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Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

metirish Dec 09 2009 01:40 PM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Dec 09 2009 01:56 PM

I would like to do a little project to nominate the most memorable Mets games of the Noughties then get a fancy poll up and we can vote on it. I'll start by nominating a few obvious ones. Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants. Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06 On , and I would like your input on this.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 01:42 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.

Edgy DC Dec 09 2009 01:43 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public, 2000. Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, 2000. The Victor Diaz game. The Castillo drop.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 01:46 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 01:47 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

And of course, that home run by Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11.

Swan Swan H Dec 09 2009 01:47 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Piazza homers to win the first game in NYC after 9/11. I watched that home run for at least the 25th time last week and it still gets to me.

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 01:48 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Game One of the 2006 NLDS, which included the double play at home plate.

metirish Dec 09 2009 01:50 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 09 2009 01:53 PM

It would be nice if actual game dates were given. The Diaz game was from 04? September 25, 2004 would be the game?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 09 2009 01:50 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I like it. Welcome Abordick, 2000 Piazza 9/11, 2001 I forgot the last seven years

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 09 2009 01:51 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":2ff3afxu]Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds.[/quote:2ff3afxu] That was a terrific game. That was when I knew we could actually win something.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 09 2009 01:52 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

2002: Estes vs. Clemens 2003: Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 01:53 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="metirish":1k4y4qa3]It would be nice if actual game dates were given. [/quote:1k4y4qa3] Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006.

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 01:53 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket":1d1lao62] 2003: Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day[/quote:1d1lao62] I still haven't thawed out after that one....

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 01:54 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":3vqmlswt]Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.[/quote:3vqmlswt] 10/07/2000 [quote="Benjamin Grimm":3vqmlswt]Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds.[/quote:3vqmlswt] 10/05/2000 [quote="Benjamin Grimm":3vqmlswt]And of course, that home run by Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11.[/quote:3vqmlswt] 09/21/2001

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 01:58 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket":1t3hbc3b][quote="Benjamin Grimm":1t3hbc3b]Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds.[/quote:1t3hbc3b] That was a terrific game. That was when I knew we could actually win something.[/quote:1t3hbc3b] You were the first UMDB poster to comment on that game: http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail. ... 40&tabno=B

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 09 2009 01:58 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

2004: Nothing memorable happened that year, I don;t think 2005: The Cliff Floyd/Marlon Anderson Game vs. the Angels 2006: The 16-inning win over the Phillies. I also think the Wright double to the gap off rivera game was in 06. Lots of good games that year 2007: Nothing memorable happened this year 2008: Coughing it up on the Wednesday nite game vs. the Cubs despite Delgado's grand slam and the leadoff triple in the 9th. 2009: Nothing memorable happened this year

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 01:59 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":2du0hwps][quote="Benjamin Grimm":2du0hwps]Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.[/quote:2du0hwps] 10/07/2000 [/quote:2du0hwps] That was a great birthday present. Only topped by Holy Saturday - 10/7/2006. The MFY's are eliminated in the ALDS, and later that night the Mets beat the Dodgers to complete the sweep in the NLDS.

Edgy DC Dec 09 2009 02:00 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04. http://ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6891 Check out the gallery of heartbreakers pitching that day: Aaron Heilman 5.0 innings Tyler Yates 1.1 innings Mike Stanton 1.0 inning Bartolome Fortunato 0.0 (two walks in two batters) Heath Bell 1.2 innngs Ricky Bottalico 1.0 innings Jae Seo 1.0 innings

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 09 2009 02:00 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Edgy DC":26utiatn]The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04. http://ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6891 Check out the gallery of heartbreakers pitching that day: Aaron Heilman 5.0 innings Tyler Yates 1.1 innings Mike Stanton 1.0 inning Bartolome Fortunato 0.0 (two walks in two batters) Heath Bell 1.2 innngs Ricky Bottalico 1.0 innings Jae Seo 1.0 innings[/quote:26utiatn] I was at that game with our friend Sal Q!

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 02:00 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 09 2009 02:02 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":y5ssxhvu][quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket":y5ssxhvu][quote="Benjamin Grimm":y5ssxhvu]Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds.[/quote:y5ssxhvu] That was a terrific game. That was when I knew we could actually win something.[/quote:y5ssxhvu] You were the first UMDB poster to comment on that game: http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail. ... 40&tabno=B[/quote:y5ssxhvu] Wow! That was also Wifey's birthday, and the night of the chick in the JT Snow T-shirt.

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 02:06 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run.

metirish Dec 09 2009 02:08 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 8 time(s), most recently on Dec 09 2009 02:26 PM

Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants. Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06 Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000 Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000 Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001 Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public, 2000. - 07/08/2000 Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000? Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006. Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002 Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003 The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres. June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run. Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000 Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game. The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006 The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007 Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009 The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05 two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - 09/18/2006 The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 02:09 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="themetfairy"]8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres.

Is that the game where he homered twice? I remember both homers were cheered by the Mets crowd, but Piazza got booed when he came to the plate after that. Two was the limit; they didn't want to see him hit three homers against the Mets!

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 02:12 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Benjamin Grimm"][quote="themetfairy"]8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres.

Is that the game where he homered twice? I remember both homers were cheered by the Mets crowd, but Piazza got booed when he came to the plate after that. Two was the limit; they didn't want to see him hit three homers against the Mets!

No - the two home run game was the next night (8/9/06).

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 02:14 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket":2lksczw7] 2007: Nothing memorable happened this year [/quote:2lksczw7] That collapse seems to have slipped your mind, huh? By now, September is a blur of miserable losses, but the one that stands out is this one: http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail. ... 94&tabno=B September 30, 2007. The Mets are tied for first place with the Phillies, and we start the game with the hope that it will end in a division-clinching victory, which would make all the suffering of that month melt away. Then Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career.

TransMonk Dec 09 2009 02:15 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket":2jhbozhm]2006: The 16-inning win over the Phillies.[/quote:2jhbozhm] This would be my non-postseason, non-Piazza post-9/11 nominee. Here's the box: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes ... 5230.shtml This was a fun one too IMO (and I can see it's got some pub since I started my post - I'd take the 2 HR game): http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes ... 8090.shtml

Chad Ochoseis Dec 09 2009 02:16 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":1543ukdo]September 30, 2007. The Mets are tied for first place with the Phillies, and we start the game with the hope that it will end in a division-clinching victory, which would make all the suffering of that month melt away. Then Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career.[/quote:1543ukdo] The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable.

seawolf17 Dec 09 2009 02:17 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

The Mr. Koo game.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 02:17 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

My nominee for the best game of 2009 is this one: http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail. ... 98&tabno=B Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 09 2009 02:20 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Benjamin Grimm"][quote="themetfairy"]8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres.

Is that the game where he homered twice? I remember both homers were cheered by the Mets crowd, but Piazza got booed when he came to the plate after that. Two was the limit; they didn't want to see him hit three homers against the Mets!

Indeed t'is. Was there.

Let's toss 9/18/06 on the pile-- two HRs from The Moustache, a surprisingly brisk 6-plus from Trachsel (and maybe the only Trachsel game I've ever ENJOYED, rather than tolerated). And-- oh yeah-- something about a division title.

Less fun: 8/27-30/07. The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it.

Memory fails; a few more will come later, I'm sure.

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 02:22 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr"][quote="Benjamin Grimm"][quote="themetfairy"]8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres.

Is that the game where he homered twice? I remember both homers were cheered by the Mets crowd, but Piazza got booed when he came to the plate after that. Two was the limit; they didn't want to see him hit three homers against the Mets!

Indeed t'is. Was there.



No - Piazza's return was 8/8 (MK's birthday, which I remember well). He didn't homer that night. The two homers came the next night.

Vince Coleman Firecracker Dec 09 2009 02:25 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

August 22, 2006. Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 02:45 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

These are the games (from the 2000's) that have received the most comments on the UMDB: [list:p5n26jzj] 2000-10-26 27 (2000 World Series Game 5) 2006-10-19 18 (Endy Chavez, Yadier Molina, Beltran caught looking, nuff said.) 2000-10-07 14 (Benny Agbayani homer wins NLDS Game 3 in the 13th inning, my daughter is conceived immediately thereafter) 2007-09-30 13 (Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse) 2000-10-16 11 (Mets win NLCS) 2000-06-30 10 (Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8) 2000-10-08 9 (Bobby Jones; almost perfect) 2000-07-08 8 (Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader) 2004-10-03 8 (last game ever played by Montreal Expos) 2000-10-05 8 (The comeback after the J.T. Snow homer) 2006-09-18 7 (Mets clinch NL East) 2006-10-04 7 (NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play) 2001-09-21 7 (Piazza's post-9/11 homer) 2005-06-11 7 (Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer) 2006-08-22 7 (the Pujols/Delgado game mentioned in the previous post)[/list:u:p5n26jzj]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 09 2009 02:51 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="themetfairy"][quote="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr"][quote="Benjamin Grimm"][quote="themetfairy"]8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres.

