Who Has More Stolen Bases?

It's the sequel to the ever-popular "Who has more triples?" game.

I call it "Who Has More Stolen Bases?" in honor of Jose Reyes reaching the 300 mark on Sunday.

Answers in the comments section.

1) Who has more stolen bases...Jose Reyes or Willie Mays?
Jose Reyes is the Mets all-time stolen bases leader

Most Stolen Bases
Mets History
300- Jose Reyes
281- Mookie Wilson
202- Howard Johnson
191- Darryl Strawberry
152- Lee Mazzilli

2) Who has more stolen bases...Jose Reyes or Jimmy Rollins?
Jose Reyes has 38 stolen bases against the Phillies, his most against any team.

3) Who has more stolen bases...Jose Reyes or Ryne Sandberg?
Three players with 500+ career stolen bases have played for the Mets: Rickey Henderson (1,406), Vince Coleman (752), and Brett Butler (558).

4) Who has more stolen bases...Jose Reyes or Jose Cruz?
Neither of these men have the record for most stolen bases by a Jose. Former Met Jose Cardenal does, with 329.

5) Who has more stolen bases...Jose Reyes or Alex Rodriguez?
Jose Reyes is perfect stealing bases against 2 NL teams- the Padres (21-for-21) and the Cubs (12-for-12).

Who has more triples?

Let's play a game...I call it "Who has more triples?"

The answers are linked in the comments section.

* Who has more career triples...Jose Reyes or Keith Hernandez?

Jose Reyes tied Mookie Wilson's Mets triples record on Thursday with the 62nd of his career.

Most Triples
Mets History

62- Mookie Wilson
62- Jose Reyes
45- Bud Harrelson
33- Cleon Jones
31- Steve Henderson
30- Darryl Strawberry

* Who has more career triples...Jose Reyes or Carlos Beltran?

Carlos Beltran has the same number of triples in his career as Wade Boggs and Bobby Bonilla.

Who has more career triples...Jose Reyes or Willie Randolph?

Mookie Wilson still has the Mets club record for most games with a triple.

Most Games with at least one triple
Mets History

61- Mookie Wilson
58- Jose Reyes
44- Bud Harrelson
33- Cleon Jones
31- Steve Henderson
30- Darryl Strawberry

Who has more triples...Jose Reyes or Mickey Mantle?

Jose Reyes has now had 4 seasons with 10+ triples. The all-time record is held by Ty Cobb, who had 17 seasons of 10+ triples.

Who has more triples...Jose Reyes or Rickey Henderson?

Rickey Henderson did not hit a triple in his Mets career.

Most Plate Appearances, No Triples
Mets History

1,121- Willie Montanez
894- Jason Phillips
659- Charlie O'Brien
654- Mo Vaughn
650- Rickey Henderson
645- Mark Carreon

Who has more triples...Jose Reyes or Derek Jeter?

Lou Brock has the record for most triples against the Mets, with 18.

Most Career Triples
vs Mets

18- Lou Brock
14- Larry Bowa
12- Pete Rose
12- Roberto Clemente

Who has more triples...Jose Reyes or Ichiro?

Most Triples
Born in Dominican Republic

102- Juan Samuel
92- Tony Fernandez
78- Alfredo Griffin
75- Cristian Guzman
72- Jose Offerman
70- Luis Polonia
62- Jose Reyes

Who has more triples...Jose Reyes or Shawon Dunston?

Most Career Triples by Met
at Shea Stadium

29- Bud Harrelson
27- Jose Reyes
22- Cleon Jones
19- Mookie Wilson
16- Darryl Strawberry
15- Lance Johnson
14- Steve Henderson
14- Lee Mazzilli

Equal Time For the Other Leadoff Hitter

* Jose Reyes needs 2 triples to tie Mookie Wilson for most triples in Mets history. Reyes presently has 60 triples.

* Jose Reyes has tripled in consecutive games. It's the 29th time in Mets history that a player has tripled in consecutive games, and the second time that Reyes has done that. No Met has ever tripled in three straight games.

