Melvin Mora
Benny Agbayani homered in his last two at-bats against the Cubs, and the newly installed lead-off hitter smashed a home run against Jimmy Haynes to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead over the Brewers. This was the beginning of yet another big day at the plate Agbayani.
Again, it was Agbayani knocking home a run in the second. After Jay Payton singled, and Melvin Mora reached on an error, Al Leiter bunted them over. With the lineup flipped over, Agbayani knocked home both Payton and Mora on a two RBI single. With that single, Agbayani alone knocked in enough runs for Leiter who was brilliant.
The only run against Leiter came in the third, and it was partially the result of him issuing a lead-off walk to the eighth place hitter Santiago Perez. After Haynes bunted him over, James Mouton would single him home.
After that RBI single, Leiter would retire 13 of the final 16 batters he faced. It may be too soon to talk Cy Young, but Leiter ran his record up to a career best 8-1, and he has a a very good 3.00 ERA.
When the Brewers scored that run, it was 4-1 Mets as Payton and Mora had hit back-to-back doubles to plate a run in the top of the third.
Things had quieted down from there until the sixth with Mike Piazza hit his 18th home run of the season to increase the Mets lead to 6-1. While Piazza has been nicked up here and there, he continues to just hit. With his going 2-for-5 today with a run, homer, and two RBI, he is hitting an incredible .366/.436/.722. For any position, that’s great. For a catcher that’s seemingly impossible, but that’s another example why Piazza is a future Hall of Famer.
In the eighth, Edgardo Alfonzo doubled, and he would score on a Robin Ventura RBI single. That put the Mets lead at 7-1, and that would be the final score of the game. That’s also what you expect the Mets to do. They are a vastly superior team than the Brewers, and they took care of business.
Game Notes: Agbayani’s homer to lead-off the game was his first against a team other than the Cubs this season. Jason Tyner was held out of the lineup for a second straight game with a sore arm. The Mets other Bobby Jones pitched a scoreless ninth.
Editor’s Note: With there being no games to begin the season, this site will follow the 2000 season and post recaps as if those games happened in real time. If nothing else, it is better to remember this pennant winning season and revisit some of the overlooked games than it is to dwell on the complete lack of baseball.
As it is every year, this is a highly anticipated match-up. Obviously, this is the Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees allowing both fanbases to cram the stadium and ratchet up the atmosphere. However, it has also traditionally been a litmus test for the Mets and/or gut check time for them. That was the case last year when they fired coaches and went on a tear which led all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS.
This year seems different. For many, including Bobby Valentine who mentioned it more than a few times, this is a potential World Series preview. If that is the case, the Mets are in great shape.
With Al Leiter and Roger Clemens, this had the makings of a pitcher’s duel. Beginning with Jason Tyner leading off the game with a double, it was clear neither pitcher was particularly sharp. Still, over the first two innings both veterans were able to keep runs off the board.
Then, it was an error which opened the floodgates for the Mets. Tyner led off the top of the third, and he laid down a bunt. He reached safely as Jorge Posada‘s throw pulled Tino Martinez off the bag. Clemens followed that with consecutive walks bringing Mike Piazza to the plate, and he would provide a jolt through Yankee Stadium:
That grand slam would be more than enough run support for Leiter on the day who allowed just two runs over his seven innings helping him improve to a career best 7-1 start. Even if that was enough, the Mets just kept pouring it on against the Yankees scoring in five consecutive innings.
In the fourth, it was Derek Bell hitting a two out RBI single scoring Melvin Mora. Todd Zeile singled home Piazza in the fifth. Tyner led off the sixth with a single, and he took second on an error on Clemens’ pick-off attempt. He’d score on another Bell RBI single. Edgardo Alfonzo would then knock Clemens out of the game with a two run homer.
While Clemens was gone after 5+, the Mets offense wasn’t done. In the seventh, Bell hit a three run homer increasing the Mets lead to 12-2. It was complete and utter domination by the Mets over the Yankees with Bell (5 RBI), and Piazza (4 RBI) combining to drive home nine of the Mets 12 runs.