Is that the game where he homered twice? I remember both homers were cheered by the Mets crowd, but Piazza got booed when he came to the plate after that. Two was the limit; they didn't want to see him hit three homers against the Mets!

Indeed t'is. Was there.



No - Piazza's return was 8/8 (MK's birthday, which I remember well). He didn't homer that night. The two homers came the next night.

INdeed, t'was. Boo, memory/not fact-checking! Hooray, Ginkgo Biloba!

Also, I'll need a new alibi for 8/8, then.

HahnSolo Dec 09 2009 02:52 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Included in that list is the game I was going to post: the 10-run eighth to beat the Braves June 30, 2000. Capped by Piazza's HR. [url]http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6153

Frayed Knot Dec 09 2009 02:54 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable). 9/27/08 -- http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=7555 Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner 5/19/06 -- http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=7101

Edgy DC Dec 09 2009 03:01 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: At the UMDB: http://ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php? ... 88&tabno=A At the Pool: http://p094.ezboard.com/fthecranepoolfo ... =1&stop=20

Edgy DC Dec 09 2009 03:05 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow. http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=7383

Centerfield Dec 09 2009 03:10 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Frayed Knot":1u7j4fpy] Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner 5/19/06 -- http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=7101[/quote:1u7j4fpy] I didn't realize that was a Geremi Gonzalez start. I guess if we start feeling sorry for ourselves, we can take solace that the last few years have been better to the Mets than they have to poor Geremi.

Gwreck Dec 09 2009 03:22 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. I remember NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable.

themetfairy Dec 09 2009 03:51 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr":31uel5mc] Also, I'll need a new alibi for 8/8, then.[/quote:31uel5mc] I'll vouch that you were celebrating MK's birthday

G-Fafif Dec 09 2009 04:21 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Sentimental favorites, one per year, beyond the fairly obvious and, unless I've missed something, those that have been mentioned: August 12, 2000: Mets 3 Giants 2 Giants score a run when Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming. Fondly recalled because Mrs. Fafif and I were on the last leg of our journey home from a day trip involving various trains and buses to and from Hyde Park (FDR Library, Vanderbilt Mansion) at the end of baseball-oriented vacation that involved lots of Shea, a little Jacobs Field and a cameo at the Polo Grounds. The day in question had nothing to do with the Mets but then I turned the game on that night and there they were, joining us on our adventure one more time. September 27, 2001: Mets 12 Expos 6 After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. June 29, 2002: Mets 11 Yankees 2 A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. July 27, 2003: Reds 8 Mets 5 Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. August 21, 2004: Mets 11 Giants 9 (12) The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. April 16, 2005: Mets 4 Marlins 3 Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. September 7, 2006: Mets 7 Dodgers 0 By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. May 17, 2007: Mets 6 Cubs 5 This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. August 7, 2008: Mets 5 Padres 3 David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. October 4, 2009: Mets 4 Astros 0 In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade.

metirish Dec 09 2009 05:38 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 3 time(s), most recently on Dec 09 2009 06:57 PM

1) -Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants. 2) - Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06 3) - Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000 4) - Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000 5) - Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001 6) - Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader. - 07/08/2000 7) - Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000? 8) - Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006. 9) - Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002 10) - Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003 11) - The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04 12) - 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres. 13) - June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run. 14) - Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000 15) - Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game. 16) - The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006 17) - The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007 18) - Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009 19) - The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05 20) - two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - Mets 4 - Marlins 0 - 09/18/2006 21) - The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007 22) - Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above. - 08/22/2006 23) - Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse - 09/30/2007 24) - Mets win NLCS - 10/16/2000 25) - Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8 - 06/30/2000 26) - ast game ever played by Montreal Expos - 10/03/2004 27) - Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable) - 09/27/2008 28) - Mets clinch NL East - Various Mets parade around with booze and cigars - 09/18/2006 29) - NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play - 10/04/2006 30) - Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer - as remembered on the UMDB.....lets not forget Floyd 1 out in the bottom of the 9th at Shea and the Angels have electric Francisco Rodriguez closing. Anderson, pinch hitting, drives one just shy of the track in right center, with RF Vladimir Guerrero running towards center and CF Steve Finley sliding while running toward RF to make the catch; he can't and it bounces off his leg and rolls into a vacant RF; he gets up and tracks the ball down, all the while Anderson is busting it around the basepaths, and despite a perfect relay throw, Anderson just beats the throw home to tie the game at 2. His face slammed into the catcher; he's there laying in pain, but when he gets up, oh what an ovation. And the capper: Cliff Floyd hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the 10th. 31) - Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner - 05/19/2006 32) - 2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: - Todd Zeile hit a 3 Run Home Run to tie the game and hit a go ahead Home Run in the 10th to account for all 5 of the Mets runs in this 5-3 win over the Phillies. UMDB - 06/02/2004 33) - Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow. Well who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would have been the stopper? It's the future of the Mets that saves them in the present. Coupled with Phillies loss (thanks to last years NLCS villian Yadier Molina) Mets shave 2 more games off of their Magic number. We are still a long ways away from a division title but there is no doubt the Mets needed this one. Credit Sosa for coming in and putting out a fire in the 6th and credit Alou for playing hurt and producing at the same time. Mets are off to Florida for 4 and then back home to end the season against the Nats, Cards, and Marlins. Hopefully things go well and we can capture a second straight division crown. - UMDB - 09/19/2007 34) - The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. - 08/30/2005 35) - NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable. - 10/18/2006 36) - Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming - 08/12/2000 37) - After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. - 09/27/2001 38) - A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. - 06/29/2002 39) - Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. - 07/23/2003 40) - The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. - 08/21/2004 41) - Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. - 04/16/2005 42) - By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. - 09/07/2006 43) - This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. - 05/17/2007 44) - David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. - 08/07/2008 45) - In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade. - 10/04/2009 46) - Mets win Game 3 of the 2000 WS - Benitez gets the Save 47) - Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004 48) - Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS - Mets are down 2 and rally big for the win Perez 2B Alfonzo 2B Piazza 2B Ventura 2B Zeile groundout Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2. 49) - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s - NLCS - Game 5 - 10/11/2000 50) - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. - NLCS Game 1 - 10/12/2006 51) - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers - 06/18/2004 52) - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins - 09/19/2006(good one) 53) - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. - 04/24/2007 54) - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez. - 06/15/2007 55) - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. - versus Giants - 06/29/2007 56) - The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden - 07/08/2000 - Grim the game memories have the wrong memories .... How about we rustle up 5 more games to make it 50 then close this and figure out the polling....I would like to strive for an ultimate Top 10. I have a feeling we are missing a few games , a few one hitters perhaps...D'Amico...a Glavine gem in there somewhere.....Pedro in the rain...

Frayed Knot Dec 09 2009 05:44 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

The 2-run 8th plus an Armando save (but I thought he always ...) for the only WS game we won in the noughties oughta qualify.

seawolf17 Dec 09 2009 05:58 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Sentimental? 1) July 22, 2004. Blew off work with a colleague on a beautiful Thursday afternoon to head to Shea to see this Wright kid everyone was talking about. Kid got his first major league hit; I just sold the ticket stub on eBay for eleventy billion dollars. 2) May 31, 2008. MiniWolf's first and only trip to Shea. 3) September 24, 2008. The extra-inning Cubs loss during the spiral that year. My last trip to Shea; I cried like someone had eaten my dog. (Obviously, none of those are real Top 50 material.)

metirish Dec 09 2009 06:23 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004

Gwreck Dec 09 2009 06:36 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I also was a big fan of NLCS Game 4 of 2000, where the Mets start bottom of the 1st inning down 2-0 and then go: Perez 2B Alfonzo 2B Piazza 2B Ventura 2B Zeile groundout Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2. Some great postseason pitching performances: NLCS Game 5, 2000 - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s. NLCS Game 1, 2006 - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. Others: June 18, 2004 - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers September 19, 2006 - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins April 24, 2007 - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. June 15, 2007 - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez.

seawolf17 Dec 09 2009 06:37 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Gwreck":1g4ytc2a]I also was a big fan of NLCS Game 4 of 2000, where the Mets start bottom of the 1st inning down 2-0 and then go: Perez 2B Alfonzo 2B Piazza 2B Ventura 2B Zeile groundout Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2. [/quote:1g4ytc2a] Ooh! A game I was actually at, sitting in the last row of the upper deck in the next-to-last section in left field.

