just as New York wasn't a good fit for Jeff Kent.

Jeffrey Franklin Kent was not a top prospect when he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1989 June amateur draft.  Drafted as a shortstop in the 20th round, Kent was a good, but not great, prospect.  From 1989 to 1991, Kent showed decent pop in the minors, collecting 80 doubles and 41 homers.  He also showed he could steal a base or two, swiping 47 bags.  However, he had a penchant for striking out (283 Ks in 1,160 at-bats) and combined to hit .256 during those three seasons.

Despite his shortcomings at the plate, Kent was invited to spring training with the Blue Jays in 1992.  A torrid spring allowed Kent to make the team, even though he didn't have a regular position to play.  After being drafted as a shortstop, Kent played mostly second base and third base in the minors.  But Kent was blocked at each position at the major league level by two Gold Glove-winning All-Stars in Roberto Alomar and Kelly Gruber.  Kent also dabbled a little at first base but was blocked there by future batting champion John Olerud.

Kent played sparingly during his rookie season in Toronto, starting 52 of the team's first 126 games.  The ample bench time dashed Kent's confidence at the plate, as the infielder was held to a .240 batting average in 192 at-bats.  With the Blue Jays trying to win the AL East, they weren't about to give a rookie extended playing time.  At the same time, they needed another arm in the rotation if they wanted to make a serious run at the World Series, a place they had never been even though they had won three division titles in seven years.  Enter the New York Mets.

In 1991, the Mets completed their first losing season in eight years, causing them to retool their roster with former All-Stars.  Gone were most of the players from the mid-to-late '80s teams, replaced by veterans such as Eddie Murray, Bobby Bonilla and Bret Saberhagen.  But when those players didn't help the Mets return to prominence, the team realized that it had spent too much money and had gotten nothing in return.  Therefore, the front office decided that if a player's contract was about to expire, especially a player who was due to earn a large sum of money in free agency, that player was going to be traded.  One of the casualties of that new edict was David Cone.

In his five-plus seasons with the Mets, Cone had become one of the most dominant pitchers in the National League.  He became only the fourth pitcher in franchise history to post a 20-win season in 1988 and won two league strikeout titles in 1990 and 1991.  In 1992, as September approached and postseason rosters were due to be set, Cone was gunning for his third consecutive strikeout crown.  But he was also gunning for a big payday as a free agent, and the Mets were not about to dole out another huge contract while the team was in the midst of another losing season.  Cone never got to win that third National League strikeout crown, as he was traded to Toronto for Jeff Kent and outfielder Ryan Thompson.

The Coneheads at Shea Stadium were not happy with the deal, as their favorite son was going north of the border for two players who weren't on anyone's radar.  Kent didn't help things either.  He never went out of his way to endear himself to the fans and he also didn't earn the respect of his teammates, especially when he didn't go along with the rookie hazing that has become a tradition in baseball clubhouses.  Kent raised a ruckus in the clubhouse when his clothes were taken from him and replaced with apparel only a rookie's mother could love.  Kent went on to say:

"I paid my rookie dues in Toronto.  I feel I have endured my embarrassments, my punishment.  I felt I was being taken advantage of.  They wanted to go overboard.  I stuck up for myself.  I won't be pushed around."

Ordinarily, it would be a good thing to hear a player say that he won't be anyone's patsy.  But normally, that player is referring to someone on an opposing team, not a teammate who is sharing locker space with him.  Needless to say, Jeff Kent wasn't the most popular player in the clubhouse after making those remarks.  Kent also wasn't becoming a fan favorite at Shea Stadium, as he batted .239 with three homers and 15 RBIs in 113 at-bats following the trade.

The 1993 season saw Kent finally establish himself as a major leaguer.  Kent set team records for second baseman by blasting 21 homers and driving in 80 runs.  But although he was hitting with power, he did not have very good plate discipline (88 Ks, 30 BB).  Kent was also a horrible fielder.  He led the league in errors by a second baseman (18) despite playing only 127 games at the position.  Still, it was hard to get on him for his defense, especially when he was becoming one of the team's most productive hitters.

In the strike-shortened 1994 campaign, Kent led the Mets in batting average (.292), hits (121), doubles (24), triples (5) and RBIs (68).  He also hit 14 home runs while playing 107 games at second base.  But that wasn't the only thing he had 14 of.  Once again, Kent played atrocious defense, making 14 errors at second base to tie for the league lead with the Marlins' Bret Barberie.  But hey, at least he could still hit, right?

After two seasons of good hitting and poor fielding, Kent finally had a letdown at the plate in 1995.  And once he started to struggle as a hitter, all of his other flaws became that much more evident.  In 1994, Kent was one of the best hitters in baseball with runners in scoring position, posting a .385 average (40-for-104) in those situations.  Just a year later, he was one of the worst, batting a miserable .199 (27-for-136) in those pressure-packed at-bats.

As a result, Kent saw drops in his overall batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.  He also had fewer doubles, triples and RBIs despite playing in 18 more games than he did in 1994.  Not by coincidence, fans finally started to notice that he couldn't play a lick at second base (even though he made only ten errors in 1995) and started too rain boos on Kent from every level at Shea Stadium.  The Mets also took notice and by 1996, Kent was the team's starting third baseman.

Jeff Kent's bubble had already burst at second base.  In 1996, his career as a Met popped as well.

The 1995 Mets finished the season strongly, going a league-best 34-18 over their last 52 games.  But the 1996 squad struggled out of the gate, losing ten of their first 14 games.  By mid-May, the Mets were already facing a double-digit deficit in the NL East standings.  Despite the career years being posted by players such as Todd Hundley, Bernard Gilkey and Lance Johnson, the Mets fell out of playoff contention before the All-Star Break.  Although most of the team's struggles were caused by the failures of the much-hyped Generation K pitching triumvirate, Jeff Kent received some of the blame as well.

