Broken News: Being in the Right Place at the Right Time

Welcome to another edition of Broken News, where someone else breaks the news and then we break it again.  In today's installment, we're going to look back at Friday night's game between the Mets and Giants, otherwise known as the game in which the bottom of the third inning turned into a matchup between the Gas-House Gorillas and the Tea Totallers.  (Go watch classic Bugs Bunny clips if you don't know what I mean.)

In the third, the Mets sent 15 men to the plate and scored a dozen runs, breaking the franchise record for tallies in a single frame.  Yoenis Céspedes put the icing on the inning by giving his regards to Giants reliever Mike Broadway, lining a grand slam to score the Mets' ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth runs of the frame.  Earlier in the third, Céspedes had driven in two runs with another hit.  His six RBI set a club record for a player in one inning.

The Mets basically did a conga line around the bases in the third, scoring half a dozen runs off starter Jake Peavy and another half dozen against Broadway to set a team mark with 12 runs in one inning, breaking the old record of 11, which was accomplished in 2006 in an inning where the Mets clubbed two grand slams.

I attended Friday night's game and got to witness the third inning in person.  It was the 13th grand slam hit by a Mets player that I've had the pleasure of seeing at Shea Stadium and Citi Field.  I've also had the honor of being at Citi Field for eight of the 12 walk-off homers hit in the park's history, including all six game-ending blasts since 2013 and the only two walk-off grand slams ever hit there.  I've been in the right place at the right time for many of these exciting finishes, which reminds me of the first times I ever saw a grand slam and a walk-off homer.

If you're a long-time reader, then you know about the first walk-off homer I ever saw in person.  It happened in 1996, when Rico Brogna accomplished the feat against the Chicago Cubs in the same game where Mark Grace punched me in the face.  But there were also fisticuffs in the game where I witnessed my first-ever grand slam, and it involved a mighty mite and a future Hall of Famer.

On May 14, 1994, the Mets and Braves hooked up for a Saturday matinee at Shea Stadium.  I got to my seat a little late for first pitch, but realized that I had a celebrity sitting next to me in my field level seat.  It was none other than MTV personality Dan Cortese.  That's right, the bandana enthusiast from MTV Sports and Rock n' Jock fame was my next-seat neighbor for the festivities.  Because I like to rock with the cool kids.

My seat mate for the game in which I witnessed my first grand slam in person.  (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images)

The Mets took a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning and had two outs and no one on base.  It did not appear as if the Mets would be able to extend their lead against Braves starting pitcher John Smoltz in the frame.  But then Smoltz allowed singles to Bobby Bonilla and Jeff Kent and followed that up with a wild pitch that moved Kent into scoring position behind Bonilla, who was already at third.  Smoltz then intentionally walked David Segui to load the bases for Ryan Thompson.  On a 1-2 pitch, Thompson blasted a long home run off Smoltz to give the Mets a 7-0 lead and me my first in-person grand slam hit by a Met.  That brought up Brooklyn-born John Cangelosi to the plate and he made sure to let Smoltz know that he still had a lot of Brooklyn in him.

On the first pitch following Thompson's grand slam, Smoltz nailed Cangelosi in the back.  It was the second consecutive inning Smoltz had hit Cangelosi in the John-on-John crime, as he was plunked by the Braves starter in the fourth inning as well.  Bruised, but not battered, the diminutive Brooklynite then charged at Smoltz, who had seven inches and sixty pounds on the Mets left fielder, and a bench-clearing brawl ensued.  There is no truth to the rumor that I had to hold back Dan Cortese from joining the fracas, but he was throwing air punches in his seat as if he were mentally trying to show Mets players who were 200 feet away from us how to defend themselves against the big bad boys from Atlanta.

After the dust had settled and Smoltz and Cangelosi had been tossed, the game continued without incident and the Mets went on to record an 11-4 victory.  An interesting side note that was overshadowed by the boxing match was that Mauro Gozzo recorded the win for the Mets in the game, a win that was made possible by Thompson's grand slam.  Gozzo was originally drafted by the Mets in 1984, but was traded to Kansas City in 1987 in the deal that brought David Cone to New York.  Five years later, Cone was traded to Toronto for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson - the same Ryan Thompson who helped Gozzo defeat the Braves.  (Gozzo had returned to the Mets as a free agent following the 1992 campaign.)

Since Citi Field opened in 2009, I've had a better than 50-50 chance to be in attendance whenever a grand slam or walk-off home run has been hit by a Mets player, including the grand slam by Yoenis Céspedes on Friday night.  It's gotten to the point where I've kind of gotten used to seeing slams and walk-offs.  But prior to 1994, I had never seen either type of blast in person.  Then Ryan Thompson ended my grand slam drought in 1994, followed by Rico Brogna's walk-off blast two years later.  Both firsts were accompanied by fists.  (Only one was accompanied by Dan Cortese.)  At least both were also accompanied by Mets victories.

The Most With The Least: Chris Jones (1995-96)

Pinch-hitting is a thankless job.  It's also one of the most difficult things to do in baseball with any kind of consistency.  Take, for example, former Met Lenny Harris.  No one had more pinch hits in the history of the game than Harris, who finished his 18-year career with 212 safeties as a pinch-hitter.  From 1995 - the first season in which Harris had 50 at-bats as a pinch-hitter - through 2005, Harris batted .300 or higher in a pinch-hitting role in five of those 11 seasons.  However, he batted .220 or lower in four of the other six campaigns.

Another former Met who struggled mightily and succeeded wildly as a pinch-hitter was Ed Kranepool.  From 1966 to 1970, Eddie was not steady in the role, collecting just ten hits in 71 at-bats for a putrid .141 batting average.  But as easy as it was to retire Kranepool as a pinch-hitter when he was in his 20s, it became nearly impossible to keep him off base when he came up as a pinch-hitter in his 30s.  From 1974 to 1978, Kranepool batted .396 (57-for-144) in a pinch, racking up 11 doubles, one triple and five homers as a substitute hitter.

