The Von Hayes Game Haunts Me to This Day

Forget Freddy Krueger.  This is the true man of my nightmares.  (MLB.com)

On June 11, 1985, the Mets took on the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium.  New York entered the game with a 31-22 record, leaving them just three games behind the first place Chicago Cubs.  The Phillies, on the other hand, were already falling out of contention in the N.L. East with a 20-34 mark.  Only the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians had a worse record in the majors than the phloundering Phils at the time.

Starting for the Mets that night was Tom Gorman, who was making just his seventh start in the big leagues but was entering the game with a solid 2.52 ERA.  Philadelphia countered with Charles Hudson, who had lost each of his previous four starts, with the Phillies having scored a total of seven runs in those four contests.

Clearly, the Mets appeared to have an advantage coming in to the game.  Then Von Hayes happened.  And I haven’t recovered since.

Without going into too much detail for fear that I’ll suffer a post-traumatic Mets disorder breakdown, Gorman faced seven batters and retired one of them.  He couldn’t retire Von Hayes, who led off the game with a home run.  Gorman had already been replaced by Calvin Schiraldi by the time Hayes batted for a second time in the first frame, not like Hayes could tell the difference, as he launched a grand slam off Schiraldi.  An inning later, with Schiraldi still in the game, Hayes singled and scored a run.

After two innings, the Mets were losing, 16-0.  And then it got worse.

Schiraldi allowed ten runs before manager Davey Johnson ended his suffering.  The Mets then scored seven unanswered runs to make it 16-7, at which time Johnson summoned Joe Sambito from the bullpen to relieve Doug Sisk, who had pitched 2⅓ scoreless innings.  Clearly, Sambito decided he was going to pay homage to Schiraldi’s performance, as he gave up ten runs of his own.  Included in the carnage was a bases loaded walk to Von Hayes, who later came around to score his fourth run of the game on a groundout.

The final straw in what became a 26-7 loss came during the WHN radio post-game show when the turning point of the game was announced.  Was it Von Hayes’ leadoff homer or his grand slam?  How about Sambito giving up a ten-spot after the Mets had cut the deficit to a “manageable” nine runs?  Nope, it happened well before either of those events took place, as fellow Von Hayes Game sufferer Vince Vincenzo can attest.

I can tell you exactly what I was doing during this game - Jr year of HS studying for a Regents exam the next morning I’m listening on the radio. In the post game they announced the answer for the turning point of the game contest for the next morning - the national anthem!

— Vincent Vincenzo (@vvincenzo) June 11, 2020

Oh say, can you see how much this game affected me.

Things eventually got better for the Mets following their historic loss to the Phillies, a game that forever put Von Hayes’ name in the minds of Mets fans who obsess over every little thing about their team.  (And by “Mets fans who obsess over every little thing about their team”, I mean me.)

New York passed the first place Cubs in the standings and went on to win 98 games in 1985, just two victories shy of a franchise record.  Yes, they lost the division to the St. Louis Cardinals instead of the Cubs, but they proved that the 1984 campaign - a year in which they won 90 games and finished above .500 for the first time in eight years - was not a fluke.  They continued their climb in 1986, a season that culminated in the franchise’s second World Series championship.

Since winning it all just sixteen months and sixteen days after the Von Hayes Game took place, the Mets have reached the playoffs six times, including three division titles and two National League pennants.  One would think that success would erase the events of June 11, 1985 from my mind.  One would be wrong.

The truly Hayesian effort continues to haunt me to this day.  Every time the Mets fall behind by a significant number of runs early in a game, I find myself saying aloud, “Who’s going to be Von Hayes in this game?”  Whenever a Mets reliever comes into the game in a mop-up role, proceeds to get shelled and then is left on the mound to take one for the team, the Schiraldi and Sambito Wrecking Crew come to mind.

Even while watching a Mets game that ends up well for the good guys, the Von Hayes Game is inevitably brought up.

During the current pandemic, SNY has taken to showing classic Mets games from years past.  One contest that has been aired ad nauseam is Game Seven of the 1986 World Series.  As we all know, while Von Hayes and his Phillies’ teammates were watching this game at home, the Mets were putting together their second straight comeback win against the Red Sox.  With the score tied in the seventh inning, Boston manager John McNamara brought in Calvin Schiraldi to face Ray Knight, who had delivered a key single against Schiraldi in the miraculous tenth inning comeback just two nights before.  Knight followed up his bloop in Game Six with a blast in Game Seven, taking Schiraldi out of the park to give the Mets the lead.  But they weren’t done yet.