Through early June, Kent was hitting .257 and his on-base percentage was hovering around .300.  Although Kent had hit 20+ home runs in two of his previous three seasons, he had only managed five round-trippers in his first 58 games and had a low RBI total (22) through June 7.  And this was from a player who spent most of May and June hitting fourth or fifth in the lineup.  Kent also did not adjust very well to his new position, committing 21 errors at the hot corner in only 89 games.  (Houston's Sean Berry led all National League third basemen with 22 errors, but he played 43 more games at the position than Kent.)

By the All-Star Break, it was clear that the Mets were going to be sellers instead of buyers at the trade deadline.  It was also clear that Jeff Kent had worn out his welcome in New York.  He was a good hitter, but was not very patient at the plate.  In four-plus seasons as a Met, Kent drew a mere 110 walks and struck out 346 times.  That and his inability to handle the media, his teammates and the city made it easy for the Mets to part ways with Kent, which they did on July 29 when they sent him and Jose Vizcaino to Cleveland for three-time All-Star Carlos Baerga and veteran infielder Alvaro Espinoza.

Espinoza played well as a Met, batting .306 in 48 games before signing with the Seattle Mariners as a free agent in 1997.  But Baerga, who averaged 19 HR and 97 RBIs as an Indian from 1992 to 1995, was a disappointment in New York, managing a total of 18 HR and 116 RBIs in 2½ seasons as a Met.  Jeff Kent managed to do a heck of a lot more.

After playing in 39 games with the Indians and getting his first taste of the postseason (Kent went 1-for-8 in Cleveland's four-game ALDS loss to the Baltimore Orioles), Kent was traded to the San Francisco Giants in a six-player deal that netted Cleveland perennial All-Star and Gold Glove winner Matt Williams.  With the Mets, Kent hit between guys like Carl Everett, Rico Brogna and Joe Orsulak.  As a Giant, Kent hit behind Barry Bonds and his .446 on-base percentage and in front of J.T. Snow and his career-high 28 HR and 104 RBIs.  Needless to say, Kent blossomed as a hitter in his new environment.

In 1997, Kent set career highs across the board, slamming 29 homers and driving in 121 runs.  He also collected 38 doubles and scored 90 runs.  Kent accomplished this despite a .250 batting average and 133 strikeouts.  By 1998, low batting averages and high strikeout rates had become a thing of the past.

In his second year with the Giants, Kent's power numbers continued to impress (37 doubles, 31 HR, 128 RBI).  But he had a marked improvement as a hitter, raising his batting average 47 points to .297, while striking out 23 fewer times than he did in 1997.  One year later, Kent became an All-Star for the first time, finishing the year with his third consecutive 100-RBI season and his first 40-double campaign.

Going into the 2000 season, Jeff Kent had already completed three phenomenal years in San Francisco.  Any one of those seasons could have been considered a career year for most players, especially for a middle infielder.  But the 1997 to 1999 campaigns were just a springboard for what Kent achieved in 2000.

Kent finished the year with a .334 batting average and .424 on-base percentage.  He also led the National League with 81 extra-base hits, collecting 41 doubles, seven triples and 33 home runs, while scoring 114 runs and driving in 125.  For his efforts, Kent was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player and earned his first Silver Slugger Award as the Giants went on to win the NL West crown with a league-best 97 wins.  Kent was in the playoffs for the third time in five seasons, but this time he was going to be facing the Mets.

After dropping the first game to the Giants in San Francisco, the Mets came back to win the next three games to take the NLDS in four games.  New York held the Giants to a .205 batting average in the series, but had a tough time figuring out Jeff Kent.  Kent batted .375 in the NLDS, leading the Giants with six hits and three runs scored.  He also produced the only hit in Bobby Jones' series-clinching one-hit shutout.

It was more of the same for Kent in 2001 (.298, 49 doubles, 22 HR, 106 RBI) and 2002 (.313, 42 doubles, 37 HR, 108 RBI).  In the latter season, Kent finally earned his first trip to the World Series, a hard-fought seven-game loss to the Anaheim Angels.  Kent hit three home runs in the Fall Classic.  He also scored six runs and led the team with seven runs batted in.  But Kent and teammate Barry Bonds (.471, four homers) couldn't prevent the Angels from taking Games 6 and 7, sending the Giants home without a World Series title.  Kent had fallen short of his goal to win a championship and was not going to get another chance to reach that goal in San Francisco.

Although Kent had had six incredibly productive seasons in San Francisco, the same problems that got him shipped out of New York in 1996 caused the Giants to let him walk as a free agent.  First, Kent lied to the team about a wrist injury he suffered in spring training, claiming it was caused while he was washing his truck when in reality, it happened while he was riding his motorcycle.  Second, he got into a dugout scuffle with Barry Bonds, who was the face of the franchise at the time.  Both incidents contributed greatly in the Giants' decision not to re-sign Kent.  Two months after Kent watched the Angels celebrate their World Series title, he signed a two-year, $18.2 million contract to play for the Houston Astros.

Injuries caused Kent to miss a month of action prior to the All-Star Break in 2003.  But he was still quite productive when he was healthy enough to play.  He finished his first year in Houston with a .297 average, 39 doubles, 22 homers and 93 RBIs.  However, the month he missed due to tendinitis in his left wrist caused him to finish under 100 RBIs for the first time since 1996.  It also dealt a serious blow to the Astros' playoff hopes.  Houston went 12-11 during Kent's time on the disabled list.  The team was 13 games over .500 when Kent was able to start.  Kent's injury was a major reason why the Astros failed to make the playoffs in 2003, as Houston finished one game behind the Chicago Cubs for the National League Central division title.

Kent started a new triple digit RBI streak in 2004, batting .289 with 27 HR and 107 RBIs for the Astros.  But this time Kent did not spend any time on the disabled list.  And when Houston needed a miracle finish to avoid falling short of the playoffs for a second straight season, Kent carried them to the promised land.

Former Mets Jeff Kent and Jose Vizcaino celebrate while Met-hating umpire Angel Hernandez looks on.  Shoot me now.

