Mike Piazza: The 2000 Mets NL Pennant Season

2000 NL Pennant season:  The Mets began the season with a two-game series in Tokyo, Japan against the Chicago Cubs. In the season opener Piazza collected two hits with his first HR of the season, a two-run shot in the 8th inning off Brian Williams, but the Mets still took a 5-3 loss.

On April 7th his RBI double in the 1st inning was one of just two runs scored in the Mets 2-1 win over the Dodgers at Shea Stadium.

Player of the Week Award: After a bit of slow start, from April 7th -April 18th, he went on a seven-game hit streak where he gathered 16 hits with two HRs & nine RBIs batting .571. Over 12 games thru April 23rd he would drive in 14 runs. For the Week of April 16th, he won his 11th career Player of the Week Award,

Five Hit Day: On April 14th in an 8-5 win at Pittsburgh, Piazza had a career high multi-five hit game, including his first multi-HR game of the season. Mike had previously had 18 muti-four hit games.

In the top of the 7th, he broke a 2-2 tie with a solo shot off Jason Scmidt, Robin Ventura went back-to back putting New York ahead with his HR. The game went to extra innings with Melvin Mora's RBI single putting the Mets ahead in the 12th inning. With Edgardo Alfonzo on, Piazza blasted his second HR of the game, a two-run shot off Jose Silva leading to the 8-5 Met win.

In a series sweep over Milwaukee at Shea, Piazza drove in runs in all three games collecting four hits. He closed out April batting .368 with 13 RBIs but had an even better month of May.

Piazza began May, with a nine-game hit streak & would hit safely in 20 of 21 games. 

Back-to-Back HR Games: On May 4th & May 5th, he had back-to-back HR games for the first time on the season. He would do it six time on the season, while also hitting HRs in three straight games twice.

On May 4th, he found himself holding back the Giants Marvin Bernard after Mets pitcher Dennis Cook hit him with a pitch in the 8th inning clearing the benches.

Grand Slam: On May 14th in South Florida, Piazza hit a 6th inning grand slam off the Marlins Brad Penny leading New York to a 5-1 win. It was his 250th career HR, the 10th HR of the season. This was Piazza's first grand slam of the season in which he would tie a franchise record with three grand slams.

On May 19th with the Mets down 3-2 to Arizona at Shea Stadium, Piazza's two run HR off Todd Stottlemyre put the Mets ahead for good, as the bullpen held on for a 4-3 win. 

Pinch Hit HR: On May 23rd in a game in San Diego, Piazza came to bat in the top of the 10th inning as a pinch hitter in a 3-3 tie. He then hit a two-run game winning HR off Trevor Hoffman, giving Turk Wendel the win, as Armando Benitez came on for the save. It was Piazza's ninth HR of the month, 12 HR of the year & his third career pinch hit HR. He ended May batting .372 with nine HRs & 20 RBIs. 

Subway Series Grand Slam: On June 9th the highly anticipated 2000 regular-season version of

the subway series which was at the peak of its popularity at the time, opened up with Al Leiter taking on Roger Clemens in the Bronx. 

In the top of the 3rd inning, Clemens & the catcher Jorge Posada were having trouble as they committed a pair of errors, issued two walks with a passed ball, loading the bases for Mike Piazza.

Piazza always seemed to come through & dominate Clemens, especially in the big moment. Years later it was proven that Clemens was one of many AL New York players using steroids at the time. Piazza blasted his second grand slam of the season, deep into centerfield putting the Mets up 4-0. Piazza had three hits in the game, as the Mets rolled along to a 12-2 romp, where Clemens gave up nine runs on ten hits in five innings of work. 

Piazza / Clemens Trivia: In eight regular season match ups between Mike Piazza & Roger Clemens, Piazza batted .412 with four HRs eight extra base hits & ten RBIs. 

Mets Franchise Record 15 Game RBI Streak: From June 14th through to July 2nd, Piazza seta Mets record, where he drove in at least one run in 15 straight games. In that stretch he hit eight HRs with twenty-five RBIs, including ten multiple RBI games.

