Tag Archives: mets

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 11-13

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

youppi.jpgApril 16, 1999: Expos 6, Mets 4

Al Leiter entered the day seeking his first win of the year, and he left still seeking it. The lefty allowed only four hits in the first seven frames, but all four hits came in the fourth inning and resulted in four runs. Leiter limited the damage after that until the eighth, when he surrendered two more runs that put the game away for Montreal. Leiter’s counterpart, Dustin Hermanson, also gave up four hits in seven innings but held the Mets to just one run.

The Mets’ ostensible ace was done in by equal parts weather and bad luck. A one-hour-plus rain delay preceded the game; precipitation had figured so heavily in Leiter’s previous starts that John Franco dubbed him The Rain Man. He also had to deal with a weird hop on a ball hit by Michael Barrett that eluded Robin Ventura and prolonged the Expos’ four-run fourth inning.

“I’d be a little more distraught and a little more concerned if I felt I had no clue,” said a mystified Leiter (0-2). ”But my stuff is as good as it’s ever been in my career. I’m just not making that big pitch to get out of an inning. But I feel too good to get depressed about it yet.”

The Mets made a late bid to make things interesting, with one run in the eighth and two in the ninth on a Todd Pratt homer, but Expos closer/machete enthusiast Ugueth Urbina came in to get the last three outs without further incident.

Rickey Henderson hit a pinch-hit single in the eighth, then immediately asked to leave the game with a tight hamstring. After the game, he wouldn’t commit to making a start in left the following day. “I’ve got to wake up in the morning and see how it feels,” he said.

Continue reading 1999 Project: Games 11-13 →

Baseball, Pointless Nostalgia

Shea It’s Still So

A tweet by mr_met alerted me to this post over at the No Mas Scorecard–which I should have alerted myself to much sooner, as I’m a big fan of No Mas, their t-shirts, and their general outlook on The Sporting World. No matter; I shall endeavor to make up for lost time.

No Mas, Paul Lukas (Uniwatch guru), and The Reverend Vince Anderson have teamed to campaign the Mets to rename their new ballpark after their old one. Or, more importantly, to name it after the man without whom the Mets wouldn’t exist: Bill Shea.

I am totally on board with this movement. For one thing, it would remove the association with corporate cockfucks Citibank, which will continue to dog the team until they change the ballpark’s name. For another, it acknowledges that yes, the Mets do indeed have some history they should be proud of and celebrate.

I have very few complaints about CitiField as a place to watch a ballgame–and as noted elswhere, I think a lot of the criticism of the place is nitpicky and way out of line–but the Wilpons’ lack of acknowledgment of this history within it really bugs me. Supposedly, they’re working on some sort of Mets Museum, but quite tellingly, they didn’t make any formal announcements about it until fan outcry about the lack of Mets material in the stadium.

callitshea.jpgI get the impression that, in the absence of such an outcry, management would be totally happy with the current memorabilia-free state, which is a real shame. Go to any new ballpark, and it has some kind of feature on either the team, or the town, or both. The Nationals have been in DC all of 5 seasons and their new stadium has such a display. If they can do it, the Mets sure as hell can.

The Calling It Shea Project’s platform is a little murky, but part of it involves the sale of the t-shirt pictured here. Ten percent of the proceeds go to Food Bank NYC. Your dough could go to far worse places, so if you think Shea should be celebrated for his efforts in perpetuity, express it in t-shirt form.

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 9 and 10

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

April 14, 1999: Mets 4, Marlins 1

Orel Hershiser reminisced fondly about his heroics in the 1988 NLCS before making quick work of a young Marlins lineup. He used only 10 pitches to work through the first two innings, and didn’t allow a hit until the fourth. The Mets gave him a lead on RBI doubles by Todd Pratt and Edgardo Alfonzo, a bases-loaded walk, and a homer by Robin Ventura.

All of this allowed John Franco to notch his 400th career save. It was an atypical Franco save–that is to say, nigh-drama free, except for a two-out double. After the game, the Brooklyn native felt like celebrating his milestone:

The Mets gave Franco three bottles of Dom Perignon and he poured it into plastic flutes as his teammates clapped. Franco held up the Champagne and said, ”This is the first of many celebrations, boys.”

Thumbnail image for 99_franco_400_save.pngWith reliever Greg McMichaels ailing, Steve Phillips was rumored to be interested in the Braves’ Mark Wohlers. I found it amazing that such a trade could even be contemplated back then. But then I remembered that there was really no Mets-Braves rivalry to speak of until this season.

April 15, 1999: Marlins 11, Mets 4

The Mets’ five-game winning streak ended in embarassing fashion. Starter Masato Yoshii was cuffed for eight hits and four runs in five innings, then the formerly spotless bullpen was torched for seven runs of their own. (Granted, most of those relievers were mopper-uppers like Rigo Beltran and Jose Manzanillo.) Future Met Luis Castillo reached base six times. The most humiliating run was the Marlins’ 11th and final one, as it was driven in by reliever Brian Edmonson.

Backup-backup catcher Mike Kinkade symbolized the Mets’ futility when he tried to toss the ball around the infield after a strikeout, but only succeeded in sailing a throw into the outfield. The gaffe drew mocking applause from the crowd, the only kind heard at Shea that day.

The day’s only good news came from a pregame batting session with Mike Piazza, who took 50 swings in the cage and proclaimed he “felt good”.