Number 6 Dec 09 2009 06:38 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

May 29, 2007 vs. SFO - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. Did we get that one already?

Benjamin Grimm Dec 09 2009 06:41 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

This one is memorable as a curiosity: The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden. http://ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6160

metirish Dec 09 2009 06:58 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Dec 10 2009 10:04 AM

1) -Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants. 2) - Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06 3) - Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000 4) - Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000 5) - Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001 6) - Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader. - 07/08/2000 7) - Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000? 8) - Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006. 9) - Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002 10) - Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003 11) - The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04 12) - 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres. 13) - June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run. 14) - Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000 15) - Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game. 16) - The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006 17) - The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007 18) - Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009 19) - The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05 20) - two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - Mets 4 - Marlins 0 - 09/18/2006 21) - The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007 22) - Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above. - 08/22/2006 23) - Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse - 09/30/2007 24) - Mets win NLCS - 10/16/2000 25) - Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8 - 06/30/2000 26) - ast game ever played by Montreal Expos - 10/03/2004 27) - Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable) - 09/27/2008 28) - Mets clinch NL East - Various Mets parade around with booze and cigars - 09/18/2006 29) - NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play - 10/04/2006 30) - Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer - as remembered on the UMDB.....lets not forget Floyd 1 out in the bottom of the 9th at Shea and the Angels have electric Francisco Rodriguez closing. Anderson, pinch hitting, drives one just shy of the track in right center, with RF Vladimir Guerrero running towards center and CF Steve Finley sliding while running toward RF to make the catch; he can't and it bounces off his leg and rolls into a vacant RF; he gets up and tracks the ball down, all the while Anderson is busting it around the basepaths, and despite a perfect relay throw, Anderson just beats the throw home to tie the game at 2. His face slammed into the catcher; he's there laying in pain, but when he gets up, oh what an ovation. And the capper: Cliff Floyd hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the 10th. 31) - Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner - 05/19/2006 32) - 2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: - Todd Zeile hit a 3 Run Home Run to tie the game and hit a go ahead Home Run in the 10th to account for all 5 of the Mets runs in this 5-3 win over the Phillies. UMDB - 06/02/2004 33) - Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow. Well who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would have been the stopper? It's the future of the Mets that saves them in the present. Coupled with Phillies loss (thanks to last years NLCS villian Yadier Molina) Mets shave 2 more games off of their Magic number. We are still a long ways away from a division title but there is no doubt the Mets needed this one. Credit Sosa for coming in and putting out a fire in the 6th and credit Alou for playing hurt and producing at the same time. Mets are off to Florida for 4 and then back home to end the season against the Nats, Cards, and Marlins. Hopefully things go well and we can capture a second straight division crown. - UMDB - 09/19/2007 34) - The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. - 08/30/2005 35) - NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable. - 10/18/2006 36) - Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming - 08/12/2000 37) - After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. - 09/27/2001 38) - A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. - 06/29/2002 39) - Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. - 07/23/2003 40) - The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. - 08/21/2004 41) - Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. - 04/16/2005 42) - By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. - 09/07/2006 43) - This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. - 05/17/2007 44) - David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. - 08/07/2008 45) - In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade. - 10/04/2009 46) - Mets win Game 3 of the 2000 WS - Benitez gets the Save 47) - Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004 48) - Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS - Mets are down 2 and rally big for the win Perez 2B Alfonzo 2B Piazza 2B Ventura 2B Zeile groundout Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2. 49) - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s - NLCS - Game 5 - 10/11/2000 50) - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. - NLCS Game 1 - 10/12/2006 51) - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers - 06/18/2004 52) - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins - 09/19/2006(good one) 53) - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. - 04/24/2007 54) - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez. - 06/15/2007 55) - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. - versus Giants - 06/29/2007 56) - The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden - 07/08/2000 - Grim the game memories have the wrong memories .... 57) - Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?" Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth. It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career - 04/04/2005 58) - August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest. - 08/23/2009 I have a feeling we are missing a few games , a few one hitters perhaps...D'Amico...a Glavine gem in there somewhere.....Pedro in the rain...

Fman99 Dec 09 2009 07:40 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Frayed Knot"]Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable). 9/27/08 -- http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=7555

Thank you, known to me as the "Fboy game." My son's first ever MLB game and only visit ever to Shea.

Edgy DC Dec 09 2009 08:49 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?" Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth. It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career. http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6899

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 09 2009 09:01 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Ah, yes. Joe Randa.

Gwreck Dec 09 2009 09:12 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I seem to recall Dunn (?) hitting the tying homer off Looper first and absolutely crushing it. Even for a bigtime closer, there's not a lot of shame in Adam Dunn getting you for the occasional homer. The fact that Randa hit the very next pitch (??) also out was just unbelievable.

Rockin' Doc Dec 09 2009 09:22 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Where is avi when you need him.

metirish Dec 10 2009 07:23 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

62 might be a nice number to stop at. Thoughts on how the polling would work? How about a poll to trim this list down to say 25 then after that a poll to find the Top Ten Most Memorable Mets Games oif the Noughties. Edgy you are great with polls.....how many times can a person vote in the first poll....these are things that need sorting. Ideas please.

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 07:27 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Make it 64, seed, and sort into subgroups.

metirish Dec 10 2009 07:30 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Excellent.....I like the various descriptions of the games , they help jog the memory ......in the poll what do you think about using numbers that correspond with the descriptions....so you would vote on the number in the actuall poll. Oh wait , that wouldn't work with the seeding would it?

Chad Ochoseis Dec 10 2009 07:35 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

June 27, 2008 - Carlos Delgado, who was batting .235 at the time and sucking so badly that there was serious talk of cutting him and trading for Richie Sexson (?!?), sets a Met record with 9 RBIs to help beat the Yankees 15-6 at MFYSII. He then goes on to have possibly the best three month stretch of any position player in Met history, and had a real shot at being named MVP if the Mets had managed to win the division.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 10 2009 07:44 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Yes! That game is worthy!

Benjamin Grimm Dec 10 2009 07:49 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Edgy DC":38mqrvrx]Make it 64, seed, and sort into subgroups.[/quote:38mqrvrx] I think it would be more interesting to get rankings, rather than a single winner. We know that most of these games won't stand a chance to be the winner. I'm afraid, though, that I don't have a good suggestion about how we'd go about this. Maybe the end-of-year player rankings that we do could serve as a model.

Gwreck Dec 10 2009 07:59 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

My proposal: Tackle the top 20 first. Have everybody select their top 20 and weight them MVP-voting style, the 20 points for #1, 19 for #2, etc. Then, after the top 20 is set -- start with the next 20 under the same system. Rinse, lather, repeat...

batmagadanleadoff Dec 10 2009 08:34 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest.

Gwreck Dec 10 2009 10:02 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Trainspotting moment: actually the first 3 batters had reached (1 scored) narrowing the score from 9-6 to 9-7.

metirish Dec 10 2009 10:08 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 3 time(s), most recently on Dec 10 2009 11:39 AM