On June 14th, the Mets (35-28) were tied with the Rockies for the wild card lead. In a 10-8 win at Wrigley Field Piazza hit his 17h HR of the year, a two-run shot off the Cubs Daniel Garibay in the 5th inning. Piazza had a multi- three RBI game to start a franchise record RBI streak.

The next night the Mets moved on to Milwaukee for a three-game series. In the opener Piazza doubled in the 6th inning bringing in two Mets runs, giving them a 6-1 lead. They went on to a 7-1 win as Al Leiter got his eighth win of the season to go to 8-1. 

The next night, Piazza collected two more hits & drove in a run in his third straight game in the Mets 3-2 loss. The Mets took two of three in Milwaukee with a 7-3 win on Sunday. In that game Piazza hit his 16th double of the season & drove in his 50th run.

HRs in Three Straight Games: On Tuesday June 20th, the Mets returned home to Shea for a series with the Phillies. In the bottom of the 1st, Mike Piazza hit a two run HR off Paul Byrd. Mike Hampton held down the Phillies thru eight innings, but Armando Benitez gave up a game tying HR to Pat Burrel & then lost it 3-2 on Mike Liebenthal's RBI single in the 10th.

The next night Piazza hit his 20th HR of the season; a two-run shot off Curt Schilling in the 10-5 Mets loss. After an off day, Piazza returned to hit a three run HR off the Pirates Bronson Arroyo in a 12-3 Mets win at Shea. 

Piazza had homered in three straight games, his longest HR streak of the season, he would do this again later in the season. Piazza had now driven in at least one run in seven straight games.

Five Straight Multi- RBI Games: On June 24th, the second game of the Pirate series at Shea, Piazza helped lead a Mets comeback in the 7th inning. With Mets down 8-4 Piazza hit a two run double off Rich Loiselle bringing the Mets to within two. Jay Payton would bring home Piazza to make it 8-7. 

In the 8th Todd Zelie & Edgardo Alfonzo provided RBI doubles for the win. The Mets swept the series on Sunday behind Mike Hampton's 9-0 shut out. Piazza contributed with a two run double for his fifth straight multi-RBI game & ninth straight game with at least one run driven in.

Four Straight Multi- Hit Games: The Marlins came to Shea, & Piazza would have two multi-hit games driving in a run in each game. On June 26th, his RBI single off Reid Cornelius tied his own franchise record of ten straight RBI games.

Franchise Record for Most Consecutive RBI Games: On Wednesday June 28th, in a win over the Marlins at Shea, Piazza was credited with an RBI in the 3rd inning when he grounded to short & Melvin Mora scored. His RBI streak extended to eleven straight games, as he broke his own Mets franchise record of ten straight games with an RBI set the previous year.  

Later in the 6th inning, he tied the game up reaching on an error by short stop Andy Fox, as Mike Hampton scored, with Piazza getting credit for another RBI. 

On June 29th the first place rival Atlanta Braves came to Shea, holding a three-game lead over the Mets. The Braves took the first game, with Piazza collecting a two-run single off John Burkett for his 65th RBI of the season & his 12th straight game with an RBI.

HRs in Three Straight Games: The Mets took the next two games to get to within two games of the Braves, still atop the wild card race. On June 30th, in front of 52,831 at Shea, the Mets came back from a seven-run deficit after being down 8-1. 

In the historic 8th inning, the Mets sent 13 men to the plate, scoring ten runs, collecting six hits with the help of four walks issued by Braves pitching. With the score tied at 8-8 Mike Piazza's three run HR off Terry Mulholland gave New York an 11-8 lead. It was his 22nd HR & 68th RBIs of the season, extending his RBI games streak to 13 games.

The next night, Al Leiter held the Braves to a run in seven innings & Turk Wendell shut them out for the final two innings. The Mets put up seven runs off Greg Maddox with Piazza hitting a 2nd inning two run HR in the 9-1 win. 

15 Straight Games with an RBI & Third Straight multi-HR Game: On July 2nd, as the Mets split the four-game series with a loss to Atlanta, Piazza hit a solo HR off Tom Glavine. 

