centerfield maz

  Tuesday, August 1st, 1989 : That season, the NL East was a tough division. At the end of July, the Montreal Expos were on top leading the Chicago Cubs by two games. The St. Louis Cardinals were in third place, five games back with New York Mets right behind them seven games back.  At the trade deadline, the Mets sent the popular Mookie Wilson to Toronto.  On the bright side they acquired Frank Viola from the Minnesota Twins in a blockbuster deal in exchange for Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani & David West. 1989 would be the last seasons in New York for aging veterans Keith Hernandez & Gary Carter as well. On this night game the two division rivals went at it, as Davey Johnson's Mets (54-50) went up against Whitey Herzog's Cards (54-48) at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in front of 40,444 fans. The Mets Sid Fernandez (8-3) went up against Scott Terry (7-9). In the top of the 2nd inning, Kevin McReynolds le off with a double to left field, his 20th two bagger of the ...

Thursday July 29th, 2004:  In 1994 Art Howe's Mets would finish fourth at 71-91.  The next year Art Howe would be replaced by Willie Randolph. In the off season the Mets would acquire Pedro Martinez & Carlos Beltran bringing in a new winning era.  In this get away day matinee at Stade Olympique in Montreal, the Mets played Frank Robinson's last place Expos (39-63). The Mets Al Leiter (6-3) took on the Expos Rocky Biddle (2-4). In the top of the 2nd inning, Ty Wigginton singled to center field. Mike Cameron followed with his 20th HR of the year putting the Mets up 2-0.  Eric Valent then hit a ground ball toward first base; he beat Nick Johnson to first base reaching on a single. David Wright doubled to left field, then after David Wright & Al Leiter were retired Todd Zeile drew a walk. Mike Piazza then hit a two-run single into center field giving New York a 4-0 lead. In the top of the 3rd, Mike Cameron hit his second HR of the day, his 21st of his season, mak...

The 1994 baseball season was cut by a disappointing Player Strike that resulted in no post season or World Series being played. For the Mets (55-58) they would finish third under manager D allas Green. The Mets team featured players like Todd Hundley, Bobby Bonilla, Jeff Kent, Bret Saberhagen & John Franco. That year the Mets were celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the 1969 World Champion Amazing Mets. In July they honored the team at the Old Timers Day celebration which was to be the last Old Timers Day for 28 years until revived in 2022. Jerry Koosman & Tom Seaver at the 1994 Mets Old Timers Day Game   celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Amazing Mets. In late June with David Segui struggling at first base, they brought up Rico Brogna who had come over from the Tigers for Alan Zinter.  Brogna was a some what local guy, hailing from Watertown, Connecticut 88.7 miles from Shea Stadium. After starting in just three games, Brogna homered in three straight games ...

July 27th, 1975: After the Mets 1973 Pennant season, the 1974 follow up was a disaster. The club finished 71-91 in fifth place. In the off season the club made some moves to improve run production. They acquired slugger Dave Kingman, who would set a club record hitting 36 HRs.  They acquired Del Unser from Philadelphia in the Tug McGraw trade; Unser became the everyday center fielder batting .294. They also got another outfielder; the speedy Gene Clines from Pittsburgh, he hit just .227.  One of the biggest names to arrive in 1975 was veteran Joe Torre. Torre a native New Yorker was now at the twilight of his career, but the Mets front office had been after him for years. Torre would have his worst season in 1975 batting just .247 with six HRs. In Spring Training 1975 there were a bunch of players who were now fighting for outfield & first base spots on the club.  Ten-year veteran outfielder, Cleon Jones was there as well assuming the left field ...

Thursday July 26th, 2012: On this day in Mets History, pitcher Matt Harvey made his much-anticipated MLB debut. That season at AAA he was 7-5 with 112 strike outs & 48 walks in 110 innings, posting a 3.68 ERA. He was ranked as the 54th top prospect entering the 2012 season.  Terry Collins' New York Mets (48-51) were on the road visiting Arizona to face Kirk Gibson's third place D-backs (49-50) in front of 22,010 at Chase Field. In the top of the 1st, the Mets gave their highly touted pitcher, Harvey some support as Ruben Tejada & Daniel Murphy started the game with base hits. Scott Hariston then doubled home both runners, giving Harvey a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1st, Matt Harvey began his career striking out Gerado Parra for strike out number one. After a fly out & a hit by Jason Kubel, he closed out the inning striking out Paul Goldschmidt. In the top of the 2nd inning, Harvey came to bat & in his MLB debut he doubled off the wall to deep...

Tuesday July 28, 1970:  Tonight, Gil Hodges second place Mets  (53-45)  were just a game out of first place & tonight they were hosting  Charlie Fox's fourth place San Francisco Giants (46-51). A big crowd of 50,174 came out to Shea to see the reigning World Champs take on the Giants who still had a big following from their New York days just a dozen years after they had left New York for the West Coast.  These Giants were a good team as well; they would finish third in the NL West (86-76) & win the Divisional title the next year. The club featured three future Hall of Famers in Willie Mays, Willie McCovey & Gaylord Perry. In tonight's game the Mets Jim McAndrew (5-8) went up against the Giants Rick Robertson (6-6). Jim McAndrew went thru the first four innings retiring the first 12 batters striking out four batters. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Tommie Agee led off with a base hit. Bud Harrelson then hit a triple to right field scoring Agee...

Friday July 24, 1970:   On this warm summer evening, Walter Alston's second place L.A. Dodgers (55-40) were in town for the first night of a big weekend Series.  As usual, a large crowd came to see the Dodgers whenever  they returned to town, as they were just 13 years removed from Brooklyn. The Dodgers were in a stretch where they lost seven of ten games & were  10.5 games behind the Cincinatti Reds In 1970, the Reds would win the NL Pennant & lose to the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.  Manager Gil Hodges, reigning World Champion Mets (51-44) were in second place, 2.5 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tonight,  the big Shea crowd of 53,657 was on hand to see the Mets starter Jerry Koosman (5-5), go up against the Dodgers, Bill Singer (7-3). In the top of the 1st, Koosman gave up a base hit to Many Mota, then did not allow another hit until the 4th inning. In the top of the 4th, Willie Davis singled & stole s...