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1999 Project

1999 Project: Game 160

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

MetsCereal.jpgOver the final weekend of the regular season, Filip Bondy wrote in the Daily News of the sad tale of Famous Fixins. In the midst of the Mets’ hot summer, the company decided to produce 250,000 boxes of Amazin’ Mets cereal. (They also produced a Derek Jeter-themed version.) Making a quarter of a million of anything is a risky proposition, even more so if your product’s appeal hinges on the continued success of a sports team.

When the Mets cereal deal was first brokered, the team’s playoff chances seemed a sure thing. Now, as October dawned and the boxes began hitting the shelves, making the postseason was a longshot.

“Let’s just say I would have liked to be out with the stuff two weeks earlier,” said Famous Fixins spokesman Michael Simon.

The Mets must have wished they could’ve ended their season two weeks earlier, when they were still in striking distance of the NL East lead. Now, with three games to play, they were two games out of the playoff picture. Cincinnati and Houston were ahead of them, tied for first in the NL Central. Whichever team didn’t win the division would likely win the wild card, because they controlled their own destinies, and the Mets did not.

The Mets’ only remaining fight of the year might be against the league office. Following Bobby Valentine’s lead, GM Steve Phillips complained to the National League head office that umpire Phil Cuzzi (who manned home plate in the series finale against Atlanta) wouldn’t get help from the corner umps on check-swing calls.

For the moment, the Mets were still mathematically alive, hanging on to playoff hopes by the slimmest of margins. All they had to was sweep their last series of the year, and hope for some help from out of town. Standing in their way: the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Continue reading 1999 Project: Game 160 →

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 98-103 (AKA At Home They Feel Like Tourists)

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

99_kenny_rogers.pngJust as the Mets returned to Shea, the front office made its long-rumored deal for a starter, sending two minor leaguers to Oakland in exchange for Kenny Rogers. “The Gambler” was a more-than-capable lefty, but he’d already done an unsuccessful tour of duty with the Yankees that convinced many he was not New York Material. He also had made few friends in the Bay Area, punching a teammate in the face over a card-game-related dispute and destroying a bunch of bullpen phones at Candlestick Park (or 3Com Park, as it was called in its last year of hosting baseball). The A’s were not shy about telling the world he would not be missed.

Regardless, in Oakland Rogers regained the ace-like form he lost in the Bronx. He thrived in Texas when Bobby Valentine was the skipper there. The Mets hadn’t given up much to obtain him (of the two minor leaguers dealt to the A’s, only Terence Long would have a serviceable career). And former teammate/fellow Texan Andy Pettite vouched for him.

It wasn’t as if the Mets had many other options. Dream deals for true aces like Curt Schilling and David Wells proved prohibitively expensive and unlikely, given the dearth of talent in their farm system. Internally, they closed one road when they converted Jason Isringhausen into a reliever. And as good as Octavio Dotel had been, they were clearly reluctant to rely on a rookie in the midst of a heated pennant race.

Plus, Bobby Jones looked unlikely to return any time soon. On the shelf since May 23 with a shoulder injury, he threw an unsuccessful bullpen session that proved he was not ready for a rehab assignment.

So The Gambler found himself in the Mets’ rotation, which meant a possible trip to the bullpen for Orel Hershiser or Rick Reed. The Mets began a homestand that would end well in the win column (5-1) but be overshadowed by an opposing player’s reception, and a promotion so stupid it would have made Bill Veeck blanch.

Continue reading 1999 Project: Games 98-103 (AKA At Home They Feel Like Tourists) →

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 45-47

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

daveparker_mask.jpgMay 24, 1999: Pirates 7, Mets 4

Thanks to the general ineffectiveness of their starting rotation, the Mets front office debated bringing Jason Isringhausen all season. The member of the ill-fated Generation K missed all of 1998 thanks to elbow surgery, and had appeared in only 33 games since a promising rookie campaign in 1995. Bobby Jones’ trip to the DL (despite Jones’ protests) forced the team’s hand, and he was called up from triple-A Norfolk in time to start the series opener in Pittsburgh.

Izzy showed flashes of the stuff that made him a first-round pick, striking out seven in six innings of work. But his first pitch was tagged for a double, and Jason Kendall clubbed a three-run homer shortly thereafter. The righty would give up another homer and five runs overall. Bobby Valentine called his outing “encouraging,” but it didn’t translate into a win.

The Mets’ offense pulled within one, but Turk Wendell gave up a two-run homer to Ed Sprague that put the game out of reach. They got the tying runs on base in the eighth and ninth innings, but couldn’t get break through against the Pittsburgh bullpen.

May 25, 1999: Mets 8, Pirates 3

Masato Yoshii turned in yet another quality outing–not an overpowering one, but more than effective. The Pirates got the leadoff man on in five of the seven innings Yoshii started, yet were only able to scratch out two runs against him. He gave up a leadoff homer to Al Martin and settled in thereafter, striking out six and inducing two key double plays in 6 2/3 innings of work.

Offensively, the Mets were kickstarted by a 442-foot solo bomb by Mike Piazza off of future battery mate Kris Benson. A few batters later, Brian McRae hit a three run shot, which was all the offense they would need, although they added four more runs against the Pirates’ relief corps.

May 26, 1999: Mets 5, Pirates 2

Orel Hershiser pitched six strong innings to earn the win and helped his cause with a pair of hits. Benny Agbayani knocked the fourth home run of his brief major league career, and John Olerud hit a key two-run single in the top of the ninth to plate some insurance runs.

However, all the post-game talk centered around the Mets’ injury woes. Al Leiter was suffering from a sprained knee, and following an unpromising BP session, Bobby Valentine opted to push back his next start by at least one game. To make matters worse, Isringhausen experienced elbow pain during a throwing session, which jeopardized the likelihood of him making his next scheduled start.

Bobby Bonilla was eligible to return from the DL but refused to take a rehab start in the minors. Instead, he wanted the Mets to fly farm team pitchers into New York for him to face, as they had done with Mike Piazza. (Such a team-first attitude is what made Bonilla a favorite among Mets fans everywhere.)

Unfortunately, the Mets’ troubles were only beginning.