Going into the final week of the regular season, Houston's record stood at 85-70.  They were in third place in the National League wild card race, two games behind the Giants and 2½ games behind the Cubs.  But the Astros went on a tear, winning their last seven games to finish one game ahead of the Giants and three games in front of Chicago. 

Although Houston had MVP candidates Lance Berkman (.308, 1 HR, 4 RBI during the season-ending seven-game winning streak) and Carlos Beltran (.267, 0 HR, 2 RBI during the streak), it was Jeff Kent's bat that propelled the team during its run to the wild card.  Kent hit .444 (12-for-27) during the season's final week.  He slammed four homers (three of which gave Houston the lead), drove in eight runs and scored eight times.  Kent's RBI single in the regular season finale proved to be the winning run in the Astros' wild card-clinching victory.

Houston fell one win short of their first World Series appearance, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.  But Kent did all he could to help the team make it to a seventh game, producing five extra-base hits (including a walk-off homer in Game 5) and seven RBIs in the series.  Once again, Kent bolted for a new team as soon as his contract expired, this time ending up in Los Angeles.

Kent had a productive first season as a Dodger in 2005, batting .289 with 36 doubles, 29 homers and 105 RBIs in 149 games.   But that would be the 37-year-old Kent's last great year in the major leagues.

In 2006, Kent had his least productive season since his final year in New York, collecting only 14 HR and 68 RBIs, while batting .292.  When Kent posted those exact numbers for the Mets in 1994, they were considered to be outstanding.  But they were considered subpar for a player who had already produced numerous 30 HR, 100 RBI seasons.  The only thing that wasn't subpar for Kent in 2006 was his performance in the postseason.  Just as he had done six years earlier as a member of the Giants, Kent took apart Mets pitching in the NLDS, batting .615 (8-for-13) in the series.  But once again, his exploits at the plate were not enough to defeat his former team, as the Mets swept Los Angeles to advance to the NLCS.  Kent did, however, take part in one of the most bizarre plays in the series in Game 1, when he and teammate J.D. Drew were both tagged out at home on the same play by Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca.

"Just your routine double play."

Kent played two more injury-riddled seasons in Los Angeles, averaging 16 HR and 69 RBIs in 2007 and 2008, before playing his final game in the big leagues in (you guessed it) a postseason loss.  The Dodgers advanced to the NLCS in 2008, but fell to the eventual World Series champion Phillies in five games.  Kent ended his career by going 0-for-8 with four strikeouts in the NLCS loss.

Jeff Kent was never supposed to accomplish much in the major leagues.  If he had, he wouldn't have been bypassed by every team until the Blue Jays selected him in the 20th round of the 1992 amateur draft.  But he proved the naysayers wrong, becoming one of the best hitting second basemen of all time.

Kent finished his 17-year career with 2,461 hits, which included 560 doubles and 377 home runs.  Kent's 351 homers as a second baseman (he hit 26 at other positions) make him the all-time home run leader at the position.  He also scored 1,320 runs and collected 1,518 RBIs.  Kent was a five-time All-Star, won four Silver Slugger Awards and received MVP votes in seven different seasons, which includes four top ten finishes and the 2002 National League MVP Award.

During a nine-year stretch from 1997 to 2005, Kent was one of the most productive hitters in baseball.  An average Kent season in his near-decade run of excellence consisted of a .296 batting average, 40 doubles, 28 home runs and 110 RBIs.  Kent also made the playoffs seven times in his career and excelled against the Mets in two postseason meetings, batting .483 (14-for-29) in the 2000 and 2006 Division Series versus New York. 

Finally, as a member of the San Francisco Giants, Kent put up some of the best power numbers in the franchise's long and storied history.  On a team that can claim Mel Ott, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Matt Williams and Barry Bonds, to name a few, Jeff Kent's name can be found on the team's all-time home run list (175 - 10th all-time in Giants history) and slugging percentage (.535 - tied for 5th with Orlando Cepeda).

Richie Hebner

In many ways, Jeff Kent was like a modern-day Richie Hebner.  Both players were frequent postseason participants, with Hebner's teams making the playoffs eight times and Kent appearing in seven postseasons.  Both players were also very vocal about their displeasure with the Mets and the city they played in.  But there was one major difference between Kent and Hebner.

Richie Hebner came to New York at the tail end of his career, after having played over a decade in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, winning multiple division titles with each team.  Jeff Kent became a Met during his rookie season in the major leagues, then went on to become one of the greatest hitting second basemen of all-time after he left the city he never cared for.

Had Jeff Kent never left New York, perhaps Edgardo Alfonzo wouldn't have become the legendary Met he became.  Perhaps the Mets wouldn't have signed Robin Ventura, who was so instrumental during the team's run to the 1999 NLCS and 2000 World Series.  Perhaps Mets history would have looked a lot different.  (Just think - had Kent not carried the Astros on his back during the final week of the 2004 regular season, then Carlos Beltran might never have reached the postseason that year and would not have gotten a chance to parlay a record-setting playoff performance into a nine-figure deal with the Mets.)

But Kent did leave New York.  And he became a superstar in San Francisco.

Sometimes Mets fans cringe when they think of great players the team let get away.  But in Jeff Kent's case, fans would have cringed had he stayed in New York.  Although Kent had a Hall of Fame-caliber career after he skipped town, his departure was probably the best thing that could have happened to both him and the Mets.  This is one Met that should have gotten away and did.  And everyone involved ended up better because of it.



Note:  The Mets That Got Away is a thirteen-part weekly series that spotlights those Mets players who established themselves as major leaguers in New York, only to become stars after leaving town.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 7, 2013: Nolan Ryan
January 14, 2013: Melvin Mora  
January 21, 2013: Kevin Mitchell 
January 28, 2013: Amos Otis
February 4, 2013: Jeff Reardon
February 11, 2013: Lenny Dykstra

M.U.M.'s The Word (Most Underrated Mets): Edgardo Alfonzo

In 1991, the Mets signed a 17-year-old slick-fielding infielder from Venezuela and sent him to the Gulf Coast League. During his first two years in the minors, the teenager made excellent contact, hitting .331 and .350, but he was basically a singles hitter, collecting 12 extra-base hits (no home runs) in 1991 and 18 extra-base hits (one home run) in 1992.

