Overall Record 40-41

Week 12 record 3-4

With a 4 game set on thee horizon with the cross-town rivals including a day/night two park double header, it seemed like a nice treat for a deplorable Seattle Mariners team coming in for a 3 game set at Shea. It SEEMED like a nice treat. I was on vacation and was pretty fired up to watch Johan vs. King Felix Monday night. Then history happened…and as often the case with the Mets, it wasn’t good history. With 2 on and 2 out in the top of the second inning Willie Bloomquist hit a weak grounder to David Wright who inexplicably bobbled the ball and had no play on the speedy Bloomquist. My exact quote to the patriarch was “at least the pitcher is up next.” On the first pitch, King Felix rocked a high fastball to right center field that left no doubt of clearing the fence. Hernandez became the first American League pitcher in 37 years to hit a grand slam home run…and of course it is against the New York Mets. 4-0 would then become 5-0. The Mets caught a break in the fifth when on a wild pitch, Carlos Beltran slid into home plate taking out King Felix’s royal ankle and knocking him out for the game. The Mets staged a 9^th inning rally putting the tying runs on base with one out and the Mariners calling on Arthur Rhodes to pitch. Yes that Arthur Rhodes. Carlos Delgado and Damien Easley naturally both struck out killing the threat and ending the game by a final of 5-2.

I really don’t want to talk about Tuesday night. To quote Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo…”R.A Dickey. R.A DICKEY!!! R.A. DICKEY!!!!!! What a joke? Bad Ollie comes out to play and the Mets lose to major league baseball’s worst again…this time 11-0.

Apparently remembering that the Mariners pitching is terrible, the Mets bats came out to play on Wednesday. After an apparently much needed day off on Tuesday, David Wright smacked two home runs to the picnic section and Jose Reyes added a 3 run blast in the 3^rd inning as the Mets cruised to an 8-2 victory. Of course after the last 2 days, let me point out the negatives. John Maine’s struggles in the 5^th and 6^th innings took him over the 100 pitch mark and out of the game. The Mets scored 8 runs on only 5 hits and did not get a base runner in their last 5 turns at bat. There is no silver lining from this series as the Mets waste yet another opportunity to get over .500.

The Mets had Thursday off and then traveled cross town for the first of the day/night double header match ups with the Yankees. I’ll let Rick recap Friday Night’s stink bomb at Shea later, so I’ll focus in on the 15-6 thrashing of the Yankees in which the Mets sweep the Yankees out of their own stadium in the last year of its existence. Finally, something to smile about in this 2008 season. The pitching was pretty dreadful on both sides but the main story line here was the performance of Carlos Delgado who turned back the clock for one afternoon going 3-5 with 2 home runs and a New York Mets single game record 9 RBI’s. It also included a back breaking grand slam home run to the bleachers to give the Mets an 11-4 lead in the 6^th inning. His afternoon accounted for nearly 20% of his RBI’s for that point of the season. Who knew? It was a glorious call from the boys at WFAN as we were already at the parking lot in Shea Stadium. The Mets could now easily take the season from the Yankees…right?

Saturday featured the best pitching match up of the series with Johan Santana squaring off against Andy Pettitte. The Mets struck first on a Ramon Castro solo home run in the 2^nd inning. Walks crippled Johan Santana in the 4^th. After walking Jeter and Abreu to start the 4^th, A-rod singled to left loading the bases. Both those walks would score on a ground out and sacrifice fly as the Yankees took the lead 2-1.  In the 6^th, Santana walked A-Rod to start the inning and after a balk, Robinson Cano singled home Rodriguez to stretch the lead to 3-1. David Wright answered back in the bottom half with a solo home run to lead off the inning bringing the score to 3-2. The Mets would only get one base runner in the last 3 innings of Veras, Farnsworth, and Rivera and lose by that same 3-2 score. While Santana wasn’t bad, we are all still waiting on that vintage Santana performance.

I’ll be honest…I did not watch/listen to single pitch of Sunday’s game. Partly because I didn’t want to, but mainly because I was at a beach house in Massachusetts with no TV and no WFAN. Luckily I got the same text back from Tara and Rick around 5:30 p.m. “3-1 Mets. Good Ollie showed up.” Perez through 7 innings of one run ball and Feliciano and Wagner held on to give the Mets the Subway Series over the Yankees. Also of importance, after lackluster Friday night and Saturday performances, Carlos Delgado crushed a home run in the 3^rd off Darrell Rasner to give us hope that maybe we’ll get some production the rest of the way from his bat. Maybe it wasn’t a one game fluke…maybe.