Kranepool and Harris are just two examples of how frustrating it can be for a hitter to come off the bench at a moment's notice.  But Kranepool and Harris weren't always on the bench.  In fact, Kranepool averaged nearly 500 plate appearances per year from 1964 to 1969, making the National League All-Star team as a 22-year-old first baseman in 1965, while Harris was a super utility player in the 1990s, playing every position on the field except catcher.

Meanwhile, one former Met was practically stuck to the bench during his two years in New York, starting just 62 games in his pair of seasons with the team.  When his name was in the starting lineup, he performed rather poorly.  But coming off the bench, he was a completely different player.  In fact, unlike most other pinch-hitters, this player was incredibly consistent as a sub during his time in New York, to the point where he eventually found himself walking off into the team's pinch-hitting record books.

Look!  Up in the sky!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's another Chris Jones walk-off homer!  (Jim Commentucci/Post-Standard)

In 1970, the Beatles took "The Long and Winding Road" all the way No. 1.  For the Fab Four from Liverpool, it was their final time at the top of the charts.  Fourteen years later, Christopher Carlos Jones began his long and winding trek from Liverpool (New York, not the U.K.) to the top of the professional baseball world, although his rise to the majors took a little longer than he would have liked.

Jones was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 1984 and didn't make his major league debut until 1991.  From 1991 to 1994, Jones was an outfielder for the Reds, Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies, but averaged just 100 at-bats per season for the three teams.  It wasn't until he became a member of the Mets that Jones finally played a full season in the majors, even if he never realized his dream of becoming an everyday player.

During the strike-shortened 1995 campaign, Jones started 40 games for the Mets.  He was mostly unproductive as a starting player, batting .247 with a .288 on-base percentage and .373 slugging percentage in 161 plate appearances.  But it was as a pinch-hitter that Jones found otherworldly success.

In just his fourth pinch-hitting appearance for the Mets, Jones took Giants starter Mark Portugal deep, giving New York its only run in a 5-1 loss to San Francisco.  Three days later, Jones came into the game as a pinch-hitter against future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman of the San Diego Padres, who was trying to protect a one-run lead in the tenth inning.  Hoffman had allowed back-to-back singles to Jeff Kent and Joe Orsulak before Jones stepped up to the plate.  Trying to get Jones to ground into a game-ending double play, Hoffman worked the count to two balls and two strikes before Jones unloaded on Hoffman's fifth offering, launching the ball deep down the left field line for a game-ending three-run homer.  Jones's blast was the first walk-off home run ever surrendered by Hoffman and the first game-ending four-bagger by a Met in two seasons (Bobby Bonilla was the last to turn the trick in 1993).

Two months after his teammates celebrated with him at home, Jones invited his fellow Mets to another post-game party at the plate.  On July 29, in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Mets manager Dallas Green removed first baseman Rico Brogna - who was one of the team's best hitters - for pinch-hitter Jones in the bottom of the tenth inning.  Bucs skipper Jim Leyland had brought in southpaw reliever Ross Powell to face the lefty-swinging Brogna, which forced Green to bring in the right-handed hitting Jones.  The move paid off immediately, as Jones delivered a home run to deep left-center off Powell, giving the Mets an instant 2-1 victory over the Pirates.

Chris Jones in 1995.

Less than four weeks later, Jones was kept in the park in a pinch-hitting role, but the end result didn't change.  Once again, a game-ending hit by Jones pinned a loss on Trevor Hoffman, as the Padres closer allowed three hits, a walk and a wild pitch before being removed for reliever Doug Bochtler.  Bochtler struck out the first batter he faced before surrendering the game-ending single to Jones.  For Jones, the walk-off hit was all the more satisfying because it came just one day after he was denied a game-tying, ninth-inning homer because of a blown call by an umpire.  In that game against the Giants on August 23, Jones hit an opposite-field fly ball off San Francisco starter Terry Mulholland that grazed off the right field foul pole with two outs in the ninth.  However, first base umpire Gary Darling didn't see it that way, calling the ball foul and bringing Jones back to the plate, where he struck out to end the game on the very next pitch.

For the year, Jones posted an incredible .400/.469/.840 slash line in 32 pinch-hitting appearances, a far cry from the .247/.288/.373 figure he put up when his name was in the starting lineup.  In addition, Jones became just the third Met to produce three walk-off hits in the same season, joining Jerry Buchek (1967) and George Foster (1983).

The 1995 Mets didn't have a single outfielder who started more than 88 games at any one outfield position.  Manager Green was constantly tinkering with his starting lineups, especially when it came to the outfield.  He penciled in Brett Butler as the team's starting center fielder 88 times before Butler was traded to the Dodgers in mid-August.  Other than Butler, no player started more than half of the season's 144 games at one outfield position.  Six players started ten or more games in left field, while four players made at least 18 starts in right.  Included in that mix was Chris Jones, who made 17 starts in left and 18 starts as the team's right fielder.  But the team wanted more stability in the outfield for the 1996 campaign, and did so by signing free agent Lance Johnson to play center field and trading for left fielder Bernard Gilkey.  Both players made over 150 starts at their respective positions for the Mets in 1996, leaving Butch Huskey, Alex Ochoa and Carl Everett as a three-headed monster that combined to start 139 games in right field.  As a result, Jones's playing time was significantly reduced in 1996, as Green allowed him to start just 22 of the team's 162 games.  But the Mets' crowded outfield situation allowed Jones to continue to serve as the team's top pinch-hitter, and he did just that in his second year in New York, wasting no time to continue thrilling fans with his late-inning heroics.

On Opening Day, the Mets spotted St. Louis an early six-run cushion, but then chipped away at the Cardinals' lead.  By the time the seventh inning rolled around, the lead had been cut in half.  At the end of the seventh frame, the comeback was complete.  New York scored four runs in the inning to take a 7-6 lead, with the first run of the inning scoring on a single by Jones, who was pinch-hitting for pitcher Jerry DiPoto.  Three weeks later, Jones entered a game against the Cincinnati Reds in the eighth inning as part of a double switch.  The game eventually went into extra innings and ended when Jones took reliever Jeff Shaw - who ended his career with 203 saves and two All-Star selections - out of the yard for his third walk-off homer in less than 12 months, causing his manager to rave about Jones's uncanny ability to contribute in clutch situations.