Then in 1993, he finally flexed some muscle, rapping out 18 doubles and 11 home runs, to go with 86 RBI and 26 stolen bases for the St. Lucie Mets. When he followed that up with an even better 1994 season at AA-Binghamton (34 doubles, 15 HR, 75 RBI), the Mets couldn't help but bring him up to the major leagues for the start of the 1995 season.

Although the Mets already had Jeff Kent and Bobby Bonilla starting at second base and third base, respectively, it wasn't too long before both of them started to receive less playing time to accommodate the versatile new kid on the block. Splitting time between second base and third base would become something of a habit for one of the most underrated (and best) players in Mets history.

Fonzie's skills and knowledge of the game were that of a veteran player, leading people to believe that he was older than his reported age, a rumor that was denied by Fonzie repeatedly. Here he is on his Bowman baseball card in a shot taken on his 12th birthday.

Edgardo Antonio Alfonzo made his major league debut with the Mets on April 26, 1995. It was the first game of the 1995 season (because of the strike, the 1995 season was delayed and truncated to 144 games) and the first game in the history of Coors Field. In typical Coors Field fashion, no lead was safe, as the Mets blew a one-run lead in the ninth inning and twice in extra innings. Alfonzo was on the bench to start the game, but with so many pitching changes and double switches needed in the 14-inning affair, he found his way into the game in the tenth inning, flying out as a pinch-hitter for John Franco.

Because of Jeff Kent and the high-salaried Bobby Bonilla, it became difficult for the Mets to find an everyday role for Alfonzo. Over the first 25 games of the season, Fonzie started four games at second base, seven games at third base, appeared as a pinch hitter or defensive replacement eight times and remained on the bench for the entire game in the other six games. In those same 25 games, Bonilla was hitting the cover off the ball (.357, 5 HR, 18 RBI), while Jeff Kent was not (.209, 2 HR, 9 RBI). If anyone was going to lose playing time to Alfonzo, it should have been Jeff Kent. However, the Mets had another problem on their hands - left field.

The Mets went into the 1995 season with David Segui as their starting leftfielder, but before long, left field seemed to resemble a high-priced game of musical chairs, with players such as Segui, Joe Orsulak, Ricky Otero, Chris Jones and Bobby Bonilla all getting their turn to play the position. Finally, on May 24, manager Dallas Green moved Bonilla to left field on what was supposed to be a full-time basis and Alfonzo became the club's everyday third baseman. Of course, in the dictionary used by the 1995 Mets, "full-time" and "temporary" were synonyms.

For the first month of the Bonilla-to-left-field experiment, Alfonzo played mostly at third. Then he played a couple of games at shortstop as Bonilla was moved back to third base and Orsulak was given a few starts in left field. When Jeff Kent was placed on the disabled list with a right shoulder sprain, Alfonzo moved back to second base, before going back to third base in late July while Bonilla moved back to left.

With the Mets going nowhere in the NL East, they decided to unload some of their higher salaried players at the trade deadline, most notably Bobby Bonilla. That was supposed to clear the way for Edgardo Alfonzo to take over at third base (dare we say it) full-time. But in August, Fonzie was placed on the disabled list with a herniated disc in his back that almost ended his season. He did play again in 1995, but was used sparingly, compiling only 27 at-bats after August 10.

After a promising rookie season in 1995, Edgardo Alfonzo began the 1996 season on the bench, as Jose Vizcaino became the everyday second baseman, with Jeff Kent moving over to third base and rookie defensive wizard Rey Ordoñez taking over at shortstop. As a result, Alfonzo had nowhere to play regularly and his production suffered. Through July 26, Fonzie had only started 35 of the Mets' first 104 games and collected 174 at-bats, being used mostly as a pinch-hitter. At the time, his batting average was .236. With one home run and 16 RBI, it appeared as if the promising career forecasted by the Mets had been a case of wishful thinking and the 22-year-old Alfonzo had faded before getting a fair chance to truly shine. But just as the trade of Bobby Bonilla a year earlier had given Alfonzo an opportunity to prove to the Mets that he could take on the rigors of playing every day, another trade was in the works in 1996 that would open up a spot in the infield for Alfonzo. This time, he would make sure to take advantage of the opportunity.

On July 29, 1996, the Mets traded Jeff Kent and Jose Vizcaino to the Cleveland Indians for Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza. In true Dallas Green fashion, Baerga, who had played exclusively at second base since the last month of the 1991 season, played third base and first base for the Mets, while Alfonzo became the Mets' regular second baseman. With an everyday job secured, Fonzie wasted no time getting back on track and fulfilling the promise he showed in the minor leagues. In his first game following the trade of his infield roadblocks, Alfonzo belted only his second home run of the year, helping the Mets to a 5-0 victory over the Pirates. Over the final two months of the season, Alfonzo batted .284 with three home runs and 24 RBI. The numbers weren't eye-popping, but they were an improvement over what Alfonzo had produced when he had no definitive role. The final two months of the 1996 season would also serve as a stepping stone for the rest of Alfonzo's career.

With the arrival of Carlos Baerga at Shea Stadium in 1996, Edgardo Alfonzo switched positions from third base to second base, allowing Baerga to play third. It would not be the last time Alfonzo rode the infield shuttle at Shea.

The 1997 Mets were not your grandpa's Mets. They were vastly improved over the teams that finished below .500 for six consecutive seasons. With a new manager (Bobby Valentine) and a new first baseman (John Olerud), the Mets competed for a playoff spot until the last week of the season. Many players had their finest seasons to date in 1997, including Butch Huskey (.287, 24 HR, 81 RBI), Rick Reed (13-9, 2.89 ERA) and Bobby Jones (15-9, 3.63 ERA). Another player who improved by leaps and bounds was Edgardo Alfonzo.

