Remembering Mets History (2000) Mike Piazza Meets centerfieldmaz in Toronto & Hits His Third Grand Slam of the Season

Tuesday July 18th 2000: This baseball trip was off to Toronto to see the Mets play the Blue Jays at Skydome. Staying at the Skydome hotel each day began walking into the lobby, seeing the baseball field in the background as the ground crew prepared the field. It was also cool to walk thru the hotel to the stadium & hear the game being broadcast throughout the hotel.

The afternoon featured a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame. There a nice man pushing his daughters baby carriage shouted out to me "Piazza". Not only was he acknowledging my Piazza shirt, but he stated "the real gut is in the store". 

To our surprise there was Mike Piazza in a sharp grey suit, behind sunglasses reading a magazine in a news stand store. The first time I called his name, he ignored me but the second time I shouted "Hey Mike", he looked up & smiled at us. Yes, it was him!

Excitedly we went over to him & asked if he would take pictures with us which he did with a smile. All of a sudden my life partner became a baseball fan with the quote "it's more important for a girl to take a picture with him than a guy" to which Pizza had a good laugh.

He was a gentleman & walked out the building with us. Of course, I showed him my shirt telling him the only names I wore on my back was his & Tom Seaver. He appreciated that.

As we parted I asked how he was feeling, as it had been less than two weeks after being hit in the head with a pitch by Roger Clemens. The angry fan in mentioned what I'd like to see him to do in retaliation to Clemens, but he just laughed it off saying it was part of the game & that he was feeling fine as of late.

 

It was an exciting day & night as we moved on to the Restaurant overlooking centerfield at Skydome, watching batting practice.

For the game, Bobby Valentines second place Mets (51-41) came off the All Star break 3-3 looking to take the rubber game of the series. 

Jim Fregosi's third place Blue Jays (50-45) hosted New York in quite a good match up. As Bobby Jones went up against Chris Carpenter. 

In the top of the 1st, Lenny Harris led off with a HR giving New York a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1st, Shannon Stewart led off with a double & Craig Grebeck drove him in with another double to right field.

In the bottom of the 2nd, doubles by Darrin Fletcher & a second from Shannon Stewart put the Jays ahead 2-1.

In the top of the 3rd, Derek Bell collected a two out base hit & advanced on Carpenters wild pitch. Edgardo Alfonso then singled into center field scoring Bell to tie the game.

In the bottom of the inning, Bobby Jones walked Carlos Delgado then served up an RBI single to Tony Batista giving the Jays the lead again. 

But in the top of the 4th, Jay Payton singled & Chris Carpenter walked two batters to load the bases. The Mets only managed a run when Todd Zeile scored on Joe McEwing's ground ball out to short.

In the top of the 5th in the tied game, Chris Carpenter helped the Mets walking three straight batters. Lenny Harris walked & stole second; Derek Bell & Edgardo Alfonzo followed with walks.

Mike Piazza came to bat & blasted his third grand slam of the season, his 28th HR of the year giving the Mets a 7-3 lead. The four RBIs got Piazza past 80 RBIs to 81 on the season. 

Trivia: centerfieldmaz stood up proudly applauding a few rows above the Mets dugout cheering Piazza just a few hours after our meeting.

Mike Piazza Grand Slam Trivia: On May 14th, Piazza hit his first grand slam of the season coming off the Marlins Brad Penny at Shea Stadium. On June 9th, his second grand slam of the year came off Roger Clemens in a subway series win in the Bronx. Piazza collected three hits in the game as the Mets pummeled Clemens for nine runs in the 12-2 win. 

Piazza hit 14 grand slam HRs in his career, six of them with the Mets number one all time for catchers.

Chris Carpenter gave up seven runs on five hits, two HRs & walked six. He would get the loss & see his ERA rise to 6.66.

The Jays added HRs off Bobby Jones from Brad Fullmer & Raul Mondesi.

In the top of the 6th, the Mets got base hits from David Lamb & Derek Bell. Edgardo Alfonzo hit his 27th double of the year, driving in Bell with the Mets eighth run & his 60th RBI.

For New York Bobby Jones, benefited from run support as he gave up five runs on ten hits, walking three but would still earn the win to get to 4-4. Jones ERA was at 6.53. Dennis Cook would pitch a scoreless 7th inning.

In the top of the 8th, Jays pitcher Matt DeWitt walked David Lamb with one out, then Lenny Harris collected his second extra base hit of the game with an RBI double scoring Lamb. Then Derek Bell hit his 13th HR of the season, the third Mets HR of the night, the two-run shot gave them an 11-6 lead. 

In the bottom of the 8th, the Jays added two runs off Rich Rodriguez, then Amando Benitez closed it out in the 9th inning. The Mets took two of three in the series & won three straight games that week.