It Don't Mean A Thing If You Ain't Got That Swing

For a look at my offseason plans, go here

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/10/to-do-list.html

I want to address the last comment of my last post: My wish that Carlos Beltran had swung the bat with an 0-2 count with the bases loaded and two outs in the last of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the NLCS. Nearly two weeks have gone by and I've yet to shake out the remnants of my sadness and anger related to this particular moment. The echo from the men's room at Grand Central Station still rings my cries of anguish from that evening, and my car still reverberates from my yelp after picking it up at the airport the other day...

"WHY DIDN'T HE SWING??????????"

I have read the eloquent New York Times column by Bill Rhoden, listened to the words of Mets general manager Omar Minaya, and read the thoughts of other bloggers and their friends who have come to the defense of Beltran on the subject. While their thoughts are perfectly legitimate and their interests are pure, I have still come to the same conclusion. He should have swung. Feel free to disagree if you like, but allow me to vent, as I feel it will be theraputic.

If I may paraphrase the work of Alfred Lord Tennyson (who to my knowledge was never a baseball fan): "T'is better to have swung and lost than never to have swung at all."

I think that when you come to the plate in a last-out situation, you have an obligation to your teammates and to the fans to do everything within your power to prolong the game for as long as possible. I haven't played much baseball in my life (due to lack of height, weight, speed and skill as a youngster), but I can twice recall scenarios in which I struck out as the last out of a Little League game. One time I took strike three and one time I swung and missed. It's 20-odd years later and I still remember the feeling of letting my team down. But I feel good about the time I went down swinging because the pitch was a strike and I gave it my best shot. The pitch that struck me out looking is one to this day that I don't think my nine-year-old eyes ever saw- an Armando-Benitez esque ankle-high fastball- until it landed in the catcher's glove. Carlos Beltran can't use that as an excuse.

I've heard a lot about how Adam Wainwright's curveball of choice in that instance was "unhittable" and while I've never faced a big-league curveball (I don't even remember facing a Little League one), that doesn't wash with me. I can recall instances from every season in which "unhittable" pitches have been hit. Dave Henderson had a couple prior to homering off Donnie Moore in a similar scenario in the 1986 ALCS. Alfonso Soriano had one of the most amazing foul ticks I've ever seen, two pitches prior to homering against Curt Schilling in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. Even a pathetically nubbed foul would have served the purpose of prolonging the game and the season in which I had more of an emotional investment than any other for one more pitch. But you can't foul that pitch off unless you swing the bat. If you think that the pitch is going to be anything within the vicinity of home plate, you owe it to your team to swing.

Do I blame Carlos Beltran for the way that Game 7 went? No. Baseball is a team game. This was a team defeat. I just wish he had swung the bat. I have no qualms with the manner in which Willie Randolph managed the game, or the ninth inning. I have no issues with Aaron Heilman being on the mound instead of Billy Wagner, or Cliff Floyd coming to the plate instead of bunt-happy Chris Woodward. My issue is with Carlos Beltran and my wish that he had swung the bat.

There are a lot of things that can happen if you swing the bat at an 0-2 curveball. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. You might swing and miss. You might swing and foul it off. You might make contact and hit the ball to a vacant piece of land. You might make contact and hit the ball to an occupied piece of land- but the occupant may not be able to handle the incoming object. If you take an 0-2 curveball, realistically speaking, only two things can happen, one of which is acceptable and one of which, as those like myself who were in attendance saw, is very, very, very, very, very unfortunate.

I never pictured that this Mets season would end in a manner befitting a Charlie Brown comic strip and that a team which went one win better than the 1973 Mets (in both regular season and postseason) would end up as the champions. I anticipate that it will take quite some time before I am over this defeat.

Let's end this discussion by putting it in a manner befitting of this blog. While a three-run walk-off passed ball serves as a terrific subject for fantasy (the idea of such, referenced in one blog, brought a smile to my face) it is an unrealistic conclusion and one that goes unfound in the 341 entrants into my Mets walk-off database. Whereas, I can point you to many, many examples in which positive conclusions were reached because a batsman lived up to the duties that he was brought home to fulfill.

You may also wish to read , if you appreciate such works, "Beltran at the Bat," which can be found here

http://mabfan.livejournal.com/285472.html

Oy Vey, What a Game

One of 2 posts on Wednesday, with the other celebrating Julio Franco's 48th birthday, which can be found here...

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2006/08/me-and-julio-down-by-ballyard.html

Anyone know the Hebrew or Yiddish translation of Walk-Off Home Run?

