The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets: Mike Piazza

The Mets lost at least 95 games in each of their first six seasons from 1962 to 1967.  But the arrival of Tom Seaver in 1967 brought the first glimmer of hope to the team.  Although the Mets suffered through a seventh straight losing season in 1968, they showed marked improvement by winning 73 ballgames.  A year later, the Miracle Mets went all the way to the World Series, defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles to take home an improbable championship.

Nearly thirty years later, the Mets were coming off another six-year stretch of sub-.500 baseball before they turned the corner in 1997, going 88-74 and staying in the wild card race until the final week of the season.  Leading the way was Todd Hundley, who became the first catcher in franchise history to post multiple 30-homer campaigns.  But an elbow injury in early September limited Hundley during the final month of the season, allowing him to start behind the plate in just one of the team's final 19 games.  Hundley's balky elbow would keep him out of action into the 1998 season, causing the Mets to go with a Tim Spehr/Alberto Castillo platoon at the catcher's position while Hundley recovered.  Needless to say, the team's offense suffered, scoring three runs or fewer in 22 of the first 39 games.  Clearly, an upgrade was needed both behind and at the plate if the team wanted to prove that the previous season's improvement was not a fluke.  The Mets were able to do both, and in doing so, they eventually gave Seaver a partner in a Mets cap at Cooperstown.

From his first day as a Met, Mike Piazza always found a way to put a smile on the faces of Mets fans.  (Getty Images)

Michael Joseph Piazza was famously drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 June amateur draft as a favor to his father, Vince, who was friends with manager Tom Lasorda.  Four years later, Piazza made his debut with the Dodgers and played his first full season with Los Angeles in 1993, becoming the unanimous winner of the National League Rookie of the Year Award.  The 1993 campaign would also see Piazza start a five-year stretch in which he finished in the top ten in the MVP vote every year.

But with free agency and a potential $100 million contract looming, the members of the front office that bled Dodger blue felt Piazza wanted too much green.  And so, just midway through the month of May, Piazza was traded to the defending champion Florida Marlins, who were in the process of ridding themselves of the high-salaried players who helped them win it all in 1997.  Gone were All-Stars Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla and Charles Johnson, who were due to earn over $24 million between them in 1998.  Also jettisoned to Los Angeles was veteran utility man Jim Eisenreich and his $1.4 million salary.  The cost-conscious Marlins had no intentions of keeping Piazza (or Todd Zeile, who also packed his bags for south Florida in the deal) and were looking for a second trade partner for the newly peripatetic Piazza.

The Chicago Cubs were a potential suitor for both Piazza and Zeile, but the North Siders did not believe they could re-sign Piazza once his contract expired at the end of the season.  They also did not want to part ways with their top catching and pitching prospects, who were expected to be included in the potential transaction, which in hindsight ended up being a terrible decision by the Cubs, as neither prospect ever played in the majors and both were out of baseball by the 2001 campaign.  While the Cubs were pondering the potential repercussions of dealing away their young players for a soon-to-be 30-year-old backstop, the Mets had no qualms offering their top prospects to the Marlins.

New York agreed to send a package of two former top ten overall draft picks to Florida on May 22, 1998, trading outfielder Preston Wilson (9th pick of the 1992 June amateur draft) and left-handed pitcher Geoff Goetz (picked No. 6 in 1997).  The Mets also included southpaw pitching prospect Ed Yarnall, who had gotten off to a blistering start at AA-Binghamton prior to the trade (7-0 in seven starts, 0.39 ERA, 0.793 WHIP).  And faster than you can say "fire sale", Piazza was a Met.

"I have gone from a player who thought he would spend his whole career with one organization to a player who's been with three organizations in a week," Piazza said after the trade was finalized.  "I just want to get in one place for more than a week and settle down.  I'll be with three teams in a week.  Isn't that bizarre?  It's like rotisserie baseball."

Todd Hundley, who had been a Met since Davey Johnson was manager of the team in 1990, but hadn't played a game with the club since the previous September, could have been bitter after the trade was consummated.  After all, it was his job Piazza was taking and he knew that the five-time Silver Slugger Award recipient wasn't going to give it up once Hundley returned from his elbow injury.  But Hundley took the high road after Piazza became his teammate.

"I don't have any problems with this," Hundley said about the trade.  "If he can help put a World Series ring on my finger, more power to him."

Another person who didn't have a problem with the trade was Mets' co-owner Fred Wilpon, who didn't hold back his excitement when discussing the acquisition of the erstwhile Dodgers and Marlins catcher.

"The town is ready and waiting for Mike," Wilpon said.  "They love him already and they'll love him even more."

There was a lot of love in the room when Fred Wilpon broke his piggy bank to sign Mike Piazza.  (Getty Images)

At first, Piazza got tough love from Mets fans, hearing some occasional boos from the Shea Stadium crowd during his first month as a Met because he wasn't driving in runs.  Although Piazza batted .354 in his first 24 games with the team, he only drove in seven runs, with just two of those RBI coming in his new home park.  Not helping matters was the team's inability to win games as spring turned to summer.  After winning nine straight games in late May (with eight of those wins coming after the trade), the Mets went 15-22 in their next 37 games and were in serious jeopardy of falling under the .500 mark in late July.  That's when Mike Piazza turned the boos into cheers and put the team on his back for the rest of the season.