It was his third straight game with a HR, matching the second time on the season he accomplished that feat & the fifth time he went back-to back games with a HR. It was also his 15th straight game with an RBI, setting a new Mets franchise record.

Trivia: Piazza's 15 games RBI streak was the second longest RBI streak in MLB history. In 1922 Ray Grimes of the Cubs had driven in at least one run in 17 straight games.

In the 15 game stretch, Piazza collected 22 hits, going 22-63 batting .349 with eight HRs 7 28 RBIs.

Subway Series Beaning: The Mets rivalry with their cross-town opponents heated up in the Piazza years with the early most excitable years of inter league play. As mentioned, Piazza always hit Roger Clemens well but he also hit all AL New York pitchers well. 

In the July version of the subway series on July 8th, the two teams played a cross-town day-night double header.

In the 2nd inning of the second game, in the Bronx, Roger Clemens hit Piazza in the head with a fastball sending him to the ground. Everyone held their breath as Piazza was attended to. Mets third base Cookie Rojas along with the Mets trainer, manager Bobby Valentine, Robin Ventura & Todd Zeile hung over Piazza at the plate as he regained his composure. 

Mets coach John Stearns was enraged coming out of the dugout shouting at the umpires. Piazza was forced him to leave the game. 

Piazza suffered a concussion and was forced to miss the 2000 All-Star Game in which he was the leading vote getter elected to start at catcher for the sixth straight year.

Most Mets RBIs in First Half of Season: At the All-Star break Mike had 72 RBIs which were the most ever runs driven in by a Mets player before the break in franchise history, passing Dave Kingman who had driven in 69 runs in 1976. 

Somehow, Piazza would miss just five games & be back as the team's designated hitter in the interleague games with the American League on the road. 

Muti-HR Game: On July 14th, in his second game back, Pizza had his second multi-HR game of the season as he hit a pair of HRs at Fenway Park leading the Mets to a 6-4 win. 

In the top of the 4th, he homered off former Met Pete Schourek with a solo shot. In the top of the 8th, with the Mets down 4-3, Mike's two run HR off Derek Lowe led New York to the 6-4 win.

The next night he hit his 27th HR of the year in the Mets 6-4 loss to the Red Sox.

On July 18th, in the rubber game of a series in Toronto, centerfieldmaz donning his #31 Piazza shirt, had the pleasure of meeting Mike Piazza at a news stand in the Hockey Hall of Fame building. He was gracious & nice enough to take pictures with us at a time with no cell phone cameras. 

Grand Slam HR: That night in the game at Skydome, centerfieldmaz was seated just a few rows above the Mets dugout. In the top of the 5th inning, Piazza in a DH role that night came to bat with the bases loaded & the game tied 3-3 facing Chris Carpenter. Piazza launched an exciting grand slam HR bringing centerfieldmaz & the other Mets fans in attendance to our feet as we proudly cheered as he rounded the bases, almost feeling like he hit that one for me.

Mets Grand Slam Record: It was Piazza's third grand slam of the season & the 12th of his career. At the time, Piazza joined John Milner (1976) & Robin Ventura (1999) as the only Mets to hit three grand slams in a season.

Piazza would hit 14 grand slams in his career. This was also his 28th HR on the season as he now had surpassed the 80 RBI mark (81) leading the Mets to an 11-7 win. The multi-four RBI game was his fourth of the season as well.

On July 29th in a game against the Cardinals at Shea Stadium, Piazza's 3rd inning RBI single tied up the game at one. In the bottom of the 6th with the Mets down 3-2, he led off with a solo HR off Andy Benes to tie up the game at three. The Mets went on to a 4-3 win led by Lenny Harris' pinch hit RBI single in the 8th.

By the end of July Piazza was among the NL leaders in hitting batting at .350.  

The Mets began August five games back of the Braves but atop the wild card running by 2.5 games. 

From August 4th thru August 11th in a five-game stretch Mike drove in twelve runs, collecting 1o hits with a pair of HRs while batting .476 as the Mets went on a seven-game win streak. 

