Remembering Mets History (1969) Mets Go on an Eleven Game Win Streak
Tonight, Jerry Koosman took on the Padres Clay Kirby in front of 11,860 fans at Shea. Certainly, a classic pitching duel reflecting the era. The Padres Clay Kirby would shut out the Mets for nine innings, scattering seven hits & three walks along the way.
The Mets Jerry Koosman matched zeroes with Kirby, allowing just four hits along the way. Koosman would strike out 15 batters on the night one shy of his record 16 he set the previous year.
Koosman would collect two strike outs in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, & 7th innings. In the top of the 8th, he struck out the side in order. In the top of the 10th he came on for another inning, holding the Padres down once again.
Walk Off Hit: Harrelson singled to left centerfield, bringing in Cleon Jones with the exciting walk off run.
Friday May 30th, 1969: Next, The San Francisco Giants came to town. The Giants just 12 years removed from their Polo Grounds days in New York always drew big crowds when they came to New York. The Mets exciting star pitcher Tom Seaver also drew big crowds & on the Friday night opener 52, 272 came to Shea to see Seaver take on Mike McCormick.
In the top of the 3rd, Hal Lanier singled, advanced & scored on former Met Ron Hunts RBI single.
In the top of the 6th McCovey added an RBI sac fly putting the Mets in a 3-0 hole.
Mike McCormick held the Mets down thru the first six innings. In the bottom of the 7th, Ron Swoboda led off with his third HR of the year making it 3-1.
Consecutive singles from Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones & then game tying hit from Ron Swoboda saw two Giants pitching changes.
Pinch hitter Duffy Dyer then greeted Joe Gibbon with a ground ball thru the hole scoring Jones to put New York ahead for good in the 4-3 win.
Ron Taylor closed out the 9th inning, striking out Willie Mays & Willie McCovey then got Boby Bonds to pop up.
In the bottom of the 4th, with two outs, Ed Kranepool singled & Ron Swoboda drew a walk. The Glider, Ed Charles then hit a three run HR giving the Mets & Gentry a 3-0 lead.
The Glider Trivia: 36-year-old veteran Ed Charles, aka- The Glider, was considered the old man on the Mets team.
Multi- Four RBI Game: In the bottom of the 8th Ed Charles would add an RBI base hit giving him his only multi-four RBI game of the season. In the previous 1968 season, the Glider had a career best multi-five RBI game, with a two-run HR as well in a 7-1 win over the Cubs at Shea.
Gary Gentry would allow two runs & earn the win to get to 4-4 on the season.
The Giants put up two early runs to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 2nd, with one out, Ron Swoboda & Ed Charles collected back-to-back singles.
Mets catcher Jerry Grote then tripled into the gap in right center field tying up the game as both runners scored. Grote would hit three triples on the season.
In the top of the 5th, with Don Cardwell now pitching for New York, Willie McCovey hit his second HR of the series putting San Francisco ahead again 3-2. McCovey would lead the NL in HRs (45) that year for the second straight season.
Don Cardwell couldn't hold the lead, as Jim Davenport tied the game with a 6th inning RBI single. The score remained that way until the 9th inning.
In the bottom of the 9th, Bud Harrelson led off reaching on a walk. Harrelson advanced to third on a sacrifice & fielder's choice. Cleon Jones who was one of the league's top hitters was walked intentionally & then stole second base. Young rookie Amos Otis drew a walk as well to load the bases. Joe Gibbon then walked in the winning run, as he walked Ron Swoboda giving the Mets their fourth straight win & a series sweep over the Giants.
Dodger Trivia: The 1969 Dodgers finished fourth (85-77), manager Walt Alston, was in his 16th year as Dodger manager, he would manage the team for 23 years, winning four World Series titles & seven NL Pennants. The Dodgers would not finish as low as fourth again until the 1984 season. In June 1968, the Mets had swept a series from the Dodgers.
Tonight was a fine pitching matchup, with the Mets Jerry Koosman going up against the Dodgers' Claude Osteen. Koosman, was coming off his ten inning 15 K performance where got no decision. He came into the game with a 2.50 ERA but had just one win (1-3).In the top of the 1st Kosman, issued a walk & a base hit but struck out Andy Kosco & got Bill Sudakis to fly out to end the threat.
In the home 4th, Tommie Agee singled to left field to start the Inning. With two outs, Ed Charles walked. Jerry Grote then popped a single just beyond third base, allowing Agee to score the first run. Al Weis then doubled to right field, scoring Charles making it a 2-0 Mets lead.
After a 4th inning double by Bill Sudakis, Jerry Koosman retired the next 14 Dodgers in a row into the 8th inning. The only run he gave up was a HR to rookie Bill Russell.