Most Times Tripling in Consecutive Games
Mets History

2-Jose Reyes
2-Mookie Wilson
2-Ted Martinez
2-Cleon Jones

* The Mets are 42-14 all-time in regular-season games in which Jose Reyes hits a triple.

* The Mets are 6-1 all-time when Jose Reyes, as the Mets first batter of the game, hits a triple.

* In this 9-game stretch in which the Mets are 6-3, Jose Reyes is 6-for-8 with a walk, as the Mets first batter of the game.

* Among the regular players, Jose Reyes currently has the Mets best batting average with runners in scoring position and 2 outs. He's 7-for-22 with 8 walks, good for a .318 average.

* If, in 2008 Jose Reyes gets ahead in the count, 1-0, he has a .388 on-base percentage.

* If in 2008, Jose Reyes falls behind in the count, 0-1, he has a .319 on-base percentage.

* Since May 17 (the first game of the Yankees series), Jose Reyes ranks fourth in the NL with a .331 batting average, and sixth in the NL with a .580 slugging percentage. The slugging rank is impressive, considering Reyes has not homered in his last 16 games.

* The last 8 games in which Jose Reyes stole exactly 1 base, the Mets are 8-0. In fact, the Mets are 16-2 this season in games in which Jose Reyes steals EXACTLY 1 base.

* The last 3 games in which Jose Reyes stole exactly 2 bases, the Mets are 0-3. In fact, the Mets are 1-3 this season in games in which Jose Reyes steals EXACTLY 2 bases.

True Metples know...Among the many other Mets to triple in consecutive games...

John Olerud
Tom Seaver
Gary Rajsich
Gene Clines

His Walks Are Off

Remember when the Mets were an exciting first-inning team, one that bludgeoned opponents early?

What happened to that squad? I trace it to the returned impatience of Jose Reyes.

There was a stat on the Mets telecast Wednesday about how as Reyes goes, the Mets go. Actually, this year, I think that's more of a David Wright thing, but here's one more note on Reyes.

It's a rather disturbing stat. Reyes is hitting .229 in his first AB leading off a game in 2008. He's drawn one game-opening walk and scored six runs.

In 2007, Reyes led off a game 160 times. He hit .303, but more importantly, he had 15 game-opening walks. He scored 37 runs.

That's a pretty significant difference, but one I'd hope is fixable.

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By the way, if you haven't already, check out http://www.garykeithandron.com/, as the Mets broadcast crew now has its own website and is selling t-shirts to raise money for a few worthy charities. Looking forward to seeing if Keith Hernandez joins the world o'bloggers.

Riding The Tricycle

Ok, so on Friday's SNY broadcast, Gary Cohen told you of Harry Danning, the last player nailed trying for an inside-the-park home run with a cycle at stake...What they didn't tell you, besides Danning's status as the greatest Jewish catcher of all-time (so says his Baseball-Reference.com page), was...

* That Jose Reyes became the first player in Mets history with a single, a double, and two triples in a game.

While that had never been done by the Mets, it had been done against them. I could give you 800 guesses at the former Met who put forth that kind of game and you wouldn't get the name. Only 829 players have played for the Mets (so says Ultimate Mets Database), but I bet it would take until guess 801 to come up with this guy...

Junior Noboa.

Two great notes from that game of June 5, 1990
1) Mets broadcaster Ron Darling allowed the double, and the second triple to Noboa.
2) Despite Noboa's unbelievable effort, his team didn't win. The Mets did...in walk-off fashion when Tom O'Malley homered off Expos reliever Dale Mohorcic in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* Also of great significance in Friday's win: The Mets had a pair of tri-cycles (or maybe it's try-cycles), one from Jose Reyes and one from David Wright. A tri-cycle (or try-cycle) is when a player misses getting the cycle by one hit.

For his part, it was the 4th time in Jose Reyes' career that he was a home run shy of the cycle. This is an all-time Mets record!