"Chris Jones is one of my favorite guys, he works very hard to stay ready," said Green.  "I haven't been able to use him as much [as a starter], but whenever I call on him he makes a contribution.  He really hit that one."

Jones continued to serve as the team's top player off the bench, with occasional starts here and there in the congested outfield, but was mostly used in double switches and as a pinch-hitter.  In late July, he came into a game against the Pirates after Carl Everett injured his right leg in the fourth inning.  On the mound for Pittsburgh was left-hander Denny Neagle, who struck out a career-high 12 batters in the game.  But Neagle surrendered a game-tying home run to Bernard Gilkey in the ninth, sending the game into extra innings.  The Pirates scored a run in the top of the tenth to regain the lead and brought in three-time All-Star closer Dan Plesac to try to finish off the Mets in the bottom of the frame.  An error by shortstop Jay Bell allowed Alvaro Espinoza to reach base to lead off the inning.  Two batters later, Jones introduced Plesac to the deepest part of Shea Stadium.

YouTube video courtesy of CourtsideTweets

Jones's fourth walk-off home run (and fifth game-ending hit) in two seasons sparked the Mets to their season-high fifth consecutive victory and prompted his manager to once again lament that he couldn't get Jones into more games.

"He wants to play desperately but I can't put him in the outfield with the guys I've got," said Green, who was perhaps better served to keep Jones as a late-inning contributor rather than as a player who accumulated most of his at-bats as a starter.

All told, Jones played in 168 games during his two-year stint with the Mets, starting 62 of the 168 contests.  He compiled just 331 at-bats between the two seasons, but still managed to produce 12 home runs and 49 RBI.  However, one-third of his dozen homers were of the walk-off variety, which puts him in exclusive company.  Through the 2015 season, only four players in franchise history have hit as many as four game-ending home runs for the Mets.  Three of them are Cleon Jones, Kevin McReynolds and Mike Piazza - players who combined to hit 435 homers during their time in New York.  All three players currently rank in the team's all-time top twenty in lifetime home runs.  The unlikely member of the walk-off dinger quartet is Chris Jones, whose 12 career homers as a Met tie him for 125th place on the team's home run list with players such as David Segui, Brian Schneider, Jordany Valdespin and fellow walk-off homer hero Tim Harkness.

Incredibly, Jones delivered a go-ahead RBI ten times in his limited appearances for the Mets - a phenomenal accomplishment for a player who did not have 50 RBI in his career with the team.  In addition, eight of his 12 home runs either tied the game or gave the Mets the lead, including a go-ahead blast against future Hall of Famer John Smoltz in 1996 during his Cy Young Award-winning campaign.

Whereas some of the all-time great pinch-hitters like Lenny Harris and Ed Kranepool had outstanding years as super subs to go along with some stinkers, Chris Jones always had success in the role during his two seasons with the Mets.  A year after batting .400 as a pinch-hitter in 1995, Jones put together another solid season, batting .318 in 25 appearances.  For the two years, Jones put up a .362/.439/.617 slash line as pinch-hitter, which dwarfed his numbers as a starting player over the same time period (.243/.290/.370).  In addition, Jones produced half of his dozen home runs with the Mets in games he didn't start.  He also had 21 of his 49 RBI when he came into the game as a late-inning defensive replacement, as a part of a double switch, or as a pinch-hitter.  Jones did this despite having far more at-bats as a starting player (235) than he did as a substitute (96).

The Mets did not have much to celebrate in 1995 and 1996, as those seasons came during a dark six-year period in which the team employed five managers and failed to finish above .500 in any of the six seasons.  But Chris Jones's late-inning contributions made it worthwhile for Mets fans to maintain interest in games until the very last out was recorded.  No lead was safe as long as Jones was still on the bench, waiting for his name to be called.  He was very quietly one of the best late-inning clutch performers in team history despite having a relatively short career with the Mets.

Chris Jones waited seven years to make his major league debut after he was originally drafted in 1984.  He waited another four years before he made a name for himself as a member of the New York Mets.  And very few Mets players, past or present, have been able to duplicate what Jones was able to accomplish in the toughest of situations.  Jones is a true example of what it means to make the most of the few opportunities he was afforded.

"I don't leave anything on the table.  You're in the majors a short period of time and you have to give 100 percent."

--Chris Jones (after yet another walk-off homer)





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.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 4, 2016: Benny Agbayani
January 11, 2016: Donn Clendenon
January 18, 2016: Tim Teufel
January 25, 2016: Hisanori Takahashi

One Mo-MET In Time: Tim Harkness

In the early days of the New York Mets, fans attended the team's home games to see many things.  They went to see manager Casey Stengel, who was as entertaining as any comic actor they could watch on television.  They also went to catch a glimpse of former members of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, who were closing out their careers in the city they called home prior to going out west.  Some fans even went to see stars from other teams - players they hadn't been able to see in a National League park since the defection of the Dodgers and Giants following the 1957 campaign.

What fans didn't get to see too much during the team's early days were wins.  In the two years the Mets called the Polo Grounds home, the team won a total of 56 games there.  That's fewer wins at home in a two-year period than the Cincinnati Reds won in their home park in 1962 alone, and the Reds were a third-place team that year.

Needless to say, most of the excitement generated on the field during the team's short stay at the Polo Grounds had nothing to do with the players wearing "Mets" on their chests.  If the team had a lead, they had a good chance of blowing it.  And if they trailed in the late innings, there seemed to be little chance of a happy recap.  But during the team's second season, an unlikely hero stepped up to the plate on an early summer afternoon, trying to erase a two-run deficit in extra innings.  What happened next was something that would not be seen again during a Mets home game for nearly three decades.

Tim Harkness had a left-handed power swing made for the short distance to right field at the Polo Grounds.

