centerfield maz

Thursday September 19th, 2024: After sweeping the Nationals, Carlos Mendoza's Mets opened up the final regular season series of the season at Citi Field. A huge series that may decide their season, as they host the first place Phillies.  With ten games left to play on the season, they are in the second wild card spot, 2.5 games behind the Padres & two games ahead of Atlanta, while tied with the Diamondbacks record wise, ahead in head-to-head decisions.  Trivia: Tonight would have been the 100th birthday of legendary Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy.  35,982 filled up Citi Field, as Luis Severino (10-6) went up against former Met Taijuan Walker (3- 6). The Mets also went without Francisco Lindor for the fourth straight night as he is being troubled with back issues. HRs #1& #2: In the bottom of the 1st the Mets started where they left off the nights before, putting up two runs on back-to-back HRs from Mark Vientos & Pete Alonso.  For Vientos it was his 25th H...

Monday September 18, 2006:  On this night Shea Stadium was filled with 46,729 fans hoping to see the Mets clinch their first NL Eastern Title since 1988.  There had been two wild card clinchers since then, but this was more special, after 18 years, finally a Divisional Title. On April 26th, 2006, the New York Mets took over first place never losing possession of that spot. Coming into this game they were on a three-game losing streak but still holding a 13.5 lead over Philadelphia. Tonight, Willie Randolph's Mets (91-58) hosted Joe Girardi's Florida Marlins,  as  Steve Trachsel (14-7) went up  against   Brad Moehler (7-8). At the time, Steve Trachsel was the longest tenured Met, having been with the club since 2001, the year following the teams last pennant & post season appearance.  The first two innings went by scoreless. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Shawn Green was hit by a pitch to start the ...

Tuesday September 17th, 2024: With just a dozen games to go in the regular season, the Mets were a game ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the third wild card spot entering tonight's game hosting the Nationals at Citi Field.  The Mets (82-68) were 14 games over .500. Tonight, they'd be without their leading hitter, Francisco Lindor who was sidelined with injury for the second straight night. Team Meeting: Before the game, Mets GM Davis Sterns & manager Carlos Mendoza addressed the team to continue in the direction they need to be going, even with Lindor out of the lineup.  Pete Alonso was the only player to speak, saying in his rookie year of 2019 the Mets fell short so he couldn't celebrate. In 2022 they had a good season but after a rough series in Atlanta fell out of first place, missed out on a divisional tile & although they made the playoffs, were eliminated in the wild card round. This year he wants to celebrate with his team. With his contract up at the end o...

W ednesday September 17th, 1986: The 1986 Mets had been in first place since April 24th, which was their tenth game of the season. By June 14th they went up ten games ahead of the second place Montreal Expos & thru the summer ran away with the division. The magic number countdown for clinching the NL Eastern Division began back in August. It seemed kind of strange, but the fans were actually happy that the Mets had just lost six of their last seven games, one of their worst stretches of the season. After getting swept in Philadelphia they moved on to St. Louis then dropped their fourth straight. The previous night the Mets broke the losing streak beating the Cards 4-2. This meant was that they would have the chance to clinch the divisional title at home in Shea Stadium.  By this night Davey Johnson's Mets were 94-50 with a 19-game lead over the second place Phillies.  Personal notes: Back that afternoon I got my ticket at an A&S Ticketron outlet on my lunch...