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1999 Project

1999 Project: Subway Series, Part 2

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

subwayseries2.pngJuly 9, 1999: Mets 5, Yankees 2

Though the Mets played well between the end of the first Subway Series and the start of the second one, they had also just completed a disappointing four-game split with the lowly Expos. “There was a listless atmosphere,” Jack Curry wrote of that series in The New York Times, “and the Mets always seemed to be in danger of being lulled to sleep and into feeling that they were fine. But they were not.”

There was no danger of a subdued atmosphere at Shea for the Friday night opener of this series. The pitching matchup was a rematch of the last game of the Bronx leg of the Subway Series: Al Leiter for the Mets, Roger Clemens for the Yankees. That game ended the Mets’ eight-game losing streak and turned the season around for both the team and Leiter. After a shaky start to his year, the lefty had been money in bank ever since his outing at Yankee Stadium.

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1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 83-86

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

Thumbnail image for youppi.jpgJuly 5, 1999: Mets 2, Expos 1

After a grueling, frustrating, and occasionally humiliating series against the Braves, the Mets were pleased to welcome the Expos to Shea for a four-game series. Granted, Montreal had given them fits the year before, and the Mets had only gone 4-3 against them thus far. Still, the Expos were–to put it charitably–not quite as talented as Atlanta.

Although the Mets must have thought they were facing the Braves yet again in game one. They managed eight hits against Montreal starter Dustin Hermanson, but could only score one unearned run, thanks to an error by Orlando Cabrera. Rick Reed pitched seven great innings of his own, allowing just one run, but could not get a win thanks to his teammates anemic offense (perhaps due in part to temperatures that peaked at 101 degrees).

Turk Wendell got into some trouble in the top of the eighth, when a single, an error, and a balk put runners on second and third and brought up Vladimir Guerrero in a prime RBI spot. But Wendell induced a pop up from Vlad to end the inning. He also got in trouble with the umpires for having too much resin on his fielding arm (perhaps a byproduct of his volatile mound rituals). It was not the first time that season he’d been asked to make a sartorial switch mid-appearance.

That allowed the Mets a chance to plate the go-ahead run in the bottom half. John Olerud led off with a single against future Met Guillermo Mota, then Mike Piazza doubled to move him to third. Robin Ventura was walked intentionally to load the bases to bring up Brian McRae. He hit into a 4-6-3 double play, but that allowed Olerud to score.

That’s what passed for a rally in this game, but it was enough. Armando Benitez worked around a lead-off walk to preserve the victory. 

July 6, 1999: Mets 10, Expos 0

Masato Yoshii was nursing a bruised thigh, so Bobby Valentine asked the 40-year-old Orel Hershiser to pitch on one day’s rest. That would allow him to push up Yoshii’s next start and pitch Al Leiter against the Yankees in the upcoming Shea portion of the Subway Series. It would also prevent rookie Octavio Dotel from having to pitch against the Yanks (though the Mets insisted that was not a factor).

No Mets hurler had pitched on such short rest since 1982, and Hershiser had never done it in his career (though he’d memorably pitched on even shorter rest, closing out the Dodgers’ series-changing Game 4 victory against the Mets in the 1988 NLCS after starting the day before). Not to mention to the weather conditions–temperatures reached triple digits yet again.

Regardless, Hershiser accepted the challenge and shut down the Expos for five innings, limiting them to three hits. His moxie inspired cheers of “1, 2, 3, Bulldog!” from spectators behind home plate. (“Try to do it when I’m not trying to concentrate, please,” Hershiser sarcastically advised the fans after the game.)

Hershiser felt he could have gone another inning, but the risk didn’t seem worth it. By that point, the Mets had already touched up Expos starter Carl Pavano for five runs, including a two-run homer from Brian McRae and two RBIs from Edgardo Alfonzo. They’d chase Pavano from the game with two more runs in the sixth inning and score three more off of the Montreal bullpen.

Fresh from his second tour in Norfolk, Jason Isringhausen pitched the last three innings, allowing only three hits. Despite the lopsided score, it counted for his first major league save.

This was also the day of All Star Game selections, and Mike Piazza was the only Met chosen by fan balloting. Rey Ordonez–having another fine year with the glove and a surprisingly productive year with the bat–was just edged out by the Reds’ Barry Larkin for the shortstop position.

July 7, 1999: Expos 3, Mets 1

The third game looked like a repeat of the first, but unfortunately for the Mets, it did not result in a similar outcome. They stranded ten men on base and could only manage one run against Expos starter Dan Smith and the Montreal bullpen. In his best outing yet, Octavio Dotel limited the opposition to one run in seven innings. But Bobby Valentine batted for him in the bottom of the seventh in a vain attempt to spark a rally and was forced to turn to the bullpen.