Thomas William Harkness, better known as Tim, was a power threat from a very young age.  The Canadian slugger signed with the Phillies in 1956, then played in the Dodgers minor league system over the next five years.  A year after putting up a 28 HR, 111 RBI season at the Double-A level, Harkness made his major league debut with the Dodgers.  But Harkness never caught on as a first baseman in Los Angeles.  He started just six games at the position in two seasons, appearing primarily as a pinch-hitter before being traded to the Mets at the conclusion of the 1962 campaign.

With the Mets, Harkness became the team's primary first baseman in 1963, although he did share the position at times with Duke Carmel (17 starts), Frank Thomas (15 starts) and an 18-year-old Ed Kranepool (15 starts).  Harkness was a streaky hitter, hitting home runs and driving in runs in bunches - he had four homers and 14 RBI during a 17-game stretch in May - but experienced many more cold periods than hot ones.  In fact, from May 30 to June 25, Harkness batted .125, collecting nine hits in 72 at-bats.

Harkness, who once had a .276 batting average in late May, was now in danger of dropping below the .200 mark, entering the June 26 tilt against the Chicago Cubs with a .208 batting average.  Coming into the game, Harkness had collected just 53 hits in his brief three-year career in the majors, never having more than three hits in any single game.  Through nine innings against the Cubs, Harkness had picked up one hit in four at-bats.  But the game was tied through nine, as the Mets had chipped away at an early four-run deficit to send the game into extra innings.  The team's day wasn't quite done, and neither was Tim Harkness.

Harkness doubled to lead off the 11th inning, but was stranded in scoring position when pinch-hitter Norm Sherry grounded into an inning-ending double play.  Two innings later, a single by Harkness put runners on the corners with one out.  But the Mets couldn't capitalize on Harkness's third hit of the game, as two groundouts ended the scoring threat.

It was on to the 14th inning at the Polo Grounds, where the Cubs looked to score for the first time since taking a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning.  Mets reliever Galen Cisco was one out away from getting out of the inning, but surrendered a two-run, inside-the-park home run to future Hall of Famer Billy Williams, giving Chicago a 6-4 lead.  The Mets, who had squandered numerous scoring opportunities in the previous innings, had one more chance to come up with a game-winning rally.  What they got was a seminal moment in team history.

Jim Hickman led off the Mets' half of the 14th inning with a single.  Ron Hunt followed with a single of his own, but Hickman was thrown out after he accidentally ran past second base.  Cubs pitcher Jack Warner then walked Jimmy Piersall to put the tying runs on base for Frank Thomas.  Thomas, who led the Mets with 34 home runs during the team's inaugural season in 1962, entered the game with just four home runs in 1963.  But Thomas had hit a two-run homer earlier in the game, and was another clout away from winning it.  With the crowd of just over 8,000 hoping for Thomas to blast his second homer of the game, all they got was a fly ball to left off Cubs reliever Paul Toth.

The Mets were now an out away from losing a heartbreaker to Chicago.  Seldom used catcher Sammy Taylor stepped up to the plate.  Left-handed pitcher Jim Brewer was summoned from the bullpen to face the lefty-swinging Taylor.  Taylor was already 0-for-6 in the game and had collected just eight hits all season up to that point.  But Brewer had not pitched in a major league game in 17 days and had been awful since May 19 (7.59 ERA in his last six appearances).  Taylor was able to coax a walk from Brewer to load the bases, bringing up Tim Harkness.

Harkness had already tied his career high in the game by notching three hits, including two in extra innings.  A fourth hit would almost surely tie the game.  A long hit would win it.  Harkness worked the count full.  Then with one mighty swing, Harkness delivered something no Met had accomplished before and no Met would accomplish again for almost 30 years.

With the right field wall looming just 257 feet away from home plate, Harkness pulled a grand slam over that wall, giving the Mets a thrilling 8-6 victory.  The game-winning blast was Harkness's fourth hit of the game - a new career high - but most importantly, was the first walk-off grand slam in the brief history of the team.

Tim Harkness emerges from the Mets clubhouse to greet fans following his extra-inning heroics. (UPI Photo)

Although the Mets hit a handful of walk-off grand slams over the next few decades, including one by Jim Hickman just six weeks after Harkness's game-winner, most of them occurred with the score tied.  But the grand slam by Harkness turned a potential two-run loss into a two-run win.  No Mets player would hit another walk-off grand slam with the team trailing at the time until Kevin McReynolds turned the trick against the Montreal Expos on June 25, 1991, nearly 28 years to the day after Harkness's heroics.  It would be another 23 years before a third Mets player - Ike Davis in 2014 - slammed the Mets from an apparent loss to a last-licks victory.

Harkness would go on to hit another walk-off homer for the Mets in 1963 - although this one was only a two-run shot in September - but for the most part, his grand slam against the Cubs was his last highlight of the season.  After victimizing Jim Brewer on June 26, Harkness went into a deep slump, going 9-for-87 with no homers and two RBI over his next 35 games.  A six-game hitting streak to end the season kept his average above .200, but also showed the Mets that the team needed to go in a different direction at first base.

The Mets moved into Shea Stadium in 1964, a park whose right field fence was nearly 100 feet deeper down the line than the one at the now-defunct Polo Grounds, and Harkness's power suffered.  Harkness played 39 games for the Mets in 1964, hitting just two homers.  Only one of those homers came at Shea Stadium.  Harkness was traded to Cincinnati in July, then bounced around in the minors for the next three seasons, never making it back to the majors.

In four big league seasons, Harkness never matched his power production in the minors.  His 28 HR, 111 RBI campaign in the minors in 1960 didn't translate to the majors, as Harkness managed just 14 homers and 61 RBI as a member of the Dodgers and Mets.  But for one amazing day in June 1963, Harkness became a hero in New York, powering the Mets to a dramatic, come-from-behind victory.

Manager Casey Stengel probably said it best (as he usually did) when discussing how important Harkness's homer was to the team at that moment.

  
"It was one of those good ones.  We just about had to end it there because I'd run out of men."