Despite the presence of a former batting champion in John Olerud, it was Edgardo Alfonzo who led the team in batting average (.315) and hits (163) in 1997. Fonzie's other numbers (27 doubles, 10 HR, 72 RBI, 84 runs scored and a career-high 11 SB) helped keep the Mets in contention for the National League wild card until the final week of the season. Another forgotten aspect of Fonzie's game that he improved upon immensely was his ability to draw a walk. In 1995 and 1996, Fonzie walked only 37 times in 763 plate appearances. That number jumped to 63 in 1997 alone. As a result, his on-base percentage, which was .303 over his first two seasons with the Mets, climbed to .391 in 1997.

With so many great performances on the 1997 Mets, it was Edgardo Alfonzo who received the most recognition in the MVP voting. Fonzie was the only Met to earn consideration from the voters, finishing 13th in the 1997 National League MVP race with 10 votes.

After their return to contention in 1997, the Mets were poised to continue their resurgence in 1998. Unfortunately, one Met who didn't continue his success from 1997 early on was Edgardo Alfonzo. Through May 21, Fonzie appeared to have regressed to his early 1996 form by hitting .239 with seven doubles, two home runs and 13 RBI. But then the Mets made a stunning move, acquiring All-Star catcher Mike Piazza from the Florida Marlins in May. For the third time in four seasons, a trade made by the Mets ended up benefiting Alfonzo, as the third baseman (Baerga was back at second base now) took off.

With John Olerud (.354, 22 HR, 93 RBI) and Mike Piazza (.348, 23 HR, 76 RBI in 109 games as a Met) firmly locked in the middle of the order, it was Edgardo Alfonzo whose job it was to get on base for them as the second-place hitter, a spot in the order he took over on a full-time basis on July 1. In his first game as the regular No. 2 hitter, Fonzie hit two home runs against the Toronto Blue Jays. While other teams focused on Olerud and Piazza, it was Alfonzo who was quietly putting together a solid season. From July 1 to the end of the season, Fonzie hit .292 with 16 doubles, 13 HR, 44 RBI and 57 runs scored. Unfortunately, the Mets fell short at the end of the season, losing their final five games before being eliminated from the wild card race on the final day of the regular season. The 1998 season finished on a low note from a team standpoint, but after all the high notes (and baseballs) being hit by Edgardo Alfonzo, the Mets couldn't help but look forward to 1999, to see just how far the team and Alfonzo could go. And boy, did they go far.

This pose would be a familiar one for Edgardo Alfonzo in 1999, a year for the ages for the Mets' second baseman.

After two 88-win seasons in 1997 and 1998, the Mets were not going to be satisfied with anything less than a postseason berth. However, their hunger for excellence didn't produce results over the first two months of the season, as the Mets stumbled to a 27-28 start, leading to the dismissal of three coaches. After the pink slip party, the Mets won their next game to move back to the .500 mark, but Edgardo Alfonzo had still not produced to the level the Mets expected of him following his breakthrough second-half performance in 1998. Through the team's first 56 games, Alfonzo was hitting .290 with 13 doubles, 7 HR and 27 RBI. With a renewed sense of purpose, the Mets started to pile up win after win. Not coincidentally, Alfonzo began to rake at the plate, putting together a season that ranks as the best for any second baseman in franchise history. (Did I mention that Fonzie was now back at second base?)

Just like he did in 1998, Fonzie's resurgence began against the Toronto Blue Jays. In a three-game series swept by the Mets, Alfonzo collected five hits (including a double and a home run) and three RBI. The onslaught on opposing pitchers continued over the next 26 games, as Alfonzo hit .327 with 14 extra-base hits and 28 RBI (an average of over one RBI per game). Despite the pre-All-Star Game batting blitz, Alfonzo was not selected to represent the National League in the Midsummer Classic. Fonzie never needed any motivation to play the game, but after his All-Star snub, he played like a man who was out to show the selection committee what they had overlooked.

In the Mets' first 41 games after the break, Fonzie turned into Mike Piazza at the plate. He batted .367 with 14 doubles, 11 HR and 39 RBI. His on-base percentage over the six-week stretch was .418 and he slugged a whopping .645. During the streak, he had a five-RBI game on August 11 and a four-RBI game four days later. But his best game happened on August 30, when he put together the best single game by any Mets hitter in franchise history, going 6-for-6, with three home runs, five RBI and six runs scored.

As August turned to September, the Mets were determined not to let their late-season collapse of 1998 repeat itself in 1999. But a seven-game losing streak took the Mets out of the wild card lead going into the final weekend of the season. With three games to play, the Mets were two games behind Houston and Cincinnati, the wild card co-leaders. The Mets had to sweep the Pirates and hope for some help. They won the first two games against the Bucs and watched as the Reds lost two games against the Milwaukee Brewers. Needing to win the final game of the season to guarantee at least a 163rd game, the Mets struggled against Pirates' starter Kris Benson in the regular season finale. But with the game tied at 1 going into the bottom of the ninth, Edgardo Alfonzo was due to bat third in the inning. Fonzie was one of the team's most clutch hitters during the first 161 games of the season. That formula would not change for Game No. 162.

After Bobby Bonilla (the man whose trade gave Alfonzo his first shot as an everyday player with the Mets back four years earlier) grounded out to first base to start the inning, Melvin Mora got the Mets going by ripping a single to right field. That brought Edgardo Alfonzo to the plate, who kept the rally going by lining an opposite-field single, moving Mora to third base. With the winning run standing 90 feet away, the Pirates chose to intentionally walk John Olerud to load the bases for Mike Piazza. The Mets' catcher, who had already slugged 40 home runs that season, never got a chance to swing the bat, as Brad Clontz uncorked a wild pitch that brought Mora home with the winning run.