* Carlos Beltran's 2nd walk-off home run of the season (4th of career) gave the Mets their 341st walk-off win and 11th such win this season.

Most walk-off wins in season
Mets history

1971 14
1983 12
2006 11
1963 11
1969 11 *includes postseason*
1986 11 *includes postseason*
1995 11 *includes rain-shortened "asterisk" game*
(5 seasons with 10)

2 Walk-off HR in Season
Mets history

Marv Throneberry 1962
Jim Hickman 1963
Tim Harkness 1963
Jerry Buchek 1967
Cleon Jones 1971
Steve Henderson 1980
George Foster 1983
Bobby Bonilla 1993
Chris Jones 1995
Chris Jones 1996
Carlos Beltran 2006

* It is only the 2nd time in their last 59 walk-off wins that the Mets got the winning hit while trailing (the other was Cliff Floyd's walk-off home run vs the Angels on June 11, 2005). In all, the Mets have had 38 walk-off hits that came with the team trailing.

* The 1986 celebration continues as the 2006 Mets match the 1986 squad's walk-off win total (11, including postseason).

* It is the 11th 8-7 walk-off win in team history and the 3rd this season

8-7 win on walk-off HR
Mets history

Gil Hodges (1962)
Kurt Abbott (2000)
Carlos Beltran (2006)

* It is the 109th walk-off home run in team history and the 31st walk-off 2-run home run.

* I will check this later in the day, but I believe it's the 4th time in Mets history that they've won via walk-off in a game in which they came back from 6 runs down (1972 vs Padres, 1980 vs Giants, 1997 vs Expos) (*no easy way to check this, but my instincts tell me it's likely right*)

* This was Jason Isringhausen's 2nd walk-off loss to the Mets. The other came on May 18, 2004, right at the same moment that Randy Johnson was completing a perfect game against the Braves. The Mets trailed that game by a run entering the 9th inning as well.

* It was the 4th Mets walk-off win to take place on August 22 (1973, 1997, 1999, and 2006)

* This was the Mets 31st walk-off win against the Cardinals and the 8th walk-off HR against them, with it being the first since Eddie Murray hit one in 1992. The Mets have hit 5 walk-off HR against the Cardinals when trailing.

Beat Cardinals with Walk-Off HR
Mets trailed game at time of HR

Marv Throneberry 1962
Duke Snider 1963
Frank Thomas 1964
Mookie Wilson 1981
Carlos Beltran 2006

* Bill Clinton, in attendance on Tuesday (cameras caught him napping) would be happy to know that 2 Arkansas natives have had walk-off hits for the Mets: Jesse Gonder and Kevin McReynolds

* This note's a little complicated, but a fun one nonetheless: Only 3 Mets have entered an at-bat 0-4 on the game and hit a come-from-behind walk-off home run. They are Carlos Beltran, Mike Piazza and George Foster.

True Metsomniacs know...That all 3 players to hit their 400th HR as a Met (Carlos Delgado, Eddie Murray, Duke Snider) have also, at some point, hit a walk-off HR for the Mets. In fact, Murray and Snider both hit walk-off HR against the Cardinals

'Berry Worried about Beltran

Perhaps when the baseball team returns to Flushing they could sprinkle some pixie dust, or whatever it is they do at a Salvation Miracle Revival Crusade and heal Carlos Beltran's home sickness.

 

The splits are both alarming and amazing. Consider the following stats after Tuesday's win.

 

Carlos Beltran in road games:  .346 BA, 17 HR, 54 RBI, 42 games
Carlos Beltran in home games:  .207 BA, 10 HR, 24 RBI, 40 games

 

Observing closely as I do regularly, I couldn't help but notice that Beltran's swing has appeared much smoother on the road. I'd be willing to bet he leads the Mets in home popouts (not talking about curtain calls) because he has a propensity to overswing to try to impress the denizens of the Queens ballpark.

 

This is not a new situation for the Mets. Many a quality hitter has been spooked by Shea and shined elsewhere, though this is certainly an extreme situation.

 

It is somewhat reminiscent of one overlooked by fans of the 1986 Mets. This was a team that had a great player who, statistically speaking, was Sheaphobic.

 

Through his first 46 games entering June 13, Darryl Strawberry hit a perfectly respectable .279, but with only 7 home runs. This was due in large part to his home numbers. Through his first 18 games in New York, Strawberry hit .217 with 1 HR and 9 RBI. To that point, he was hitting .314 with 6 HR and 22 RBI in 28 road games. Perhaps some off-field factors came into play here, though I suppose we'll never know that.