As the saying goes, if you watch baseball long enough, you're bound to see something you've never seen before.  On June 26, 1963, Mets fans saw something they had never seen before when Tim Harkness sent the small, but lively, Polo Grounds crowd home happy, turning a loss into a win with a game-ending grand slam home run.  It was the only time a Mets player ever snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat on a grand slam at the Polo Grounds.  Twenty-eight years later, Kevin McReynolds became the only Met to repeat Harkness's feat at Shea Stadium.  And twenty-three years after that, Ike Davis became the first Met to do it at Citi Field.  It has become a once-in-a-stadium's-lifetime event.

Tim Harkness may not have had a long career in New York, nor was it particularly a successful one.  But for one memorable moment, he provided Mets fans with a thrill that would not soon be forgotten.  It would also be a moment that would rarely be duplicated.


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
 

Quick Starts Don't Always Guarantee Happy Endings

For Mets fans, Charlie Culberson is proof that Bichette happens quite often at Coors Field.  (AP Photo by David Zalubowski)

In 2006, the Mets rolled to a division title.  The turning point of the season came in early June, during a three-city, ten-game road trip.  The Mets had opened up a seven-game bulge in the NL East by late April, but their lead in the division had been halved to a more tenuous 3½-game lead by early June.

New York split the first two games of their long road trip in 2006, but then won each of the remaining eight games, scoring in the first inning of all eight contests.  By the time the Mets returned to Shea Stadium, they had increased their lead to 9½ games and had lost sight of every division rival in their rear view mirror.  By racing out to quick starts in each game, the Mets increased their chances to win ballgames, and they took advantage of the early leads throughout the road trip and for the rest of the season.

The 2006 Mets scored in the first inning in 61 of their 162 games.  They had the lead after one inning 44 times.  They won 33 of those 44 games, for a .750 winning percentage.  It's not uncommon for a team to win a ballgame when it gets out to a fast start.  Even the 1962 Mets, who finished the year with a 40-120 record, went 16-21 in games in which they held the lead after one inning.  Their .432 winning percentage in those games was significantly higher than their overall .250 winning percentage.

That brings us to the curious case of the 2014 Mets.  This year's squad has gotten out to a better-than-expected 15-14 record.  However, they have lost three straight following Saturday night's heartbreaking loss to the Rockies.  The Mets scored three runs in the first inning, extended that lead to 6-0 two innings later, then watched the Rockies take the lead in the fifth.  New York came back to take a one-run lead in the ninth only to watch Charlie Culberson (who had never homered at Coors Field in 80 career plate appearances) blast a game-winning two-run homer to straightaway center field off Mets "closer" Kyle Farnsworth.

When the Mets scored three runs in the first inning, it marked the 12th time in 29 games they had crossed the plate in an opening frame.  But once Charlie Culberson touched home in the ninth inning, the Mets' record dropped to 3-9 in those dozen affairs.  That's a .250 winning percentage.  In other words, the 2014 Mets have had as much of a chance of winning when they score in the first inning as the 1962 Mets had of winning any game.  But even the original Mets were able to play better when they scored in the first than this year's squad.

It's still early in the season, and the Mets' awful record when they score first could easily turn around.  But it's become an alarming trend that starting pitchers are having trouble holding early leads and relievers also are experiencing technical difficulties protecting those precious leads.

The 2014 Mets have won 12 of 17 games when they haven't scored in the first inning.  Their luck changes dramatically when they do score in the opening frame.  It doesn't make any sense why this should be true.  But it needs to be corrected or else Sandy Alderson's prediction of 90 wins will prove false.
 

Hark(ness), The Herald Davis Swings

If you were at Citi Field today as I was, you witnessed a thrilling conclusion to the Mets-Reds affair.  With the Mets trailing, 3-2, going into the bottom of the ninth, Juan Lagares, Anthony Recker and Ruben Tejada all reached base to start the inning.

Up stepped Ike Davis, needing a long fly ball to tie the game and a base hit to perhaps win it.  What he did was even more exciting.

Slam!  Let the boys be boys!  (Photo by Howard Simmons/NY Daily News)

Davis' long blast off the Subway sign in right-center turned a potential heartbreaking one-run loss into a scream-until-you-lose-your-voice three-run victory.  The walk-off grand slam gave the Mets a 6-3 win over the Reds and put them in position to sweep Cincinnati on Sunday.

But Ike Davis' game-ending homer was more than just a fantastic moment in this young season.  It also was one of the rarest moments in the 53-year history of the team.  Please allow me to elaborate.

Davis' walk-off grand slam was only the seventh such home run hit by a Mets player in franchise history.  Tim Harkness was the first Met to smoke a game-ending salami, accomplishing the feat against the Chicago Cubs at the Polo Grounds on June 26, 1963.  Just forty-four days later, Jim Hickman also victimized the Cubs for a walk-off grand slam at the Polo Grounds.  The killer H's were the only two players in team history to end games with four-run homers until 1980, when Mike Jorgensen took the Dodgers' Rick Sutcliffe deep at Shea Stadium.  Six years later, Tim Teufel hit a grand slam against Tom Hume of the Phillies at Shea, a feat that wasn't seen again at the Mets' former home until 1991, when Kevin McReynolds blasted a bases-clearing shot over the wall versus the Montreal Expos.  It took another 22 years before Jordany Valdespin became the sixth Met to end a game with a grand slam, taking the Dodgers' Josh Wall over the wall at Citi Field on April 24, 2013.  Less than 365 days after Jordany took a spin around the bases, Ike Davis became the seventh slammer.

Obviously, becoming the seventh player to hit a walk-off grand slam in Mets history puts Davis in select company, but four of the other six players who ended games by putting a four-spot up on the scoreboard did so when their respective games were tied.

Hickman, Jorgensen, Teufel and Valdespin each turned tie games into four-run victories with their powerful swings.  That means Harkness, McReynolds and now Ike Davis are the only players who can claim snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat by walking off with a grand slam home run.  And each player did so at a different home park, with Harkness turning a 6-4 deficit into an 8-6 win at the Polo Grounds, McReynolds blasting away at a potential 5-4 loss by slamming the Mets to an 8-5 victory at Shea Stadium and Ike Davis erasing a 3-2 Reds lead with one swing of the bat, giving the Mets a 6-3 win at Citi Field.

