centerfield maz

Wednesday September 11th, 1974: Tonight 13,460 fans came out to Shea Stadium to see Yogi Berra’s fourth place Mets (65-75) take on manager Red Schoendienst’s second place St. Louis Cardinals (75-68). The Mets were still the reigning N.L. Champions at the time, but their days were numbered, as they were eleven games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates.  The St. Louis Cardinals were in heavy pursuit of the Pirates just 2 ½ games back, alive & well in the pennant race. Eventually the Pirates would win the NL East in 1974 but lose to the L.A. Dodgers in the NLCS. Jerry Koosman (13-9) was the clubs top pitcher that year, as Tom Seaver was struggling through the season with back issues which effected his mechanics. Koosman took the mound for the Mets at 7:05 PM, going up against the Cardinals rookie, Bob Forsch (4-4). The Cardinals Hall of Famer, Lou Brock had just set a modern-day single season record for stolen bases (105) the night before in St. Louis, breakin...

  Wednesday September 11th, 2024:   On the 23rd Anniversary of the 911 attacks, the New York Mets donned FDNY- NYPD logos on their caps in honor of the fallen . Francsico Lindor had a specially painted glove to commemorate the tragic events as well.  The Mets entered tonight's game tied with the Atlanta Braves for the third wild card spot in an exciting four team wild card fight. After a nine-game win streak the Mets lost two of three & had just been beaten by former teammate Chris Bassitt in Toronto.  Tonight was the rubber game of the series with John Schneider's disappointing Blue Jays who found themselves nine games under .500 (69-78). Mets manager Carlos Mendoza sent Sean Manea to the mound to face the Blue Jays Bowden Francis. Since July 30th Manea was 5-1 with a 2.81 in eight starts. Bowden Francis ad won four of his last five starts. A good crowd of 29,399 came to the Rogers Center with many Mets fans in attendance. After three scoreless innings, the Jays...

Saturday September 11th, 1999: Bobby Valentine's New York Mets (87-56) were three games behind the rival first place Atlanta Braves in the NL East but  were leading the charge for the NL Wild Card spot with a 2.5 game lead over the Cincinnati Reds. On this Saturday the Mets were in Los Angeles facing Davey Johnson's fourth place Dodgers (66-76).  Davey Johnson had been the last Mets Manager to get the team to the post season eleven years earlier. Mets skipper Bobby Valentine sent Masato Yoshii (10-8) to the mound against L.A.'s Ismael Valdez (9-13).  In the top of the 1st inning, Ismael Valdez walked Rickey Henderson, who went on to steal second & third base. With two outs Mike Piazza & Robin Ventura both walked to load the bases.  But Darryl Hamilton grounded out to end the inning. In the top of the 3rd inning, John Olerud singled with two outs. Mike Piazza then lined a two run HR over the Dodger Stadium fence, making it 2-0 M...

Tuesday September 10th, 1985: In the mid 80's heated rivalry between the Mets & Cardinals, this game certainly fueled the fire & was a classic.  Davey Johnson's Mets (82-53) were red-hot having won six of their last seven games, five straight wins entering tonight's game a half game behind the Whitey Herzog's  first place  Cardinals (82-53) in the NL East. An excited Shea Stadium crowd of 50,195 came to see a great match up of 15 game winners, as Ron Darling (14-5) took on Danny Cox (15-8).   In the top of the 1st, with two outs Cardinal second baseman Tommy Herr hit a solo HR off Ron Darling to make it 1-0 St. Louis. In the bottom frame, the Mets fought right back as Mookie Wilson led off with a single to center field. With one out, Keith Hernandez came to bat.  Keith Testifies at MLB Drug Trials: Hernandez received a two-minute standing ovation from the Shea crowd, as this was his first game back after testifying at the Pittsburg...

Wednesday September 10th, 1969: This is one of the most historic days in Mets history as it was on this night that the Amazing Mets took over first place for the first time & never looked back. On August 19th the Chicago Cubs had led the Mets by 9.5 games , but the Cubs soon lost 14 of 21 games including a glorious three game sweep by the Mets at Shea Stadium.  Gil Hodges Mets on the other hand had  won 23 of 29  games & after taking this twin bill sweep, they had seven straight wins. Tonight,  the Mets (83-57) hosted Gene Mauch's last place, expansion Montreal Expos (44-98) in front of 23,512 fans at Shea Stadium.   In the first game Gil Hodges sent Jim McAndrew (6-6) to the mound against Mike Wegener (4-12). Jim  McAndrew had allowed just five earned runs in his last 41innings over five starts, which included two shut outs. In the top of the 1st inning, the Expos Ty Cline led off with a triple. Next, he scored on a...