Robin Ventura was hit by a pitch in his left foot in the bottom of the third and had to leave the game, so Luis Lopez was manning third base in the top of the eighth. Terry Jones singled to lead off the inning. After a sac bunt moved Jones up, Lopez fielded a grounder, but his throw whizzed past John Olerud, allowing Jones to score all the way from second.

The Mets threatened in their half. After singles by Roger Cedeno and McRae, Valentine pinch hit for Todd Pratt with Mike Piazza (who’d been given the day off). The Expos brought in their closer, Ugueth Urbina, and he promptly struck out Piazza on three pitches. Ordonez followed with a fly out to end the threat.

Montreal plated another run in the top of the ninth, and the Mets went quietly in their half. Despite wasted scoring opportunities, Lopez took all the blame after the game, with the use of some Rickey Henderson-esque grammar. “Everyone played their asses off,” he said. “Dotel pitched great. This time, Luis Lopez failed.”

July 8, 1999: Expos 4, Mets 3

Masato Yoshii seemed to benefit from the extra rest afforded him by Orel Hershiser’s spot start. After a slightly shaky, one-run first inning, he settled in, retiring 13 straight Expos at one point. The mets scored two runs in the first, then another on a Piazza solo shot in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead.

Montreal chipped at their lead thanks to a Vladimir Guerrero home run, the kind only he could hit (according to the Daily News, it came on “an eye-high fastball”). They tied it on another solo homer in the seventh, this one from Orlando Cabrera off of Turk Wendell. Dennis Cook come on in the eighth inning and gave up a one-out triple to Wilton Guerrero (Vlad’s brother). The next batter, Shane Andrews, hit a fly to McRae in center field (“little more than a popup”, in the Daily News‘ estimation) that allowed Guerrero to tag up and score.

The Mets had slight chances in their last two innings. Matt Franco hit a one-out single in the eighth, but was erased when Benny Agbayani hit into a double play. In the ninth, Rickey Henderson worked a walk against Urbina but was caught trying to stea
l second.

“We [the bullpen] are human,” Cook said later. “We’re going to throw a bad
streak in there. It’s one of those things. I’m not going to go home and
slit my wrists.”

Still, it was not the best way to lead into the Subway Series. Somewhat prophetically, the News opined:

The Mets are still the No. 2 team in this town, and it would be nice to
make a statement against the vaunted Bronx Bombers. Win three, even
two, against the Yankees and these Expos debacles surely will be
forgiven and forgotten.

1999 Project

1999 Project: Atlanta, Round Two

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

July 2, 1999: Braves 16, Mets 0

The Mets welcomed the Braves to Shea for the first time in 1999, and the Braves found it very welcoming indeed. Chipper Jones (who else) commenced the scoring with a two-run shot in the first, and it was all downhill from there. Masato Yoshii was torched for eight runs in only three innings–and the Braves had scored only half their runs yet.

The Braves might have been helped (at least at first) by their dugout monitors, which showed them the game feed instead of the bullpen, thus giving them a bird’s eye view of Mike Piazza’s pitch calling. They were quick to point out this error–after the top of the first.

No such help was needed on the mound. Greg Maddux continued his mastery over the Mets, allowing just two hits in six innings of work. The famously economical Maddux presumably felt no need to tax himself beyond that point, considering he had a 12-run lead. After a shaky (for him) start to his season, Maddux proved once again that he had lost nothing–and would continue to be a thorn in the Mets’ side.

The Braves piled on with two runs in the fourth inning, and a run each in the fifth and sixth. They added both insult and injury in the ninth, when John Franco came on to pitch. The Mets’ closer hadn’t pitched in several days, so despite the score, he was due for some work. After allowing a run, then back-to-back walks, Franco stalked off the mound with pain in his left hand that would later be diagnosed as a strained tendon.

mattfranco_pitch.pngHaving burned through all of his bullpen already, and short one position player (Edgardo Alfonzo was away from the team, attending the birth of his son), Bobby Valentine was forced to be creative. He used starter Rick Reed in right field, who took the spot of Roger Cedeno, who moved to second to take the place of Luis Lopez, who moved to third to take the place of Matt Franco, who took to the mound to try and get the final out of the ninth.

Matt became only the second position player to pitch for the Mets (the first was the immortal Bill Pecota in 1992). Gerald Williams turned on the third pitch Franco threw and launched it for a three-run homer. But he also managed to stop the bleeding by striking out Andruw Jones. “I think the disappointment of the night had gone past by then,” Franco told reporters later. “It was fun. The 16-0 loss wasn’t worth it.”