Harkness.  McReynolds.  Davis.  Three very different players playing in three very different eras.  But all produced one very similar result with three well-timed swings of the bat.  And it was a result that made Mets fans across the generations leave the ballpark feeling slam-tastic.

Some Trivia About Mets Walk-off Losses

On Friday night, the Mets dropped the opener of their four-city, 11-game road trip, losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-4.  They were defeated when MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt hit the schmidt out of a Scott Atchison offering, leading the Diamondbacks to the walk-off win.

Walk-offs are nothing new against the Mets.  Friday night's defeat was the Mets' tenth walk-off loss of the season and the 421st against the team in franchise history, which includes three postseason walk-off losses.  (For the record, the Mets have won 387 regular season and postseason games via the walk-off, including eight such wins in 2013.)

Game-ending hits, walks, errors, wild pitchers, balks, etc. are common against the Mets, but I'm willing to wager a Scott Atchison autographed sundial (he still uses them to tell time) that you don't know everything there is to know about walk-off losses against the Mets.  So sit back, pop open a Rheingold, and enjoy a little bit of Mets trivia - Studious Metsimus-style - on those dang blasted walk-off losses.

Another day, another walk-off loss.  (Photo by Matt York/AP)

The Mets' first walk-off loss occurred on May 26, 1962, when Willie Mays took Jay Hook deep at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, turning a 6-5 Mets lead into a 7-6, ten-inning defeat.  However, by that time, the Mets had already experienced four walk-off victories, all of which came in a span of five days between May 12 and May 16.  Of course, by the next time the Mets won a game via the walk-off on July 7, 1962, the team had dropped five more games in this fashion.

The most walk-off losses registered by the Mets in a single season is 14, first accomplished by the 1974 Mets and then matched by the 1978 squad.  The fewest regular season walk-off losses in a single year is one, accomplished by the 1999 Mets (Armando Benitez allowed a game-ending homer to the Marlins' Mark Kotsay on June 30, 1999).  Unfortunately, the Mets' season ended that year on a walk-off walk by Kenny Rogers to Andruw Jones in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.

Many players have delivered game-ending hits (or other type plays) against the Mets over the years.  Several players have been a triple threat, beating the Mets three times via the walk-off.  Those players include Hall of Famers (Andre Dawson, Tony Gwynn, Tony Perez), former All-Stars (Dusty Baker, Cesar Cedeño, Ron Cey, Jim Davenport, Jim Edmonds, Dale Murphy), several active players (Dan Uggla, Ryan Zimmerman), a journeyman slugger (Bob Bailey), a former Rookie of the Year (Jerome Walton) and two guys named Manny (Manny Mota, Manny Trillo).  But only one player has delivered four walk-off hits against the Mets in team history.  That would be one Michael Jack Schmidt, who hit walk-off homers to defeat the Mets in 1974, 1975 and 1978, then kept it in the park for a game-ending RBI single against Roger McDowell in 1987.

Of their 418 regular season and three postseason walk-off losses, the most common way the Mets have lost via the walk-off has been on a single (194 losses).  That's followed by home runs (123, including ten grand slams), doubles (23), errors (21), walks (17) and sacrifice flies (17).  The Mets have also been victims of the walk-off loss through uncommon plays.  They've lost three games on walk-off balks and have been witnesses to two game-ending triples.  But the Mets have suffered only one walk-off loss because of a passed ball.  That occurred on July 27, 1967, when Tommie Reynolds could not handle a pitch by Jack Fisher, allowing Nate Oliver to score the winning run for the Dodgers in the bottom of the 11th.  Although Reynolds played for four teams from 1963 to 1972 (including 101 games for the Mets in 1967), it was his first and last appearance behind the plate in a big league game.

What don't you see in this photo of Tommie Reynolds?  Catching equipment.  That's because he wasn't a catcher.

Including last night's affair, the Mets have now lost 123 times on a game-ending home run.  Two pitchers share the team record for most walk-off homers surrendered, as both Jesse Orosco and Randy Myers allowed six game-ending home runs during their time with the Mets.  But Myers is alone when it comes to walk-off homers allowed in a single season.  In 1989, Myers gave up four such blasts, as he watched Rey Quiñones, Von Hayes, Mark Grace and Chris James circle the bases into the arms of smiling teammates.  Although he only pitched three full seasons in New York (he had cups of coffee with the Mets in 1985 and 1986), Myers was on the mound for ten walk-off losses, making it more palatable for the Mets to trade him to the Cincinnati Reds for John Franco (more on him later).  But those ten walk-off losses are not the most in Mets history.  In fact, they were eight short of the record at the time.

Neil Allen pitched for the Mets from 1979 until he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Keith Hernandez on June 15, 1983.  In his four-plus seasons with the Mets, Allen was victimized by the walk-off an incredible 18 times.  In 1980 alone, Allen walked off the mound six times while the opposing team celebrated their late victory.  Changing uniforms in 1983 did nothing to change Allen's penchant for the late-inning loss.  In the two seasons following the trade from the Mets to the Cardinals, Allen watched the Mets celebrate four walk-off victories against him, with the most memorable coming on Opening Day 1985, when Gary Carter took him deep in his first game as a Met.

Allen is no longer the team record-holder when it comes to being on the mound while the opponent is walking off with a win.  That distinction belongs to John Franco, who witnessed 25 walk-off celebrations from a distance of 60 feet, six inches.  Two players walked off against Franco twice.

Glenallen Hill hit a two-run homer off Franco on September 5, 1993 to give the Cubs a 2-1 victory over the Mets.  Hill then hit another game-ending homer off the longtime Met nearly two years later, giving the Giants a 6-5 win on September 1, 1995.

Steve Finley is the only other player to be at the plate against John Franco when Franco delivered the pitch that gave the opponent a victory.  However, one of those two walk-offs was made possible by an untimely error.  On September 7, 1993, just two days after he watched Glenallen Hill hit a game-ending two-run homer against him, Franco was on the mound for another walk-off celebration, although this one was created by poor defense.  A gaffe by Jeff Kent on a ball hit by Finley allowed the winning run to score in a 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Astros.  Nearly ten years later, Finley victimized Franco again, but this time the blame was all on Franco's shoulders.  On August 9, 2003, Finley became the first Diamondback to hit a walk-off home run against the Mets, connecting on a solo blast in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Arizona a 2-1 victory.

