centerfield maz

Sunday May 29th, 2022: Buck Schowalter's first place Mets (31-17) were enjoying the largest lead the franchise ever had going into Memorial Day. The Mets were 8.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves.  Tonight, they went for the series sweep of Joe Girardi's Philadelphia Phillies (21-26) trying to put them a good 10.5 games back.  A big crowd of 36,513 came out to Citi Field for the Holiday weekend Sunday Night Baseball game. The Mets Chris Bassitt (4-2) would  get the start against former Met Zack Wheeler (3-3).  With Brandon Nimmo nursing a sprained wrist & Jeff McNeil dealing with some wear & tear on his legs, the Mets called up Nick Plummer from AAA Syracuse, where he was batting .250 with 6 HRs & 21 RBIs in 24 games.  Something about the kid Buck Schowalter said he liked. In the bottom of the 1st, the Mets got a shaky Zack Wheeler right away. Luis Guillorme, who is fitting in comfortably in the leadoff spot batting .355 on the season, led...

Tuesday May 29th, 1990: Things were starting to boil early on in the Mets 1990 season, especially as they kept losing.  This was a team who was favored to win the National League & the World Series almost every year from 1985 to 1990.  The Mets did win it all in 1986, but in a time without wild cards, they won just one more NL East title  (1988) making just two post seasons in the mid to late eighties. They were second place bridesmaids, in 1984, 1985, 1987 & 1989.  After the Championship, the 1987 Mets had won 92 games but finished three games behind St. Louis. The 1988 squad won the NL East but were upset by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. The surprising Dodgers went on to win the World Series as well.  In 1989 the Mets won 87 games, their lowest total of wins since 1983. They finished second behind the Chicago Cubs, as they did in 1984. At this point in 1990 the Mets were 22-20 & fallen to fourth place. Davey Johnson was be...

Wednesday May 28th, 1986: A night after the big Ray Knight- Tom Niedenfuer fight, a big Shea crowd of 41,032 including centerfieldmaz in the field box seats, was on hand to cheer on the Mets & give verbally to the Dodgers. The Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda was vocal in the press on how rowdy the fans were at Shea the previous night mentioning someone had even thrown a quarter at him from the stands. This only enticed the crowd even more.  The Mets were now 28-11 with a 5.5 game lead over the Montreal Expos. The Dodgers 22-24 were struggling in fifth place five games behind Houston. The Mets were on a three game win streak, winners of six of their last eight games. Tonight Dwight Gooden got the start for the Mets. After winning his first five games of the season, Gooden had lost his last two decisions, posting a 4.76 ERA in his last three starts.  The press kept asking what's wrong with Gooden? He's not his usual self. It was very hard for Gooden to live up to his amazing ...

Terry Lee Collins was born on May 27, 1949 in Midland, Michigan. The five foot nine right hand hitter, attended Eastern Michigan University from 1968-1971 playing at short stop. Collins was a quick base runner who led his team in stolen bases during his time there. In 1971 his team won the NAIA National Championship, with Collins being named the Outstanding Defensive Player of the Tournament. He was later named to the Michigan's University's Hall of Fame. Minor League Career:  Collins began playing in the minor leagues in 1971 as an infielder in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Three years later, he was later traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers system, and would play ten years of minor league baseball there. He spent three seasons at AAA Albuquerque, then began coaching. Four years later, he returned to play three games at Albuquerque going 1-6, before hanging up his playing shoes.  Collins batted a minor league career .255 never making it to ...