Beginning on July 18, when Piazza recorded his first multi-homer game with the Mets, the catcher went on to post a .367/.441/.705 slash line over his next 60 games with 18 homers, 56 RBI and just 27 strikeouts.  In that time, the Mets went from being wild card pretenders to holding a one-game lead in the wild card race with five games left to play in the season.  Unfortunately, the Mets went on to lose their final five games to fall short in their playoff quest, even with Piazza reaching base nine times during the season-ending skein.

The way the season ended left a bad taste in the mouths of Mets fans, especially with the knowledge that their star catcher did not have a contract for the 1999 season.  But Piazza did not keep the fans waiting for very long, as he agreed to a seven-year, $91 million contract to stay with the team through the 2005 season just three days after the World Series ended.  Todd Hundley, who hoped Piazza would get him a championship ring, was instead traded to Piazza's original team in December.

After missing out on the postseason in 1998, Piazza and the Mets were determined to end the team's decade-long playoff drought in 1999.  But neither Piazza nor the team got off to a hot start, as Piazza was batting just .273 with four homers through May 16 and the Mets had a disappointing 27-28 record after losing their eighth consecutive ballgame - a 6-3 decision to the Yankees.  That was enough for general manager Steve Phillips, who decided a change was needed to create a spark for the team.  That change involved the firing of hitting coach Tom Robson, pitching coach Bob Apodaca and bullpen coach Randy Niemann.

"This was a tough evening for the organization," Phillips said.  "We are one-third of the way through the season and that is enough time to make an evaluation.  There is still enough time to get the ship righted."

After the triple firings at the 55-game mark of the season, manager Bobby Valentine declared, "In the next 55 games, if we're not better, I shouldn't be the manager," followed by a bold statement about the Mets needing to have a 40-15 record in those 55 contests.  The first of those 55 games came in the Subway Series finale against Roger Clemens, who had yet to lose a game as a member of the Yankees.  Then Mike Piazza happened.  And the Mets-Yankees rivalry was never the same.

Boo.  (Corey Sipkin/Daily News)

Clemens completed a perfect first inning, which included a whiff of the normally hard-to-strike-out John Olerud.  (Olerud fanned just 66 times in 723 plate appearances in 1999.)  Piazza then led off the second inning with a double to start a four-run rally against the hard-throwing right-hander.  An inning later, Olerud redeemed himself by leading off the frame with a single.  That brought up Piazza, who launched his first career home run off Clemens to break the game open.  By the time the third inning was over, Clemens had hit the showers and the Mets were up, 7-0.  They held on to win, 7-2, and the team and its new coaches were back at the .500 mark.  The Mets would never see .500 again for the rest of the season.

Piazza's two-hit effort against Clemens and the Yankees didn't just propel the Mets to victory.  It also extended his hitting streak to 11 games.  Thirteen games later, a home run against the Marlins pushed his streak to 24 games, which tied the franchise record set by Hubie Brooks in 1984.  Although he didn't quite break that team record, he continued to destroy opposing pitching, especially when it was a Yankee pitcher throwing the ball to him.

When the Yankees paid a visit to Shea Stadium to face their cross-town rivals, Piazza took full advantage, going 7-for-11 with two homers, one of which was against Clemens and the other a titanic 482-foot blast over the picnic area tent.  That Saturday matinee featured seven homers (six by the Yankees) and a walk-off two-run single by Matt Franco after Piazza had been intentionally walked by future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera.

Led by Piazza's offensive exploits, the Mets fulfilled Valentine's prophecy, going 40-15 to improve their record to 67-43 by early August.  A late-season seven-game losing streak almost doomed the Mets' chances to win the National League wild card berth, but a season-ending four-game winning streak propelled the Mets into the postseason for the first time since 1988, with Piazza reaching base eight times in the four games.  In those four victories, Piazza hit two more homers (Nos. 39 and 40) and collected his franchise record-setting 124th RBI of the season.

An injured left thumb limited Piazza's ability to catch and hit in the playoffs and caused him to miss two games in the Mets' Division Series victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks - a series won on a walk-off homer by Piazza's replacement, Todd Pratt, in the tenth inning of Game Four.  Although Piazza returned to action in the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves, he still wasn't at full strength, going 4-for-24 in the series.  However, one of the four hits was a game-tying two-run homer off future Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz in Game Six that completed the Mets' comeback from an early five-run deficit.  Alas, Piazza was taken out of the game in a double switch in the ninth inning and the Mets were taken out of their season two innings later when Kenny Rogers walked in the pennant-winning run.

Piazza followed up his first full season with the Mets in 1999 with another brilliant campaign in 2000.  In addition to driving in at least one run in 15 consecutive games, which set a team record and was also the second-longest such streak in major league history, Piazza raised his batting average from .303 to .324 and his OPS went up from an already excellent .936 to a mind-boggling 1.012.  The catcher's .614 slugging percentage during the 2000 season remains the highest single-season mark in franchise history for a player who qualified for the batting title (min. 502 plate appearances).  The high point of his season came on June 30, when his three-run homer off Braves reliever Terry Mulholland capped a ten-run rally in the eighth inning of an 11-8 Mets victory.  His low point came against the Yankees, and once again Roger Clemens was involved.

In the second game of a two-stadium, day-night doubleheader on July 8, Piazza strolled up to the plate at Yankee Stadium in the second inning to face Clemens.  The year before, Piazza homered off Clemens in each of Clemens' starts against the Mets.  Piazza continued his personal home run derby against the apoplectic Texan in 2000, blasting a grand slam off Clemens on June 9.   This time, Clemens would be the one doing the hitting, as he plunked Piazza with a head-seeking missile.  The catcher lay dazed on the ground for several minutes after the violent beaning before being taken out of the game.  Diagnosed with a concussion, Piazza missed the next game against the Yankees and was also forced to sit out the All-Star Game.