Steve Finley might have walked off against the Mets twice, but he couldn't prevent this walk-off from happening.

And that brings us back to last night and Paul Goldschmidt's game-ending homer.  Goldschmidt's bomb came on the ten-year anniversary of Finley's homer.  Those two homers are also the only times the Diamondbacks have defeated the Mets with a walk-off homer.  The only other time Arizona walked off with a victory against New York was on July 21, 2010, when Chris Snyder delivered an RBI single off Fernando Nieve to end a 14-inning marathon in the desert.

The Mets have lost thousands of games over their 50-plus years of existence.  But there is nothing more heartbreaking than a walk-off loss.  And the Mets have had their share of those.  Whether it be on a game-ending homer or a passed ball by a catcher who had never played the position before, it never gets easier to watch a team you don't root for celebrating a late victory against the team you do.  That's just baseball for you.

I hope you enjoyed this piece on game-ending trivia and related minutia.  By reading it, you will no longer be at a loss when you walk off to tell your friends about it.
 

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Walk-Offs

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images North America

After playing their best game of the season in the first game of Friday's day-night doubleheader, whitewashing the Nationals, 11-0, the Mets dropped the second contest to Washington, 2-1, losing the game when Ryan Zimmerman took a LaTroy Hawkins offering over the wall in right field.

The heartbreaking defeat was the Mets' ninth walk-off loss of the year in their 100th game.  That's only three shy of the dozen walk-off losses the Mets suffered in 2010, a year in which the Mets seemingly lost every game on the road in walk-off fashion.

With the loss, the Mets dropped to 46-54.  That means one-sixth of their losses have come with their opponents celebrating in front of their home crowd by throwing their hands up in the air and waving them around like they just don't care.  To make matters worse, the Mets actually have a winning record on the road (25-24) despite all the walk-off losses.

Just imagine where the Mets would be if they had just won five of those nine games they lost via the walk-off.  For one thing, they'd be 30-19 away from home, which would be the best road record in the majors (St. Louis currently has the best record on the road at 30-21).  Winning those five games would also have given the Mets an overall record of 51-49.  The team would be in second place in the NL East and would be within sniffing distance of the division-leading Braves.

And what about losses at Citi Field in which the opponent scored the decisive run in their final turn at bat, which don't count as walk-off losses but are just as painful and avoidable?  Just this past Monday, the Mets blew a 1-0 ninth-inning lead to Atlanta when Bobby Parnell allowed two runs before he could get the final three outs.  The team has also lost four extra-inning games at home, including a 20-inning defeat to the Marlins on June 8 and a 15-inning loss to the Diamondbacks on the Fourth of July.  In the latter contest, the Mets rallied to tie the game in the 13th and 14th innings, only to see the bullpen allow an extra-inning run for the third consecutive frame in the 15th.  New York did not have a third overtime rally in them that day.

Other games at Citi Field that saw the Mets give up the decisive run in their opponent's final turn at bat include a 3-2 loss to the Dodgers on April 25 (Los Angeles scored two runs in the ninth), a 7-4 defeat to the Reds on May 22 (Cincinnati scored three times in the ninth), and a 6-4 heartbreaker to the Nationals on June 28 (Washington scored twice in the ninth).  The most recent home loss in which the Mets allowed the winning run to score in their opponents' final at-bat came this past Monday, as mentioned above, when Atlanta scored two runs in the ninth inning to turn an uplifting 1-0 victory in to an ugly 2-1 defeat.

In all, the Mets have lost 17 games in which their opponent scored the winning run in their final turn at bat (nine walk-offs, four extra-inning home losses, four home losses in which the decisive run was scored in the ninth inning).  That's almost one-third of their loss total for the season.  Had the Mets just won nine of those 17 games - which is barely more than half - they'd have a 55-45 record.  And if two of those nine wins had come against the Braves (in addition to last Monday's ninth-inning debacle to Atlanta, the Mets also let a 1-0 ninth-inning lead slip away in Atlanta on June 17, which became one of their nine walk-off losses), Atlanta's record would not have been 58-45.  Rather, it would have been 56-47, meaning the Mets would be in first place right now.  And all they had to do was win roughly one-half of the games they lost in their opponent's final at-bat.

The Braves have four walk-off losses in 2013.  The Nationals have five.  The Phillies have six.  The Mets have nine.  And don't forget those eight additional losses at home in which the Mets allowed the decisive run to score in the ninth inning or later.

We don't need no stinkin' walk-offs like last night's loss at Nationals Park.  We also don't need no stinkin' losses at home when the games are there for the taking in the late innings.  Should those types of losses continue, the Mets are going to miss out on what could have been an unexpected successful season.  And that would be the biggest stink of them all. 

Will John Buck Be Another Rod Barajas?

Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus

Ever since the Mets sent Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey to Toronto in December, the hot topic of conversation has centered around when the Mets would call up Travis d'Arnaud, the key player acquired from Toronto in the deal.  Would it be in June?  Would it be earlier?

But the Mets also acquired another catcher in the trade, one that would be the team's No. 1 option at the position until d'Arnaud was deemed ready to take over behind the plate.  John Buck - a catcher with a reputation of being a fine handler of a pitching staff, but not a fine handler of the bat - was sent to the Mets in the Dickey deal to keep the immediate area behind home plate warm for d'Arnaud (and also to prevent a plethora of passed balls, as Casey Stengel would have wanted from his backstop).

Buck is now off to a tremendous start for the Mets, hitting .421 with two homers and a league-leading nine RBIs.  He has also started two day games after night games with no ill effects, as clearly evidenced by his four-RBI performance on Saturday against the Marlins, just hours after catching every pitch in a 3½-hour loss to Miami the night before.

As great as Buck's first five games have been, causing many a Mets fan to reconsider how long they want d'Arnaud to remain in Las Vegas, we've seen hot starts by journeymen catchers before.  Anyone remember how we went bonkers for Barajas?