5 Up:

#1 Carlos Delgado: I don’t care what his numbers were for the week, or how he is a horror defensively. For one afternoon Carlos Delgado was the man again and he provided the moment of the week. On Friday afternoon, in the last game the Mets will ever play in Yankees Stadium, Delgado went 3-5 with 2 HR and a record setting 9 RBI. His 2 run double was clutch, the grand slam in the 6^th put the game out of reach and the 3 run home run in the 8^th stuck it to Yankees fans everywhere. I sure am going to miss Yankees Stadium…about as much as I would miss a bad rash.

#2 Good Ollie: He made an appearance on Sunday. He pretty much owns the Yankees at this point. Here are his numbers as a Met vs. the Yankees.

5/18/07 7 2/3 IN 5H 2R 2BB 5K

6/15/07 7 1/3 IN 5H 0R 3BB 6K

5/18/08 7 2/3 IN 3H 2R 2BB 4K

6/29/08       7 IN 3H 1R 0BB 8K

Total: 29 2/3 IN 16H 4R 7BB 23K

            ERA 1.21 WHIP 1.29 K/BB 3.29/1

How scarily consistent is that for the most inconsistent pitcher to ever wear a Mets uniform? If an AL East team doesn’t sign him next year they are crazy.

#3 David Wright: He got a day off on Tuesday then went deep twice on Wednesday. He hit .429 for the week with 3 home runs and 8 RBI’s in 6 games.

#4 #48/Duanar Sanchez: The two set up men got the job done this week not allowing a run between the two. The bullpen has been one of the lone bright sports of the last couple of weeks.

#5 Mike Pelfrey: I know his numbers and stuff weren’t impressive on Friday, but he fought through it and kept the Mets in the game. He got Jorge Posada to pop out in a huge bases loaded jam in the 4^th inning. He went 5 which was enough for a win but he gets this last spot because he has been the most consistent starter behind Johan Santana all year. Think about it.

5 Down:

#1 Johan Santana: Step up and be our ace already. I know the ERA is strong, but break out of it. It’s not enough for him to be solid from start to start. It’s time for you to be the man!

#2 Bad Ollie: He showed up Tuesday Night against the Mariners. Just another inconsistent pitcher in the Mets rotation. This is why winning streaks are nearly impossible to come by.

#3 Pedro Martinez: I know I should just be happy that he is healthy, but he melted down again on Friday night vs. the Yankees. His stuff is there, but he just needs to find his control. Hopefully that is sooner than later for the Mets sake.

#4 Claudio Vargas: I think overall his contribution to this team was largely positive. However, he got lit up out of the pen on Tuesday and wound up looking for a job afterwards. Hopefully the Mets can retain him in Triple A.

#5 Hitters not names Beltran, Reyes, or Wright: This team only scores when these guys hit. This team gets ZERO production from half the line up game in and game out. If the rotating corner outfielders, catchers and second baseman don’t hit, you can pretty much throw away the season.

Looking back at Mets history:

June 30, 2003 (off)

Current Record 35-46

Overall Record 66-95

Mets 3 Expos 1

Coming off a 4 game sweep courtesy of the New York Yankees, the Mets ride the strong performance of Steve Trachsel for a 3-1 victory over Montreal. Steve-O scattered 5 hits over 7 innings of work and only yielding a run in the 2^nd inning on a Ron Calloway sacrifice fly that scored Will Cordero. With the Mets trailing 1-0 in the third, Roberto Alomar singled and then went to third on a Cliff Floyd double to left center field. With two in scoring position, Ty Wigginton stepped to the plate a crushed a ground rule double plating both runners. The Mets would add an insurance run in the fifth on Floyd’s RBI single scoring Jeremy Burnitz. Javier Vazquez pitched a respectable 6 innings but with Steve-O lulling Expos hitters to sleep, and strong bullpen work from David Weathers and Armando Benitez, the Mets won their first game in almost a week. The win still left the Mets in last place in the NL East, 15 ½ games behind the division leading Braves.

June 30, 2000

Current Record: 45-32

Overall Record: 94-68

Mets 11 Braves 8

Every now and then we are treated to something special in looking back at Mets history. Most times it is painful, but then you find the diamond in the rough. For all the crap this team puts us through, we get a game like this that totally restores our faith in the ability to win. If ever we need a reason to believe this team can come back it is this game…this day in Mets history.