 

Anyways, not only was Strawberry struggling at home, but he was also struggling against lefty pitching, so he was likely quite happy to see soft-tosser Rick Reuschel working for the opposition, the Pittsburgh Pirates that day. The Mets contrasted that with Dwight Gooden, who opened the game by striking out a rookie named Barry Bonds, who was making his Shea Stadium debut in his 13th big league game. It was one of 13 punchouts that day for Gooden, who was unusually wild for a brief spurt. Four walks and a wild pitch in the 2nd inning helped the Pirates grab an early 2-0 lead. The Mets rallied quickly and evened things up at 3-3 by the close of the 3rd inning, than took a 5-3 edge in the 5th on a 2-run home run by Keith Hernandez.

 

The Mets had a chance to add to their cushion after Straweberry started a one-out rally in the 8th by doubling off southpaw Larry McWilliams, but they failed to do so and stranded the bases loaded. That came back to bite the Mets in the butt.

 

Jesse Orosco relieved Gooden in the 9th and allowed a single to Rafael Belliard and a walk to Met-to-be Lee Mazzilli. Pirates manager Jim Leyland, fearful of his rookie being overmatched against a lefty, than pinch hit Mike Diaz for Bonds (!) and Orosco walked him as well. Two sacrifice flies later, the game was evened at 5-5 and shortly thereafter headed to the home 9th.

 

Leyland chose lefty Bob Kipper to face a lineup in the 9th that would feature fellow lefties Hernandez and Strawberry in position to do damage. Mookie Wilson gave them a chance to do so, singling with one out and advancing to second on a Wally Backman groundout. The Pirates wouldn't give Hernandez a chance to beat them. With two outs and Wilson on 2nd, they purposely bypassed Hernandez to pitch to the struggling Strawberry.

 

Kipper, like Reuschel, was a soft tosser, and on an 0-1 pitch, Strawberry lined a curve into the outfield, easily scoring Wilson with the winning run.

 

"Tonight, I gained some respect," Strawberry told the media after the game.

 

Unfortunately, he didn't gain much statistically. Strawberry's home struggles lasted throughout the 1986 season, though they were overlooked due to the Mets great record. In the regular season, he finished with the following splits

 

Home: .227 BA, 11 HR, 33 RBI, 8 SB, 65 games
Road: .284 BA, 16 HR, 60 RBI, 20 SB, 71 games

 

The good news is that when the postseason came around, the numbers didn't tell the whole story. True, he had only 4 hits in 22 at-bats at Shea in the playoffs and World Series, but the significance of 3 clutch home home runs allowed us to overlook his foibles. Mets fans hope they'll be able to say the same thing about Beltran.

 

True Metberrys know...Darryl Strawberry's .227 batting average at Shea Stadium in 1986 was one point better than Sid Fernandez's batting average at Shea Stadium that season.

The Beltran Tolls for Thee

Walk-Off win #336 was a bit of an adventure, eh?

* It was the 5th walk-off win this calendar month. My initial research indicates that is a first in franchise history

* It was the first to go at least 16 innings since that 1-0, 17-inning Kenny Greer only MLB win classic against the Cardinals on September 29, 1993

* It's the longest decided by a HR since Dave Kingman hit one in the last of the 17th to beat the Expos on June 10, 1983

* It's the second to go exactly 16 innings. The only other took place on September 1, 1963, won on a two-run HR in the 16th by Tim Harkness. By coincidence, just a few days ago, I received an e-mail from an attendee of this game.

* It is the 8th decided by a 9-8 score (we had one last year- Mike Piazza walk-off walk vs Milwaukee on August 2, 2005)

* Carlos Beltran is the 3rd Met to go 3-for-7 and collect a walk-off hit, joining the previously mentioned Harkness and Del Unser (September 16, 1975, 18-inning walk-off walk vs Expos)

* It's the first walk-off home run by a Met to beat the Phillies since Mike Piazza hit one off Rheal Cormier on July 29, 2001. It's the 9th time in team history that the Mets beat the Phillies on a walk-off home run (9 different players hit the HR)

* Darren Oliver slides in nicely on the walk-off winning pitchers alphabetical list, right between Bob Ojeda and Jesse Orosco. Ryan Madson falls on the losers list between Gary Lucas and Gary Majewski.

* The Phillies are the only opponent against whom the Mets have accomplished a walk-off cycle. They're the only team that the Mets have beaten on a walk-off single, double, triple and home run.