Extreme close-up!  Maybe a little too extreme for Mike Piazza.  (Bill Kostroun/AP)

Piazza returned to the field after the All-Star break, but batted just .294 the rest of the year after maintaining a batting average at or above .350 for the majority of the season's first half.  This time, the Mets didn't need a season-ending winning streak to reach the playoffs, as they easily clinched the wild card to crash the postseason party for the second straight year.

Although Piazza didn't drive in any runs in Division Series victory over the San Francisco Giants, he did reach base seven times in the four games played.  Still, Piazza's postseason slash line as a Met through three series was a dismal .191/.264/.277, which was hardly what the team expected from the greatest hitting catcher of all-time.   However, there was reason for hope that Piazza would turn things around in the NLCS, as the Mets wouldn't be facing the perennial division champion Braves and their deadly pitching triumvirate of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.  Instead, he'd be facing the St. Louis Cardinals' pitching staff, who combined to post a 4.38 ERA during the regular season and allowed a then-franchise record 196 home runs.  It didn't take long for Piazza to take over the series.

In the first inning of Game One, Piazza produced the first run of the series, driving in Timo Perez with a double.  The Mets never looked back, cruising to a 6-2 victory.  Piazza then homered and walked three times in the Mets' Game Two victory.  After the Mets lost Game Three, Piazza produced one of the team's record-setting five doubles in the first inning of Game Four.  He then homered in the fourth to give the Mets an 8-3 lead and drove in a crucial run in the sixth after the Cardinals had cut the Mets' lead to 8-6.  The Mets held on to win, 10-6, to move to within one victory of the World Series.

Mike Piazza had been to the playoffs twice as a member of the Dodgers and was in his second postseason with the Mets in 2000, but he had never come so close to making it to the Fall Classic.  And in Game Five against the Cardinals, he made sure he wouldn't have to wait another year.  Piazza walked and scored in the first inning.  He then doubled and scored in the fourth frame.  The rest was up to his battery mate, Mike Hampton, who was masterful in keeping St. Louis off the scoreboard.  And once Hampton induced a weak fly ball from Rick Wilkins in the ninth - the same Rick Wilkins who started four games behind the plate for the Mets in 1998 the week before New York acquired Piazza - the Mets were National League pennant winners for the first time since 1986 and Piazza was off to his first World Series to face an opponent with whom he had become quite familiar.

After batting .412 in the NLCS with an eye-popping 1.487 OPS in the five games, Piazza set his sights on the Yankees, who had dispatched the Seattle Mariners in six games to win their third consecutive American League pennant and fourth in five years.  Unfortunately, the Mets did not win the first Subway World Series since 1956, falling to the Yankees in five closely contested games.  But Piazza, who flew out to Bernie Williams in center field to end the series, continued his hitting assault against the Yankees.  Piazza produced four extra-base hits in the World Series (no other Met had more than two) and drove in four runs to lead the team.  Piazza also had a .636 slugging percentage in the series, while his teammates could only manage to slug .301.  The baseball wasn't the only thing Piazza tried to slug in the World Series.

In Game Two, Piazza faced Roger Clemens for the first time since his frightening beaning in July.  On the fourth pitch of his first at-bat, Piazza fouled the ball off, causing his bat to splinter into several pieces.  Not knowing where he had hit the pitch, Piazza jogged down the line to first base.  Piazza may not have known where the ball was, but he definitely knew where part of his bat was after Clemens inexcusably fired a shard of it in Piazza's direction.  As an obviously surprised Piazza started walking toward Clemens, Clemens could be seen saying that he thought it was the ball, which only made sense on Planet Roger because if he fielded "the ball", he should have thrown it to first base for the out instead of throwing the sharp projectile in the vicinity of Piazza's legs.  Both benches emptied, but no punches were thrown and no one was ejected.  But the memories of the incident, as well as the beaning from earlier in the year, stayed with Piazza and the Mets throughout the off-season, and would not be settled for two years.

But before the Mets and their catcher could defend themselves against Clemens and the Yankees, they had to defend their National League title in 2001.  Once again, Piazza was the team leader in a multitude of categories, batting .300 with 36 homers.  But for the first time in years, his teammates struggled at the plate, causing the Mets to spend most of the season below .500.  Even with Piazza's usual high batting average, the team as a whole batted .249, which was the second lowest mark in the league.  The club's .387 slugging percentage, however, was the worst in the N.L., six percentage points behind the Pittsburgh Pirates, who lost a league-high 100 games in 2001.  Because he didn't have the support of his teammates, Piazza failed to drive in 100 runs for the first time in a non-strike shortened season, finishing the year with 94 RBI.

Hero.  (Lou Requena/AP)

On the morning of August 18, the Mets appeared to be dead in the water with a 54-68 record.  But Piazza then put the team on his back and carried them back into contention.  Over his next 28 games, Piazza produced a .324/.417/.627 slash line with eight homers and 22 RBI, helping the Mets win 23 of those 28 contests to push them back over .500.  Perhaps his most important homer as a Met occurred during the team's resurgence on September 21, when Piazza took Atlanta's Steve Karsay deep in the eighth inning to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.  That homer, which took place in the first game played at Shea Stadium after the 9/11 attacks, gave the city and the team a reason to have hope and allowed the legacy of Mike Piazza to grow even more than it already had.