1) -Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants. 2) - Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06 3) - Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000 4) - Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000 5) - Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001 6) - Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader. - 07/08/2000 7) - Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000? 8) - Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006. 9) - Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002 10) - Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003 11) - The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04 12) - 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres. 13) - June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run. 14) - Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000 15) - Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game. 16) - The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006 17) - The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007 18) - Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009 19) - The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05 20) - two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - Mets 4 - Marlins 0 - 09/18/2006 21) - The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007 22) - Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above. - 08/22/2006 23) - Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse - 09/30/2007 24) - Mets win NLCS - 10/16/2000 25) - Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8 - 06/30/2000 26) - ast game ever played by Montreal Expos - 10/03/2004 27) - Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable) - 09/27/2008 28) - Mets clinch NL East - Various Mets parade around with booze and cigars - 09/18/2006 29) - NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play - 10/04/2006 30) - Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer - as remembered on the UMDB.....lets not forget Floyd 1 out in the bottom of the 9th at Shea and the Angels have electric Francisco Rodriguez closing. Anderson, pinch hitting, drives one just shy of the track in right center, with RF Vladimir Guerrero running towards center and CF Steve Finley sliding while running toward RF to make the catch; he can't and it bounces off his leg and rolls into a vacant RF; he gets up and tracks the ball down, all the while Anderson is busting it around the basepaths, and despite a perfect relay throw, Anderson just beats the throw home to tie the game at 2. His face slammed into the catcher; he's there laying in pain, but when he gets up, oh what an ovation. And the capper: Cliff Floyd hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the 10th. 31) - Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner - 05/19/2006 32) - 2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: - Todd Zeile hit a 3 Run Home Run to tie the game and hit a go ahead Home Run in the 10th to account for all 5 of the Mets runs in this 5-3 win over the Phillies. UMDB - 06/02/2004 33) - Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow. Well who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would have been the stopper? It's the future of the Mets that saves them in the present. Coupled with Phillies loss (thanks to last years NLCS villian Yadier Molina) Mets shave 2 more games off of their Magic number. We are still a long ways away from a division title but there is no doubt the Mets needed this one. Credit Sosa for coming in and putting out a fire in the 6th and credit Alou for playing hurt and producing at the same time. Mets are off to Florida for 4 and then back home to end the season against the Nats, Cards, and Marlins. Hopefully things go well and we can capture a second straight division crown. - UMDB - 09/19/2007 34) - The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. - 08/30/2005 35) - NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable. - 10/18/2006 36) - Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming - 08/12/2000 37) - After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. - 09/27/2001 38) - A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. - 06/29/2002 39) - Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. - 07/23/2003 40) - The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. - 08/21/2004 41) - Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. - 04/16/2005 42) - By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. - 09/07/2006 43) - This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. - 05/17/2007 44) - David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. - 08/07/2008 45) - In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade. - 10/04/2009 46) - Mets win Game 3 of the 2000 WS - Benitez gets the Save 47) - Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004 48) - Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS - Mets are down 2 and rally big for the win Perez 2B Alfonzo 2B Piazza 2B Ventura 2B Zeile groundout Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2. 49) - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s - NLCS - Game 5 - 10/11/2000 50) - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. - NLCS Game 1 - 10/12/2006 51) - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers - 06/18/2004 52) - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins - 09/19/2006(good one) 53) - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. - 04/24/2007 54) - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez. - 06/15/2007 55) - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. - versus Giants - 06/29/2007 56) - The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden - 07/08/2000 - Grim the game memories have the wrong memories .... 57) - Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?" Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth. It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career - 04/04/2005 58) - August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest. - 08/23/2009 59) -the 2 HR game by Piazza as a member of the Padres 08/09/06 60) - Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12 06/07/2005 61) - Benny's pinch slam in the Tokyo Dome - 03/30/2000 62) - Pedro flirts with a no-hitter in LA.......Pedro coughs up two in the eighth as Williams can't catch up with the drive, and they get only one run in support of Martinez, despite four doubles...Penny went 9. - 08/14/2005

TransMonk Dec 10 2009 10:28 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I don't see it on the list (I do see 08/08/06)...the 2 HR game by Piazza as a member of the Padres 08/09/06 should be included.

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 10:34 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Do we have Benny's pinch slam in the Tokyo Dome? http://ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6078

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 10 2009 10:47 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

That game sucked till the last second. it shouldn;t count.

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 10:54 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Memorable. Especially since it took the start of what was looking like a miserable (and Bennyless) season and began a turnaround toward a pennant-winning (and Benny-filled) season. Not that we mayn't have turned the season around otherwise given 160 games, but hauling ass home from Japan with two losses and three(?) days off would have stunk.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 10 2009 10:55 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket":2tgtyuiq]That game sucked till the last second. it shouldn;t count.[/quote:2tgtyuiq] Agreed. I've fallen asleep twice trying to watch it as an SNY Mets Classic.

metirish Dec 10 2009 11:04 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12 06/07/2005

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 10 2009 11:11 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr":mih5objz][quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket":mih5objz]That game sucked till the last second. it shouldn;t count.[/quote:mih5objz] Agreed. I've fallen asleep twice trying to watch it as an SNY Mets Classic.[/quote:mih5objz] I can remember fighting to stay awake watching it the first time: It was on at like 5 in the morning. Thrilling if you like seeing Mike Hampton throw pitches out of the strike zone for 3 hours.

metirish Dec 10 2009 11:16 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Did you go to work that day...I was curious to see what day it was...checked on UMDB and it was a Wednesday......I guess that was early Thursday morning here? Actually I think you have the games mixed up JCL....MH pitched the wednesday night game(29th) and the Benny slam was the night after http://ultimatemets.com/metannual.php?T ... 3&month=03

Benjamin Grimm Dec 10 2009 11:20 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I remember listening on the radio as I was driving to work in the morning. After I arrived I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes and heard the home run. (It was worth delaying my walk across the parking lot for that!) A nice way to start a work day.

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 11:24 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="metirish":2tsukb3x]Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12 06/07/2005[/quote:2tsukb3x] Beltran and Cameron both out with brain damage for this one, I think, and Gerald Williams was in centerfield. On the no-hitter-ending drive to the wall, Williams collapsed before hitting the wall. I'm not sure, but I recall thinking Willie had a more legit centerfielder on the bench. OE: I must be conflating. They got hurt later than that.

metirish Dec 10 2009 11:29 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 10 2009 11:30 AM

No , they were in the lineup. Cam in the two hole and Beltran 3rd. I looked and the collision happened August 11.....as remembered on the UMDB Glenn November 6, 2005 One of the scariest on-field moments in Mets history took place in the bottom of the seventh inning of this game. David Ross of the Padres hit a Tom Glavine pitch to right center field. Centerfielder Carlos Beltran started running full-speed after the ball, as did right fielder Mike Cameron. Both outfielders dove, gloves outstretched, and collided head-to-head while in mid-air. Both left the game, Cameron on a stretcher and Beltran, miraculously, under his own power. Both suffered fractures of the facial bones, although Beltran's injuries were less severe and he returned to the lineup only a week later. Cameron's injuries (facial fractures, swelling, etc.) were much more severe and he would miss the remainder of the season.

G-Fafif Dec 10 2009 11:30 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Pedro took two no-hitters deep in 2005. The Astro one was June. The Dodger one (after the Beltran/Cameron mishap) was August. Date of NLCS clinching: 10/16/2000 (I saw different upthread).

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 11:35 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

here's the almost-no-hitter I was thinking of. 8/15/05 against LA. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes ... 8140.shtml No UMDB memories. Pedro coughs up two in the eighth as Williams can't catch up with the drive, and they get only one run in support of Martinez, despite four doubles.

metirish Dec 10 2009 11:35 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Checked the box for the Dodger game.... Pedro has this line....8 innings, 2 hits , 2 runs , 1 walk and 5 SO.... Mets lost the game 2-1 Penny went 9 , 10 hits....Mets scored 1 in the fifth and LA got 2 in the 8th.

metirish Dec 10 2009 11:39 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 5 time(s), most recently on Dec 11 2009 07:15 AM

