centerfield maz

Thursday May 1st, 1980: A small crowd of just 5,928 came out to Shea Stadium, to see Joe Torre's Mets (6-11) who were already in fifth place, take on the eventual 1980 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies (7-9) led by manager Dallas Green. Tonight, an old Mets nemesis, "Lefty" Steve Carlton took on Brooklyn's own Pete Falcone. The game would start out with Mets pitcher, Pete Falcone striking out the first six batters he faced. At the time he had tied a then MLB record, done four times, to start a game. This set a Mets franchise record that stood for 34 years until 2014, when Jacob DeGrom struck out eight Marlins to start the game, tying a new MLB record. In the top of the 1st inning, Falcone struck out Lonnie Smith & Pete Rose swinging. He then got Gary Maddox looking at a called third strike.  In the top of the 2nd inning, Falcone struck out that year's NL HR leader Mike Schmidt (48) to start the inning. He then got fanned slugger Greg Luzinski f...

Tuesday April 30th, 2002: On this evening the Mets who were in an early season first place tie with the Montreal Expos, were in the Arizona desert going up against the reigning World Champion Diamondbacks at Bank One Ball Park.  A good crowd of 36,743 came to see Bob Brenly's D-backs host Bobby Valentines, New York Mets.  Mike Piazza returned to the lineup tonight after being sidelines for a week with a strained hamstring. Arizona's Rick Helling (3-2) went up against Al Leiter (2-1) who was holding a 1.13 ERA over his first five games.   Going into this game, Leiter had victories against all other 29 MLB teams in his career. With a win tonight he would become the first pitcher to have beaten all 30 MLB teams. In the top of the  1st inning the  Mets pounced on Rick Helling, Roberto Alomar & Mo Vaughn both singled. Then Mike Piazza blasted a three run HR making it 3-0. It was Piazza's sixth HR of the season. In the bottom of the 2nd, Roberto Alomar triple...

Monday April 29, 1996:  On this evening, a small crowd of 14,011 came out to see Dallas Green's Mets (11-13) host Felipe Alou's very good Montreal Expo team (17-9). The Expos came into the game batting .306 as a team averaging seven runs per game. The Expo offense was led by Henry Rodriguez & Moises Alou. Their pitching staff was led by Jeff Fassero, Pedro Martinez & reliever Mel Rojas. The Expos would finish the season in second place (88-74) fifth most wins in team history, behind Atlanta but would not make the playoffs as the wild card playoff format was still not in effect. For the Mets, they would finish fourth )71-91). Dallas Green would be fired in September after going 59-72.   Starting in 1994 Green had managed the Mets for three seasons & never reached 60 wins in any season. After Green's managerial tenure ended the Bobby Valentine era began, bringing five winning seasons, an NL Pennant & two post season appearances in his six years at the helm...

Sunday, April 29th, 1984: On this sunny Sunday Spring afternoon, the Mets presented Darryl Strawberry with his 1983 Rookie of the Year Award before the game at Shea Stadium.  In his honor, Carvel & the Mets offered free Strawberry Sundae's to the fans at the game. Good times were back again at Shea Stadium, as the Mets were a much-improved team from previous years & ready to contend. Also on this day, a familiar & popular face from the past was returning to Shea Stadium. Mets legendary pitcher, Jerry Koosman, now a member of the Phillies was making a triumphant return to Shea.  Koosman had spent 12 years with the Mets, pitching as the number two man behind Tom Seaver. He was 140-137 with a 3.09 ERA striking out 1799 batters in 2544.2 innings in 376 appearances.  Koosman pitched in two World Series for the Mets. In postseason play he was 4-0. The Mets finally retired his uniform #36 in 2021. Koosman left the Mets after the 1978 season, since the...

 Wednesday April 25th, 1984:  On this date, Mets rookie Dwight Gooden was making his fourth career start. The 19-year-old Gooden was 1-1 with 16 strike outs in 13.1 innings of work having been used sparingly over his first three games. In this matinee, Gooden would have the first of what was to be many highlights over the next few seasons in a magical time in Mets history.  The young Dr. K as he would become known would provide the Mets fans with many record-breaking events & magical moments during this era. The Mets were in Montreal taking on Jim Fanning's Expos. The 1984 Expos featured three future Hall of Famers in Gary Carter, Andre Dawson & Pete Rose. After a 1st inning retiring the side in order with no strike outs, Gooden got Tim Wallach to go do swinging to end the 2nd inning. In the bottom of the 3rd, he set the side down in order for the third straight inning, striking out pitcher David Palmer to end the inning. In the bottom of the 4th, Gooden issued hi...

  Tyler Wesley Naquin was born April 24th, 1991, in Spring, Texas in the greater Houston area. He grew up an Astros fan. The six-foot two left-handed hitting outfielder was originally drafted out of high school by the Baltimore Orioles but did not sign.  College Career: He chose to attend Texas A & M. There he lettered in baseball for three years, was a two time All State.  In his sophomore year he led the Big 12 with a .381 batting average leading the Aggies to the College World Series.  In his junior year he batted .380 & was rated the best pure hitter by Baseball America. That year he was selected as a first-round pick of the Cleveland Indians, the 15th pick overall.  After an All-Star season at AA Akron in 2013, he broke his hand missing most of the 2014 season. In 2015 he was promoted to AAA Columbus & although he missed another 50 games, he still had batted .300 with 7 HRs 27 RBIs in 84 games. MLB Career: In 2016 he made the Cleveland India...

Monday April 23rd, 1962: In this night game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Casey Stengle's New York Mets (0-9) went up against Danny Murtaugh's Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Pirates were the World Champions of 1960 but had fallen to sixth place the next year . Twenty-five-year-old Jay Hook took the mound for the Mets. Hook had been with the Cicinnati Reds for five seasons going 17-28, with a 5.23 ERA, winning a career best 11 games (11-18) in 1960.  He would spend three seasons with the Mets going 12-33 with a 5.22 ERA.  But on this night, Jay Hook became the answer to the Mets trivia question: Who was the first Mets pitcher to earn a victory in franchise history?  Jay Hook took on the Pirates' veteran lefthander, Tom Sturdivant. Sturdivant had been a two-time 16 game winner with the AL New York club (1956 & 1957). He would finish his career with the 1964 Mets as a reliever. In the top of the 1st, the Mets got to Tom Sturdivant right away. Felix Mantilla & El...

 Wednesday April 19th, 2023: Buck Showalter's Mets (11-7) were trying to split a three-game set in LA.A. against Dave Roberts Dodgers (9-9) after having won the first five of six games on a nine-game California road trip.  Both teams had been suffering from players on the injured list, the Mets pitching & Dodgers in both pitching as well as position players. This was the Mets first matchup against their old teammate Noah Syndergaard (0-2) who had departed after the 2021 season. Noah no longer a blazing fastball pitcher had made adjustments to become a completely different pitcher than what the Mets remembered. The Mets sent their co-ace Max Scherzer (2-1) to the mound in what was to be a memorable game. In the top of the 1st inning, Brandon Nimmo started out his big day with a leadoff single. He was erased on a double play, as Noah would hold the Mets scoreless through the first four innings. In the bottom of the 1st, Max Scherzer wasn't his usual self-starting out, as h...