"It was almost like a blur to me, almost like a dream, sort of surreal," Piazza said.  "I'm just so happy I gave people something to cheer.  There was a lot of emotion.  It was just a surreal sort of energy out there.  I'm just so proud to be a part of it tonight."

The Mets failed to qualify for the postseason in 2001, but their Piazza-infused finish allowed them to end the year with an 82-80 record - the team's fifth consecutive winning season.  The team's fortunes would come to a crashing halt the following year.

The 2002 season was a year that began with such high hopes for the Mets, as the team acquired a number of former All-Stars to join Piazza in the starting lineup.  With Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn and Jeromy Burnitz on the team, the Mets hoped their offensive woes of the 2001 campaign would be a thing of the past.  They couldn't have been more wrong.

Vaughn, whose average season from 1995 to 2000 produced a .306 batting average, 38 homers and 118 RBI, was only able to bat .259 with 26 homers and 72 RBI as a Met in 2002.  Likewise, Burnitz was a premier slugger in Milwaukee from 1997 to 2001, averaging 33 homers and 102 RBI per season, while posting an .875 OPS.  His 2002 campaign with the Mets saw significant drop-offs in each category (19 HR, 54 RBI, .677 OPS).  The biggest shocker was undoubtedly the performance of Alomar, who averaged 38 doubles, 21 homers, 103 RBI, 121 runs scored, 35 stolen bases and a .920 OPS per season from 1999 to 2001.  He had also appeared in a dozen consecutive All-Star Games and had won ten Gold Gloves prior to becoming a Met.  In New York, Alomar failed to be an All-Star or provide Gold Glove-caliber defense (career-worst -0.9 dWAR in 2002), and as a hitter, he was merely pedestrian, with 24 doubles, 11 homers, 53 RBI, 73 runs scored, 16 steals and a .708 OPS.

Once again, Piazza was forced to carry the offensive load on a less-than-average hitting team.  The slugger led the club with 33 homers and 98 RBI, which made him the first - and still only - Met with four seasons of 30 or more home runs.  But the wear and tear of the grueling season on his 34-year-old body caused Piazza to bat under .300 for the first time in his career, as the catcher could only manage to hit .280 in 2002.  Fortunately, his matchup against Roger Clemens and the Yankees was before the beginning of summer, which meant Piazza had all the energy he needed to exact a modicum of revenge against his Yankee nemesis.

On June 15, Clemens was set to pitch against the Mets at Shea Stadium for the first time since the bat-flinging incident in the 2000 World Series.  Clemens did not pitch against the Mets in 2001 because Yankee manager Joe Torre did not want to Mets to retaliate against the veteran headhunter, saying, "I don't see the need to have it happen.  I really don't."  In 2001, Torre had the luxury of altering his starting rotation to avoid having Clemens face Piazza and the Mets.  He didn't have that luxury in 2002, as Clemens was due to start the middle game of a three-game series at Shea.

Facing Clemens in the Saturday matinee was Shawn Estes, who had become another disappointing acquisition by general manager Steve Phillips.  After compiling a 61-42 record for the San Francisco Giants from 1997 to 2001, Estes began the 2002 season by winning just two of his first 12 starts.  He was not the ideal man to send to the mound in a much-anticipated matchup against Clemens, but unlike Torre, Mets manager Bobby Valentine didn't feel the need to change his starting rotation.  Estes took the ball, Piazza got behind the plate and the game got underway.

"It's about time you started Clemens against us.  We needed to blast off against the Rocket."  (Mark J. Terrill/AP)

The first two innings passed without incident and without a run crossing the plate.  They also passed without Roger Clemens coming to bat.  But with one out in the third inning, Clemens took a bat in his hands and strolled casually to the plate to stand directly in front of a crouching Piazza and the boos of a venomous Shea Stadium crowd.  Estes, who was pitching on the other side of the country when the Piazza-Clemens feud was in full swing in 1999 and 2000, was in charge of delivering the retaliatory message to Clemens in the form of a fastball to his six-foot, four-inch body.  The tension was palpable at the ballpark as Estes delivered his first pitch to Clemens.  Where would the pitch go?  What would it hit?  Would there be a bench-clearing brawl between the crosstown rivals?

The pitch went behind Clemens, missing him by about a foot.

For Estes, hitting a target - even one as large as Clemens' body - had never been an easy task.  As a member of the Giants, Estes had three seasons in which he walked 100 or more batters, leading the league in the category in 1997.  Estes never got to hit Clemens with a pitch, as both benches were warned by home plate umpire Wally Bell after the first pitch of the at-bat, but he did get to hit him in a different way later in the game, as did Piazza.

After not drawing Clemens' blood in the top of the third, the Mets drew first blood on the scoreboard in the bottom of the frame, as Rey Ordoñez took advantage of a vacated home plate to score all the way from second base on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Estes.  Two innings later, with the Mets still holding on to a 1-0 lead, Estes found a way to hit Clemens without being ejected from the game, as he smacked an unlikely two-run homer off the shell-shocked pitcher.  It was the first time Clemens had allowed a home run to an opposing pitcher in his 19-year career.  An inning later, Piazza stepped up to plate, and just like his battery mate had done in the previous inning, Piazza put a charge on the baseball, hitting it into the Yankees bullpen and effectively ending Clemens' day on the mound.

The home run by Piazza helped the Mets cruise to an 8-0 victory and also finally put an end to the four-season feud between him and Clemens.

