Remembering Mets History (1985): Dwight Gooden Seals Winning the Pitching Triple Crown

-
Wednesday, October 2nd 1985: Davey Johnson's New York Mets (97-61) were in St. Louis for a huge series against their NL East nemesis' - Whitey Herzog's  first place Cardinals (98-60). 

 The Mets entered the series three games behind the Cardinals & would take two of the three games, getting to one game & heading back home to Shea Stadium to finish the regular season against the Montreal Expos. 

 Tonight Dwight Gooden (23-4) would take the mound & set more records, closing out his historic Cy Young season. He would go up against the Cardinals twenty game winner, Joaquin Andujar (21-10).

Starting Lineups



Gooden didn't have the greatest outing of his incredible year but gave his team the chance to win & still dominated his opponents. He threw a complete game victory, allowing two runs on nine hits, walking four & striking out ten. The win would seal Gooden winning the pitching triple crown, as he led the majors in wins (24) strike outs (268) & ERA (1.53). It was the 11th time in the season he struck out ten or more batters.

Trivia: He joined some elite company in MLB history with pitchers, Walter Johnson (1913) Grover Cleveland Alexander (1915 & 1917) Dazzy Vance (1924) Lefty Grove (1930 & 1931) Hal Newhouser (1945) & Sandy Koufax (1963-1965 & 1966) all having done so in the past.

In the 1st inning, Wally Backman singled, stole second & scored on Gary Carter's base hit. In the 2nd, George Foster singled & went to third on Howard Johnson's base hit. Dwight Gooden helped his own cause with an RBI base hit to make it 2-0.

Trivia: It was Gooden's 9th RBI of the seasons. He would drive in nine runs in five times in his Mets career (1985 1988 1990 1992 & 1993).

In the 5th, Rafael Santana doubled & later scored when Mookie Wilson hit into a double play. He would drive in Santana in the 7th with a base hit as well, knocking Andujar out of the game. 
Earlier in that inning George Foster hit a solo HR, his 21st of the year.

The Mets would lose the final game of the series & then lose two of three at home to the Montreal Expos, ending their season in second place (98-64) three games behind the Cardinals. The Cards would beat the Dodgers in the NLCS & lose to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

Remembering Batgirl: Yvonne Craig (1937-2015)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz interrupts baseball with a sad note on one of his favorite actresses. Being a huge Batman (TV series) fan Yvonne Craig has been someone I adored since I was a child.  As a boy I always hoped the Batgirl cycle would wiz by on the opening credits, meaning it would be a Batgirl episode. I didn't realize why until I got older & liked girls. For myself & millions of young boys of the 60's / 70's Batgirl was one of our first crushes. But her character also she added so much more than that to the final season of Batman. She was special in so many ways ... rest in peace Batgirl! Yvonne Joyce Craig was born May 16th 1937 in Taylorville, Illinois. As a young girl she was a talented ballet dancer, getting accepted to the prestigious Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She eventually moved to Los Angeles & began an acting career. She landed a part in Gidget (1959) as one of Gidget's beach girl friends. Yvonne began dating Elvis Presley & landed r
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Remembering Dawn Wells- Mary Ann From Gilligan's Island

-
Image
  getting away from baseball for a bit.......................... Dawn Alberta Wells was born October 18th 1938 in Reno, Nevada. She first attended college at the elite Stephens College in Missouri, majoring in chemistry. She then fell in love with acting & transferred to the University of Washington at Seattle, finishing with a Degree in Theater. By 1959 the brunette Ms. Wells was crowned Miss Nevada & represented that state in the  1960 Miss America Pageant, held in Atlantic City. She soon moved to Hollywood. In 1962 she married talent agent Larry Rosen, who helped her career. They would divorce in 1967 & have no children. She appeared in many TV shows of the early  sixties, until landing the role she is forever remembered for, Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. Gilligan's' Island , was a big show for, me & millions of my generation. We were first generation in it's reruns, whether after school or later at night. The simple show, kept us laughing at its si
Read more