Remembering Mets History (1986) Mets Go On a Season Best Eleven Game Win Streak
Friday, April 18th:
After a 2-3 start to the season including a three game losing streak, the last game to their arch-rival reigning NL Champion Cardinals, the Mets were already getting some early bad press.
After a couple of rain outs, the Mets hosted the Philadelphia Phillies as veteran future Hall of Fame pitcher, Steve Carlton went up against Ron Darling.
Steve Carlton Trivia: Carlton, known as "Lefty" had a career 30-36 record against the Mets dating back to 1966 including legendary matchups against Tom Seaver. In 1969, Carlton set a then MLB record striking out 19 Mets in a game, although he took the 4-3 loss to the eventual World Champs.
In the top of the 1st, the Phils Milt Thompson & Mike Schmidt both hit HRs off Darling for a 2-0 lead. But the Carlton had a rough start as well, after Lenny Dykstra led off with a single, Lefty threw a wild pitch, a passed ball & walked the bases loaded. He then walked Darryl Strawberry bringing in the Mets first run. Later, Ray Knight hit a two run single giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.
The score remained that way until the 7th, when Keith Hernandez & Gary Carter singled. Carlton then walked his 8th batter of the night giving Darryl Strawberry a free pass to load the bases.
Phillies manager John Felske then took Carlton out of the game, replacing him with star reliever Kent Tekulve. George Foster greeted him with a two run single leading to the Mets 5-2 win.
Quotes- Davey Johnson: "When he stiffened up after the 7th, I told Ron that it's still early. There's no sense trying to be a hero, I've got a bullpen."
In the bottom of the 5th with the Mets down 1-0, Gary Carter walked & Ray Knight singled thru the hole at short allowing Carter to get to third base. Barry Lyons then grounded back to the pitcher Shane Rawley, as he threw to first Carter crossed the pate to tie the game.
In the top of the 6th Von Hayes RBI single put the Phillies back on top. In the bottom of the inning, Dwight Gooden lead off with a base hit. Kevin Mitchell, nicknamed "World" by Gary Carter referencing all the positions Mitchell could play, doubled scoring Gooden to tie the game.
In the bottom of the 8th, Mitchell collected his second hit, Keith Hernandez added a two out hit as well knocking Shane Rawley out of the game. Steve Bedrosian entered the game & Gary Carter drove a single to centerfield scoring Mitchell with the game winning run.
Trivia: Steve Bedrosian would led the NL in saves the following year with 40.
Reds two time HR champ (1977-1978) & NL RBI leader three straight years (1976-1978) was struggling in left field & his personality didn't seem to fit in with his teammates. Foster became a target of the Shea Boo-birds & let him have it. It seemed every time he took the field he was getting shouted it, as his play declined it was obvious his days were numbered. For Sunday's game Manager Davey Johnson put Danny Heep in left field.
Quotes- Davey Johnson: "I just wanted George to take some time off, to get comfortable with his stroke, to take his mind off the fans".
Quotes- Keith Hernandez: "The changeup is his big pitch now. The big thing was that he kept it down & got it over. Its just another weapon for him, he's tough enough to hit now he has another weapon."
Roger McDowell completed the combined shut out with an easy 9th inning.
The Mets bats tapped out 15 hits, with Wally Backman having a multi-three hit game. Darryl Strawberry & Gary Carter had two hits apiece.
The Mets attacked right off the bat in the 1st inning consecutive hits from Lenny Dykstra & Wally Backman. Backman was thrown out trying to steal second. Followed by a walk to Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry hit a sac fly to put New York on the board.
Next Gary Carter singled to put two on for Danny Heep. Heep connected with a three run HR off Kevin Gross giving the Mets a 4-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 4th, Keith Hernandez added an RBI single. In the bottom of the 6th, Sid Fernandez led off with a single. Next Len Dykstra collected his second hit with a base hit.
In a surprise move the slow footed, hefty Sid Fernandez stole third base, the throw from catcher John Russell went wild allowing El Sid to score. It was the only stolen base of Sid's career.
In the inning Darryl Strawberry & Gary Carter both collected RBI hits topping off the Mets 8-0 win, the first of eight team shut outs on the season. The Mets now had a three game win streak & their first series sweep of the year.
Early on in the 3rd inning, Darryl Strawberry threw Johnny Ray out at home trying to score on Sid Bream's double. This was an important defensive play of the game.
