centerfield maz

  Thursday October 2nd, 1986: Davey Johnson's The Mets (104-54) were winding down the regular season, fine tuning themselves up for the playoffs. Tonight's game had a few personal achievements at stake, as Dwight Gooden was trying to become the first pitcher in history to reach 200 strike outs in his first three seasons & Gary Carter was trying to become the first Met t drive in 100 runs in two straight seasons.  The Mets were in Montreal playing the rubber game of a three game series against Buck Rogers fourth place Expos (77-80) at Stade Olympique in front of 10,726 fans. Expo legend Gary Carter still a popular figure in Quebec was greeted by the fans. The starting pitcher for Montreal was Floyd Youmans. Youmans Trivia:  Youmans was a high school teammate of Dwight Gooden in Tampa. Floyd was a 1982 second round draft pick of the Mets, having been traded to Montreal along with Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald & Herm Winningham in exchange for Gary Carter prior to th...

  Saturday October 2nd, 1965: Wes Westrum's last place New York Mets (50-110) were playing in the second game of a double header against Gene Mauch's sixth place Phillies (83-76).  Wes Westrum the former New York Giants catcher had taken over as Mets manager in late July when Casey Stengel fell & broke his hip. In this twi-night double header, a small Shea crowd of 10,371 saw the Phil's take the first game 6-0 behind Jim Bunning's two hit shut out where he struck out ten. The win got Bunning to 19-9 on the season. The starting pitchers in the night cap were 20 year old Mets rookie Rob Gardner & Chris Short for Philadelphia. Gardner a native of Binghamton, NY had been brought up as a September call up going 0-2 with a 6.92 ERA thru his first four appearances, tonight would be his third start. In the top of the 1st, Adolfo Phillips led off with a base hit. Gardner then walked Cookie Rojas but he then retired Dick Allen, struck out "Dr. Strange Glove" Dic...