You could not have asked for a better start to this Subway Series. The Mets knocked around Clemens, Leiter had a very good start, and the Mets big hitters came up big time. While the Mets entered this series possibly looking to see how this roster fares against the World Series favorites, if one game is any indication, the Mets are a much better team.
Game Notes: Kurt Abbott was thrown out in the second for slamming his helmet after a badly missed call by first base umpire. Derek Jeter‘s throw wasn’t near the bag, and Tino Martinez didn’t tag him out. Bell snapped a 3-for-54 streak by going 3-for-4.
Editor’s Note: With there being no games to begin the season, this site will follow the 2000 season and post recaps as if those games happened in real time. If nothing else, it is better to remember this pennant winning season and revisit some of the overlooked games than it is to dwell on the complete lack of baseball.
For a while this looked like it was going to be a frustrating loss. After Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Piazza hit back-to-back homers off of Scott Erickson in the first, Rick Reed, who returned to the mound after his oblique injury, struggled, and the Mets would fall behind 3-2 entering the bottom of the sixth.
Things could have been worse for the Mets. In the fourth, the Orioles had tied the score 2-2 on a Cal Ripken Jr. sacrifice fly with Ripken reaching safely on a Tyner error. Tyner made up for the error two batters later when Charles Johnson fouled out to left. Tyner made a strong throw home, and Piazza did a good job of getting the tag down to get the Mets out of the inning tied albeit not for long.
That’s when Kurt Abbott came off the bench, and he ignited the Mets offense with a lead-off triple, and he would score the tying run on a Jason Tyner sacrifice fly. After Derek Bell singled, he would be driven home by Alfonzo, who hit the Mets second triple of the inning.
Piazza and Robin Ventura were walked to load the bases, and Alberto Reyes came on to relieve Erickson. He wasn’t much of a relief allowing an RBI single to Todd Zeile and a sacrifice fly to Jay Payton. In that four run inning, the Mets grabbed a 6-3 lead, and the bats seemed rejuvenated as they would begin to route the Orioles.
In the seventh, it was again Abbott getting the Mets started; this time it was a lead-off double. After walks to Alfonzo and Piazza to load the bases, B.J. Ryan came into the game and walked Ventura to force home a run. Zeile hit a two RBI single, and Payton then singled to re-load the bases.
That lead the Orioles to go to Jose Mercedes, who was greeted with a Benny Agbayani two RBI single to push the Mets lead to 11-3. That would be the final score as the Mets bullpen did their job. The combination of Pat Mahomes, who picked up the win, Dennis Cook, and Rich Rodriguez (2.0 IP) combined to pitch four scoreless to secure the victory for the Mets.
All-in-all, this was a good win, and it is one where you feel good about the Mets. Even without his best stuff and some rust, Reed kept the Mets in the game. The combination of Alfonzo-Piazza-Ventura-Zeile had a hand in all of the rallies, and the team got contributions throughout their roster.
Game Notes: Yesterday’s game against the Orioles was rained out and will be played tomorrow. Bell is mired in a 4-for-49 (.082) slump. With Tyner up and playing outfield, the plan for the time being is to have Melvin Mora as the everyday SS.
Editor’s Note: With there being no games to begin the season, this site will follow the 2000 season and post recaps as if those games happened in real time. If nothing else, it is better to remember this pennant winning season and revisit some of the overlooked games than it is to dwell on the complete lack of baseball.
Like with his last start, Mike Hampton had to square off against another great pitcher. Last time, it was Kevin Brown. This time, it was Mike Mussina. Again, Hampton pitched well, but he would be out-pitched by the other team’s ace.
The shame of it was the Mets actually led this game 2-0. Those two runs came in a second inning two out rally started by a Melvin Mora bunt single. After that, Hampton singled himself. That set the stage for the recently called up Jason Tyner to have his first big moment.
Tyner would hit an RBI single giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. After that, Mussina would uncharacteristically lose command of the strike zone walking Derek Bell and Edgardo Alfonzo to force home a run. After that Mussina was Mussina again shutting down the Mets offense for the rest of his six innings.