"I don't think revenge mattered," Piazza said after the game.  "Hopefully today beating the Yankees and doing it the way we did is the key to getting some momentum.  That was really all we were trying to do."

Whatever momentum the Mets gained by the satisfying victory over the Yankees was short-lived, as the team bobbed up and down in a sea of mediocrity before drowning with a 12-game losing streak in August.  The Mets finished the year with a disappointing 75-86 final record - the first time Piazza had played for a sub-.500 Mets team and the club's first losing season since 1996.  The team's dismal performance led to the firing of Valentine and the hiring of new manager Art Howe.  The move did nothing to improve the team.

With the underachieving (and aging) Vaughn, Alomar and Burnitz still on the team, the Mets did not expect to do much in 2003.  Even with the acquisition of future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine and All-Star outfielder Cliff Floyd, the Mets were a team full of 30-somethings who could break with just the slightest touch.  Piazza, now in his mid-30s, was becoming more fragile.  He also was becoming all too accustomed to being thrown at by opposing pitchers.  In addition to the incidents with Clemens, Piazza had been hit in the back by Dodgers pitcher Guillermo Mota during a spring training game in 2002.  When the two faced each other again in a 2003 Grapefruit League game, all hell broke loose.

Mota, who had homered off Mets reliever Armando Benitez earlier in the game, threw his first pitch to Piazza a little too inside for the catcher's liking.  The next pitch once again hit Piazza in the back, causing the angered All-Star to charge the mound and the pathetic pitcher to run for his life, which didn't go unnoticed by Piazza's manager and teammates.

Let's get ready to rumble!  (MSG Network)

"The guy ran like a scared rabbit," Howe remarked.  "He wants to hit somebody, stand there and fight.  He can backpedal faster than I can run forward."

Also infuriated by the show of cowardice was Piazza's backup on the field, Vance Wilson, who offered his own opinion of Mota after the pitcher had done his version of backing up.

"He's gutless," Wilson said without mincing any words.  "If you want to hit somebody, be a man and face him.  Then he hid in the dugout and yelled a bunch of trash at Mike.  He's lucky Mike didn't get to him."

Piazza almost did get to Mota upon the conclusion of the game. Once the dust had settled on the field, both Piazza and Mota were ejected from the game.  A livid Piazza then tried to find Mota in the Dodgers clubhouse, but the pitcher had already left.  Several seasons of frustration from being targeted by Clemens and Mota had finally gotten to Piazza, causing the catcher to snap.  Piazza was suspended for five games for the incident and fined $3,000.

The disarray exhibited on the field during the Piazza-Mota brawl was a microcosm of the 2003 season for the Mets, as very few players managed to hold on to their everyday jobs.  In fact, the only Met to start more than 100 games at the same position was rookie Ty Wigginton, who somehow managed to start 153 games at third base.  Piazza was one of the many injury casualties in 2003, as a groin injury limited him to just 68 games.  As a result, he finished the season with career lows in home runs (11) and runs batted in (34).

With Piazza out for much of the season and the continued decline of Vaughn, Burnitz and Alomar (neither of whom played again for the Mets following the 2003 campaign), New York finished the year with a 66-95 record.  To this day, that dismal mark remains the only season the team has had with 95 or more losses since 1993.

The 2003 season was a year of transition in more ways than one.  Besides the departures of Vaughn, Burnitz and Alomar, general manager Steve Phillips was also relieved of his duties.  Change was imminent for Mike Piazza as well.  In the season's final game at Shea Stadium, Piazza traded in his catcher's mitt for a first baseman's glove, taking over the position for one inning.  Piazza hadn't played first base in the majors since July 26, 1993 when he was a rookie with the Dodgers, but he did play the position for a few innings during his rehab assignment following his groin injury.  And with that limited experience, manager Art Howe decided to give Piazza a starting job at the position in 2004.

When the curtain opened on the 2004 season, Mike Piazza and Jason Phillips were set to rotate between catcher and first base.  By the time the team had played 43 games, Piazza had started 27 games at catcher and 14 games at first base, while Phillips had caught eight games and been the team's starting first baseman 23 times.  But beginning on May 22, Howe gave Piazza more chances at first base in order to keep his top hitter fresh and in the lineup more often, especially with the team sitting with a 22-22 record after spending most of the first six weeks of the season under .500.

By mid-July, the Mets were in the thick of the N.L. East race, just one game behind the Braves and Phillies, who were tied for first place.  Piazza had started 33 out of 54 games at first base and was a key contributor at the plate, batting .360 from mid-May to late June with ten homers and a gaudy 1.081 OPS during the stretch.  But Piazza injured his left wrist in a collision with the speedy Juan Pierre at first base in late July and missed a week.  He then missed 21 games in August with a knee injury.  By the time he returned on August 30, the Mets were 15 games out of first and 10½ games behind the wild card leader.  A team that was 45-43 and in the thick of the playoff race on July 15 finished the season 20 games under .500.  Piazza's production also suffered because of his two injuries, as he batted just .200 with four homers and 14 RBI after the All-Star Break.

With the Mets completing their third consecutive losing season in 2004, the good feelings and optimism felt during Piazza's first three seasons in New York were long gone.  Piazza himself wasn't immune to the tumult, as he had to call a press conference to deny rumors about his sexuality in 2002 and then had to endure persistent accusations from Murray Chass and others about steroid usage in 2003 and 2004, all because they noticed some acne on his back.  Even becoming the game's all-time leader in home runs by a catcher in 2004 only served to temporarily brighten what was otherwise a dark period in Mets history.