True Mettlies know...The longest Mets walk-off win against the Phillies took place in Game 1 of a doubleheader on August 1, 1972. Click on the link below to read the posting about it.

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/08/mr-ed.html

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

When I was in elementary school at PS 190 (82nd between 1st and 2nd), we had a music teacher named Ms. Rosen, who started a school chorus. I was a member and during my two-year tenure as a sorprano, I had the opportunity to perform a solo during a performance at the ritzy Plaza Hotel.

Ms. Rosen loved Christmas songs and shared her adoration with her chorus and the music classes. They got drummed into us pretty good because of weekly repetition. I don't celebrate Christmas, but for whatever reason, I like Christmas and holiday music. My tastes range from "Frosty the Snowman" to "My Two Front Teeth" to "Winter Wonderland." I find these songs soothing, but I don't know why. So this week, I'm going to spin a holiday theme throughout my blog posts, be in it the titles or the stories themselves.

In baseballese, the most wonderful time of the year isn't Christmastime (except for the recently signed ex-free agents who are busy counting their money), but rather Opening Day, because that's when everyone is at their most optimistic. Players, managers, owners and fans believe that anything is possible. Spring is in the air and their is a spring in everyone's step. Even if you're a fan of the Kansas City Royals.

It seems silly to say this now, but on Opening Day, 2004 their was every reason to believe that this was going to be a magical season for the Royals, and in particular, a current member of the Mets. Kansas City was coming off an improbably successful 2003 season in which it started 9-0, finished a respectable 83-79 and had the tag of Midwestern laughingstock temporarily removed. The Royals were a trendy choice to win the AL Central and perhaps a little more in 2004 ,because this is baseball and we tend to believe in underdogs like little kids believe in Santa Claus. That's why it didn't seem that improbable when Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski latched on to Brian Anderson and said he could win 20 games and that the Royals could be a World Series contender.

For the first eight-and-a-half innings, the Grinch tried to steal Christmas, or rather the White Sox decided to seize the opportunity for a win, grabbing a 7-3 lead heading into the last of the ninth inning. The largest Opening Day crowd in Royals history had been given a lump of coal, but one that was about to turn into a pot of gold.

Every good rally seems to start with a leadoff walk and Joe Randa, who seems to find a way to be involved in games like this, drew one to open the ninth. Ken Harvey followed with a walk. That drew debuting White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen out and he replaced reliever Cliff Politte with the man he hoped would be his closer that season, Billy Koch. That didn't help matters. Benito Santiago greeted Koch with a double to left, scoring Randa to make it a 7-4 game.

Koch settled in and struck out Aaron Guiel, and then the game turned into a managerial chessmatch. Royals manager Tony Pena sent up lefty Matt Stairs to bat for former Tony Graffanino and Guillen countered by yanking Koch in favor of lefty Damaso Marte.

Pena had an incredibly successful season playing hunches in 2003, so he figured he could push his luck into the next campaign as well, and pinch-hit for Stairs with righty utility man Mendy Lopez. Marte made a mistake and Lopez, who would hit .105 with only four hits for the season crushed it like no other pitch he'd ever hit before. It landed 420 feet away, over the centerfield fence, for a game-tying home run. The Royals had tied the game, but they weren't quite done yet.

Angel Berroa followed the home run with a single, bringing Carlos Beltran to the plate. If the Royals were going to have a big year in 2004, they were going to need Beltran to come through in moments like this. This was one of those moments where Beltran was going to show he was worthy of the big contract that was forthcoming in Flushing.

Marte and Beltran battled to a 2-2 count and then it was Beltran's turn to become the man of the moment. He turned on a Marte pitch and pummeled it over the left field fence for a walk-off two-run home run. If the fans had silver bells, we would have heard them from hundreds of miles away. Instead they clapped their Thunderstix (a dreadful invention) and crowed something the equivalent of "Ho Ho Ho!" celebrating the holidays seven months in advance
of their occurrence.

"This is a game I'm going to remember for the rest of my life," Beltran said to reporters after the biggest Opening Day comeback win in more than a century. "To be behind by four runs and to win, what can be better than this?"

As it turned out, that was an appropriate question. The Royals were a walking disaster in 2004 , losing 104 games. Nothing went right after Opening Day and Beltran eventually ended up in Houston, and now New York, where his initial effort left him likely pining for a time like this date, when baseball was the hap-happiest season of all.

True Metsmas fans know...The Mets have had walk-off wins on Opening Day in 1975, 1985, and 1998. I have written about two of those games here

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/08/fat-alberto.html
http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/08/neils-deal.html