Category Archives: 1999 Project

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 35-37

Click here for an intro/manifesto on The 1999 Project.

vetstadiumseat.jpgMay 14, 1999: Mets 7, Phillies 3

The Phillies, losers of 97 games in 1998, got off to a surprisingly competitive start in 1999: 19-14, third place in the NL East, just behind the Mets. This was especially surprising because the team cut payroll before the season ($26 million, down $2 million from the previous year) and were already rumored to be shopping ace starter Curt Schilling and/or young superstar third baseman Scott Rolen.

Yet, amid all this belt-tightening, the team also raised ticket prices by an average of 21 percent, a move that predictably caused many no-shows at the thoroughly unattractive Veteran’s Stadium. This also lead to the Phils’ openly enticing Mets fans to take the trip down the Turnpike and fill some of those empty seats.

With many of their partisans in attendance, the Mets jumped on Phillies starter Chad Ogea for four first inning runs and cruised the rest of the way. Jon Olerud’s two-run shot in that frame was only the 14th ever to reach the right field upper deck at Veteran’s Stadium. Two batters later, following a walk to Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura hit a two-run homer of his own. Edgardo Alfonzo contributed a solo shot in the third.

Roger Cedeno opened some eyes by stealing a career-high four bases. Manager Bobby Valentine seemed to think Cedeno was coming into his own. “He should go every time he gets on,” he told the Daily News. “Roger is in a groove. I don’t think they can throw him out on a pitchout.”

Masato Yoshii gave up three solo homers in his six innings of work, but little else. After coming out of spring training as a prime candidate for demotion or release, Yoshii was rounding out into the team’s most consistent starter.

May 15, 1999: Mets 9, Phillies 7

Their ace had his shortest start as a Met. Their best hitter hit into a triple play. And they begin today within striking distance of first
place.

For once, Al Leiter saved his blow-up for early in the game, ceding four runs in the first inning. The Phils tallied one more in the second and third and put the Mets in a 6-0 hole before they could blink. But Pat Mahomes, just recalled from triple-A Norfolk, pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings, which gave his team just enough daylight to get back into the
game.

The Mets scored five runs in the top of the fourth inning, all of them plated with two outs, then tied the game on a Brian McRae solo homer in the fifth and an Alfonzo RBI single in the sixth. Shortly thereafter, Piazza killed a rally by lining into a triple play, but two more runs in the top of the ninth put the Mets ahead.

John Franco gave up a run in the bottom half but recorded the final out and his eleventh save of the season in as many chances. A Braves loss to the Cubs put the Mets a mere half game behind Atlanta for first place in the NL East.

May 16, 1999: Phillies 5, Mets 2

After being skipped for his last start, Orel Hershiser got an eye exam, hoping that his vision (and not his 40-year-old arm) was responsible for his pitching woes. He got an adjustment on his contact lens prescription, and it seemed to work through the first five innings of his start in Philly.

But the Phillies got to him for four runs in the sixth and held on for a 5-2 win to spoil the Mets’ hope for a sweep. Hershiser could comfort himself with the fact that most of the hits he gave up were of the soft variety, and three of those runs scored as a direct result of a hit that Matt Franco–playing left field for only the third time in his career–misplayed into a triple. Hershiser was also pleased that he pitched six innings for the first time that year. “You look under every rock when you’re slumping,” Hershiser told the Daily News.

The Braves’ victory put the Mets back to 1 1/2 games behind Atlanta. A Yankees win also prevented them from having the best record in the city, for however much that was
worth.

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 32-34

Click here for an intro/manifesto on The 1999 Project.

dinger.JPGMay 10, 1999: Rockies 10, Mets 3

On a frigid night in Colorado, Al Leiter was left in just a tad too long yet again. He scattered four runs over his first six innings, a small victory in the offense-happy confines of Coors Field. Then, after a leadoff triple to Dante Bichette in the seventh, Leiter began to unravel, eventually giving a three-run homer to rookie Henry Blanco. Mike Piazza came into the game hitting .449 at Coors Field, but was limited to one single by former battery mate Pedro Estacio.

In the colorful words of the Daily News, “the Mets’ starting rotation continued to possess the hue and smell of sewer water.”

May 11, 1999: Rockies 8, Mets 5

Before this game, Mets starter Bobby J. Jones said simply, “I don’t like pitching here.” That became abundantly clear very quickly. He gave up two homers to Rockies slugger Todd Helton, and eight runs total in 5 1/3 innings. His counterpart, Colorado starter/future Met Bobby M. Jones, held the Mets to two runs in his five innings of work. In a bit of meaningless trivia, this marked the first time in 100 years that two pitchers with identical first and last names had faced each other.