By 2005, it had become clear that the Mets would not attempt to re-sign Piazza once his contract expired at the end of the season.  The same player who averaged 37 homers and 107 RBI per season over the first four years of his contract could only manage a total of 31 homers and 88 RBI between the 2003 and 2004 campaigns.  And so, under new manager Willie Randolph, Piazza played the 2005 season knowing it would be his last in front of the Shea faithful.  He would also play the year back at his more familiar position behind the plate.

After three straight losing seasons, the Mets played the entire 2005 campaign at or around the .500 mark.  But when the team lost to the Atlanta Braves on September 17 to drop their record to 72-76, it appeared as if Piazza's final year in New York would become the team's fourth consecutive season with more losses than wins.  The Mets won five of their next six games to improve to 77-77, then finally went above .500 for good on the next-to-last Sunday of the season, with Piazza having his final vintage performance for the team.  Piazza reached base four times and hit two home runs - his 17th multi-homer game as a Met - to guide the team to a 6-5 victory over the Washington Nationals.  The Mets never went back under .500 again and finished the year with an 83-79 record.

Legend.  (Kathy Willens/AP)

On the final day of the regular season, a near-sellout crowd of 47,718 gathered at Shea Stadium to celebrate the brilliant career of their long-time catcher.  And even though the team couldn't pull out a victory for their future Hall of Famer, losing the season finale to the Colorado Rockies, Piazza went out as a winner, receiving a long standing ovation from the fans in attendance at Shea Stadium when he was removed from the game in the eighth inning.  An emotional Piazza waved to the fans in appreciation, as both teams applauded from their respective dugouts.  The ovation was just as loud a year later when Piazza returned to Shea as a member of the San Diego Padres and hit two home runs against Mets pitcher (and fellow future Hall of Famer) Pedro Martinez, receiving a rare curtain call as a visiting player.

In 2016, the man who is widely considered to be the greatest hitting catcher of all-time finally made it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on his fourth try.  Unfounded foreign substance rumors may have kept him out of Cooperstown for his first three years on the ballot, but once he entered the Hall, he was welcomed with open arms by the tens of thousands of Mets fans who made the trek to Upstate New York for the induction ceremony.  Piazza became the second player to wear a Mets cap on his Hall of Fame plaque, joining Tom Seaver, who received baseball's highest honor in 1992.  A week later, Piazza's number was retired by the Mets, as his No. 31 joined Seaver's No. 41 to become the only two numbers retired for players in franchise history.

Mike Piazza became a Met just as the team was turning the corner after a six-year slumber.  Considered the final piece of a team that was ready to win, Piazza nearly carried the team to a wild card berth in 1998.  He then produced two of the best offensive seasons in club annals and was part of the first Mets team to make back-to-back postseason appearances, culminating with the club's fourth pennant in 2000.  But as Piazza's body began to break down, so did the team.  Off-the-field issues fueled by the media coupled with on-the-field adversity caused by years of squatting behind the plate (as well as confrontations with wild, hard-throwing pitchers) contributed to a rapid decline in Piazza's production.  But during his final season in New York, Piazza was able to witness the team's rebirth, and when he returned as an opposing player the following season, he received the kind of love that's only reserved for the true legends of the game.

Piazza always reciprocated that love, showing genuine affection for the fans who cheered him on through the good times and the bad.  And when it came time for his number to be retired by the team after his Hall of Fame induction in Cooperstown, he made sure to let the fans know just how important they were to him.

"The unofficial theme of my (Hall of Fame) speech was that no one goes into the Hall of Fame alone.  Each and every one of you is in there with me," Piazza said, before pointing to his retired No. 31 and adding, "I want to say just a little bit of what it means to have my number retired for this great franchise and for you amazing fans.  That means I will always be with you.  So every time these guys are down and you need a little bit of inspiration, just give a little peek up there to old Mikey and know that I'm back home watching you guys on TV saying a lot of prayers, praying for the Mets."

Mike Piazza shouldn't just be remembered as a player who hit lots of home runs in key moments.  Rather, he should be remembered as a player who lived and died with the team just as all Mets fans did.  He thrilled the fans when he was victorious on the field, and the fans agonized with him when the team failed.  Piazza was truly one with all of us, and for that, he will always be a beloved Met.

Mike Piazza will forever be one of the greatest players to ever put on a Mets uniform.  (Jim McIsaac/Newsday)

Note: The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players and personnel who experienced the best of times and the worst of times with the team.  For previous installments, please click on the names below:

January 2, 2017: Tom Seaver

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.
 

One Mo-MET In Time: Shawn Estes

The 1999 season marked the first time that both the Mets and Yankees qualified for the postseason in the same year.  Although the two teams failed to meet in the World Series in 1999, they did provide several memorable moments during their regular season matchups, including Matt Franco's game-winning hit against Mariano Rivera on July 10.

But the day before the Franco walk-off, the Mets used a late three-run homer by catcher Mike Piazza off Yankees starter Roger Clemens to break a 2-2 tie in a game the Mets eventually won, 5-2.  It was Piazza's second career homer off Clemens, with the first one coming in the Rocket's previous start against the Mets a month earlier at Yankee Stadium.