Most Times Missing The Cycle By A Home Run
Mets History

Jose Reyes 4<<>> Set record in Mets win over Diamondbacks Friday
>> Total occurences: 72

For David Wright, his single, double and home run meant that it was the 9th time in his career that he was a triple shy of the cycle. He's now second all-time in Mets history in that department.

Most Times Missing The Cycle By a Triple
Mets History

Mike Piazza 12
David Wright 9
Robin Ventura 8
Darryl Strawberry 8
Ed Kranepool 8
Carlos Beltran 8
Howard Johnson 7
>> Total occurences: 250

* For the record, let's get the other two variants out there. They are a pair of very odd lists.

Most Times Missing The Cycle By A Double
Mets History

Darryl Strawberry 3
Frank Thomas 2
22 others 1
>> Total occurrences: 27

Most Times Missing The Cycle By A Single
Mets History

Gregg Jefferies 3
Ron Swoboda 1
Darryl Strawberry 1
Joe Christopher 1
>> Total occurrences: 6

There's no easy way to check my source (the great Baseball-Reference PI) for the 355 tri-cycles (or try-cycles) in Mets history to see if more than one took place in the same game, as happened Friday. Perhaps some other time.

Reyes/Wright Minutiae

Though still seething over the events of Wednesday evening, there was a rather pleasant recover on Thursday afternoon, and the train ride/drive home from Shea allowed me to gather my thoughts and convey them here.

* On Wednesday, Jose Reyes became the 9th Met to hit for the cycle. He became the first to do so in a Mets loss.

* Reyes is the first Met to hit for the cycle at home since John Olerud (September 11, 1997 vs Expos). He is the 4th Met to hit for the cycle at home (Jim Hickman, Tommie Agee and John Olerud). The Mets have never had a walk-off win and cycle in the same game. Interesting to note that the only visitor to hit for the cycle at Shea is Wes Parker (May 7, vs Dodgers) and he drove in the go-ahead runs that day with a 10th inning triple.

* Reyes became the 2nd Mets shortstop to hit for the cycle, joining Mike Phillips (June 25, 1976 at Cubs). He became the 4th leadoff Met to hit for the cycle (Jim Hickman, August 7, 1963 vs Cardinals, Tommie Agee, July 6, 1970 vs Cardinals, and Phillips).

* Reyes became the 3rd Met to finish his cycle with a single, joining Phillips and Keith Hernandez (July 4, 1985 at Atlanta in 19 innings). Hernandez is the only Met to need more than 5 AB to hit for the cycle (he got the single in his 7th AB).

* Reyes became the first Met to hit for the cycle since Eric Valent (July 29, 2004 at Expos). This bring me to my favorite note. Valent batted 7th in the Mets lineup that day. The No. 8 hitter was 8 games into his major-league career that day. His name was David Wright.

With that we segue (and I don't want to dwell on cycles, because they're overrated) to the "Star of David" portion of Minutiae. David Wright is a good road trip away from becoming the first Met to win NL Player of the Month honors since Howard Johnson did it in September, 1991.

Wright is hitting .378 (31 for 82) with 9 HR and 25 RBI in June. He leads the majors in June HR and RBI. He has 9 multi-hit games, 2 multi-HR games and 6 multi-RBI games in that span. He had a string of 3 straight games with a HR, on the road against a second-place team. He saved one of those wins with a Gold Glove-caliber play to start a double play at third base. On back-to-back days, he's been the unsung hero (2-strike hit preceding Jose Valentin's HR) and the outsung hero (2 HR, 4 RBI in nice recovery-game win).

Some brief Minutiae history on the Player of the Month award...

* A Met has won NL Player of the Month on 9 occasions.

