Remembering Mets History (1996) Todd Hundley Homers From Both Sides of the Plate & Drives in Seven Runs
Valentine would bring the Mets to playoffs in back-to-back seasons in 1999 & 2000. One problem Valentine did have was Todd Hundley's late-night partying & love of the NY night life.
In the top of the 1st inning, the Mets got to VanLandingham early. Lance Johnson singled, advanced on a wild pitch got to third on & Jose Vizcaino's base hit.
Rico Brogna Trivia: Coming off a 22 HR 76 RBI season, Rico would hit just seven HRs with 30 RBIs this year as ongoing back problems limited him to 55 games. He suffered from a spinal arthritis which had the Mets trade him to Philadelphia where he had two more 20 plus HR seasons, until the back issues shortened his career at age 31.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Stan Javier reached on an error by Rey Ordonez at short. Robby Thompson singled putting two men on.
In the top of the 4th, Jose Vizcaino collected his third straight hit of the game with another base hit. Vizcaino would hit .296 with New York before getting traded to Cleveland with Jeff Kent in exchange for Carlos Baerga & Alvaro Espinoza.
In the top of the 8th, Rey Ordonez doubled to start the inning & was moved to third on Mark Clark's bunt. Lance Johnson grounded to second & Ordonez scored making it 10-4 Mets.
That season Todd Hundley went into the record books, setting a single season HR mark for catchers & most single season HRs by a Mets player (up to that point) with 41.
That year he batted .256 with career highs in HRs (41) doubles (32) hits (140) & RBIs (112). Hundley spent nine seasons with the Mets (1990-1998) as their main catcher before the arrival of Mike Piazza.
On this day, Hundley became the fourth Mets hitter to hit HRs from both sides of the plate in the same game.
The others were: Lee Mazzilli (1978) Howard Johnson (1991) & Bobby Bonilla (three times). Hundley himself had done it before too, two years earlier in 1994.
Dallas Green's struggling fifth place Mets (17-23) were on the annual west coast trip. That week thy had lost three of four in San Diego & they were now in San Francisco, facing Dusty Baker's third place Giants (20-20). 15,298 came to 3Com Park on cool breezy afternoon, as the Mets sent Mark Clark (1-5) to the mound against William Van Landingham (2-5).
The others were: Lee Mazzilli (1978) Howard Johnson (1991) & Bobby Bonilla (three times). Hundley himself had done it before too, two years earlier in 1994.
Dallas Green's struggling fifth place Mets (17-23) were on the annual west coast trip. That week thy had lost three of four in San Diego & they were now in San Francisco, facing Dusty Baker's third place Giants (20-20). 15,298 came to 3Com Park on cool breezy afternoon, as the Mets sent Mark Clark (1-5) to the mound against William Van Landingham (2-5).
Bernard Gilkey grounded into a double play, but Lance Johnson was sable to score from third for a 1-0 lead. Rico Brogna followed with a two run HR to make it 3-0 Mets. It was Brogna's fifth HR of the season.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Glen Allen Hill hit a solo HR off Mark Clark to make it 3-1.
In the top of the 3rd, Lance Johnson & Jose Vizcaino both singled. Bernard Gilkey then drew a walk to load the bases. Rico Brogna delivered again, with a two-run single. It was his third RBI of the game getting him to 23 on the season.
With the Mets up 4-1, Jeff Kent drew a walk to load bases. William VanLandingham then hit Todd Hundley with a pitch scoring Gilkey with the Mets fifth run.
Vanlandingham was taken out of the game, Jose Bautista came on giving up a two-run single to Rey Ordonez making it 7-1 Mets. All seven runs charged to VanLandingham on seven hits, two walks & a hits batsman in just two innings of work.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Stan Javier reached on an error by Rey Ordonez at short. Robby Thompson singled putting two men on. Barry Bonds hit a liner to Jeff Kent at second base, Kent turned an unassisted double play. Next slugger, Matt Williams hit a ground rule double as Thompson went to third. Former Met Mark Carreon grounded to short where Rey Ordonez, known for defense made a throwing error, his second error of the inning. Thompson scored narrowing the Mets lead to 7-3.
In the top of the 4th, Jose Vizcaino collected his third straight hit of the game with another base hit. Vizcaino would hit .296 with New York before getting traded to Cleveland with Jeff Kent in exchange for Carlos Baerga & Alvaro Espinoza.
Rico Brogna then reached base for the third time, reaching on an error by Robby Thompson.
Next, Todd Hundley came to the plate, this time batting left-handed. Hundley hit a two-run HR to dead center centerfield, coming off Jose Bautista, putting New York up 10-3. This was Hundley's tenth HR of the year.
Mets pitcher, Mark Clark rolled along to the bottom of the 6th, when the Giants put up another run-on Tom Lampkin's RBI single.
In the top of the 8th, Rey Ordonez doubled to start the inning & was moved to third on Mark Clark's bunt. Lance Johnson grounded to second & Ordonez scored making it 10-4 Mets.In the top of the 9th, Doug Creek came on to pitch for the Giants, Bernard Gilkey drew a walk & Jeff Kent singled.
HRs From Both Sides of the Plate: Todd Hundley came up to bat, having gone 1-3 on with a HR up to that point. This time with Hundley facing the lefthander, he was batting right-handed. Hundley connected with a HR to left center field, for his second HR of the day. Hundley had now homered from both sides of the plate for the second time in his career. He also collected a career high seven RBI's in the game.
Todd Hundley Trivia: In 1994, Hundley had hit HRs from both sides of the plate in the same game for the first time. On June 10th he would do it for the third time & do it for a fourth time the next season. Overall, he was the fourth Mets player to accomplish the feat.
That season Todd Hundley went into the record books, setting a single season HR mark for catchers & most single season HRs by a Mets player (up to that point) with 41. That year he batted .256 with career highs in HRs (41) doubles (32) hits (140) & RBIs (112). Hundley spent nine seasons with the Mets (1990-1998) as their main catcher before the arrival of Mike Piazza.
The Mets went on to a 14-5 win, with Mark Clark pitching a complete game victory allowing five runs on eight hits, with four strikeouts & a walk to get to 2-5 with a 4.15 ERA.
The Mets put up 15 hits, with Rey Ordonez collecting four, Jose Vizcaino three & Lance Johnson, Rico Brogna, Jeff Kent & Hundley collecting two each.