After Knight circled the bases, Schiraldi allowed a hit to Lenny Dykstra, uncorked a wild pitch on a pitchout to Rafael Santana, then gave up another hit to Santana.  After Roger McDowell moved Santana into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, McNamara replaced Schiraldi with Joe Sambito, who continued to add gas to the fire.  Sambito issued two walks and allowed a sacrifice fly to Keith Hernandez, which scored the sixth run of the game, otherwise known as the run that was the difference in the 8-5 championship-clinching win by the Mets.

A normal fan would have just celebrated the rally by the Mets, praising their clutch hitters coming up big in key late-inning situations.  I guess I’m not a normal fan.  Because this is what I was doing while watching that seventh inning (even though I mistakenly referred to it as happening in the sixth; I blame Von Hayes for my error).

Friendly reminder that Calvin Schiraldi and Joe Sambito, who pitched in this pivotal sixth inning, combined to give up 20 runs in the Von Hayes Game just a year earlier as members of the Mets.#Mets #SNY #1986WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/fR69g6DW1D

— Ed Leyro (@Studi_Metsimus) May 25, 2020

We all have games that give us a kind of post-traumatic Mets disorder; games that are forever associated with the opposing player responsible for our pain.  Whenever someone mentions the Terry Pendleton Game, we know what they’re referring to.  The Mike Scioscia Game?  Don’t get me started.  Some people even can’t let go of the Jason Jennings Game (although I think those people remember it more for Donne Wall than for what Jennings did to the Mets).  Personally, I’m surprised that after his devastating performance against the Marlins to close out the 2007 season, Tom Glavine didn’t say, “I’m disappointed, but at least it wasn’t the Von Hayes Game.”

See what I mean about PTMD and not being able to let things go?

For me, I can’t seem to rid myself of the Von Hayes Game, which took place 35 years ago today.  It comes back to me during blowouts.  It comes back to me during World Series viewings.  It comes back to me when I flip the channel past VH-1 and think it stands for “Von Hayes Won”.  Heck, I can’t even see the Van Halen logo and not think of Von Hayes.

You can't unsee it, can you?

A third of a century after “The Von Hayes Game” became part of my vocabulary, the Mets defeated the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, 24-4.  In that game, played on August 16, 2018, the Mets broke a 31-year franchise record for runs scored in a game.  They pounded out 25 hits, of which 11 went for extra bases.  It got so bad for the home team that they used two position players to pitch the final three innings.  The Mets knocked them around as well, crossing the plate nine times in those three frames.

I should have been ecstatic at the offensive outburst.  I should have been thrilled the Mets beat up on a division rival.  I should have celebrated a long standing franchise record being toppled.  Instead, I just said four words as the game came to its conclusion.

“TAKE THAT, VON HAYES!!”

I guess it just goes to say that in good times and in bad, the man and the game that put his name in my brain will always find a way to haunt me.  Anyone know the number of a good exorcist?

Call the Ghostbusters.  I'm being haunted by Von Hayes. (Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

A "Best On The Worst" Side Story: The Donne Wall For Johnny Damon Non-Trade

Every year, I write a 13-part weekly series that spotlights former Mets players who are connected via the theme of the series.  This year's theme, "The Best On The Worst", focuses on Mets players who experienced their best seasons on some rather lackluster Mets teams.

This past week, I turned the focus of the series over to Steve Trachsel, a pitcher who won 66 games as a Met, with 50 games of those victories coming between 2001 and 2004, a four-year period in which the team was nearly 60 games under .500.  While doing research for the piece, I came across a news article that caught me by surprise.  It was so shocking that I felt the need to write a side story to the Trachsel post.  And it's all because of a certain relief pitcher on the Mets who could have been traded for a dynamic leadoff hitter in his prime, but wasn't - the Donne-for-Johnny trade that never was.

Back in December 2000, the New York Times published an article by Murray Chass on the signing of Steve Trachsel.   Chass discussed the flurry of activity by Mets' general manager Steve Phillips, which included the free agent signings of starting pitchers Kevin Appier and Trachsel, as well as a trade for relief pitcher Donne Wall.  At the time, the Mets had a strong bullpen with right-handers Turk Wendell and Armando Benitez and left-handers Dennis Cook and John Franco.  Chass noted that because of the Mets' bullpen depth, Wall could have been flipped to Kansas City as part of a deal that would have brought 27-year-old Johnny Damon to Flushing.