One year later, Piazza continued his torrid hitting against Clemens, launching a grand slam to straightaway center field - just the second grand slam allowed by Clemens in 17 seasons - to help the Mets cruise to a 12-2 victory.  A single in his next plate appearance gave Piazza seven hits in 12 at-bats against Clemens, including three homers and nine RBI.   The next time Clemens started a game against the Mets, he hit Piazza in the helmet with a fastball, knocking the Mets catcher out of the game.  General manager Steve Phillips shared his thoughts on the beaning after the game, saying, "I don't know if things are ever over.  Guys have long memories in baseball."

Things weren't over between Clemens and Piazza.  And apparently, the memory of Piazza's ownership of Clemens resonated more with the Rocket than it did with the Mets' All-Star catcher.

When the two teams squared off in the 2000 World Series, Piazza faced Clemens for the first time since he was the target of Clemens's head-seeking missile.  It only took four pitches for Clemens to once again have Piazza in his sights, although this time it was with a broken bat instead of a fastball.  Swinging on a 1-2 pitch, Piazza hit a foul ball that shattered his bat into several pieces, with one of the shards bouncing toward the pitcher's mound.  Instinctively, Clemens fielded the sharp piece of wood, then threw it in the direction of a dumbfounded Piazza, claiming that he thought it was the ball.  Never mind that Clemens's initial reaction was to hop around as if a spear was coming right at him (which it was) instead of a spherical, blunt object (which it wasn't).

The Yankees went on to win the game and the World Series.  Although Clemens was fined $50,000 for his unexpected javelin toss, he could easily afford to pay for it with his World Series-winning share of $294,783.41.  A year later, Clemens didn't have to worry about retaliation by the Mets because Yankees manager Joe Torre went out of his way to ensure that Clemens wouldn't have to pitch at Shea Stadium, where he'd be forced to bat.

By the 2002 season, much had changed for the crosstown rivals.  The Yankees were no longer the defending World Series champions and the Mets were no longer playoff contenders in the National League.  One thing that hadn't changed was that the Mets were still fuming over Roger Clemens and his approach to facing Mike Piazza.  Three years after Piazza took Clemens deep for the first time and two years after Clemens aimed a fastball and a fast bat in the direction of Piazza's body, the stage was set for Clemens to finally step up to the plate as a hitter at Shea Stadium.  And it was up to a new member of the Mets - one who wasn't present for each of the previous incidents - to show Clemens exactly how the Mets felt about him.

Shawn Estes may have missed Roger Clemens with a pitch, but he didn't miss a Roger Clemens pitch.  (Getty Images)

Aaron Shawn Estes was a former first round draft pick who had his share of ups and downs in the big leagues.  In 1997, Estes was an All-Star for San Francisco, going 19-5 with a 3.18 ERA to help the Giants reach the playoffs for just the fifth time in 40 seasons in the Bay Area.  But the '97 campaign was also the first of three seasons that Estes reached triple digits in walks.  Estes was never known for his control, as evidenced by his 521 walks in seven seasons as a Giant, a number that puts him in the team's top 20 in free passes - a team that has been in existence since 1883 and has used 731 pitchers through the 2014 season.

When Mets general manager Steve Phillips wanted to overhaul the team after it barely finished above .500 in 2001, he added several former All-Stars to the roster (Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn) and re-acquired players who used to call Flushing home (Jeromy Burnitz, Roger Cedeño).  Phillips also looked to bolster his pitching staff, sending utility infielder Desi Relaford and popular outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo to the Giants in exchange for Estes.

Estes's first win as a Met was a complete-game, one-hit shutout on April 26, a game in which the left-hander didn't allow a base runner until the seventh inning.  Ironically, Estes's masterpiece came against Milwaukee's Glendon Rusch, the pitcher he essentially replaced in New York's starting rotation and the last hurler to start a one-hitter for the Mets.  (Rusch combined with Armando Benitez on a one-hitter in 2001.)

Following his gem against the Brewers, Estes struggled mightily.  The southpaw won just one of his next seven starts, posting a 5.84 ERA and allowing opposing hitters to bat .343 against him.  Not once in those seven starts did Estes pitch into the seventh inning and in five of the seven outings, he failed to pitch more than five innings.  Needless to say, Estes was not winning over many fans in New York, especially after a five-inning, six-run debacle against the Indians on June 9 that brought him into his first Subway Series experience in his next start.  And what a start it would be, as Estes would be facing none other than Roger Clemens in his first Shea Stadium appearance since the 1999 season.

Shawn Estes was toiling a coast away in San Francisco during the 1999 and 2000 seasons when the Clemens-Piazza feud was at its peak.  But it would fall upon Estes to protect his new battery mate by sending a message to Clemens and the Yankees that the Mets were not going to be bullied by anyone.  On an unusually cool mid-June afternoon at Shea Stadium, the tension was palpable.  Estes started the game by striking out four of the first eight Yankee batters to face him.  That brought up Roger Clemens, as Public Enemy No. 1 was also Yankee batter No. 9.

With all eyes in the Shea Stadium crowd focused on the Estes-Clemens matchup, Estes fired his first pitch to the plate.  Naturally, aiming at a particular target - even a six-foot, four inch target - wasn't a strong suit for a pitcher who had walked 100 or more batters in a season three times in his career.  Estes's first pitch went behind Clemens, missing his rear end by about a foot.  Home plate umpire Wally Bell issued warnings to both dugouts and Clemens continued his at-bat against Estes, eventually striking out on a 3-2 pitch.