That margin of defeat represented the most lopsided shutout in Mets history. And just to add a little bit of strife to an already bad situation, Bobby Bonilla challenged a fan to a fight after he was booed for dropping a pop-up.

July 3, 1999: Braves 3, Mets 0

On a muggy night, Al Leiter limited the Braves to three runs, but his teammates continued to be baffled by Atlanta pitching. This time, the culprit was Kevin Millwood, who no-hit the Mets for four innings and gave up only three hits total.

Brian Jordan–who said he’d make New York regret not signing him in the off season–started the scoring in the top of the fifth with a two-run homer (on what Jordan called “the straightest fastball I’ve ever seen Leiter throw”). The Braves scratched out another run in the sixth to give themselves a 3-0 lead. The way the Mets were hitting, it might as well have been 300-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, Robin Ventura led off with a single to break up Millwood’s bid for a no-no. Just so the Mets wouldn’t get any ideas about turning their luck around, Benny Agbayani followed with a strike out while Ventura was picked off of first. It was as close to a rally as they would come against Millwood.

The Atlanta starter tried to go the distance, but he walked Brian McRae to start the ninth, prompting Bobby Cox to turn to his closer, John Rocker. The hard-throwing lefty looked almost human when he threw a wild pitch and gave up a single to pinch hitter Todd Pratt, putting runners at the corners with nobody out.

But Rocker induced harmless fly outs from Edgardo Alfonzo and John Olerud. The Mets were down to their last out, but they also had Mike Piazza coming to the plate as the tying run. Alas, there were no heroics in his bat this time–he struck out to end the game.

Going back to the series in Atlanta, the Mets hadn’t scored a run against Braves pitching in 28 innings. Millwood, the latest architect of their futility, summed up the feeling of the budding rivalry. “”We said when we started to play these guys to keep them down and don’t let them get their confidence up,” he told reporters after the game. “So far, we’ve done a pretty good job.”

To make matters worse, the Mets were forced to put John Franco on the DL with what they termed a strained flexor tendon in his left middle finger. Rigo Beltran was called up from Norfolk to take his place on the roster. Bobby Valentine anticipated handing the closer’s job to Armando Benitez. He’d filled that role for the Orioles, but he’d also been traded from Baltimore for his propensity to blow up in big moments.

July 4, 1999: Mets 7, Braves 6

The Daily News‘ Vic Ziegel opened his story thusly, in one of the weirder lead paragraphs I’ve ever read:

Somebody else will have to explain how the Mets won this game. The
rumor making the rounds before Mets 7, Atlanta 6 last night was that
the Mets need only one look at the tomahawk shirts to turn to jelly.
Last year’s jelly, hidden in the back of the fridge. What is that
smell?

This game marked the Mets’ last chance to do direct damage to the Braves for quite some time–the two teams wouldn’t meet again until September 21. That damage would have to be done against the always tough John Smoltz, although the righty was rumored to be dealing with some elbow issues.

Orel Hershiser started for the Mets and immediately put the Mets in a hole by giving up back-to-back solo shots to Bret Boone and Chipper Jones. But they touched up Smoltz for three runs on three hits in their half of the first.

Not only had the Mets finally scored against the Braves, but they even padded their lead on an Alfonzo RBI double in the second inning. It would not last for long. In the top of the third, another solo homer from Boone, a sac fly from Ryan Klesko, and a two-run shot by Randall Simon scored four runs, chased Hershiser from the game, and put Atlanta back in front, 6-4.

Pat Mahomes and Rigo Beltran helped restore order and prevent the Braves from scoring any more runs. Greg McMichael pitched the top of the seventh and got into a bases loaded jam, but Dennis Cook came on to get the last out and keep Atlanta off the board. As good as their relief efforts were, it all seemed pointless, as the Mets could not dent Smoltz any further. They were retired with little incident in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

Then in the bottom of the seventh, Rey Ordonez hit a lead off single and Brian McRae followed with a walk. Rickey Henderson bunted them into scoring position, but that proved unnecessary, because Alfonzo crushed a Smoltz fastball to straight-away center to give the Mets a 7-6 lead.

Cook stayed on to set down the Braves in order in the eighth. Then Armando Benitez came on in the ninth for his first appearance as the Mets’ interim closer. He rose to the occasion by striking out the side, which consisted of three batters who’d given the Mets fits over the last three games: Boone, Chipper, and Jordan.

After the game, Bobby Valentine simply said, “It was a test if there’s ever been test.”