With the Cincinnati Reds winning their final game against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Mets needed to win a one-game playoff at Cinergy Field to earn their first trip to the postseason since 1988. Unlike the final game of the Pittsburgh series, the Mets wasted no time getting to Reds' starting pitcher Steve Parris. After Rickey Henderson walked to lead off the game, Fonzie cracked a two-run homer, giving starting pitcher Al Leiter all the runs he would need. Alfonzo also drove in the final run of the game with a sixth inning double, and the Mets went on to win the game and the National League wild card berth. The Mets didn't have much time to celebrate their victory, as they had to fly to Arizona to open up the NLDS against the NL West champion Diamondbacks. Although the team had every excuse to be tired, playing in their third city in three days, one Met who didn't feel exhaustion was Edgardo Alfonzo, and he showed it in Game 1 of the NLDS.

No one would confuse Randy Johnson with Steve Parris, but try telling that to Edgardo Alfonzo. Just as he had done the previous night against the Reds, Fonzie homered in the top of the first inning to give the Mets the early lead. The Mets extended that lead to 4-2, but the Diamondbacks tied it in the bottom of the sixth inning on Luis Gonzalez's two-run homer. The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth inning when Randy Johnson loaded the bases with one out. Out came the intimidating Johnson. In came Bobby Chouinard, who had only logged 140 2/3 innings in the major leagues with a 4.54 ERA. The batter Chouinard was brought in to face was none other than Edgardo Alfonzo. One swing of the bat later, the Mets had taken an 8-4 lead on Fonzie's grand slam that just stayed fair near the left field foul pole. The Mets went on take the first game of the series, with Alfonzo registering his third five-RBI game of the season.

After taking Randy Johnson deep earlier in the game, the Diamondbacks thought Bobby Chouinard would have a better chance to retire Edgardo Alfonzo. Oops.

After the two teams split the next two games in lopsided affairs (Arizona won Game 2 by six runs and New York won Game 3 by seven runs), the Mets were trying to close out the series in Game 4 at Shea Stadium. It behooved the Mets to close out the series at home because lurking in the Arizona desert for Game 5 was Randy Johnson. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when Edgardo Alfonzo led off with a home run to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. It was Alfonzo's third home run of the series, all of which gave the Mets the lead. This time, the Mets couldn't hold on to the lead Alfonzo gave them, as Armando Benitez allowed Arizona to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning on a two-run double by Jay Bell. The Mets were six outs away from having to travel back to Arizona for a do-or-die game against Randy Johnson. But Edgardo Alfonzo was due to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning, and he wasn't about to let the team down.

Facing Gregg Olson, Fonzie drew a leadoff walk. With John Olerud, a left-handed batter, due up next, manager Buck Showalter brought in the lefty Greg Swindell. The lefty appeared to do his job, inducing Olerud to hit a fly ball to right field. However, Tony Womack (who had just been moved from shortstop to right field prior to the bottom of the eighth inning) dropped the ball, allowing Alfonzo to reach third base and Olerud to coast into second. When Roger Cedeño hit a sacrifice fly to center field, Alfonzo scored the unearned run to tie the game. The game went into extra innings, where Todd Pratt won it with a walk-off home run off Matt Mantei.

For the series, Alfonzo only hit .250 (4-for-16), but all four of his hits went for extra bases (one double, three home runs). He also added three walks to give him a .368 on-base percentage over the four games. But the most important stat for Alfonzo in the NLDS was that he scored every time he reached base in the series, reaching base seven times and scoring all seven times.

The extra-base hit parade would continue in the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves, with Alfonzo banging out four more doubles in the six-game series. His fourth double, leading off the sixth inning of Game 6, helped start a rally for the Mets, who had already fallen behind the Braves by five runs. However, the Mets' rally eventually fell short, as the Mets lost the game and the pennant to the Braves in the 11th inning. Although the Mets failed to advance to the World Series, the team exceeded expectations, with Edgardo Alfonzo playing a key role in their successful season.

During the regular season, Fonzie hit .304 with 41 doubles, 27 HR, 108 RBI and a franchise-record 123 runs scored. In ten postseason games, Alfonzo added five doubles, three home runs, seven RBI and eight runs scored, with most of the extra-base hits coming at crucial points of the game. For his efforts, Fonzie earned his first Silver Slugger Award and finished eighth in the National League MVP vote, becoming one of three Mets to finish in the top ten (Mike Piazza finished sixth and Robin Ventura placed seventh).

Edgardo Alfonzo's transformation from solid player to elite hitter coincided with the Mets' rise to the top of the National League. The Mets still hadn't gotten to the World Series, and made that their goal for the 2000 season. Although Alfonzo had a near-perfect season in 1999, he still felt that he could take his game to another level by becoming a more patient hitter, thereby getting better pitches to hit and drawing more walks. By making that his goal for the 2000 season, he felt that the team would become more efficient and had a better chance for success. Alfonzo was able to achieve his goal and took the team with him for the ride.

Fonzie finished the 2000 season with career-highs in batting average (.324), on-base percentage (.425) and walks (95). He also added 40 doubles (becoming the first Met to record multiple seasons of 40 or more two-base hits), 25 HR, 94 RBI, 109 runs scored and his first selection to the National League All-Star team. However, in a year full of memorable moments, one of them stood out above all others.

On June 30, 2000, the Mets were in the midst of a crucial four-game series against their nemesis, the Atlanta Braves. The series was already one of the most eagerly anticipated regular season series since the mid-'80s Mets-Cardinals late-season clashes. However, this one had an extra appeal to it because it was Braves' closer John Rocker's first appearance in New York after his tell-all interview with Sports Illustrated during the off-season, where he discussed his opinion of New Yorkers. With the game almost secondary to the John Rocker circus, the Mets lost the first game of the series and were in danger of dropping the second game to the Braves after Brian Jordan's three-run homer off Eric Cammack in the top of the eighth inning gave Atlanta an 8-1 lead. The Mets did put runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but Robin Ventura grounded out (making the score 8-2), leaving the Mets one out away from ending the inning. They would wait quite some time for that last out to be recorded.