With respect to Hampton, he had his lead, but he would not be able to hold onto it. The first crack came in the third. Rich Amaral would hit a one out single and steal a base, and he would take third on a Jeff Conine fly out. That put him in position to score on an Albert Belle RBI single.
Entering the seventh, Hampton still had a 2-1 lead, and he had thrown 99 pitches. At that point, he had retired nine of the last 10 batters he had faced. Given how he was rolling and how the Mets bullpen had taken a hit yesterday, you can certainly understand why he was out there for the seventh. After all, he is the team’s ace, and he has been pitching like it of late.
The Mets lead evaporated when B.J. Surhoff led off the seventh with a homer off of Hampton. At that point, it seemed like Hampton was tiring and had lost it. Mark Lewis followed the Surhoff homer with a single, but he would not get into scoring position as Hampton was quick to pounce on a Mussina sacrifice bunt attempt to nail Lewis.
While Hampton got Lewis, he could not get Mike Bordick. The Orioles shortstop who is having an uncharacteristically good year at the plate delivered the go-ahead RBI single to give the Orioles 3-2 lead. After Hampton struck out Conine, Bell got to Hampton again hitting an RBI double to increase the Orioles lead to 4-2.
It was a much better start for Hampton than the four earned over 6.2 innings would indicate. Fact of the matter is, he went a little too long in the game, and it cost him and the Mets. The main takeaway you want to take from Hampton in this start was in back-to-back starts he went against another true ace, and he put the Mets in a position to win. That is all you can ask from your ace.
In terms of the Mets offense, they were beat by a great pitcher in Mussina. It happens. You just lament the missed opportunity here and hope they put it behind them as they try to win tomorrow.
Game Notes: Rick Reed will make his scheduled start after skipping his last one due to an oblique injury. Ryan McGuire was sent down to make room for Tyner. Tyner had a memorable debut with the RBI single as well as an infield single. On the day, he was 2-for-3 with a sac bunt and an RBI.
Editor’s Note: With there being no games to begin the season, this site will follow the 2000 season and post recaps as if those games happened in real time. If nothing else, it is better to remember this pennant winning season and revisit some of the overlooked games than it is to dwell on the complete lack of baseball.
If you’ve seen Steve Trachsel pitch before, you know it is a nightmare. First and foremost, you can see flights take off from Laguardia and land in LAX before he throws a pitch. Also, like we saw in the 1998 Wild Card play-in game, Trachsel can just lull a team to sleep with his pace and absolutely shut a team down. That’s what he did to the Mets today.
Over Trachsel’s seven innings, the Mets could just muster six hits. Fortunately for the Mets, two of those hits came in the fourth inning when Edgardo Alfonzo and Todd Zeile hit a pair of doubles giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. Zeile’s double looked foul for a moment but curved back in and confused Rays left fielder Greg Vaughn. Believe it or not, that would be it for the scoring in this game.
As good as Traschel was, Al Leiter was guttier. Leiter, who is mostly known for using his cutter to constantly pound the inside of the strike zone against right-handed batters, just couldn’t locate that pitch. That lead to him and Mike Piazza reconfigure the game plan on the fly. Instead of the vaunted cutter, we saw more curveballs. That proved to be a great decision.
In Leiter’s 6.2 innings, he only had only one 1-2-3 inning. That was partially a result of his walking five batters and hitting another. Still, with his also striking out eight batters, the Rays batters really had little other option than to just stand at the plate and hope Leiter walked them. In the end, while Leiter was wild, he was still difficult to hit.
In the seventh, Leiter had reached the end of the line. He allowed a lead-off single to Trachsel. After getting the next two out, he walked Vaughn. At that point, he had throw 124 pitches, and with the left-handed hitting Fred McGriff due up, Bobby Valentine went to Dennis Cook.
While Cook has struggled this year, McGriff was only 1-for-5 against him in his career. That became 1-for-6 when Cook got McGriff to ground out to end the inning. From there, we saw almost a mirror image of what happened over the final innings last night. After John Franco pitched a 1-2-3 inning, Armando Benitez got himself into trouble in the ninth.