1) -Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants. 2) - Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06 3) - Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000 4) - Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000 5) - Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001 6) - Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader. - 07/08/2000 7) - Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000? 8) - Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006. 9) - Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002 10) - Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003 11) - The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04 12) - 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres. 13) - June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run. 14) - Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000 15) - Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game. 16) - The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006 17) - The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007 18) - Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009 19) - The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05 20) - two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - Mets 4 - Marlins 0 - 09/18/2006 21) - The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007 22) - Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above. - 08/22/2006 23) - Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse - 09/30/2007 24) - Mets win NLCS - 10/16/2000 25) - Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8 - 06/30/2000 26) - ast game ever played by Montreal Expos - 10/03/2004 27) - Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable) - 09/27/2008 28) - Mets clinch NL East - Various Mets parade around with booze and cigars - 09/18/2006 29) - NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play - 10/04/2006 30) - Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer - as remembered on the UMDB.....lets not forget Floyd 1 out in the bottom of the 9th at Shea and the Angels have electric Francisco Rodriguez closing. Anderson, pinch hitting, drives one just shy of the track in right center, with RF Vladimir Guerrero running towards center and CF Steve Finley sliding while running toward RF to make the catch; he can't and it bounces off his leg and rolls into a vacant RF; he gets up and tracks the ball down, all the while Anderson is busting it around the basepaths, and despite a perfect relay throw, Anderson just beats the throw home to tie the game at 2. His face slammed into the catcher; he's there laying in pain, but when he gets up, oh what an ovation. And the capper: Cliff Floyd hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the 10th. 31) - Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner - 05/19/2006 32) - 2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: - Todd Zeile hit a 3 Run Home Run to tie the game and hit a go ahead Home Run in the 10th to account for all 5 of the Mets runs in this 5-3 win over the Phillies. UMDB - 06/02/2004 33) - Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow. Well who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would have been the stopper? It's the future of the Mets that saves them in the present. Coupled with Phillies loss (thanks to last years NLCS villian Yadier Molina) Mets shave 2 more games off of their Magic number. We are still a long ways away from a division title but there is no doubt the Mets needed this one. Credit Sosa for coming in and putting out a fire in the 6th and credit Alou for playing hurt and producing at the same time. Mets are off to Florida for 4 and then back home to end the season against the Nats, Cards, and Marlins. Hopefully things go well and we can capture a second straight division crown. - UMDB - 09/19/2007 34) - The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. - 08/30/2005 35) - NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable. - 10/18/2006 36) - Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming - 08/12/2000 37) - After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. - 09/27/2001 38) - A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. - 06/29/2002 39) - Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. - 07/23/2003 40) - The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. - 08/21/2004 41) - Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. - 04/16/2005 42) - By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. - 09/07/2006 43) - This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. - 05/17/2007 44) - David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. - 08/07/2008 45) - In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade. - 10/04/2009 46) - Mets win Game 3 of the 2000 WS - Benitez gets the Save 47) - Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004 48) - Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS - Mets are down 2 and rally big for the win Perez 2B Alfonzo 2B Piazza 2B Ventura 2B Zeile groundout Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2. 49) - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s - NLCS - Game 5 - 10/11/2000 50) - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. - NLCS Game 1 - 10/12/2006 51) - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers - 06/18/2004 52) - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins - 09/19/2006(good one) 53) - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. - 04/24/2007 54) - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez. - 06/15/2007 55) - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. - versus Giants - 06/29/2007 56) - The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden - 07/08/2000 - Grim the game memories have the wrong memories .... 57) - Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?" Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth. It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career - 04/04/2005 58) - August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest. - 08/23/2009 59) -the 2 HR game by Piazza as a member of the Padres 08/09/06 60) - Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12 06/07/2005 61) - Benny's pinch slam in the Tokyo Dome - 03/30/2000 62) - Pedro flirts with a no-hitter in LA.......Pedro coughs up two in the eighth as Williams can't catch up with the drive, and they get only one run in support of Martinez, despite four doubles...Penny went 9. - 08/14/2005 63) - Trachsel vs. the Rox, broken up opposing pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao in the sixth (one-hitter) - 08/18/2003 64) - Glavine vs. the Rox, broken up by Kit Pellow in the eighth (one-hitter) - 05/23/2004 65) - Seo, Weathers, Benitez pitch to the minimum 27 batters vs. the Marlins, 6/17/03 66) - Trachsel vs. Angels, notable for just-called-up rookie SS Jose Reyes' first HR, a grand slam -06/15/2003 67) - Final game at Shea, 9/28/08 68) - First game at Citi Field, 4/13/09 69)- Carlos Delgado, who was batting .235 at the time and sucking so badly that there was serious talk of cutting him and trading for Richie Sexson (?!?), sets a Met record with 9 RBIs to help beat the Yankees 15-6 at MFYSII. He then goes on to have possibly the best three month stretch of any position player in Met history, and had a real shot at being named MVP if the Mets had managed to win the division. - 06/27/2008 70) - Speaking of Matt Franco, the middle game of the first Subway Series sweep was a 10-9 thriller won a dribbler by Shane Spencer. 07/03/2004 71) - The next day in which Ty Wigginton dominated, was pretty great, too - 07/04/2004 72) - The first game after that losing streak is the game I remember the second-most from that year (the game I mention below is my favorite). This time our two new studs Pedro and Beltran won the game and the Mets held on. Pedro and Smoltz were dueling, Braves led 1-0 in the top of the eighth. The 0-5 start combined with some general pessimism had me thinking this was another 1 run game against the Braves that we couldn't win. Then Beltran hit a two run home run in the eighth with one out to get Smoltz out of there, and Floyd and Wright opened it up on the bullpen with home runs of their own in the inning. Got us going to win 7 in a row after the disappointing start from the new free agents and manager. I still like to think that that game, and specifically that Beltran homer, got the franchise turned around. - 04/10/2005 73) - I also attended Piazza's last game as Met and am convinced he was blowing all those kisses directly at me. Not sure if anyone else brought that one up. - 11/02/2005 74) - A come-from-behind victory by the B-team Mets caps a three-game sweep in a 126-degree day-camp special afternoon, in which at least 50% of the attendees at the game are picnickers from the Mets Online Forum. Bobby Valentine, appreciating the MOFo support, treats us all to three seperate leftfielders (one of whom, Mike Marshall, executes a pull-back) and ice cream. The sweep is the first peep of hope that what seemed like a lost season may include a helluva run after all. - 08/08/2001 75 & 76) - On the downer side of memorable, 9/23/01 and 9/29/01, the two Brian Jordan games. Super sigh

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 10 2009 11:46 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="metirish":3gthuoet]Did you go to work that day...I was curious to see what day it was...checked on UMDB and it was a Wednesday......I guess that was early Thursday morning here? Actually I think you have the games mixed up JCL....MH pitched the wednesday night game(29th) and the Benny slam was the night after http://ultimatemets.com/metannual.php?T ... 3&month=03[/quote:3gthuoet] Yeah, I think they were both early-morning start times, and both games were complete snoozefests, forgive me for getting the deets outta whack. That Hampton game was disgusting.

G-Fafif Dec 10 2009 11:58 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Two no-hitter flirtations worth noting: Trachsel vs. the Rox, 8/18/03, broken up opposing pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao in the sixth (one-hitter) Glavine vs. the Rox, 5/23/04, broken up by Kit Pellow in the eighth (one-hitter) Honorable mention as Pitching Performance of the Decade: Seo, Weathers, Benitez pitch to the minimum 27 batters vs. the Marlins, 6/17/03 One other one-hitter of note: Trachsel vs. Angels, 6/15/03, notable for just-called-up rookie SS Jose Reyes' first HR, a grand slam

G-Fafif Dec 10 2009 12:01 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Final game at Shea, 9/28/08 First game at post-Shea 4/13/09

batmagadanleadoff Dec 10 2009 12:23 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr":1hhjpxe9][quote="John Cougar Lunchbucket":1hhjpxe9]That game sucked till the last second. it shouldn;t count.[/quote:1hhjpxe9] Agreed. I've fallen asleep twice trying to watch [the Agbayani-Japan game] as an SNY Mets Classic.[/quote:1hhjpxe9] Not to worry. Next week, the Mets will re-air this game from 1999 where Matt Franco delivers a game winning come from behind pinch hit off of MFY superduper closer Mariano Rivera. Bet you never saw that game before. Why I'll bet you never even heard of that game. Warm up your TV recorder because they'll never show that game anymore after that. Ever.

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 12:31 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

It's amazin' isn't it? What's with cable stations and choosing to be so redundant in programming even with a wealth of available alternatives at their disposal, and a viewing audience at home with a host of recording devices?

batmagadanleadoff Dec 10 2009 12:35 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Edgy DC":38kr6gy5]It's amazin' isn't it? What's with cable stations and choosing to be so redundant in programming even with a wealth of available alternatives at their disposal, and a viewing audience at home with a host of recording devices?[/quote:38kr6gy5]" I ... uhhhh .... errrr ... uummmm .... made up the part about SNY re-airing the Matt Franco game next week. I have no idea what the next SNY classic game will be. I was merely going for the joke. But all the rest of my post is factually corect.

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 01:04 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Well my point works broadly. Hopefully specifically.

metirish Dec 10 2009 01:05 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Point well taken , it would be great if SNY showed some of the games listed here.....

Benjamin Grimm Dec 10 2009 01:09 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

It's highly unlikely that they'll ever show a Mets loss. (They must figure they show plenty of those on the regular telecasts.)

G-Fafif Dec 10 2009 01:10 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":drzzp3hs]It's highly unlikely that they'll ever show a Mets loss. (They must figure they show plenty of those on the regular telecasts.)[/quote:drzzp3hs] They do show Game One of the '69 WS. By my count, the Mets are 41-1 in Mets Classics.

G-Fafif Dec 10 2009 01:16 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Speaking of Matt Franco, the middle game of the first Subway Series sweep, 7/3/04, was a 10-9 thriller won a dribbler by Shane Spencer. The next day, 7/4/04, in which Ty Wigginton dominated, was pretty great, too. Delgado's umpteen RBI to seal the MFYS II delayed sweep on 6/27/08...also awesome.

metirish Dec 10 2009 01:16 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 10 2009 01:47 PM

It's been a while since I watched an SNY Classic, they had one for '69 on again last night. Do they have commentary form some of the participants that played in the games? That's what I would like to see , do a game from the last decade and have announcers , fans and players talk back about it....