To most fans at the time, Estes had failed in doing his job, just as he had done in most of his starts during the season's first two months.  Striking out Clemens wasn't what they wanted to see.  Striking him was.  And by not doing so, the two-year wait for retribution lingered on.  After Estes retired the side in order in the top of the third, it was his turn to take a bat in his hands to face Clemens.  Although Estes's sacrifice bunt did allow shortstop Rey Ordoñez to score all the way from second base - the Yankees left home plate unattended - to give the Mets an early lead, it still didn't give fans what they desired.  Two innings later, Estes made up for missing Clemens in the third.  He didn't miss this time.

Shawn Estes hits Roger Clemens in a way no one expected.  (Photo by Steve Crandall/Reuters)

With the Mets clinging to a 1-0 lead in the fifth, Roger Cedeño led off the inning with a double down the left field line.  Rey Ordoñez then swung away at the first pitch he saw, flying out to center fielder Bernie Williams, which left Cedeño at second and brought up Shawn Estes.  Had there been no outs, Estes would have been instructed to bunt the runner to third base.  But with one out, Estes was allowed to swing away - and what a swing it was!

Estes hit a high fly ball down the left field line that cleared the outfield wall for a jaw-dropping two-run homer.  Estes's first hit as a Met - he began the season by going 0-for-18 - was not the first time he had taken an opposing pitcher deep, as he had homered once in 1997 and also hit a grand slam in 2000.  But it was the first time Clemens had ever allowed a long ball to a fellow moundsman in his 19-year career.  (Clemens would allow just one more homer to an opposing pitcher, serving up a two-run shot to Montreal Expos starting pitcher Jon Rauch in 2004.  It was one of only 11 starts made by Rauch in his career and his only home run.)

Clemens would later stroke a double off Estes in the top of the sixth - just the third hit of the Rocket's career - but was left stranded on the bases.  If Clemens thought he had gotten some sort of payback off Estes by banging out an extra-base hit of his own, he was in for a rude awakening when he went back to the mound for the bottom of the sixth when his nemesis, Mike Piazza, stepped into the batter's box to lead off the inning.

Piazza, who claimed that he "never really went to the plate with any ulterior motive",  took Clemens's first offering and deposited it over the wall to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.  Clemens was never allowed to finish the sixth inning, as he was taken out of the game two batters later.  The Mets went on the win the game, 8-0, with Estes picking up his third win of the season.

Estes pitched seven shutout innings against the Yankees, allowing five hits, one walk and matching a career high with 11 strikeouts.  But despite pitching (and hitting) beautifully against the Yankees in June, Estes became a former Met less than two months later.  The southpaw would win just one more game in New York, as he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in August as part of a package that netted the team long-time middle reliever Pedro Feliciano.

Roger Clemens had been disliked by Mets fans since the 1986 World Series, when he was seen clean-shaven prior to what he thought was going to be a championship-clinching win by his team at the time, the Boston Red Sox.  (Clemens had a five-o'clock shadow during the game, but shaved off his stubble in anticipation of a celebratory post-game interview that never happened.)  More than a decade later, Clemens infuriated fans once again when he took out beloved catcher Mike Piazza with a fastball to the helmet, then tried to do the same with a broken bat in that season's Fall Classic.

The Mets waited patiently for two seasons to get their revenge on Clemens.  The opportunity almost passed them by when Shawn Estes failed to hit Clemens with a pitch on a cool June day in 2002.  But before the day was over, Estes found a different way to hit Clemens, shaming him more than a fastball to the body ever could.  Piazza also exacted a modicum of payback against Clemens by homering off him an inning after Estes took him out of the park.  It turned out to be Piazza's final hit off Clemens after spending the previous half-decade hitting rockets off the Rocket.

''I don't think revenge mattered.  Hopefully today beating the Yankees and doing it the way we did is the key to getting some momentum.  That was really all we were trying to do.''

--Mike Piazza, following the June 15, 2002 game against the Yankees 


Shawn Estes never did bolster the starting rotation as general manager Steve Phillips expected, going 4-9 with a 4.55 ERA in 23 starts.  But he did provide the team and its fans with one magical day at Shea Stadium.  Estes was pitching across the country when the bad blood between Clemens and Piazza started to boil in 1999.  But when the book on the storied feud was closed, it was Estes who provided one of the final chapters, nailing a Roger Clemens pitch just two innings after he failed to nail Clemens at the plate.

A total of 72 players in Mets history (through the 2014 season) finished their careers in New York with just one home run to their credit.  Of those six dozen players, none of them hit a blast that resonated more with Mets fans than the one hit by Shawn Estes on June 15, 2002.

The man who came to New York with a history of being wild around the plate couldn't hit Roger Clemens with a pitch (yet still managed to get fined $750 for his efforts).  However, he did hit Clemens where it hurt the most - his ego - when he did something no pitcher had ever done before against him.  And in doing so, he helped provide closure to one of ugliest pitcher-batter feuds in recent memory.

Shawn Estes couldn't have picked a better time to have his one memorable moment as a Met.


Note:  One Mo-MET In Time is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who will forever be known for a single moment, game or event, regardless of whatever else they accomplished during their tenure with the Mets.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 5, 2015: Mookie Wilson 
January 12, 2015: Dave Mlicki
January 19, 2015: Steve Henderson 
January 26, 2015: Ron Swoboda
February 2, 2015: Anthony Young
February 9, 2015: Tim Harkness
February 16, 2015: Kenny Rogers, Aaron Heilman, Tom Glavine
February 23, 2015: Mike Vail
March 2, 2015: Matt Franco