centerfield maz

Thursday June 10th, 2010:   The Mets had come into the day winning four straight games, five of their last six. Following a rain out in the second game of the Citi Field series with the Padres, today would be a doubleheader. The Mets dropped the first game 4-2. In the nightcap, Jerry Manuel's second place Mets (32-28) hosted Bud Black's second place San Diego Padres (35-25). 28, 072 fans were on hand as Jonathon Niese (2-2) went up against San Diego veteran Jon Garland (6-3).  In the top of the 1st inning, Jon Niese got three easy ground ball outs. In the top of the 2nd, he retired Scott Hairston on a foul pop up behind the plate then got two ground ball outs retiring the first six batters. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Chris Carter doubled & catcher Rod Barajas dropped a single into right center field. "Frenchy" Jeff Francoeur singled to right field bringing in Chris Carter with the Mets first run.  Triple Play: Next Ruben Tejada grounded to third baseman...

Wednesday June 13th, 2012: Terry Collins' Mets (34-29) were in second place five games behind the Nationals as they visited Joe Maddon's third place Tampa Rays (35-27). The Rays had made the playoffs the past two seasons. A crowd of 18,496 came to the dome covered Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, in Western Florida off the Gulf of America. In a top pitching matchup Collins sent the Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey (9-1) to the mound against David Price (8-3).  R.A. Dickey came into the game on a personal; seven game win streak having not taken a loss since April 18th. Quotes- Terry Collins: "When you look at what he's done & what he's accomplished & the way he's pitching right now, you've got to think this guy is one of the top three or four pitchers in baseball". In the bottom of the 1st, Dickey struck out the first two batters. B.J. Upton the Rays third batter hit a weak grounder to David Wright at third base, who did not handle the ball cleanly...

Sunday June 15th, 2003: Art Howe's New York Mets were in fifth place (30-36) five games under .500. The Mets were hoping to rebound after a disastrous 2002 where Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn & Jeromy Burnitz all failed as high-priced free agents.  For 2003 they brought in Tom Glavine & Cliff Floyd to start making things better. On this interleague road trip, the Mets started out taking two of three in Texas from the Rangers.  For the weekend, they came into the Los Angeles area of Anaheim splitting the first two games with Mike Scioscia's reigning World Champion Angels. In the afternoon rubber game of the series, 43,721 fans came out to at the beautiful "Big A" as Steve Trachsel (4-4) took on Jarod Washburn (6-6). For the 32 year old Trachsel, it was a homecoming & dream come true to pitch in this ballpark, having grown up in near by Fullerton. Steve had lost his last two starts & given up six HRs in the last 7.1 innings. In the top of the 2nd inning, ...

Tuesday June 17th, 2003:  Two days earlier on this Mets Road trip, Steve Trachsel threw a complete game one hit shut out over the reigning World Champion Anaheim Angels.   Tonight, the Mets were back on the East coast, in beautiful South Florida, to play the Florida Marlins.   Marlins Trivia: At the time the Marlins were 34-38 four games under .500. In May, they had fired manager Jeff Torborg replacing him with veteran Jack McKeon.  McKeon got the Fish to .500 by the end of June, from there they went 49-29 earning a wild card spot. In the post season they went on to defeat the Cubs, Giants & AL New York winning their second World Series in seven years. Art Howe's Mets were right behind the Marlins at the time in fifth place (32-37). They would finish at 66-95 having their worst season in nine years.  Tonight's starting pitchers were the Mets Jae Seo (4-2) & the Marlins Carl Pavano (5-7) in front of 10,359 at Pro Player Stadium. The...

By mid-June, the Mets were looking bad & the season seemed it would end in a wash. They had finished April at 15-14 but after a horrid May where they lost 19 of 28 games, they found themselves at 28-37deep in fourth place, already 16.5 games out of first. This seven game win streak was the turning point of the season. They started to get quality pitching from their starters & better outings from the relievers. Offensively they put together long innings with each player making contributions to keep rallies going & hitting the occasional long ball HR. The comradery played a big part too, as they all got along well, picked each other up when someone needed it & they started to believe they could win, no matter how far down they were. Manager Carlos Mendoza led his team to what was to be an exciting season. Wednesday June 12th: Tonight, the Mets hosted the Marlins, the second game of the three-game set. The series opened on Tuesday just after arriving back from the weekend ...