Wall had pitched beautifully for San Diego prior to his acquisition by the Mets, posting a 2.92 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in three years with the Padres.  Meanwhile, Damon had come off a season in which he hit .327 with a league-leading 136 runs scored and 46 stolen bases.  But Damon was a center fielder, and the Mets already had one of those in Jay Payton, who had just finished third in the Rookie of the Year vote.  Damon was also a Scott Boras client, which posed a problem for the Mets for two reasons.

• Damon was about to become a free agent, and Boras had made it clear that Damon would not sign an extension with any team under he first dipped his feet in the free-agent waters.

• A month prior to the acquisition of Donne Wall, the Mets had strained their relationship with Boras because of a botched attempt by Phillips to sign another of Boras' clients - free agent shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

Eventually, the Royals did trade Damon to Oakland, as part of a three-team deal that also included the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  The Mets were left with Payton in center and Wall in the bullpen.  Payton failed to approach his 2000 numbers again as a Met, and within two years, he had been traded to Colorado, where he had a tremendous season (.302, 28 HR, 89 RBI) for the Rockies in 2003.

Wall, on the other hand, was horrible in his one season in New York, losing all four of his decisions and posting a 4.85 ERA and 1.59 WHIP.  Wall allowed multiple runs in a quarter of his 32 appearances and became a part of major league history on August 23, when he allowed a home run to Rockies' starting pitcher Jason Jennings in the ninth inning of a 10-0 loss.  Jennings was making his major league debut in the game, making him the first pitcher in modern major league history (since 1900) to pitch a complete-game shutout and hit a home run in his first big league appearance.

It's no wonder a certain Mets blogger who attended that game will never forget what he witnessed on that infamous night at Shea Stadium when Jennings took Donne "over the" Wall.

Jason Jennings - #NeverForget

Like Donne Wall, Johnny Damon also had an off-year for his new team in 2001.  But for Damon, his off-year in Oakland still produced 108 runs scored and 27 stolen bases, even though his batting average dropped to .256.  However, unlike the Mets, Oakland reached the postseason in 2001, and Damon was outstanding in his first playoff experience (.409 batting average, .591 slugging percentage).  Damon parlayed his October brilliance into a free-agent contract with the Red Sox and became a legend in Boston.  Wall became an ex-Met following the 2001 season and an ex-baseball player by June 2002.

Imagine how things could have turned out different for the Mets had they actually acquired Johnny Damon for Donne Wall and friends.  Steve Trachsel might never have been a candidate for "The Best On The Worst" because the Mets might never have become a last-place team.  It's a non-trade Mets fans will never forget.
 

Shaun Marcum's Winless Brethren

When the Mets signed Shaun Marcum to a one-year deal prior to the 2013 season, they thought they were getting a bargain.  After all, Marcum was one of the few pitchers in baseball with over 100 career starts who had a winning percentage over .600.  (At 57-36, Marcum had a .613 winning percentage in 149 starts.)

But Marcum has done everything but win for the Mets.  He's lost as a starting pitcher.  He's lost in relief.  He's lost after pitching seven shutout innings in a game that lasted longer than two games (the 20-inning loss to the Miami Marlins on June 8).  Through his first 11 appearances (9 starts) as a Met, Shaun Marcum is 0-9.  At least the Mets won his two no-decisions, so he has that to hang his hat on.  But that's not enough to keep him off an exclusive list.

Shaun Marcum is now the third pitcher in franchise history to begin a season with nine consecutive defeats.  Prior to this season, the only two hurlers to start a season with a goose egg in the win column and a nine under the "L" were Bob L. Miller in 1962 and Anthony Young in 1993.

Bob L. Miller started the Mets' inaugural campaign by losing his first 12 decisions.  After appearing in 32 games for the Mets in 1962 with nary a victory to show for his efforts (20 starts, 12 appearances in relief), Miller finally earned his first victory of the season in the Mets' last win of the year, beating the Cubs in a complete-game effort on September 29.  Miller defeated Cubs' starter Dick Ellsworth, handing Ellsworth his 20th loss on the season.  In doing so, Ellsworth became only the sixth Cubs pitcher to lose 20 games in the modern era of baseball (since 1900).