30th HR of the Season: On August 9th, in a 12-5 win at Houston, Mike reached the 30 HR mark for the sixth straight season, hitting a three-run shot off the Astros Wayne Franklin. He also passed the 90 RBI mark for the 8th straight season.

Four Hit- Multi- Four RBI Game: The next day, a Thursday matinee was the fifth multi-four RBI game for Mike on the season. Piazza also collected four hits, for the second time on the season with three RBI singles & his 22nd double of the year in the Mets 10-2 win.

On August 11th, in what turned out to be an NLDS preview, the Mets were back at Shea hosting Barry Bonds & his Giants, Piazza gave the 33,944 fans a thrill with his 31st HR of the year, as Glendin Rusch, Rick White, John Franco & Armando Benitez held the Giants to a run in a 4-1 win.

100th RBI: On August 18th in the top of the 9th inning in Los Angeles, with New York up 4-3 Piazza hit a two run HR off the Dodgers Kevin Brown to give him 100 RBIs on the season. It was the fifth straight year he drove in 100 or more runs.

The Mets entered September taking over first place, leading the Braves by a half game & five games up in the wild card race. But during the month they would lose eight of ten games during a bad stretch, falling three games behind Atlanta fighting for the lone wild card spot.

In his first 19 games of September Piazza hit just .163 with two HRs & three RBIs.

On September 20th, after losing two games to the Braves, Piazza crushed his 36th HR of the year as the Mets salvaged the final game of the series 6-1, behind Al Leiter's pitching. 

Multi HR Game: On September 23rd, Mike had his third multi-HR game of the season, hitting hit his final two regular season HRs in a 9-6 win at Philadelphia. The HRs coming off Randy Wolf, a solo shot & Chris Brock, a two-run shot.

The Mets went on to win nine of their last eleven games, earning the top wild card spot.

Piazza was again denied the MVP award as he would finish third in the voting. 

2000 Stats: On the year, he led the team in hitting batting .324 (10th in the NL) with 38 HRs (10th in the NL) 113 RBIs, 90 runs scored 26 doubles 58 walks with a .398 on base % .614 slugging % (9th in the NL) & a 1.012 OPS (second highest of his career).

Defensively had led all NL catchers with a .997 fielding %, catching 124 games behind the plate (3rd most in the NL) making 862 put outs (2nd in the NL). 

Once again, Piazza allowed the most stolen bases in the league (110) for the third straight year & the seventh time in his career.

2000 Post Season -NLDS: In the first game of the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants, Piazza went hitless with a walk as the Mets took a 5-1 loss.

In Game #2 Piazza collected a pair of hits & a walk as the Mets won it in extra innings 5-4 on Jay Payton's RBI single. Over the final two games he collected just one hit although the Mets still went on beat the Giants & advance to their second straight NLCS.

Overall, In the series he hit .214 (3-14) with four walks, no RBIs & no runs scored.

2000 NLCS: In the 2000 NLCS win over the St. Louis Cardinals, he broke out of his post season
slump, batting .412 going 7 -17 with two HRs three doubles, four RBIs & seven runs scored. 

In Game #1 at Busch Stadium, his first inning double off Darryl Kile drove in the first run of the game in the Mets 6-2 win. Piazza would collect a second hit in his next at bat as well.

The Monster is Out of the Cage: As Piazza collected his RBI hit, Mets bench coach & former catcher himself, known as 'Bad Dude"- John Stearns was mic'd up for the television broadcast, he repeatedly said "the Monster is out of the cage' which quickly became a popular phrase & Met rally cry.

In Game #2 at St. Louis, he led off the 3rd inning with a HR off Britt Reames giving the Mets a 3-1 lead. It was his first HR of that post season & the third of his post season career. After John Franco & Armando Benitez blew an 8th inning lead, most notable with JD Drew hitting a HR to tie the game, the Mets won the game on Jay Payton's 9th inning RBI single.

In the Game #4 Mets 10-6 win at Shea Stadium, Piazza hit his second HR of the series, a solo shot off Mike James in the 4th inning putting the Mets up 8-3. In the game he scored three runs, collecting two hits & a walk as the Mets beat the Cardinals 10-6 going up three games to one.

