Remembering Mets History (1988) Mets Win Streak Reaches Seven Games As Benches Clear at Dodger Stadium
After taking two of three in Houston they dropped three straight to the Giants in San Francisco. The Giants had won the NL West the previous year, finished fourth this year but were the NL Champs in 1989.
Monday May 16th: In the series opener at San Diego, Gary Carter had a multi-four RBI game, hitting a three run HR, his 8th of the season & adding an RBI single while reaching 21 RBIs for the year.
Dwight Gooden gave up four runs on ten hits in 6.2 innings taking the win as Roger McDowell earned his fourth save.
Tuesday May 17th: In this pitcher dominant game, the only run scored came in the top of the 8th inning. Keith Hernandez singled, stole second & went to third on a ground out to second.
With Kevin McReynolds at bat, Padres pitcher Mark Davis thew a wild pitch allowing Hernandez to score the only run of the game.
Cone Trivia: Cone had only allowed three earned runs in his last eight games, in 35 innings for a 0.77 ERA in that time.
Wednesday May 18th: In the final game, the Mets completed the series sweep, with Keith Hernandez leading the offense. In the top of the 7th, Keith hit a two run HR off Jimmy Jones, his fifth HR of the year & had an RBI double, his tenth two bagger. Hernandez multi-three RBI game gave him a team best 27 RBIs.
After Keith's HR, Darryl Strawberry doubled & Kevin McReynolds walked, Howard Johnson then hit a two run double giving the Mets the 51 lead. Bobby Ojeda went to 4-2 with the win.
In the series opener Sid Fernandez held the Dodgers to a run over 6.1 innings, striking out seven. In the bottom of the 8th, Roger McDowell came on giving up a run & Randy Myers closed out the game earning his sixth save.
The Mets scored four runs off Dodger pitcher Don Sutton, led by Howard Johnson's sixth HR of the year & RBI hits from Mookie Wilson & Gary Carter.
Saturday May 21st: Doc Gooden threw a four-hit shutout getting to 8-0 while lowering his ERA to 2.77, having one of the best starts to a season any Mets pitcher has ever had.
Gooden Trivia:
That year Dwight would be the NL's All-Star Game starting pitcher at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Gooden would finish the year at 18-9 (5th most wins in NL) with 175 strike outs (8th most in the NL) posting a 3.19 ERA.
That year Dwight would be the NL's All-Star Game starting pitcher at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Gooden would finish the year at 18-9 (5th most wins in NL) with 175 strike outs (8th most in the NL) posting a 3.19 ERA.In the top of the 2nd inning Howard Johnson singled, Mookie Wilson doubled & Dave Magadan drew an intentional pass. Gooden drove in the Mets first two runs with a two-run single.
Drama: In the bottom of the 5th inning, Dwight Gooden hit Dodger short stop Alfredo Griffin, on the hand with a pitch. He had to be removed from the game with a fracture.
In the top of the 6th, Howard Johnson led off & was hit by a pitch from Brian Holton. Tensions were in the air, but cooler heads prevailed as nothing came of it. Things would get heated in the series finale.
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David Cone had started the season in the bullpen where he collected two wins (2-0) in seven appearances in April. In May he was put into the rotation & in his first start threw a shut out over the Braves. He won his first three starts getting to 5-0 with one of the league's best ERAs at 1.79 with 38 strike outs in 40.1 innings.
For Fernando Valenzuela, 1988 would be the first year in his career where he went on the disabled list, as he suffered shoulder issues.
base hit, advanced on a fielder's choice & stole third base. Keith Hernandez brought him in with an RBI single. Darryl Strawberry followed hitting his 11th HR of the season, making it 3-0.
In the top of the 2nd, Wally Backman singled & advanced on David Cone's sacrifice. With two outs Kevin Elster drew a walk. Keith Hernandez then collected his second RBI single of the day with a base hit to right field.
Keith Trivia: During the Mets eight game win streak, Hernandez hit .448 with 13 hits in 29 at bats with seven RBIs over seven games.
David Cone held the Dodgers scoreless thru the first five innings. He had given up three hits & three walks along the way.
In the bottom of the 6th, with tensions still high from the previous night, Cone threw a pitch high & tight to Dodger cleanup hitter Pedro Guerrero. Pedro unhappy with the pitch stared back at Cone. The next pitch was inside just above the waist. The two exchanged dirt glances at each other.
Guerrero flung his bat toward Cone & when Cone barked back to him, he charged the mound.
Guerrero was held back from behind by Mets catcher Barry Lyons & Howard Johnson who quickly moved in from third base.
Both benches cleared, words were exchanged but no punches were thrown. Eventually calm prevailed & everyone cooled down. Guerrero was ejected from the game.
Suspension & Fine: After the game, National League President Bartlett Giamatti suspended Guerrero for four games & issued him a $1000 fine. Guerrero stated that he was just trying to brush back Cone the same way Cone had thrown close to him.When play resumed, Cone gave up a double to John Shelby. Then a passed ball allowed Jeff Hamilton, who came in to run for Guerrero to score. Then a sac by Franklin Stubbs scored Shelby making it a 5-2 Mets lead.
David Cone got the win, besting his record to 6-0 with a 1.75 ERA.
David Cone Trivia: By the end of May, he would win his first seven decisions. That year he went 20-3 with a 2.22 ERA, having the best season of his career.
The Mets would sweep the series in L.A. & finish up a seven-game win streak. They would best the Dodgers in all of that year's regular season matchups, then get upset by them in a seven game NLCS. The Dodgers went on to beat Oakland in the World Series as well.