centerfield maz

Friday night June 1st, 2012: At first it seemed like any other New York night. Terry Collins' New York Mets were playing well & surprising everyone with a 29-23 record, just one game out of first place. 27,069 fans came to Citi Field to see the Mets go up against the reigning World Champion, St Louis Cardinals (27-25). The Mets sent Johan Santana to the mound, 2-2 with a 2.75 ERA. Santana had missed all of 2011 due to injury, he had an impressive Opening Day win, pitching five scoreless innings then struggled. In his last start he threw a complete game four hit shutout at Citi Field, beating the San Diego Padres. On this night he was even better, he went out & made Mets history. After a quiet 1st inning, Johan started out the 2nd getting Allen Craig to fly out. He then walked two batters but struck out Matt Adams & Tyler Green to end the inning.  In the 3rd he got an easy ground ball out, a weak pop up & soft liner to short, as the Cards went down 1-2-3. Sa

Rickey Allen Baldwin was born June 1, 1953, in Fresno, California, the home town of Mets Hall of Famer Tom Seaver.  In his own words he was" raised in the church" to a religious family. In Modesto High School he played basketball & baseball.  The tall six foot three, side armed right handed throwing Baldwin, was drafted by the New York Mets in ninth round of the 1971 draft. In 1972 he was second on the Mets A ball Visalia staff, to Cecil Reynolds going 12-8 leading the team with 90 strike outs. Baldwin won nine games at AA Memphis (1973) & AA Victoria (1974) while posting winning records in each of the next two seasons. In his time there the Mets began using him more as a reliever. In Spring Training 1975, the Mets had an opening in the bullpen after trading away Tug McGraw. Baldwin impressed the team and made it North with a lot of promise for his future. The team even gave him McGraw’s old uniform number 45.  Quotes: Baldwin marveled at being in the big leag

Sunday May 31st 1964: Today Casey Stengle's Mets (14-31) hosted the second place San Francisco Giants (25-17) who were just one game out of first place.  It had been seven years since the Giants had left New York & the Polo Grounds for the west coast of San Francisco. Every time they returned to New York to play the Mets, the Giants  had always attracted big crowds, as their old fans came out to root them on. This Sundays double header drew 57,037 fans.  It was a day to go down in the history books, as this was to be the longest double header in baseball history. The double header lasted a total of nine hours fifty two minutes.  A Long 24 Hours For Ed Kranepool:  Kranepool was an original 1962 Met, the team's first bonus baby, home grown out of the Soundview section of the Bronx.  He had debuted for three games with the 1962 Mets at age 17 & played 86 games for them in 1963. He began 1964 with the Mets big league team but was sent down to AAA on May 12th. On May 30

Joseph Michael Orsulak was born on May 31st, 162 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. The six foot left handed hitting Orsulak attended Parsippany Hills High School  & turned down a full scholarship to Rutgers University. Instead he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the 6th round of the 1980 draft. He hit well enough in two years to go from A ball to AAA Hawaii by 1983. MLB Career: He debuted with the Pirates in 1983 playing in seven games. By 1985 he was the Pirates regular outfielder batting .300 with 14 doubles 24 stolen bases a .342 on base % 7 21 RBIs coming in sixth in the Rookie of the Year voting. Orioles Career: In 1986 his average fell to .249 & he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles at the end of the year. He spent five seasons with Baltimore as a regular player, batting over .280 three times, while posting good on base percentages. His strong arm had him lead the AL in assists (22) in 1991, while making a league leading 13 assists just in left field alone.

  Sunday May 29th, 2022: Buck Schowalter's first place Mets (31-17) were enjoying the largest lead the franchise ever had going into Memorial Day. The Mets were 8.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves.  Tonight, they went for the series sweep of Joe Girardi's Philadelphia Phillies (21-26) trying to put them a good 10.5 games back. A big crowd of 36,513 came out to Citi Field for the Holiday weekend Sunday Night Baseball game. The Mets Chris Bassitt (4-2) would get the start against former Met Zack Wheeler (3-3). With Brandon Nimmo nursing a sprained wrist & Jeff McNeil dealing with some wear & tear on his legs, the Mets called up Nick Plummer from AAA Syracuse, where he was batting .250 with 6 HRs & 21 RBIs in 24 games. Something about the kid Buck Schowalter said he liked. In the bottom of the 1st, the Mets got a shaky Zack Wheeler right away. Luis Guillorme, who is fitting in comfortably in the leadoff spot batting .355 on the season, led off with a double, his 5th

Friday May 30th, 1986: Tonight, Davey Johnson's first place Mets (31-11) hosted Roger Craig's fourth place San Francisco Giants (24-23). A crowd of 38,243 came out to see Bruce Berenyi take on Mike Lacoss. In the bottom of the 1st, the Mets Lenny Dykstra led off with a single, then Wally Backman walked. Keith Hernandez followed with an RBI single. After Gary Carter struck out, Darryl Strawberry walked. Although George Foster grounded out, Backman scored the Mets second run. Ray Knight followed with a single to centerfield to make it 3-0. In the 2nd, the Giants got a run, Chili Davis walked & Luis Quinones singled. A jose Uribe base hit scored Davis for the Giants first run. In the Giants 3rd, Mike Aldrete, Bob Brenly Jeffery Leonard & Chili Davis all collected singled, putting the Giants ahead, knocking Berenyi out of the game. Rick Aguilera came on for relief. In the 3rd, after a Darryl Strawberry walk, a two run HR from George Foster put the Mets ahead 5-4. In the bot

Tuesday May 29th, 1973: The 1973 Mets were in the midst of a California West Coast Road trip. Yogi Berra's Mets were just below .500 at 20-21 in second place 5 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs.  They had lost four straight games so far, losing to two future Hall of Fame pitchers the previous nights. The Giants Juan Marichal had bested rookie Tommie Moore on Monday. On Sunday, the Dodgers Don Sutton beat Jerry Koosman in a 2-1 classic at Dodger Stadium. Tonight's game drew a small crowd of just under 8,000 at Candlestick Park. The Mets sent Tom Seaver to the mound to face off against Jim Barr. In the home 1st, Seaver started things off by striking out Bobby Bonds. After a ground out he served up a double to Garry Maddox then struck out Willie McCovey to end the inning. In the 2nd inning, he struck out Ed Goodson & Gary Mathews. He issued a walk to Chris Speier then struck out Dave Rader for the third out & his 5th K. In the 3rd, he retired the side in order,