In the final Game #5 at a wild Shea Stadium with centerfieldmaz in attendance, the Mets were looking to clinch & get to their first World Series since the 1986 Championship season. In the game led by Mike Hampton's three hit complete game shutout, Piazza went 1-4 with a walk & two runs scored. 

In the bottom of the 1st, he walked & advanced to third on a Robin Ventura single. He then scored on Todd Zeile's ground out force play.  

In the home 4th, Piazza doubled & scored on Todd Zeile's bases loaded three run double giving the Mets a 6-0 lead. It was easy from there on as the Shea Stadium upper deck was actually visibly bouncing, as mentioned on the TV broadcast by former Met announcer Tim McCarver.

With the win, the Mets advanced to their first World Series in 14 years, this time facing their cross-town rivals in New York's first subway series since 1956, when the Dodgers were New York's NL representatives.

2000 Subway World Series: There was an enormous amount of hype & build up around this Worls Series as everyone in New York got caught up in it taking a side. Piazza was clearly the star of the Mets team & the face of their franchise.

In Game #1 of the Subway World Series, Piazza was penciled in as the team's DH since the game was being played in an American League ballpark.  In his first at bat in the 1st inning, he hit a deep fly ball to right just missing a HR. 

In the top of the 4th he collected a base hit, going 1-4 in the game.  The Mets lead 3-2 when Armando Benitez blew the save in the 9th inning as The Mets went on to a 4-3 extra inning heart breaking loss.

In Game #2 in the Bronx, one of the strangest World Series scenes occurred, as the highly anticipated matchup of Piazza & Clemens came to a head once again, this time on the world stage. 

In the top of the 1st inning Piazza fouled off a Clemens pitch & his bat broke in half with the barrel flying towards the pitcher's mound. It landed at Clemens's feet, then in a rage the pitcher picked up the broken barrel throwing it in the direction of Piazza who was trotting up the first base line.

The home plate umpire, Charlie Reliford stepped in the middle of the two, giving both teams a warning, as both benches cleared. No punches were thrown & no other incidents occurred from there on just a lot of talk. Clemens was not ejected & got away with the unprofessional unprovoked act.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Chuck Knoblauch tried to score from second on a base hit but was tagged out by Piazza on a play at the plate after receiving the relay throw from Edgardo Alfonazo.

In the top of the 9th, the Mets were down 6-0 but made an amazing comeback scoring five runs falling one short taking a 6-5 loss. 

After Edgardo Alfonzo led off with a single, Piazza continued his assault on AL NY pitching, as he left his mark in the Bronx with a two run HR over the left field wall off reliever Jeff Nelson. 

Jay Payton would later add a three run HR off Mariano Rivera.

In Game #3 at Shea Stadium, the Mets hosted their first World Series game in 14 years. centerfieldmaz, darthpie & wife along with WFUV's Darren Devivo were in attendance with 56,059 wild Mets fans in the last rows of the left field upper deck. 

In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Mets were down 2-1 to Orlando Hernadez. Piazza led off with a ground rule double & then scored the tying run on Todd Zeile's game tying double. 

The Mets went on to win the game on In the bottom of the 8th, Benny Agbayani's RBI double broke the tie & Bubba Trammell added a sac fly leading the Mets to a 4-2 win giving the Met fans one final World Series thrill at Shea. 

Trivia: It was the last World Series home game victory for the Mets in Shea Stadium.

Mets Post Season HR Record: In Game #4, in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Piazza hit a two run HR off Denny Neagle for his club record fifth post season HR. It was the only two runs of the Mets 3-2 loss.

In the final Series Game #5, Piazza collected two more hits, with a single & the Mets only extra base hit, a 5th inning double his sixth of the post season. 

In the bottom of the 9th, Mike made the last out of the Series with a long fly ball to centerfield that almost tied the game, missing a HR by inches.

Overall, in the 2000 World Series Piazza hit .273 (6-22) with two HRs two doubles & four RBIs with three runs scored.