Singles by Todd Zeile and Jay Payton made the score 8-3 and left two runners on base. Benny Agbayani then walked on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Mark Johnson then drew another full-count walk to force in a run. It was now 8-4 and the tying run was at the plate in the form of Melvin Mora. He became the third consecutive batter to walk on a 3-2 pitch, making the score 8-5. After Derek Bell walked to cut the lead to 8-6, Edgardo Alfonzo came up to bat. Terry Mulholland, the third pitcher used by the Braves in the inning, was able to get ahead in the count, trying desperately not to make Alfonzo the fifth consecutive batter to draw a base on balls, especially with the dangerous Mike Piazza looming in the on-deck circle. One strike away from finally ending the inning, Mulholland tried to be too careful with Alfonzo. Fonzie drilled a ball through the hole to left field, driving in Joe McEwing (who had been inserted as a pinch-runner for Johnson) and Mora. One pitch later, Piazza scorched a line drive three-run homer off the padding above the left field wall near the foul pole. The Mets had scored ten runs in the eighth inning (nine of which crossed the plate after two were out) against their hated division rivals.

Although the biggest blow of the inning came off the bat of Mike Piazza, it was Edgardo Alfonzo's clutch two-out, two-strike, two-run single that pulled the Mets even, setting the stage for Piazza's heroics. The game personified everything that was right about the Mets in the year 2000. They were loaded with great individual players who could come up with clutch hits such as Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Piazza, but also had their share of smaller role players, like Benny Agbayani and Jay Payton who would do whatever it took to help the Mets win.

The Mets did not have to sweat it out over the final days of the 2000 season to make the playoffs as they did in 1999, cruising to their second consecutive wild card berth. Once again, the Mets were going out west to begin the NLDS, this time against the NL West champion San Francisco Giants. The Mets would fall in Game 1, but Edgardo Alfonzo provided another big hit that loomed large after the final out was recorded in Game 2.

Game 2 of the 2000 NLDS will always be remembered for J.T. Snow's game-tying three-run homer off Armando Benitez in the bottom of the ninth inning. However, Snow's blast might have been a game-winning home run had it not been for Edgardo Alfonzo. In the top of the ninth inning, with the Mets clinging to a one-run lead, Fonzie hit a two-run homer off Felix Rodriguez to give the Mets a 4-1 lead, a lead that quickly evaporated once J.T. Snow connected in the bottom of the inning. The Mets went on to win the game in the tenth inning, when John Franco froze Barry Bonds at the plate, striking him out with the tying run on base to end the threat and the game.

The Mets won Game 3 on Benny Agbayani's walk-off home run off Aaron Fultz in the 13th inning, but the game would never have gone into extra innings if Edgardo Alfonzo had not tied it with a two-out, RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning off Giants' closer Robb Nen.

Just like in 1999, the Mets had to win Game 4 of the NLDS at Shea Stadium to avoid having to travel across the country for a fifth and deciding game. The Mets gave the ball to Bobby Jones, who won more games than any other Mets starter in the 1990s. However, this was a new decade and Jones was making his first career postseason start. The Mets took an early 2-0 lead and Jones retired the first 12 batters to face him. Then, things got a little shaky in the fifth inning, with the Giants loading the bases on a double by Jeff Kent and two walks. Jones was able to get out of the inning unscathed, but the Mets now had to worry that their pitcher was running out of gas trying to protect a small lead. That feeling of trepidation didn't last long, especially after Edgardo Alfonzo came up to bat.

This Fonz never jumped the shark, but he did jump all over opposing pitchers who dared to challenge him.

Mere minutes after Bobby Jones had escaped from from his first postseason jam, the Mets had put two men on base for Edgardo Alfonzo. Giants' pitcher Mark Gardner, who popped up with the bases loaded to end the rally in the top of the fifth inning, battled with Fonzie for seven pitches, getting him to foul off pitch after pitch. On the eighth pitch, Alfonzo got more than just a piece of the ball, launching a long double to center field, scoring both runners. The Mets now had a four-run lead, giving Bobby Jones his confidence back, which showed when he retired every remaining batter to face him. The Mets advanced to the NLCS for the second straight year, this time facing off against the St. Louis Cardinals.

In the relatively easy five-game series, the Mets won three games by four runs or more. Edgardo Alfonzo turned the series into a one-man wrecking crew, hitting .444 over the five games and reaching base an astonishing 13 times (eight hits, four walks, one hit by pitch) for an eye-popping .565 on-base percentage. Fonzie scored at least one run and drove in at least one run in all four Mets victories. Unfortunately, Alfonzo could not sustain his brilliance once the Mets got into the World Series, as he only reached base five times in 23 plate appearances (.217 OBP) against the Yankees. He did, however, have one clutch moment in the World Series, when he temporarily gave the Mets the lead in Game 1 with a two-out, RBI single in the top of the seventh inning.

The 2000 season represented the peak of the Mets' rise to the top of the National League, as well as the peak of Edgardo Alfonzo's playing career. In 2001, with the Mets slumping to an 82-80 record, Edgardo Alfonzo hit for the lowest average in his Mets career, finishing the year at .243. Chronic back problems, which put him on the disabled list and caused him to miss most of June, were believed to be the reason for his poor batting average, although he did manage to hit 17 home runs in 2001, despite missing 38 games.

Obligatory Fonzie fielding photo. After all, he wasn't just a great hitter. He could pick it on the field, too.

In 2002, the Mets attempted to rebuild their team with offense, acquiring first baseman Mo Vaughn and second baseman Roberto Alomar. Yet again, Alfonzo was asked to take the second base-third base shuttle, moving over to third base to accommodate Alomar. It was the fourth time Alfonzo had switched positions in his Mets career, going from third base to second base in 1996 after the acquisition of Carlos Baerga, back to third base in 1997 when Baerga was moved to second, back to second base when Robin Ventura was acquired to play the hot corner, and then back to third when Alomar became a Met in 2002.