G-Fafif Dec 10 2009 01:46 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="metirish":38sso0kk]It's been a while since I watched an SNY Classic, they had one for '69 on again last night. Do they have commentary form some of the participants that played in the games?[/quote:38sso0kk] No commentary, no frills. The early ones, from '86 WS, had Gary Cohen hosting, but later, they're just sliced up with loads of Snuggie commercials and such.

Frayed Knot Dec 10 2009 01:51 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="metirish"]It's been a while since I watched an SNY Classic, they had one for '69 on again last night. Do they have commentary form some of the participants that played in the games? That's what I would like to see , do a game form the last decade and have announcers , fans and players talk back about it....

That was one of our early suggestions for programming to fill the SNY void*: play random older Met games in front of select fans who are free to throw in pithy & snide comments during the broadcast a la 'Mystery Science Theatre 3000'
Get the right group of fans and it would be a freakin hoot.






* aka; the 20 hours a day or the 5 months a year there's no Met game on

Elster88 Dec 10 2009 07:07 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Edgy DC"]Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?" Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth. It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career. http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6899

4/10/2005:
The first game after that losing streak is the game I remember the second-most from that year (the game I mention below is my favorite). This time our two new studs Pedro and Beltran won the game and the Mets held on. Pedro and Smoltz were dueling, Braves led 1-0 in the top of the eighth. The 0-5 start combined with some general pessimism had me thinking this was another 1 run game against the Braves that we couldn't win. Then Beltran hit a two run home run in the eighth with one out to get Smoltz out of there, and Floyd and Wright opened it up on the bullpen with home runs of their own in the inning. Got us going to win 7 in a row after the disappointing start from the new free agents and manager.

I still like to think that that game, and specifically that Beltran homer, got the franchise turned around. [url]http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6904

11/2/2005:
I also attended Piazza's last game as Met and am convinced he was blowing all those kisses directly at me. Not sure if anyone else brought that one up. [url]http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=7060

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 07:16 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Good one E88. I think Piazza had bought an expensive stogie or something for Randolph to celebrate his first victory and it had to wait a week.

Edgy DC Dec 10 2009 09:11 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

8/9/2001: http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=6367 A come-from-behind victory by the B-team Mets caps a three-game sweep in a 126-degree day-camp-special afternoon, in which at least 50% of the attendees at the game are picnickers from the Mets Online Forum. Bobby Valentine, appreciating the MOFo support, treats us all to three seperate leftfielders (one of whom, Mike Marshall, executes a pull-back) and ice cream. The sweep is the first peep of hope that what seemed like a lost season may include a helluva run after all.

G-Fafif Dec 11 2009 06:50 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

On the downer side of memorable, 9/23/01 and 9/29/01, the two Brian Jordan games. Super sigh...

metirish Dec 11 2009 07:14 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="G-Fafif"]On the downer side of memorable, 9/23/01 and 9/29/01, the two Brian Jordan games. Super sigh...

These are the games that sandwiched #37?

metirish Dec 11 2009 07:15 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 10 time(s), most recently on Dec 11 2009 01:45 PM

