centerfield maz

Wednesday June 22nd, 1994: Dallas Green's New York Mets (33-38) came to Atlanta to face Bobby Cox's Braves (45-24). The Mets had lost four of their last six games but in the big picture, nothing would matter this season.  In less than two months, on August 12th 1994,  an MLB baseball strike would start & go thru the end of the season. For the first time since 1904 no post season would be played. The strike lasted 232 days, ending on April 2nd, 1995. In 1994, the Mets (55-58) would finish third in the NL East to a good Montreal Expos team that posted the best record in baseball. The Braves (68-46) would finish second. A large Georgia crowd of 47,907 were on hand to see the Mets Pete Smith (3-7) go up against Greg Maddux (10-2) who was in a stretch where he won four straight Cy Young Awards. In the bottom of the 1st, Roberto Kelly & Jeff Blauser hit back to back HRs off Pete Smith to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead.  In the top of the 2nd, Jeff Kent started the inning wi...

Friday June 20th 1986:  Davey Johnson's had lost their lost two games, dropping two of three in Montreal. This came after a seven game win streak, thier third win streak of seven or more games so far this season.   New York (45-18) were in first place  proudly holding a ten game lead atop the division. Tonight 44,817 came out to Shea Stadium as the Mets hosted Gene "the stick" Michael's last place Cubs (25-38) as Sid Fernandez (7-2) went up against Scott Sanderson (3-4). The previous year the Mets were 9-0 vs the Cubs at Shea Stadium. Sid Fernandez got thru the first three innings with out allowing a run or a hit. In the top of the 4th, with one our Ryne Sandberg singled, then Sid walked Keith Moreland & threw a wild pitch advancing the runners. Leon Durham then hit an RBI sac fly & Ron Cey added an RBI base hit giving Chicago a 2-0 lead.  In the bottom of the 5th, the Mets got three straight singles from Mookie Wilson, Wally Backman &...

Ron Darling debuted with the Mets as a September call up in 1983.  He went 1-3 with a 2.80 ERA, showing signs that he would be a key part of the rotation for years to come. In his 1984 rookie season, he won his first game & by the end of May was 3-3 with a 4.61 ERA due to a couple of bad starts.  By this time, the Mets started showing that they were a good team with many good young players as well as having a few veterans mixed in as well. Ron Darling always pitched in the shadows f phenom Dwight Gooden who broke all the record & his strike outs electrified a once dark Shea Stadium. But Darling was very important to the Mets success & would have been a number one pitcher on most other teams. Trivia: At this point in time Darling was wearing uniform #44 before his familiar #12. Monday June 4th, 1984: Ron Darling went up against the Pirates Don Robinson at Three Rivers Stadium. In the top of the 1st, Darryl Strawberry helped Darling with a two-run HR to start the Me...

Jacob deGrom's 2008 Cy Young Season: In Spring Training of 2018 all the news was about deGrom cutting his famous hair. Usually his sister, a former hairdresser would trim his long hair at their parents'  house in DeLand  Florida, at Spring Training. This year he decided it was time for a change & it made headlines . On Opening Day, Jacob pitched into the 6th inning allowing a run on four hits to the Cardinals in a 6-2 Mets win. He struck out seven to start the season 1-0. In his second game, he went 2-0 with a win over the Nationals in D.C. On April 16th he faced the Nat's at Citi Field & struck out 12 in a loss where he got no decision. On April 21st, deGrom pitched seven scoreless innings in Atlanta, exiting in a scoreless game as Julio Teheran shut out the Mets thru seven as well.  The Mets put up three in the top of the 8th, but the Braves won it in the bottom of the 9th. He collected his second straight double-digit strikeout game with ten K's. On April 2...