I attended the game on June 30, 2000.  Next to Benny Agbayani’s game winning home run in the 13^th inning in the NLDS later this year, this is my favorite memory of a game that I attended. I was working this summer for a construction company and by the time I got home from work I had to take the train to Shea to meets friends of mine from high school. By the time I showed up to the parking lot, one of my friends had already received a drinking violation from the NYPD. They were fired up to be there, as was everybody. The Braves were in town. The Mets were only 3 games back in the division. It was a four game series to try to overtake the division. It was fireworks night at Shea. Have I mentioned it was also the first series Atlanta played in New York since John Rocker made his infamous comments about the 7 train? Yeah…game on!

Well, the night did not start off as anticipated. After a Thursday night loss to the Braves…in which Rocker pitched a scoreless inning, the Braves raced out to a 4-0 lead after 3 innings. Mike Hampton walked in a run in the first inning and then in the third gave up a bases load single to Javy Lopez. Quilvio Veras scored and Mike Piazza mishandled the throw from Benny Agbayani which allowed not only Andruw Jones to score from second but also allowed Andres Gallaraga to score from 1^st.  In the 7^th, Keith Lockhart knocked in a run on an RBI groundout to push the lead to 5-0. After a little stretching the Mets finally broke through with a run off Kevin Milwood in the bottom half of the inning. Pinch hitting for Hampton, Matt Franco came through with a 2 out RBI single to right field scoring Todd Zeile and making the score 5-1. The 8^th inning to follow would be what normally would drive the bulk of the fans out of Shea. Eric Cammack came in to replace Mike Hampton in the inning. Eric Cammack only made 10 appearances is whole career and they all cam in 2000 with the Mets. This was not one of his finer moments. With 2 outs and 2 on in the 8th Brian Jordan came to the plate. I cannot think of one nice thing to say about Brian Jordan. He could cure cancer one day and I would still hate him. Needless to say Jordan cracks a 3 run home and the Mets are down 8-1. This is where everyone heads for the paring lot cursing the Braves, Mets, Rocker, Cammack, Hampton, Valentine, and anyone else they can thin of. However, here is the thing…it’ fireworks night. Everyone is sticking around for the show after the game. That produces a magical 8^th inning that had fireworks of its own. Here is the recap with commentary in parenthesis:

Don Wengert pitching

Derek Bell: Single to left field

Edgardo Alfonzo: Fly out to center field

Mike Piazza: Single to center field. Bell to third. Piazza to second on Rafael Furcal throwing error (this is key)

Robin Ventura: Ground out to second base. Bell scores. Piazza to 3^rd. (If Furcal doesn’t foolishly make an error this becomes a double play ball and the inning is over. Wow!)

Todd Zeile: Single to left center. Piazza scores. (This is the point where we are all saying that if freaking Eric Cammack hadn’t allowed the home run, the Mets would be sending the winning run to the plate. Now they are still down 8-3. Die Eric Cammack…oops!)

Jay Payton: Singles to left field. Zeile to second.

Kerry Lightenberg relieves Don Wengert (WITH 2 OUTS!!!)

Benny Agbayani: Walk. Zeile to third. Payton to second.

Mark Johnson pinch hits for Eric Cammak

Mark Johnson: Walk. Zeile scores. Payton to third. Agbayani to second.

Melvin Mora: Walk: Payton scores. Agbayani to third. Johnson to second. (8-5. Holy crap…is this really happening??!!)

Terry Mullholland relieves Kerry Lightenberg (WE WANT ROCKER!) Joe McEwing pinch runs for Mark Johnson

Derek Bell: Walk. Agbayani scores. McEwing to third. Mora to second. (8-6 and Bobby Cox is ready to kill)

Edgardo Alfonzo: Single to left field. McEwing scores. Mora scores. Bell to second. (That just actually happened. I can’t hear anymore)

Mike Piazza: Home Run. Bell scores. Alfonzo scores. Piazza scores.

This was unreal. Unreal. I am sitting in the second to last row in the upper deck and could not actually see the ball clear the wall from my seats. We watched the reaction from Piazza, the bench and the fans behind the dugout and realized it was gone. My friend Scott Feeney dove from his seat and knocked over 3 of my friends. We all started jumping up and down but suddenly stopped. The ground beneath us was shaking. Who cares? We all started jumping even harder. It was the most incredible come back I have ever seen and I still get chills when SNY airs the game again. Fireworks were never more enjoyable than they were that night at Shea Stadium.

