Remembering Mets History (1969) Mets Sweep Back-to-Back Double Headers
At this point some people felt the Amazing's had run out of gas, as they had just lost seven of eleven games on a road trip thru Cincinnati, Atlanta & Houston where they were swept by the Astros.
With forty nine more games to go, the Mets were eyeing Gil Hodges first goal & that was to win 85 games.
Saturday August 16th: First Game: After his "Imperfect Game" one hitter on July 9th, Tom Seaver lost four of his next five decisions in his worst stretch of the season.
The Padres Tommie Sisk (0-7) still winless on the season, held the Mets bats down as well. In the home 5th, Bud Harrelson singled & was moved over on Seaver's sacrifice bunt. Tommie Agee then singled, scoring Harrelson with the Mets first run & his 57th RBI.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, Jerry Grote led off with a base hit & was moved over to second base on Bud Harrelson's sacrifice bunt. Tommie Agee was walked intentionally to get to utility player Bobby Pfeil.
Nightcap: The second game was another low scoring pitchers duel. The Mets Jim McAndrew held the Friars down to one run, a 2nd inning HR to Jack Stahl. McAndrew allowed just three hits over seven innings striking out seven & walking two.
First Ron Swoboda reached on a pitcher Gary Ross' error. Mets pinch hitters Wayne Garrett & Ed Kranepool both made outs. Bud Harrelson was then intentionally walked to get to the pitchers spot. Art Shamsky was announced as the pinch hitter then Preston Gomez brought in Dave Roberts to pitch.
Sunday August 17th 1969: On this Sunday afternoon, the Mets & Padres would play their second double header in as many days. As the day began the Mets (64-51) were nine games behind the Chicago Cubs & tied for second place with the St. Louis Cardinals.
First Game: The Mets Jerry Koosman (9-8) took the mound against Joe Neikro (6-10). Coming into todays game Koosman had lost two of his last three decisions.
It was Bud's fourth triple of the year, he would hit six that season. J.C. Martin then hit a sac fly to centerfield scoring Harrelson, making it 3-0.
With forty nine more games to go, the Mets were eyeing Gil Hodges first goal & that was to win 85 games.
After a rain out on Friday, the Mets hosted Preston Gomez' last place San Diego Padres (35-82) at Shea Stadium in front of 19,940 fans for a weekend of what would now be back to back double headers. The Padres came into the series struggling on a six game losing streak.
Saturday August 16th: First Game: After his "Imperfect Game" one hitter on July 9th, Tom Seaver lost four of his next five decisions in his worst stretch of the season.On August 9th he beat the Braves in Atlanta, starting a nine game win streak as he would go undefeated the rest of the season while posting a 1.34 ERA along the way.
Today, Seaver was on his game once again, as he threw eight innings of shutout ball scattering just four Padre hits along the way. He struck out only four, a low total for Tom Terrific & he walked two.
Seaver went on to his major league leading 17th victory of the year, the most wins of Tom's young career up to that point.
Ron Taylor was brought in to close the door. Taylor threw a perfect 9th inning earning his 11th save.
The Padres Tommie Sisk (0-7) still winless on the season, held the Mets bats down as well. In the home 5th, Bud Harrelson singled & was moved over on Seaver's sacrifice bunt. Tommie Agee then singled, scoring Harrelson with the Mets first run & his 57th RBI.In the bottom of the 7th inning, Jerry Grote led off with a base hit & was moved over to second base on Bud Harrelson's sacrifice bunt. Tommie Agee was walked intentionally to get to utility player Bobby Pfeil.
Bobby Pfeil singled to right field & drove in Grote for a 2-0 Mets lead. Pfeil drove in just ten runs that season in 211 at bats.
In the bottom of the 4th, Cleon Jones one of the leagues top hitters batting .350 at the time, led off with his 12th HR of the year to tie the game.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, a chess match between managers Gil Hodges & Preston Gomez saw three pinch hitters used & three pitching changes.
Gil Hodges switched to Jerry Grote to pinch hit. Another Gil Hodges hunch came through as Grote singled to right field scoring Swoboda, in what was to be the games winning run. The Mets went on to a 2-1 win, sweeping the double header.
Tug McGraw came on to pitch two scoreless innings earning his eighth save of the season.
Sunday August 17th 1969: On this Sunday afternoon, the Mets & Padres would play their second double header in as many days. As the day began the Mets (64-51) were nine games behind the Chicago Cubs & tied for second place with the St. Louis Cardinals.Today a crowd of 35,711 came out on "Banner Day" a Mets tradition since 1963 starting at the Polo Grounds. In between games the fans would get to go on the field walking around the foul lines showing off their creative artwork on signs & banners.
In the top of the 1st, the Padres scraped out a run on single double & Ivan Murrell's ground out. In the top of the 5th Joe Arcia's RBI base hit gave San Diego a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 5th, Bud Harrelson & Donn Clendenon both collected one out singles. Then catcher Duffy Dyer hit his second HR of the year, a three run shot, to put the Mets ahead for good 3-2. Dyer would only hit just three HRs all season.
Kooz allowed two runs on five hits, striking out five & walking two while earning his tenth win of the year (10-8). Koosman would win three straight games & go 8-1 the rest of the regular season posting a 2.35 ERA.
Night Cap: Thirty three year old veteran Don Cardwell (4-9) the old man of the Mets staff, got the start today, his first start since August 1st. Cardwell would make spot starts & pitch in relief throughout the season. against Clay Kirby (3-15). Kirby would lead the NL in losses that year with twenty.
Cardwell had his best outing of the year, pitching seven shut out innings, scattering eight hits, striking out & walking three.
In the home 7th, Ed Kranepool singled & Al Weis came in as a pinch runner. Jerry Grote then walked putting two men on. Bud Harrelson then tripled to the deepest part of the ballpark in centerfield, scoring both runners, making it 2-0 Mets.
In the top of the 8th, Mets reliever Cal Koonce ran into a bit of trouble.
Ollie Brown reached on an error by Donn Clendenon at first base. Next Al Ferarra & Larry Stahl collected back-to-back singles with Brown scoring the Padres first run. Gil Hodges removed Koonce, bringing in Ron Taylor with two on & no one out. Taylor got Ivan Murrell & Ed Spiezio to ground out, although a run did score charged to Koonce. Taylor then got Roberto Pena to pop up to Clendenon at first.
In the 9th Taylor closed out the game with his 12th save of the year. The Mets swept their second straight double header, for a four game win streak. They had sole possession of second place & were now eight games behind the first place Cubs. The Padres had now lost ten straight.
The Mets began a six game winning streak that would lead them to winning twelve out of thirteen games taking them to the end of August.