June, 1970- Tommie Agee .364 BA, 11 HR, 30 RBI
April, 1973- Jerry Koosman 4-0, 1.06 ERA
July, 1975- Dave Kingman .322 BA, 13 HR, 31 RBI
July, 1985- Keith Hernandez .392 BA, 4 HR, 29 RBI
September, 1985- Gary Carter .343 BA, 13 HR, 34 RBI
September, 1987- Darryl Strawberry .317 BA, 8 HR, 27 RBI
September, 1988- Kevin McReynolds .345 BA, 7 HR, 22 RBI
June, 1989- Howard Johnson .340 BA, 11 HR, 24 RBI, 6 SB
September, 1991- Howard Johnson .296 BA, 10 HR, 28 RBI, 10 SB

* Amazingly, Mike Piazza was never an NL Player of the Month as a Met, despite posting the following numbers in a Mets uniform

September, 1998- .378 BA, 6 HR, 22 RBI
May, 1999- .340 BA, 6 HR, 20 RBI
August, 1999- .323 BA, 11 HR, 33 RBI
May, 2000- .375 BA, 9 HR, 20 RBI
June 2000- .349 BA, 8 HR, 32 RBI
July, 2002- .329 BA, 7 HR, 24 RBI

* There have been 84 recipients of the NL Player of the Month award since the last Met won it. Barry Bonds has been NL Player of the Month 11 times since a Met last won it. Others include

Felix Jose (May, 1992)
Cory Snyder (June, 1992)
Brett Butler (July, 1992, what a trifecta in 1992!)
Jeff Conine (June, 1995)
Ken Caminiti (August and September, 1996)
Jeromy Burnitz (June, 1999)
Richard Hidalgo (September, 2000)
Randy Winn (September, 2005)

Minutiae Break: 5-Hit Games

On Friday night, Jose Reyes had 5 hits in a 14-inning win against the Braves. With the help of page 139 of the 2006 Mets Media Guide, here are some interesting nuggets about Mets 5-hit games.

* This was the 29th time a Met had at least 5 hits in a game (though the team media guide says it's the 27th, a count reveals 29 such instances). The only 6-hit game belongs to Edgardo Alfonzo (August 30, 1999 at Houston). The other 28 occurrences were 5 hits.

* Reyes became the 25th different Met with at least 5 hits in a game. Keith Hernandez (3), Mike Piazza (2) and Rusty Staub (2) are the only Mets to get at least 5 hits in a game on multiple occasions.

* Reyes became the first Met to get at least 5 hits in a home game since Dave Magadan (July 24, 1987, Game 2 of doubleheader vs Houston). He's only the 5th Met to get at least 5 hits in a game at Shea Stadium (Magadan, Wally Backman, Staub and John Milner).

* Reyes became the 2nd Met named Jose to get at least 5 hits in a game. The other is Jose Vizcaino (September 23, 1995 at Florida).

* This was the 6th time that a Mets player had at least 5 hits against the Braves. The other 5 are Jim Hickman, Gary Carter, Darryl Strawberry, Kevin McReynolds and Mike Piazza.

* This was the 5th time a Mets player had at least 5 hits in an extra-inning game and the first since the 19-inning encounter against the Braves on July 4, 1985 (Gary Carter).

* Reyes became the first Met to go 5-for-7 in a game. Every one of the other games was either a 5-for-5 (16 occurrences), a 5-for-6 (9 occurrences), a 5-for-9 (2 occurrences) or a 6-for-6 (1 occurrence)

* Reyes became the first Met to triple in a 5-hit game since Alex Ochoa (July 3, 1996 at Philadelphia). It was the sixth time that a Mets player tripled in a 5-hit game.

* Reyes became the third Met with no RBI in a 5-hit game, joining the previously mentioned Vizcaino and Ty Wigginton (May 10, 2004 at Arizona). Wigginton was the last Met to get 5 hits in a game, prior to Reyes.

True Metpents know...The first player to get at least 5 hits in a game for the Mets is first baseman Dick Smith, who did so as the leadoff man in a 19-1 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field on May 26, 1964. "This Date in Mets History" tells the story of how a Met fan called a newspaper looking for the score of the result of that day's game. The newspaper man informed the fan that the Mets scored 19 runs. "Great," the fan said, then asked "did they win?"

Smith had 2 hits in his next game then went into a 0-for-23 slump. His Mets career was finished less than a month after his 5-hit game with just 31 total hits, the same total with which he would end his big league career after an 0-for-6 stint with the Dodgers the following season.