In 2010, Omar Minaya signed Rod Barajas to a one-year deal to become the starting catcher for the Mets.  Barajas was coming off a year in which he had a low batting average (.226) and low on-base percentage (.258), but showed good pop (19 HR) in his final year with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Barajas became an unexpected offensive sensation for the Mets, hitting .269 with 11 homers and 30 RBIs through the end of May.  During his hot two-month stretch, Barajas had three multi-homer games and provided Citi Field's first walk-off home run when he took Giants' reliever Sergio Romo deep for a two-run blast on May 7.

But once the calendar turned to June, Barajas went into a swoon.  Following his torrid start, Barajas began to hit like the pitchers he was asked to catch.  From June 1 to July 19, the former Hot Rod displayed a cold stick at the plate, batting .161 with no homers and just two ribbies in 101 plate appearances.  Barajas finally ended his seven-week homerless streak on July 21, but only started two more games for the Mets after his final clout.  Four months after endearing himself to Mets fans with his powerful bat, Barajas was a Dodger, as Los Angeles claimed him off waivers on August 22.

The Mets allowed Rod Barajas to walk off to Los Angeles three months after he walked off against the Giants.

Prior to becoming a Met, Barajas was a lifetime .238 hitter who had reached double figures in home runs in five of his previous six seasons.  In his final year before coming to Flushing (2009 with Toronto), Barajas posted his lowest full-season batting average since becoming a No. 1 catcher.

Meanwhile, John Buck was a .235 career hitter before becoming a Met.  Buck hit ten or more homers in seven of his nine seasons, but in his last year prior to his trade to the Mets (2012 with Toronto), Buck posted a career-low .192 batting average.

I don't know about you, but I think I see a similarity there.

It's great that John Buck is off to a fast start.  He's helping the team at the plate with his bat and he's also helping the team behind it by getting the most out of his pitchers (Mets starters have combined to give up five earned runs over the team's first five games).  But don't automatically assume that Buck's quick start will allow Travis d'Arnaud to stay at the Triple-A level for a long period of time.

The Mets have been down this road before.  They've seen a journeyman catcher perform brilliantly out of the box, only to see his production tail off dramatically before the first day of summer.  I tip my hat to John Buck for a wonderful first week, but I'm not ready to announce that he should be the team's starting catcher past the All-Star Break just yet.  We have our recent catching history to thank for that.

Ike Davis Celebrates With His Timo Present

Did anyone catch the ending of Sunday's game?  After the Astros scored a run in the top of the ninth inning off Jeremy Hefner (who was brilliant for the first eight innings), the Mets batted in the bottom of the ninth, needing a run to win.  Up stepped Ike Davis, who was responsible for the Mets' first run with a long home run to right.

Reliever Wilton Lopez, who seemed out of place on the Astros by virtue of his 5-1 record for a soon-to-be 40-88 team, was on the mound.  But with one towering fly ball off Ike Davis' bat, Lopez doubled his loss total.  Davis' walk-off homer just above the outstretched glove of rightfielder Ben Francisco gave the Mets a 2-1 victory in the game and the series.

But that wasn't the top story in the game.  The top story occurred just seconds after the ball left the yard.  I'll just let the photo below tell the story for me.

As Tropical Storm Isaac churns in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mets' own Isaac twirled at Citi Field.

Ike Davis, who plays for the Mets, a team that puts players on the 60-day DL for getting a paper cut, decided to score Baryshnikov-style.  Inexplicably, as he reached his joyous teammates at home plate, Davis did a pirouette/cha cha cha move, carefully covering his mouth so that no one would see his white man's overbite. 

He did this to celebrate a game-ending home run against a team that had won as many games as the 1962 Mets, a team that had already been mathematically eliminated from the NL Central race before the end of August.

I get that Davis was happy to win a game with his bat before the 25,071 in attendance and the 17,000-plus empty seats in the house.  But did he really have to bring back memories of 2002 with his home plate histrionics?  Did he really have to go all Timo with his team?

You know what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about the Timo Perez home run celebration from August 24, 2002, almost ten years ago to the day.

This is tame compared to what Timo did on August 24, 2002.

On August 24, 2002, the Mets went into their game with the Colorado Rockies as the losers of a dozen straight games.  The team loaded with former superstars Roberto Alomar and Mo Vaughn, along with veterans Mike Piazza and Edgardo Alfonzo, had not won a game in two weeks and appeared to be on their way to a 13th consecutive defeat.  The Mets were down to their final out in the top of the ninth inning, trailing the Rockies, 2-1.  But a two-out walk to Joe McEwing gave the Mets some hope.  And with one swing of the bat by Timo Perez, that hope was realized.

Perez hit a drive that went over the Coors Field wall, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.  Despite the fact that it was not a walk-off homer, as the game was being played in Denver, Perez lifted his arms high in the air as the ball left his bat, celebrating that he had given the Mets a late lead (probably forgetting that Armando Benitez was going to be given the ball to protect the lead).  Fortunately for the Mets, they tacked on two more runs in the inning, giving Benitez a three-run lead to protect, which he did. 

The 12-game losing streak was over, but the celebration by Timo Perez at the plate had just started to get the Rockies' blood boiling.  After all, Perez's non-walk-off homer had just helped defeat a 61-68 Rockies team that was out of contention.  That was then, this is now.

Like Timo Perez, Ike Davis was clearly excited after his ninth-inning homer defeated a poor team.  At least with Davis, his home run actually ended the game.  Oh, and here's one more eerie similarity about both homers.  Davis' ninth-inning homer and happy dance lifted the Mets' record to 59-69.  What did Timo's homer help improve the Mets to?  You got it.  59-69.  Here's the boxscore to prove it.

It just goes to show that you can't script baseball.  But I sure wish Ike Davis would have scripted his spin move a little better.  That white man's overbite?  Even Timo Perez was shaking his head at that.


Editor's Note:  For an even better story on Ike Davis' happy dance, please read today's post by the one and only Metstradamus.  You'll be glad you did.