Miguel Cairo hit a one out single, and he immediately got himself into scoring position by stealing second. After a walk to Steve Cox, the game was once again in Vaughn’s hands. For the second straight night, Benitez struck out Vaughn to end the game and earn the save.
Just because you are facing bad teams, it doesn’t mean they can’t play you tough. That’s what the Rays did tonight. That said, the Mets perserved and did what they needed to do to get to pull out the 1-0 victory.
Game Notes: After getting hit in the head by Gary Sheffield and missing yesterday’s game, Mike Piazza returned to the lineup and was 0-for-4. Melvin Mora got the start at short, and Jay Payton was in center again. Payton is earning his playing time as he has gone 4-for-12 with a walk, double, homer, and three RBI over his last seven games. He is also provided good defense out there.
Editor’s Note: With there being no games to begin the season, this site will follow the 2000 season and post recaps as if those games happened in real time. If nothing else, it is better to remember this pennant winning season and revisit some of the overlooked games than it is to dwell on the complete lack of baseball.
If you want to look for positives from this game, they were there. While he had departed the game on the short side of the ledger, Mike Hampton continued his stretch of good pitching allowing three runs (two earned) over seven innings. The Mets also fought to get back into this game.
Heading into the eighth inning, the Mets could get nothing done against Kevin Brown. Brown was his typical dominant self, and if not for an Edgardo Alfonzo homer in the first, the Mets would not have scored a run. In fact, Alfonzo, Robin Ventura, and Hampton were the only to get a hit off of Brown over his six innings.
Entering the eighth, the Mets were down 3-1, which meant they were in the game. Soon, it would be tied. Kurt Abbott led off the inning with a homer off of Alan Mills. After Matt Franco drew a pinch hit walk, and Melvin Mora singled, the Dodgers brought in Matt Herges.
Alfonzo ripped a ball to deep right off of Herges scoring Jon Nunnally, who had pinch ran for Franco. With Mora holding to see if Shawn Green made the play, he could only get to third. That was the part of the Mets bad luck in the inning. Up next was Todd Pratt.
Pratt was in the game because in the sixth, Gary Sheffield‘s typical violent follow-through on his swing hit Mike Piazza in the head. The catcher had blood gushing, and he was removed from the game with his needing to get cleaned up and his likely suffering a concussion.
With Piazza suffering that concussion and coming out of the game, it meant Pratt was up in the eighth. Pratt ripped a ball to short which looked liked it short hopped Kevin Elster. Instead, it was ruled a catch. With Elster having been ruled to catch it, he easily got Mora who had already left third base. That ended an inning where the Mets could’ve taken the lead.
The Mets got their chance again in the ninth. After Ventura and Todd Zeile led off the inning with back-to-back singles, Benny Agbayani, Abbott, and Jay Payton failed to drive them home. Those two missed chances would cost the Mets dearly.
In the ninth, Turk Wendell just didn’t have it. He hung a few to Eric Karros, who couldn’t take advantage. Instead, Karros struck out. Wendell wouldn’t have the same luck with Elster who hit a walk-off homer giving the Dodgers the 4-3 win.
When it comes to this game, the much larger concern is the loss of Piazza than it is the loss of the game. Piazza has once again proved he is not just the best catcher in the game, but really one of the absolute best in the game. We’ve see the Mets can trust Pratt to help them get by, but they are going to need Piazza to go where they want to go this year.
Game Notes: The Mets ended this three city, two time zone road tripe with a 5-4 record. That’s much better than their first west coast trip where they went 5-7 in the trip that had stops in Colorado, San Francisco, Florida, and Pittsburgh.
Editor’s Note: With there being no games to begin the season, this site will follow the 2000 season and post recaps as if those games happened in real time. If nothing else, it is better to remember this pennant winning season and revisit some of the overlooked games than it is to dwell on the complete lack of baseball.
If you thought this game went long, you were right. In fact, this back-and-forth 4:09 game between the Mets and Dodgers was the longest nine inning game in Mets history. That also makes it the longest Mets nine inning victory in team history.