1) -Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants. 2) - Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06 3) - Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000 4) - Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000 5) - Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001 6) - Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader. - 07/08/2000 7) - Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000? 8) - Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006. 9) - Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002 10) - Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003 11) - The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04 12) - 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres. 13) - June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run. 14) - Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000 15) - Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game. 16) - The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006 17) - The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007 18) - Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009 19) - The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05 20) - two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - Mets 4 - Marlins 0 - 09/18/2006 21) - The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007 22) - Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above. - 08/22/2006 23) - Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse - 09/30/2007 24) - Mets win NLCS - 10/16/2000 25) - Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8 - 06/30/2000 26) - ast game ever played by Montreal Expos - 10/03/2004 27) - Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable) - 09/27/2008 28) - Mets clinch NL East - Various Mets parade around with booze and cigars - 09/18/2006 29) - NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play - 10/04/2006 30) - Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer - as remembered on the UMDB.....lets not forget Floyd 1 out in the bottom of the 9th at Shea and the Angels have electric Francisco Rodriguez closing. Anderson, pinch hitting, drives one just shy of the track in right center, with RF Vladimir Guerrero running towards center and CF Steve Finley sliding while running toward RF to make the catch; he can't and it bounces off his leg and rolls into a vacant RF; he gets up and tracks the ball down, all the while Anderson is busting it around the basepaths, and despite a perfect relay throw, Anderson just beats the throw home to tie the game at 2. His face slammed into the catcher; he's there laying in pain, but when he gets up, oh what an ovation. And the capper: Cliff Floyd hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the 10th. - 06/11/2005 31) - Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner - 05/19/2006 32) - 2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: - Todd Zeile hit a 3 Run Home Run to tie the game and hit a go ahead Home Run in the 10th to account for all 5 of the Mets runs in this 5-3 win over the Phillies. UMDB - 06/02/2004 33) - Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow. Well who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would have been the stopper? It's the future of the Mets that saves them in the present. Coupled with Phillies loss (thanks to last years NLCS villian Yadier Molina) Mets shave 2 more games off of their Magic number. We are still a long ways away from a division title but there is no doubt the Mets needed this one. Credit Sosa for coming in and putting out a fire in the 6th and credit Alou for playing hurt and producing at the same time. Mets are off to Florida for 4 and then back home to end the season against the Nats, Cards, and Marlins. Hopefully things go well and we can capture a second straight division crown. - UMDB - 09/19/2007 34) - The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. - 08/30/2005 35) - NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable. - 10/18/2006 36) - Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming - 08/12/2000 37) - After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. - 09/27/2001 38) - A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. - 06/29/2002 39) - Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. - 07/23/2003 40) - The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. - 08/21/2004 41) - Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. - 04/16/2005 42) - By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. - 09/07/2006 43) - This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. - 05/17/2007 44) - David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. - 08/07/2008 45) - In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade. - 10/04/2009 46) - Mets win Game 3 of the 2000 WS - Benitez gets the Save 47) - Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004 48) - Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS - Mets are down 2 and rally big for the win Perez 2B Alfonzo 2B Piazza 2B Ventura 2B Zeile groundout Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2. 49) - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s - NLCS - Game 5 - 10/11/2000 50) - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. - NLCS Game 1 - 10/12/2006 51) - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers - 06/18/2004 52) - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins - 09/19/2006(good one) 53) - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. - 04/24/2007 54) - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez. - 06/15/2007 55) - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. - versus Giants - 06/29/2007 56) - The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden - 07/08/2000 - Grim the game memories have the wrong memories .... 57) - Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?" Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth. It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career - 04/04/2005 58) - August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest. - 08/23/2009 59) -the 2 HR game by Piazza as a member of the Padres 08/09/06 60) - Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12 06/07/2005 61) - Benny's pinch slam in the Tokyo Dome - 03/30/2000 62) - Pedro flirts with a no-hitter in LA.......Pedro coughs up two in the eighth as Williams can't catch up with the drive, and they get only one run in support of Martinez, despite four doubles...Penny went 9. - 08/14/2005 63) - Trachsel vs. the Rox, broken up opposing pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao in the sixth (one-hitter) - 08/18/2003 64) - Glavine vs. the Rox, broken up by Kit Pellow in the eighth (one-hitter) - 05/23/2004 65) - Seo, Weathers, Benitez pitch to the minimum 27 batters vs. the Marlins, 6/17/03 66) - Trachsel vs. Angels, notable for just-called-up rookie SS Jose Reyes' first HR, a grand slam -06/15/2003 67) - Final game at Shea, 9/28/08 68) - First game at Citi Field, 4/13/09 69)- Carlos Delgado, who was batting .235 at the time and sucking so badly that there was serious talk of cutting him and trading for Richie Sexson (?!?), sets a Met record with 9 RBIs to help beat the Yankees 15-6 at MFYSII. He then goes on to have possibly the best three month stretch of any position player in Met history, and had a real shot at being named MVP if the Mets had managed to win the division. - 06/27/2008 70) - Speaking of Matt Franco, the middle game of the first Subway Series sweep was a 10-9 thriller won a dribbler by Shane Spencer. 07/03/2004 71) - The next day in which Ty Wigginton dominated, was pretty great, too - 07/04/2004 72) - The first game after that losing streak is the game I remember the second-most from that year (the game I mention below is my favorite). This time our two new studs Pedro and Beltran won the game and the Mets held on. Pedro and Smoltz were dueling, Braves led 1-0 in the top of the eighth. The 0-5 start combined with some general pessimism had me thinking this was another 1 run game against the Braves that we couldn't win. Then Beltran hit a two run home run in the eighth with one out to get Smoltz out of there, and Floyd and Wright opened it up on the bullpen with home runs of their own in the inning. Got us going to win 7 in a row after the disappointing start from the new free agents and manager. I still like to think that that game, and specifically that Beltran homer, got the franchise turned around. - 04/10/2005 73) - I also attended Piazza's last game as Met and am convinced he was blowing all those kisses directly at me. Not sure if anyone else brought that one up. - 11/02/2005 74) - A come-from-behind victory by the B-team Mets caps a three-game sweep in a 126-degree day-camp special afternoon, in which at least 50% of the attendees at the game are picnickers from the Mets Online Forum. Bobby Valentine, appreciating the MOFo support, treats us all to three seperate leftfielders (one of whom, Mike Marshall, executes a pull-back) and ice cream. The sweep is the first peep of hope that what seemed like a lost season may include a helluva run after all. - 08/08/2001 75 & 76) - On the downer side of memorable, 9/23/01 and 9/29/01, the two Brian Jordan games. Super sigh 77) - Pedro pitched eight good innings at MFYII , they get 1 in the first and we get 3 in the second and tack on three more through the game, they get 1 in the third and make it squeaky bum time in the ninth with two but Looper nails down the save for a 6-4 win , as remembered at the UMDB.....Beltran hit a blast and made a great game saving catch in the ninth. - 06/24/2005 78) - Opening day 2006...as remembered on the UMDB There is nothing better than being out there for Opening Day. The Home Opener is nice, but it doesn't quite have the same feeling as the real Opening Day. Last season, for the Home Opener, it seemed like the game happened, but nobody was really prepared for it. Not this year. Everything was in place. The crowd was ready, the Bunting was in place, and the Mets took the field, and it seemed everything was right with the world. Tom Glavine's first pitch of the season was a ball outside, prompting my friend to turn to me and say, "That's it, the season's a disaster! Break up the team!" The first car fire of the season took place behind the bleachers in Left Field during the bottom of the 1st. Took about half an inning before firemen got to the car. The new guys stood out, especially Nady, who ripped 4 hits, 2 of which led to runs, and LoDuca, who blooped a clutch 2-out hit in the 3rd to drive home the first run of the season. And, of course, David "The Truth" Wright nailed his first HR of the year in the 6th, a Piazza-esque blast to Right, prompting chants of MVP! MVP! MVP! Heilman was shaky, but a great relay throw from Floyd to Reyes to LoDuca cut down Soriano at home with the potential tying run in the 8th. Beltran also supplied a key assist from the OF as he cut down Vidro trying to stretch a single to a double in the 9th for the last out of the game, and Yes! A victory on Opening Day! - 04/03/2006 79) - Game 1 of the 2006 NLDS against LA - UMDB Lee A great victory for the Mets. With everyone reeling from finding out that El Duque wasn't pitching in the Division Series, and might join Pedro in not playing at all in the playoffs, there was a lot of anxiety brewing in New York that day. But we were all able to forget about all that for a few hours. John Maine pitched a solid 4.1 innings, and an incredible play at the plate saved two runs. For some reason that I still don't understand, the Dodgers third base coach decided to send Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew around third, even though the throw was coming in from Shawn Green to Jose Valentin. Valentin threw it down to Lo Duca, who tagged Kent, looked over at the umpire, suddenly realized Drew was coming, and he tagged him too. Possibly one of the craziest moments in Mets history. Delgado had a great game, driving in a few runs and hitting a bomb, and Floyd hit a bomb that we all knew right off the bat was gone. Nomar tied it up, but Delgado got the lead right back, and Wagner made it interesting, as he always does, but we came out with the victory and that's all that matters. 1 down, 10 to go. - 10/04/2006 80) -Steve Traschel's last game as a Met....Game 3 of the 06 NLCS in St.Louis...Trach was going through personnel stuff and it was showing in the playoffs...his previous start in LA he got pulled after 3....this game caused controversy for him because there was some question as to weather he pulled himself out...faking injury or something.....St.Louis wins 5-0 and take a 2-1 lead in the series. - 10/14/2006 81) - Bob Murphy Night meshes with Piazza's first appearance at first base...in relief of Mike Glavine. A sad and weird evening at Shea. - 09/25/2003 82) - Mets forge unlikely as hell comeback versus Phillies, from down 8-4 after blowing 4-0 lead. David wins it 10-9 on two-out homer in top of ninth at CBP. Nice antidote to unassisted triple play game, 8/23/09 (whoops, I just mentioned another one). - 09/12/2009 83) - Tom Glavine wins #300 on Sunday Night Baseball against the Cubs in Chicago - Tom goes 6.1 , gives up 6 hits with 2 runs 1 walk and 1 SO - Glavine had an RBI single to help himself. - Amit over the UMDB gets carried away with his memory. Glavine Gets # 300!!! Glavine was awesome as usual and the offense and bullpen backed him up this time. As a Mets fan I am glad I was able to watch the game from beginning to end. No doubt Glavine is a first ballot hall of famer. BRING ON THE BRAVES Heady times indeed - 08/05/2007 84) - Mike breaks catcher longball record, 5/5/04. 85) - Not a milestone, but plenty dramatic: Mike comes off DL after three months with a resounding blast, 8/13/03 (next day the lights went out in NYC). Same pitcher -- Jerome Williams of the Giants -- gave up both. - 08/13/2003 86) - And no discussion of the decade's homers could be complete without acknowledging Mo Vaughn's 505-foot detonation off the Budweiser sign, 6/26/02. 87) - Plus latter day horror show of note: Phillies 11 Mets 10, 8/30/07 after we had a 5-0 lead, trailed 8-5 and led 10-8. Yet we were still stunned one month later - 08/30/2007 88) - Another milestone: Lenny Harris breaks all-time career pinch-hit record, 10/6/01. I swear they treated it like it was Cal Ripken Night (which was going on some 200 miles to the south). - 10/06/2001 89) - Lastings high-fives the fans following first ML home run (such a contretemps). - 06/04/2006 90) -Pratt slam beats L.A. in ninth (longest ninth-inning game in N.L. history to that point, 4:09 - 05/30/2000 91) - Mets clinch playoff berth for second consecutive year for first time ever. - 09/27/2000 92) The Chip Ambres Game. Every decade needs one of these. - 07/22/2007 93) Joe McEwing takes ownership of Randy Johnson (Mike takes him very deep, too) - 5/21/00 94) -(N): Ryan Church second concussion, beginning of end - 5/20/08 95) - Water main break delays start, Pirates wallop Ollie 13-1, Billy rags on Ollie thereafter - 4/30/08

G-Fafif Dec 11 2009 07:40 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="metirish"][quote="G-Fafif"]On the downer side of memorable, 9/23/01 and 9/29/01, the two Brian Jordan games. Super sigh...

These are the games that sandwiched #37?

Those are it. Before 9/30/07 came along, the worst Met moments of the decade IMHO.

metirish Dec 11 2009 09:36 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Can we close this at 80 games please? How about four groups of twenty and you can vote for five games in each group to bring it down to 20 games and then vote for 10? I am setting the polls to close in five days

G-Fafif Dec 11 2009 09:43 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="metirish":kd2vjzeh]Can we close this at 80 games please?[/quote:kd2vjzeh] Eighty games out of 1,642 played (1,618 regular season, 24 postseason) equals 4.872 percent. This is all anecdotal and unscientific (chances are we all forgot some incredibly obvious choice), but that sounds pretty creamy of the crop.

metirish Dec 11 2009 09:45 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="G-Fafif":hbtgvixz][quote="metirish":hbtgvixz]Can we close this at 80 games please?[/quote:hbtgvixz] Eighty games out of 1,642 played (1,618 regular season, 24 postseason) equals 4.872 percent. This is all anecdotal and unscientific (chances are we all forgot some incredibly obvious choice), but that sounds pretty creamy of the crop.[/quote:hbtgvixz] Well seems you put it like that....maybe we should go for more games seems you are counting in the " forgotten years"....