At the end of the day, the Mets starters were 11-14 on the season with an unsightly ERA of 5.30. Pitching coach Bob Apodaca recalled his days coaching in triple-A Norfolk, when his staff allowed 108 runs in only 10 games. “It’s a contagious disease that no one can be immune to. We’re just waiting for one starter to stop it.”

May 12, 1999: Mets 10, Rockies 5

After an early exit in his previous start, Rick Reed took the ball on two days rest, preventing the combustible Orel Hershiser from taking the mound at Coors Field. He went five innings and gave up four runs–not bad for short rest, particularly in the thin Denver air. Thanks to an offensive outburst, this was enough to snap the Mets’ three-game losing streak. Scoring early runs hadn’t been a problem for them; tacking on had been. But the Mets led 6-0 after two innings in this one and never looked back.

The Mets held their breath when Reed was nailed in the posterior by a line drive off the bat of Angel Echevarria. But Reed stayed in the game, and wouldn’t blame the blow for a homer he gave up to Dante Bichette in the fifth inning. “My ass didn’t throw that pitch; my arm did.”

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 29-31

Click here for an intro/manifesto on The 1999 Project.

dbacks_future_uni.jpgMay 7, 1999: Diamondbacks 14, Mets 7

In 1998, the Mets took four out of six games against the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks. But the 1999 Diamondbacks were an altogether different team. They bolstered their rotation with Randy Johnson and Todd Stottlemeyer, and solidified their lineup with Steve Finley and Tony Womack. This was also the year in which Luis Gonzalez was suddenly transformed into an offensive powerhouse (through totally natural means, I’m sure).

By the time the Mets traveled to Arizona, the Diamondbacks were a game over .500 and just getting ready to roll, which they made abundantly clear from the very first inning. In the first game of the series, Orel Hershiser turned in a horrific start, giving up nine runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. About the only good thing that could be said of his performance is that he only spent 79 pitches to allow such damage. So his meltdown was efficient, if nothing else.

The Mets fell behind 5-1 early, then rallied to take a 6-5 lead. That prompted Bobby Valentine to let the ineffective Hershiser bat for himself in the top of the fifth, and to also leave the 40-year-old in after he loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half. Hershiser immediately allowed Travis Lee to unload them with a bases-clearing double.

The Diamondbacks then torched relievers Josias Manzanillo and Allen Watson for five more runs, though they were hardly necessary. The Mets just managed three hits the rest of the way. Armando Benitez celebrated a nigh-meaningless eighth inning strikeout by twirling his finger, which prompted some grumbling from the Arizona bench.

After the game, Hershiser defended blamed himself, not Valentine. “We went over the situation and then he left me to ruin the game. I let him down. He didn’t let me down.”

To add injury to insult, Rickey Henderson went on the DL with a strained right knee. Bobby Bonilla was also dealing with some knee issues, but with Henderson sidelined, the oft-booed outfielder would continue to play through the pain.

May 8, 1999: Mets 4, Diamondbacks 2

Masato Yoshii turned in another encouraging start, throwing six scoreless innings (a cracked fingernail prevented him from going any further). The Mets got homers from Matt Franco and John Olerud and took a seemingly comfortable 4-0 into the ninth. Despite it not being a save situation, Valentine turned the ball over to John Franco, who hadn’t pitched in five days.

Franco proceeded to give up a leadoff single to Womack and a bomb of a home run to Jay Bell. A single by Gonzalez, a potential double play grounder that instead went for a fielder’s choice, and a walk to Finley put the tying runs on first and second with only one out.

Valentine gave Franco the hook and brought in Benitez, with the blown save against the Astros still fresh in his mind. Benitez gave up two very long, loud fly balls, but both were caught to end the game.

Later, Benitez defended his antics of the day before by simply saying, “It comes in the blood.”

May 9, 1999: Diamondbacks 11, Mets 6

Asked for a word on his outing, Reed answered, “I got two. I stunk.”

Rick Reed did Orel Hershiser one better and gave up eight runs in only 1 1/3 innings. He gave up a third-run homer to Gonzalez in the first, and the only out he recorded in the second came on a sac bunt. The final score looked much closer than it should have, after homers by Mike Piazza and Mike Kinkade plated three runs in the top of the ninth, but the Mets were never in this game. The bad pitching performances in this series were particularly galling with Coors Field looming in the next series.

Back in New York, Lisa Olsen of the Daily News mused about Alex Rodriguez’s impending free agency. The title of her article: “A-Rod Would Look Good in New York”. Be careful what you wish for, Lisa.