In the bottom of the 9th, Lenny Dykstra led off with a base hit off pitcher Pat Clement & was
moved over on Kevin Mitchell's sac bunt. Teufel then doubled to left field tying up the game. Gary Carter then delivered the walk off game winning base hit to left field scoring Teufel with the Mets fourth straight win.
Quotes- Gary Carter: "After ball one I was looking for a strike, he couldn't afford to fall behind, not with Darryl behind me. That's a plus having a hitter like Darryl behind me."
In the bottom of the 1st, Kevin Mitchell in the lead off spot tonight drew a walk & stole second. Gary Carter singled to bring him in with the Mets first run.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Ray Knight hit his fourth HR of the season, coming off Bob Kipper giving the Mets a 4-0 lead. Rafael Santana & bobby Ojeda added back to back singles from the bottom of the order. Kevin Mitchell drove both runners in with a two run double for a 5-0 Mets lead.
Santana & Carter both added RBI sac flies topping off the 7-1 win.
In this series opener Ron Darling & veteran Bob Forsch started the game. Darling went into the 6th inning with a 1-0 lead thanks to Darryl Strawberry's 2nd inning solo HR, his first of the season.
Trivia: Straw had hit 29 HRs the previous year second to Gary Carter's 32.
In the bottom of the 6th, Vince Coleman & Willie McGee led off with base hits off Darling. Tommy Herr dropped a bunt & Wally Backman's error allowed the speedy Vince Coleman to score.
In the top of the 8th, Lenny Dykstra led off with a double, then with two outs Gary Carter singled
off Jeff Lahti scoring Dykstra narrowing the Cardinal lead to one. But in the bottom frame after Tom Herr singled, George Foster's error in left field led to another Cardinal run making it 3-2.
In the top of the 9th, George Foster led off with a double. Todd Worrell came on to close out the game (Worrell would lead the NL with 36 saves that year). After Ray Knight grounded out, Howard Johnson hit a two run HR to deep right field tying up the game.
drawing six walks.
In the top of the 10th, Wally Backman drew a lead off walk then stole second. With two outs, Darryl Strawberry was walked intentionally to get to George Foster. But Foster came thru, making up for his error by driving a single to left field scoring Backman in what was the winning run.
Friday April 25th: Tonight Dwight Gooden tossed the first of his two shut outs of the season, a five hit five strike out game in the 9-0 shut out as he got to 3-0 on the year with a 1.29 ERA.
Ray Knight led the offense with his only multi-HR game of year, as he hit a 5th inning solo HR off Ricky Horton then a two run 9th inning shot of Pat Perry. Knight also collected a sac fly RBI in the Mets five run 8th inning. The four RBIs were also the most in a game for Knight on the season.
In that 8th inning, Darryl Strawberry had an RBI double, with Rafael Santana & Dwight Gooden adding RBI singles. The win streak reached seven.
The Mets got all they needed in the 1st inning, as Lenny Dykstra led off the game with a lead off HR. With one out Keith Hernandez & Darryl Strawberry hit consecutive singles. Gary Carter doubled to center driving in the Met second run as Hernandez scored.
Danny Heep, one of the leagues top pinch hitters in a starting role tonight, then collected a two run single to right field giving the Mets a 4-0 lead. For Heep it was his third multi-RBI game of the six games he played so far that season, giving him eight RBIs.
Sid Fernandez struck out ten batters on the night, the first of four double digit strike out games he would have on the season, with a high of 14 Ks on September 1st. Sid gave up two runs in eight innings of work allowing just two hits & two walks.
In the 9th inning he tired, giving up a lead off single to Willie McGee. Roger McDowell came on but gave up an RBI double to Jack Clark & RBI single to Jack Clark making it a 4-3 game.
Tito Landrum followed with a single, then McDowell recorded his first out when Mike Heath attempted a sac bunt that McDowell fielded & threw out Jack Clark at third base.
Mets manager Davey Johnson went to his top reliever bringing in Jesse Orosco. Orosco got Terry Pendleton to ground into a game ending double play, earning his third save as the Mets won their eighth straight game.
Danny Cox who would go 0-3 against New York that year, took his first loss. The Mets took a 3.5 game lead in the East over the Cards & Phillies.
Sunday April 27th: Davey Johnson's Mets had all the confidence in the world as the swagger of the 1986 Mets was starting to take over. At this point early on in the season, the Mets already felt no one could beat them.
.391) along with Tim Teufel, hit their first HRs of the season. Darryl Strawberry & George Foster added RBI's in the Mets four run 4th inning off John Tudor.