On the night, Koosman would pitch one of his 16 complete games of the season, allowing just one run, on five hits while striking out struck eight. The win got him to 2-3 with a 2.22 ERA.
Quotes- Jerry Koosman: "I didn't have my good curve & my fastball while it was good, wasn't going where I wanted it to. I didn't have my rhythm. But I will say, when they got that man to third, I was able to reach back & fire".
Tuesday June 3rd, 1969: Tonight was Tom Seaver's turn again in the rotation once again. A crowd of 24,212 came to Shea Stadium as Seaver & the Mets went up against the Dodgers Alan Foster.
Both pitchers held the other team down thru the first four innings.
It was Cleon's third triple of the year as he was batting an NL best .358 at this time.
Multi HR Game: Next, Ed Kranepool followed up with his second HR of the game. For Kranepool it was his 5th HR of the season with his RBI total up to 23. It was also his second of his two multi-HR games of the season.
For Tom Seaver, the 1969 Cy Young winner was amazing once again as he earned his 8th win now posting a 2.51 ERA. He allowed two runs on just three hits, the only runs coming on Andy Kosco's two run HR. Seaver struck out nine Dodgers & walked two in eight innings of work. Tug McGraw pitched a perfect 9th inning, earning his second save.
Quotes- Gil Hodges: "They are playing ball the way I thought they might be able to". When asked if it was time to break out the champagne Gil said with a semi smile: " Maybe there will be a time soon, to consider it".
Wednesday June 4th, 1969: 
As the Mets went for the series sweep, a good mid-week crowd of 31,331 came to watch Jack DiLauro take the hill against the Dodgers' Bill Singer. Tonight's' game was another late 1960's pitcher's duel, as the game was scoreless for the first 14 innings.
As the Mets went for the series sweep, a good mid-week crowd of 31,331 came to watch Jack DiLauro take the hill against the Dodgers' Bill Singer. Tonight's' game was another late 1960's pitcher's duel, as the game was scoreless for the first 14 innings.
Jack DiLauro gave up a double in each of the first two innings then did not allow hit for the next seven innings, retiring 19 batters in a row before he exited.
In the top of the 10th inning, Tug McGraw came on & pitched four more scoreless innings of relief to get to the 13th. Next, Ron Taylor came on shutting down Los Angeles for two more frames.
The Dodgers pitching was just as good; Bill Singer allowed just two hits through nine innings & struck out ten Mets. Jim Brewer came on then pitched two more scoreless innings getting to the 11th. Reliever, Al McBean pitched three more scoreless innings allowing one hit.
Next Wayne Garrett singled to center, where Willie Davis made an error on his throw back in, allowing the quick footed Tommie Agee to score all the way from first base for an exciting walk off extra inning win.
The Mets completed the sweep of the Dodgers, getting to two games above .500 (25-23). The Mets were now in second place, 8.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs & one game above the third place Pittsburgh Pirates. the win streak was at seven games as they went on the road to the Wes Coast.
A small crowd of 11,203 came out to see the Mets Gary Gentry take on the Padres Joe Niekro. Joe was the younger brother of Atlanta's knuckleball pitcher Phil Niekro.
In the bottom of the 1st, Gentry gave up a leadoff single, then walked two batters. Ed Kranepool's error led to two runs scoring putting New York in a 2-0 hole.
In the top of the 4th, Tommie Agee led off with a triple. During the Mets 11 game win streak Agee collected 12 hits & scored six runs. Next Wayne Garrett followed with a base hit to score Agee. In the bottom of the inning, Ed Spiezio homered giving the friars as 3-1 lead.
The game stayed tied until the 8th inning. With two outs Cleon Jones singled & stole second. Eddie Kranepool walked & Art Shasky came in to pinch hit. His single drove in Cleon with the go ahead winning run.
Gary Gentry pitched into the 9th inning, but after two men reached base, Gil Hodges went to Ron Taylor who closed out the 4-3 win. The Mets win streak had reached eight games.
Saturday June 7th, 1969: On this Saturday night game the Mets Jerry Koosman took on veteran Johnny Podres.
After recording a strike out in the 1st inning, Koosman fanned three in the 2nd & another in the 3rd inning. After three scoreless innings, in the top of the 4th, Podres hit Ed Charles with a pitch. Ed aka-The Glider, proceeded to steal second base & advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jerry Grote delivered the RBI sac fly to make it 1-0.
Kooz & Podres held each other's team down into the 7th inning. Rod Gaspar led off with a base hit, then Podres recorded the next two outs. But Ron Swoboda drilled a shot to center field that went for a triple scoring Gaspar with the second run. After a pitching change, Ed Charles doubled to left center bringing home Swoboda with the third run.