Miller left the Mets after the 1962 season and pitched for five first-place teams and three pennant-winners.  He won World Series rings as a member of the 1965 Dodgers and 1971 Pirates before coming back to pitch for the Mets in 1973 (his sixth first-place team and fourth pennant-winner) and 1974, where he fared slightly better than he did in 1962.  This time, Miller won two games in his second go-round in New York.

Anthony Young started the 1993 campaign with an 0-13 mark.  This came on the heels of a 2-14 record in 1992 in which he lost his final 14 decisions.  (Yes, that means Anthony Young began the 1992 season with a 2-0 record.)  Young was actually pretty decent during his 27-game losing streak.  He saved 16 games in between the two dozen-plus losses and had an extended period of dominance during a two-month stretch out of the bullpen.  From July 7 to August 28, 1992, Young made 20 appearances in relief for the Mets, allowing no runs in 23⅔ innings.  He also saved nine games, holding opposing hitters to a .154 batting average and no extra-base hits.  Basically, on the worst team money could buy, Young was a good buy.  He just couldn't buy a win.

On July 24, 1993, Young lost his 27th consecutive decision.  The loss dropped his record on the year to 0-13, making the hard-luck pitcher to first hurler in team history to begin a season with an 0-13 mark.  Four days after knocking Bob L. Miller out of the record books, Young was in line to lose his 28th straight after allowing an unearned run in the ninth inning to give the expansion Florida Marlins a 4-3 lead.  But run-scoring hits by Ryan Thompson and Eddie Murray not only took Young off the hook for the loss, it gave him his first win in 15 months.  It would also be his final win in a Mets uniform, as Young was traded to the Cubs prior to the start of the 1994 campaign.  He did, however, lose three more games as a Met before his trade to Chicago.

With losses in his first nine decisions, Shaun Marcum has turned the Miller and Young duo into a trio.  Surely, Marcum will notch a victory at some point this season.  But if he doesn't, he'll be the only Met to have a winless season with as many as nine losses.  In fact, there have been very few pitchers in Mets history with as many as four losses in a season that featured no victories.  And only two hurlers in club annals have ever completed a winless season with as many as five losses.  Those unlucky souls are:

• John Franco (1998):  0-8
• Oliver Perez (2010):  0-5
• Sherman Jones (1962):  0-4
• Phil Hennigan (1973):  0-4
• Rick Aguilera (1988):  0-4
• Jason Jacome (1995):  0-4
• Donne Wall (2001):  0-4
• Jose Lima (2006):  0-4
• Jenrry Mejia (2010): 0-4
• Pat Misch (2010):  0-4
• Collin McHugh (2012):  0-4

As denoted in the list above, no Met pitcher has ever finished a season with no wins and more than eight losses.  Should Shaun Marcum not receive credit for a victory in 2013, he would become the losingest winless pitcher in franchise history.  But even if he wins one game, he stands to join a very exclusive list - albeit not one to be proud of.

Since the franchise came into existence over half a century ago, only three pitchers have ever lost nine games or more in a season in which they emerged victorious just once.  If you've been paying attention to the rest of this piece, two of the three names should look quite familiar.

• Anthony Young (1993):  1-16
• Bob L. Miller (1962):  1-12
• Tom Parsons (1965):  1-10

(In case you were wondering, Tom Parsons lost his first four decisions for the Mets in 1965 before earning his sole victory of the season in a complete game shutout over the Cubs on July 5.  He never pitched again in the major leagues after the 1965 campaign even though he was only 25 at the time of his final appearance.  He toiled in the minor leagues in the Astros and Red Sox organizations for four years before leaving baseball for good following the 1969 season, the same year the Mets won a World Series championship without him.)

"D'oh!  I'm getting compared to Anthony Young!" (Photo by Paul J. Bereswill)

Shaun Marcum was signed by the Mets prior to the 2013 season in a move that was expected to bring a veteran arm into an otherwise young starting rotation.  But Marcum has been beaten to the victory column by every one of those young rotation members.  Even Zack Wheeler, who has made all of one start in the major leagues, earned a victory before Marcum.

Anthony Young.  Bob L. Miller.  Tom Parsons.  Shaun Marcum.  It's not a list of players Marcum expected to be associated with this late in the season.  And if Marcum doesn't earn a win at some point this season, John Franco might be popping the champagne cork at the end of the year.  It's too bad the champagne won't be for something to be proud of.