John Tudor Trivia: The 1985 Cy Young runner up to Dwight Gooden was John Tudor who was a Mets nemesis, the previous year he had posted a 0.93 ERA against them in 48.2 innings. Tonights loss was the first at Busch Stadium for him since April of last year when the Mets beat him & his first loss since July 20th of last year as well.
Bobby Ojeda would give up HRs to Willie McGee & Jack Clark but other runs, going on to his third straight win to start the season 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA.
Bobby O Trivia: Bobby O would start the year at 5-0 & go on to lead the talented Mets starting staff with 18 wins, a 2.57 ERA & league leading .783 winning %. Ojeda had come to the Mets from the Red Sox in a deal that involved Calvin Schiraldi who would be the losing pitcher in both Game Six & Seven of the World Series.
The Mets had now taken their third straight series on this nine game win streak, sending a big message to the Cardinals as well as anyone else who questioned them in. They were a force to be reckoned with.
Quotes- Davey Johnson: "You've got a team down & you don't want them to come back nipping at you. We had a comfortable three run lead in the 9th, if we lose it we give them momentum in the race."
Quotes- Wally Backman: "There's a lot of talk around the clubhouse about winning the pennant early- April, May , June."
County Stadium. At this point in time there was no Mets Braves rivalry, the Braves were still playing in the NL West at the time when there were two divisions in each league.
The Mets hot bats continued as they put up ten runs on 14 hits in the series opener.
Mets Trivia: The '86 Mets would put up double digits in runs ten times on the season, with a high of 13 runs against the Astros on July 17th at the Astrodome.
In the 2nd inning, Braves pitcher Rick Mahler walked three to load the bases. Then Wally Backman collected his second hit, an RBI single scoring George Foster making it 2-0. Ron Darling was thrown out at home trying to score to end the inning.
But in the top of the 5th, Wally Backman led off with his third hit of the game, dropping a base hit in front of the pitcher & beating the throw at first. Keith Hernandez then hit one of his two doubles on the night, driving in Backman. Gary Carter added a sac fly narrowing the lead to 5-4.
In the top of the 6th, Wally Backman collected his fourth hit of the game with two outs. Keith Hernandez then walked. Darryl Strawberry then followed with his second HR of the season, a three run shot off Craig McMurty giving the Mets a 7-5 lead.
Len Dykstra played in eleven games during the streak batting .333 with eleven hits, five stolen bases & eight runs scored.
In the top of the 7th, Ray Knight & Howard Johnson hit consecutive doubles making it an 8-5 game. Lenny Dykstra added an RBI single making it 9-5. A Braves error led to the Mets tenth run in the 10-5 win. Mets reliever Bruce Berenyi earned tonight's win as the Mets win streak reached an Amazing ten games.
get to 4-0 while maintaining an ERA under two at 1.26.
Dr. K Trivia: Gooden had not had his ERA go over the two mark since the first game of the 1985 season, over a year ago. Tonight's victory gave Gooden a winning record against every team in the league as well as a win in every NL ballpark in this just his third season. Even though he won tonight's game he criticized himself saying it was his worst game in a long time.
The Mets offense continued to pound opposing pitchers, putting up eight more runs & 13 more hits. During this 11 game win streak they put up 62 runs. Prior to this game, Braves starter Joe Johnson had two consecutive complete game victories allowing just two runs.
The offensive star of this game was Darryl Strawberry, who had a season high multi-five hit game. Straw hit a two run HR, his third of the year & had homered in consecutive games. He drove in three runs on the night collecting an RBI single in the 1st inning, which followed Keith Hernandez's RBI single.
Straw Trivia: During the Mets 11 game win streak, Darryl hit three HRs & drove in 13 runs, while drawing six walks & scoring seven runs. Straw would also have back-to-back HR games four more times on the season.
Kid's 250th HR: In the top of the 3rd, Gary Carter ended his 0-12 slump, as he hit his third HR of the season, a career milestone 250th HR for the Kid. It was a two run shot off Joe Johnson who would serve up two HRs, six runs & ten hits on the night.
They had now won 11 straight games one shy of the franchise record. This was the longest winning streak of their Championship season. At this point in time they were 13-3 with a five game lead over the Montreal Expos in the NL East after the first month of the season.
The next night the Braves hit four HRs off Mets starter Rick Aguilera as Bob Hoerner, Glen Hibbard, Ozzie Virgil & Terry Harper all went deep. Zane Smith held New York to two runs on five hits beating them 7-2 in a complete game while handing them their first loss in two weeks.
After that loss they went on another seven game win streak making it 18 wins in 19 games.