In the top of the 9th, Koosman allowed a base hit & a two out double to Ed Spiezio for the only Padre run. On the night, he struck out eleven his second double figure strike out game of the season.
Kooz Trivia: In his three complete game victories in the Mets 11 game win streak, Koosman allowed just two earned runs in 28 innings pitched with 34 strike outs in 28 innings of work. In that stretch he also had a 17 scoreless innings streak. The Mets win streak reached nine games.
In the bottom of the 3rd, the Padres scored first as former Met Chris Cannizzaro led off with a double. After Seaver struck out the next two batters, John Spin's grounder back to mound was botched by Seaver allowing Cannizzaro to score.
In the bottom of the 4th, Ed Spiezio homered to give San Diego a 2-0 lead. In the series Spiezio hit safely in all three games, homered twice & drove in a run in each game. Ed is the father of former MLB player Scott Spiezio who won World Series Championships with the Angels (2002) & Cardinals (2006).
Eddie Trivia: Kranepool played in seven of the eleven games in the win streak, collecting ten hits with six RBIs hitting .385 in that stretch.
In the top of the 8th, Ed Charles singled, Bud Harrelson walked & Tommie Agee delivered an RBI double bring in Charles with the tying run.
The Glider Trivia: Ed Charles played in eight games of the eleven-game win streak, collecting seven hits & four walks in 21 at bats (.333) driving in six runs & scoring five runs. with a .444 on base%.
Tom Seaver Trivia: Seaver earned the win to get to 9-3. In the Eleven game win streak, Seaver was 3-0 with 31 strike outs in 23 innings of work. From May 30th to July 9th, he won eight straight decisions, striking out 79 batters in 72.2 innings with a 2.48 ERA as opponents hit just .202 against him.
Tuesday June 10th, 1969: As the New York Mets went up the coast arriving in San Francisco, everyone in baseball, especially the first place Chicago Cubs were talking about the Mets ten game win streak.
Tonight's game on the Bay at Candlestick Park had Gil Hodges second place Mets (29-23) go against Clyde Kings third place Giants (29-24) who were just three games back of the Atlanta Braves. Don Cardwell (1-6) got the start for New York against Mike McCormick (3-2).In the bottom of the 3rd, the Giants pitcher McCormick led off with a base hit. Bobby Bonds then tripled bringing in McCormick for the first run. Bonds would hit six triples in 1969 & ten the next year (3rd most in the NL), he had 66 career triples.
In the top of the 4th, Tommie Agee answered with a solo HR, a 420-foot blast for his eighth HR of the year & the first of two on the day.
In the 5th, New York got a double from Jerry Grote, Al Weis' bunt got Grote to third. Don Cardwell just missed a HR of his own, sending Giants outfielder Ken Henderson all the way to the wall for a long sac fly, bringing home Grote to make it 2-1.
In the sixth, the Mets knocked out McCormick, after Rod Gaspar single, Cleon Jones was walked intentionally. Then McCormick lost Swoboda to another walk & Ed Charles "The Glider" it a sac fly to bring in Gaspar. Jerry Grote then singled home Jones to make it 4-1. Ron Herbel a former Met was brought in to pitch for the Giants.In the top of the 7th, Don Cardwell singled with his second hit on the day. Ron Herbel then made a throwing error on Bud Harrelson's weak grounder sending Don Cardwell all the way to third base.
Multi- Three Hit Game: Tommie Agee collected his third hit of the day, with a base hit to right Field, scoring Don Cardwell making it 5-1 Mets.
Next, the league's leading hitter, Cleon Jones blasted a three run HR, blowing the game open to 8-1 Mets. For Cleon he collected ten hits during the win streak & was now batting .351 with eight HRs.
In the top of the 9th future Met, Ray Sadecki came on for the Giants.
In the top of the 9th future Met, Ray Sadecki came on for the Giants.
Multi- HR Four Hit Game: Tommie Agee led off the inning with another HR, his second of the day, & ninth of the year. It was also Agee's fourth hit of the day & third RBI with three runs scored. Agee would have four hit & four multi-HR games in the Amazing Championship season.
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| Gil Hodges Wife Joan looking for the 12th straight win |
Don Cardwell earned the win with all the run support in the 9-4 win. In the 9th he issued HRs to Jack Hiatt & Willie McCovey as he hit his league leading 20th HR.
Trivia: The Mets win streak was now at 11 games, their best in the 1969 season. At that point it was the longest win streak in franchise history. The streak was stopped the next night as Gaylord Perry & the Giants defeated the Mets 7-2.