Once again, Alfonzo spent time on the disabled list in 2002, missing three weeks in August with a strained oblique muscle. Although his run production from 1999 and 2000 was still M.I.A., Fonzie's high batting average and keen eye returned for one last hurrah in 2002. As late as September 1, Alfonzo was among the league leaders in batting (.332) and on-base percentage (.414), before finishing the season with a .308 batting average (good for 10th in the National League) and a .391 OBP. He also hit 26 doubles and 16 home runs, but only finished with 56 RBI.

The Mets had a decision to make following the 2002 season. Would they re-sign Alfonzo, who could still field and hit for average, but was not the run producer he used to be or would they choose to let him walk, going with other options at third base? During the 2002 season, the Mets had offered Alfonzo a three-year, $18 million contract extension, but after the season ended, the Mets reduced their offer to $11 million over two years. After not taking the three-year offer earlier in the year, Alfonzo would have signed for two years, but wanted $8.5 million per year, a number the Mets refused to match. Instead, Alfonzo chose to sign a four-year, $26 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, who offered him more money and security than the Mets did.

It was a bittersweet moment for Mets fans, having to watch the anchor of their infield for the past eight seasons leave the only team he had ever known. Alfonzo knew how passionate Mets fans were about their team and appreciated all the love and support they gave to him over the years. Therefore, to thank the fans, the normally quiet and reserved Alfonzo voiced his gratitude by purchasing ad space on New York City cabs (see photo, right).

Despite the numerous position changes between second and third base to accommodate other stars, Alfonzo always accepted the moves and did his job to the best of his ability. And oh, what ability he had. The slick-fielding infielder never won a Gold Glove Award for his defensive skills, but that was par for the course. After all, Alfonzo did everything well and never got the accolades that normally go with a player of his caliber.

Look at the Mets' all-time offensive leaders. Only three players are in the top ten in each of the following career totals: batting average, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits, total bases, doubles, home runs, runs batted in and walks. One of them is Mike Piazza. Another is David Wright. The third one is Edgardo Alfonzo.

In his eight-year Mets career (1995-2002), Fonzie finished with a .292 batting average (6th all-time), .367 on-base percentage (6th all-time), 614 runs scored (5th all-time), 1,136 hits (4th all-time), 1,736 total bases (6th all-time), 212 doubles (4th all-time), 120 home runs (9th all-time), 538 runs batted in (6th all-time) and 458 walks (7th all-time). Even sabermetricians would be impressed to find out that Edgardo Alfonzo is the only player to appear in the top five in both Offensive WAR (5th, 24.9) and Defensive WAR (tied for 3rd, 4.2). The four players ranked ahead of Alfonzo in Offensive WAR are Darryl Strawberry, David Wright, Howard Johnson and Mike Piazza. Those are also the top four home run hitters in franchise history. The three players tied or ahead of Alfonzo in Defensive WAR are Rey Ordoñez, Keith Hernandez and Carlos Beltran. Those three players are the only players in Mets history who have won at least three Gold Gloves apiece.

Fonzie never led the league in any offensive category, only won one Silver Slugger Award and was selected to play for the National League All-Star team once, yet his consistency in all facets of the game allowed him to finish among the all-time Mets greats.

Whether he was dressed in white or black, Fonzie always provided a consistent attack.

Edgardo Alfonzo was never the big star of the team. Even in some of his bigger moments, he was overshadowed by someone else. Everyone remembers the wild pitch in the 162nd game of the 1999 season that allowed Melvin Mora to score the winning run. No one remembers Alfonzo getting the hit that put Mora on third base to begin with. Everyone remembers Todd Pratt's walk-off home run to win the NLDS. No one remembers that before Pratt's heroics, it was Alfonzo's home run that gave the Mets the early lead or the run he scored to send the game into extra innings. Everyone remembers Mike Piazza's three-run homer to cap the 10-run inning against the Atlanta Braves in 2000. No one (well, maybe some of you do) remembers the game-tying single by Alfonzo that set the stage for Piazza's screaming line drive. Everyone remembers J.T. Snow's shocking home run in Game 2 of the 2000 NLDS. No one remembers that it was Alfonzo's home run in the top of the ninth inning that allowed the Mets to take a three-run lead into the bottom of the ninth. Everyone remembers Benny Agbayani's walk-off home run to win Game 3 of the 2000 NLDS. No one remembers that Alfonzo produced the tying hit that sent the game into extra innings. Everyone remembers Bobby Jones' one-hit masterpiece to win the NLDS in 2000. No one remembers Alfonzo's two-run double in the fifth inning that gave Jones the breathing room he needed to mow down the Giants for the rest of the game. Everyone remembers that Mike Hampton pitched two brilliant games in the 2000 NLCS, earning him the series' MVP Award. No one remembers that Alfonzo reached base 13 times in the five-game series in only 23 plate appearances.

Some people might not even remember his comeback attempt with the Mets in 2006, hitting .241 in 42 games with AAA-Norfolk or his desire to get one last crack at making the team in 2010, hoping to retire as a member of the Mets. That's okay with Fonzie. He was always the humble player, the player who'd rather lead quietly while the other players received the star treatment. It's why he will always be one of the most underrated Mets in franchise history. It's also why he will always be one of the best players to ever don the orange and blue.

One of the best in orange and blue? Fonzie could rock the black duds, too!

Note: M.U.M.'s The Word was a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting some of the best Mets players of all-time who never got the recognition they deserved because they weren't the biggest names on the teams they played for. Did I say "was a thirteen-part weekly series"? That's right. This is the thirteenth and final installment of M.U.M.'s The Word. It's just a co-inky-dink that we chose our thirteenth player to be the man who wore No. 13, Edgardo Alfonzo. We hope you enjoyed the series. For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 3, 2011: John Olerud
January 10, 2011: Sid Fernandez
January 17, 2011: Jon Matlack
January 24, 2011: Kevin McReynolds
January 31, 2011: Bobby Jones
February 7, 2011: John Stearns
February 14, 2011: David Cone
February 21, 2011: Rusty Staub
February 28, 2011: Rick Reed
March 7, 2011: Ron Taylor
March 14, 2011: Turk Wendell
March 21, 2011: Roger McDowell