Melvin Mora was rushed back off the DL after Rey Ordonez‘s injury, and he found himself atop the lineup and playing center. If there was any rust, Mora did not show it hitting a lead-off single, and stealing second. On his stolen base attempt, former Met Todd Hundley threw it away allowing Mora to go to third. That allowed him to score easily on Edgardo Alfonzo‘s RBI single.
The Mets did not enjoy the lead for very long. In the third, the Dodgers broke through against Bobby Jones. The trouble started with a Todd Hollandsworth lead-off walk. Hollandsworth stole second, but Jones almost got out of the inning after getting the next two Dodgers out.
Jones could not get Shawn Green out who hit an RBI single and advanced to second on a Mora error. Green would then score on an Eric Karros two run homer. That homer gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.
Dodgers starter Eric Gagne would only last four plus. After he allowed an Alfonzo double and Mike Piazza RBI single, he was lifted for Matt Herges. While Herges was relief in the fifth getting the Dodgers out of the jam, he was not that in the sixth.
After quick strikeouts of Kurt Abbott and Jones, Herges consecutive singles to Mora and Derek Bell. On the Bell infield single, Dave Hansen threw it away allowing Mora and Bell to go to second and third. That allowed both runners to score on the ensuing Alfonzo RBI single which gave the Mets a 4-3 lead.
At that point, Jones had pitched reasonably well. Over five innings, he had allowed just three runs on six hits and two walks. At 87 pitches, you understood why he was sent out there for the bottom of the sixth. Still, after former Met Hundley led off the inning with a double, he got the quick hook with Dennis Cook coming into the game to face the left-handed Hansen.
Davey Johnson countered to putting Kevin Elster into the game as a pinch hitter. As an aside, that’s a sentence which could have been written a decade ago back when Hundley, Johnson, and Elster were all Mets.
Elster singled putting runners at the corners. Geronimo Berroa then pinch hit for Herges, and he drove home Chad Kreuter, who pinch ran for an injured Hundley. Cook finally got a lefty in Hollandsworth, and he struck him out.
With the known right-handed batters coming up, Bobby Valentine brought in Pat Mahomes, who has been really overworked of late. Mahomes allowed an RBI single to Mark Grudzielanek before retiring Gary Sheffield to end the inning. With that, the Mets 4-3 lead had become a 5-4 deficit.
That’s where the score was in the ninth when the Dodgers brought in Jeff Shaw to close out the game. Mike Piazza would get the inning started with a lead-off single on the first pitch Shaw threw. With the slow-footed Piazza representing the tying run, Valentine sent in Jay Payton to pinch run.
After Robin Ventura walked on four pitches, Payton would score the tying run on a Todd Zeile RBI single. That also had the go-ahead run in scoring position. The Dodgers not wanting to lose the game brought in Terry Adams to relieve Shaw.
With the go-ahead run on second with no outs, Valentine made the curious decision of having Joe McEwing pinch hit for Benny Agbayani to bunt the runners over. Instead, McEwing would strike out. After Kurt Abbott walked, Jon Nunnally struck out.
That put the game on Mora’s shoulders. He had a tough seven pitch at-bat where he drew a walk forcing home the go-ahead run. That brought up John Franco‘s spot in the batting order. With Piazza already out of the game with Payton pinch running for him, Valentine sent up Todd Pratt. Pratt would deliver a grand slam to put the Mets up 10-5.
Armando Benitez entered the game in the ninth, and he quickly shut the door. With a victory in this long, long game, the Mets have put themselves in a position to have a winning road trip with one game remaining. That’s not too bad considering how poorly things went in San Diego to start this insane three city two time zone road trip.
Game Notes: Ordonez is expected to miss at least six weeks. Mora and Abbott are expected to split the shortstop duties in his absence. Today, Mora was in center, and Abbott was at short.
Editor’s Note: With there being no games to begin the season, this site will follow the 2000 season and post recaps as if those games happened in real time. If nothing else, it is better to remember this pennant winning season and revisit some of the overlooked games than it is to dwell on the complete lack of baseball.