Here is one more note in case I haven’t written enough about this game. Cammack pitched the 8^th inning. The Mets trailed 8-1. The Mets scored 10 runs in the bottom of the 8^th inning to go up 11-8. Armando Benitez did not replace Cammack until the 9^th inning recording 3 outs. One would think Eric Cammack would get the win and Armando Benitez would get the save. However, Benitez was in fact given the win by the official scorer. Confused I called rick. Here is the e-mail I later got from Mr. Briamonte.

I have checked the rule book and according to Rule 10.17(b):

10.17 WINNING AND LOSING PITCHER

 (b)…official scorer shall credit as the winning pitcher the relief pitcher, if there is only one relief pitcher, or the relief pitcher who, in the official scorer’s judgment was the most effective, if there is more than one relief pitcher.

Rule 10.17(b) Comment: It is the intent of Rule 10.17(b) that a relief pitcher pitch at least one complete inning or pitch when a crucial out is made, within the context of the game (including the score), in order to be credited as the winning pitcher. If the first relief pitcher pitches effectively, the official scorer should not presumptively credit that pitcher with the win, because the rule requires that the win be credited to the pitcher who was the most effective, and a subsequent relief pitcher may have been most effective. The official scorer, in determining which relief pitcher was the most effective, should consider the number of runs, earned runs and base runners given up by each relief pitcher and the context of the game at the time of each relief pitcher’s appearance. If two or more relief pitchers were similarly effective, the official scorer should give the presumption to the earlier pitcher as the winning pitcher.

(c) The official scorer shall not credit as the winning pitcher a relief pitcher who is ineffective in a brief appearance, when at least one succeeding relief pitcher pitches effectively in helping his team maintain its lead. In such a case, the official scorer shall credit as the winning pitcher the succeeding relief pitcher who was most effective, in the judgment of the official scorer.

Rule 10.17(c) Comment: The official scorer generally should, but is not required to, consider the appearance of a relief pitcher to be ineffective and brief if such relief pitcher pitches less than one inning and allows two or more earned runs to score (even if such runs are charged to a previous pitcher)

Basically, since Eric Cammack sucked more than a baby on a pacifier, he is not credited with the win.

My research skill trump all others.  Put THAT in your books!

Phenomenal research by Rick here. Think about this. For Eric Cammack who only pitched in 10 games in his career, he finished with a career record of 0-0 because the official score keeper abided by rule 10.17. What a story it would have been to tell if that was his lone big league win.

June 30, 1986

Current Record:  50-21

Overall Record: 108-54

Mets 7 Cardinals 0

Bobby Ojeda tosses a 7 hit shut out in St. Louis as the Mets dominate the Cardinal 7-0 to stretch their record to a remarkable 50-21. The Mets peppered Cardinals pitching for 16 hits in the game. Kevin Mitchell reached base in all 5 at bats with 3 hits, 2 walks, 3 runs scored and an RBI. Gary Carter went 2-5 with 2 RBI and Ray Knight went 3-5 with 2 RBI’s in the win. The Mets would go on to sweep the Cardinals in St. Louis and afterwards Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog proclaimed them the NL East champions.

June 30, 1969

Current Record: 40-32

Overall Record: 100-62

Mets 10 Cardinals 2

Mets hitters knocked our Cardinals starter Nelson Briles out of the game after only 1/3 of an inning scoring 6 times in the opening frame. They would tack on 3 more in the 6^th en route to the 10-2 victory in St. Louis. The Mets batted around in the first and were highlighted by RBI singles from Ken Boswell and Rod Gasper and finally by Jerry Grote’s 3 run home run making it 6-0. Art Shamsky would also go yard for the Mets later in the game. Jim McAndrew went the distance for the Mets allowing two solo home runs to shortstop Dal Maxvill and first baseman Joe Torre.

June 30, 1962

Current Record: 20-53

Overall Record: 40-120

Dodgers 5 Mets 0

Sandy Koufax was the man. The Mets were no hit for the first time in franchise history as the Dodgers ace walked five but didn’t allow a hit while striking out 13 Mets in Los Angeles’s 5-0 victory. Koufax retired the first 9 Mets to hit striking out 7 of them. Richie Ashburn led off the fourth inning with a walk spoiling any chance of a perfect game. After walking Gene Woodling to lead off the 9^th inning, Koufax induced consecutive fielder’s choice ground outs from Richie Ashburn, Rod Kanehl, and finally Felix Mantilla to complete the no hitter. It was the first of Sandy Koufax’s then record four no hitters.