G-Fafif Dec 11 2009 09:54 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

They'll trickle out of me all day if somebody doesn't shut the spigot. But since it would take only two more games to make it a just about even 5%, I'll nominate two more and stop thinking about it: 9/25/03: Bob Murphy Night meshes with Piazza's first appearance at first base...in relief of Mike Glavine. A sad and weird evening at Shea. 9/12/09: Mets forge unlikely as hell comeback versus Phillies, from down 8-4 after blowing 4-0 lead. David wins it 10-9 on two-out homer in top of ninth at CBP. Nice antidote to unassisted triple play game, 8/23/09 (whoops, I just mentioned another one).

Edgy DC Dec 11 2009 10:06 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

The latter day Mets: hosting the most un-memorable 300th win ever followed by a still-more un-memorable 500th homer.

G-Fafif Dec 11 2009 10:18 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Speaking of milestone HRs, Mike breaks catcher longball record, 5/5/04. Not a milestone, but plenty dramatic: Mike comes off DL after three months with a resounding blast, 8/13/03 (next day the lights went out in NYC). Same pitcher -- Jerome Williams of the Giants -- gave up both. And no discussion of the decade's homers could be complete without acknowledging Mo Vaughn's 505-foot detonation off the Budweiser sign, 6/26/02. Plus latter day horror show of note: Phillies 11 Mets 10, 8/30/07 after we had a 5-0 lead, trailed 8-5 and led 10-8. Yet we were still stunned one month later.

G-Fafif Dec 11 2009 10:22 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Another milestone: Lenny Harris breaks all-time career pinch-hit record, 10/6/01. I swear they treated it like it was Cal Ripken Night (which was going on some 200 miles to the south).

G-Fafif Dec 11 2009 01:37 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Poll or don't poll these, Irish, but I do find them memorable in the course of ten years. 6/4/06: Lastings high-fives the fans following first ML home run (such a contretemps). 5/30/00: Pratt slam beats L.A. in ninth (longest ninth-inning game in N.L. history to that point, 4:09 9/27/00: Mets clinch playoff berth for second consecutive year for first time ever. 7/22/07: The Chip Ambres Game. Every decade needs one of these. 5/21/00: Joe McEwing takes ownership of Randy Johnson (Mike takes him very deep, too) 5/20/08 (N): Ryan Church second concussion, beginning of end 4/30/08 Water main break delays start, Pirates wallop Ollie 13-1, Billy rags on Ollie thereafter

Edgy DC Dec 11 2009 01:40 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

The Church concussion game was horrid. The Mets were playing so terrible at that point and would never be a good team again under Willie.

metirish Dec 11 2009 01:46 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Thanks Greg......some good ones in there....

G-Fafif Dec 13 2009 02:47 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Some others that have been ruminated upon and emerged (all wins): 9/25/08: Shea's last walkoff win: Beltran gets one past the lethal Micah Hoffpauir in the rain, scoring Reyes. Featured big hits by Robinson Cancel and Ramon Martinez, plus Pedro's farewell. 8/21/08: Delgado goes 5-for-5, his fifth hit one Omar Infante falls down on, scoring Wright in the bottom on the ninth to beat the Braves 5-4. 7/24/08: Delgado goes the other way, to left, scoring Cancel and Wright (David captured inadvertently posing like Captain Morgan after crossing home plate, one knee in the air), beats Phillies 3-1 to take series in which the two rivals came in tied for first...first time since September 1985 Mets entered a three-game series tied for first to play the team with whom they were tied. 8/2/07: Damion Easley's inside-the-park home run breaks tie, keys Brian Lawrence (!) to victory over the Brewers, 12-4. 7/7/07: Mets win longest game of the decade, 17 innings, 5-3 over the Astros. Marked by Beltran's diving catch onto Tal's Hill in the sixteenth; he drives in winning run in the seventeenth. 6/25/07: Shawn Green's singular moment of triumph, walkoff eleventh-inning blast off Russ Springer to beat the Cards 2-1. 6/23/07: What had been El Duque-Joe Blanton 0-0 duel heads to ninth. Ramon Castro, the slowest man alive, doubles. The only way to get him home without a homer, it appears, is to hit a ball where the worst fielder alive can't quite catch up with it...which is what David Wright does when he dunks a double out of the reach of Jack Cust. Mets beat A's 1-0. 7/30/06: Strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play ends long overdue sweep of Braves at Turner Field, 10-6. 7/16/06: Floyd grand slam...Beltran grand slam...Wright two-run homer...all in the same inning. Mets put up an 11-run sixth, a team record, beat Cubs at Wrigley 13-7. 6/10/06: The moment of Alay Soler: Two-hit shutout that cements his place in the Met rotation (until he completely disappears by July, not only never winning another game, but never pitching in another win). 4/20/06: Weird home run incidence: Julio Franco becomes oldest man to hit a home run AND Kaz Matsui hits a home run in his first plate appearance of the year for the third consecutive year in a row. Mets beats Pads at Petco, 7-2. 8/24/05: The Mike Jacobs rookie rampage crests with a 4-for-5 night, two homers, four RBI. Mets establish residence in Arizona, sweeping four from the Diamondbacks, 18-1. 5/18/04: At virtually the same moment Randy Johnson is finishing off his perfect game in Atlanta, Cliff Floyd caps ninth-inning rally with two-out single to beat Jason Isringhausen and Cards 5-4. Mets move to within one game of .500 and, for what it's worth, shake me out of my default "I don't really care if they win or lose" funk I'd been in ever since they'd fired Bobby V and let Fonzie walk. (I did care, just not as much as I had before Art Howe...I was so pissed for so long.) 5/23/03: Mets somehow up 6-5 at Turner Field. Bottom of the ninth. Armando gets two outs. Then a walk. Then a balk. Then a walk. Two on. Julio Franco, then a bad guy, singles to center. Here comes Chipper Jones with the tying run and...HE'S OUT! Tsuyoshi Shinjo, in his otherwise hollow second go-round as a Met, throws him out at the plate to end the game. It wasn't much, but it was 2003. 9/21/02: Brady Clark reaches on an Andres Galarraga error to tie Expos 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth. In the eleventh, Esix Snead launches a three-run blast to win it, 6-3. Brady Clark? Esix Snead? The 2002 Mets winning in dramatic fashion in September? Lost in the shuffle: a Met killer is born, as Endy Chavez goes 4-for-5 for Montreal. 9/3/01: These are supposed to be memorable, yet one might have to call this the forgotten gem of the 25-6 tear that catapulted the Mets back into contention in this star-crossed season. Mets trail Philies, one of their two competitors for first place, 7-5 entering the ninth at the Vet and score five runs on six hits and two Philadelphia errors. Mets pull to within a not altogether improbable 8-1/2 of first with 24 games to go. Two remain with the Phillies, six are left with the Braves. 7/29/01: Mike Piazza beats Rheal Cormier in the bottom of the ninth with a home run, 6-5, which in itself was great, but was that much greater because... 7/28/01: Robin Ventura beats the returning Turk Wendell in the bottom of the ninth with a home run, 4-3, 24 hours earlier. Two Mets walk off bombs against the Phillies in two days. 7/18/01: Bobby Valentine outargues Marlin skipper Tony Perez and umpire Kerwin Danley into a favorable call at third (something about "abandoning the base") and it's eventually all for the good as Shinjo singles home the winning run in the eleventh, keeping the Mets' faint midsummer pulse ticking. 4/9/01: Shinjo introduces himself with two orange wristbands and one home run. Mike reintroduces himself with a pair of dingers. The Mets raise their 2000 pennant and bop the Braves at the Home Opener, 9-4. 4/3/01: Mets open league title defense at Turner Field. Instead of folding per usual at the Dread, Robin Ventura takes John Rocker deep in the eighth, Kerry Ligtenberg the same in the tenth. Two two-run Robin eggs laid on Atlanta win it 6-4. 9/13/00: Slumping Mets down 1-0 (Jeff D'Amico outdueling Mike Hampton) with two out in the bottom of the ninth when Robin Ventura drives home Jay Payton with a double. With two out in bottom of the tenth, Payton ends it with three-run bomb off Juan Acevedo. Snaps the Mets out of their morass and points them toward October. 7/27/00: Emergency starter Grant Roberts buries Mets early. They're down 4-0 after a half inning, 7-2 after an inning and a half. Yet a slow, steady comeback commences, climaxing in the bottom of the eighth with a tie-breaking single from Matt Franco. Mets win first game of makeup matinee doubleheader 9-8 (and go on to sweep the twinbill).

Edgy DC Dec 13 2009 03:05 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="G-Fafif":yxaztqsf]7/7/07: Mets win longest game of the decade, 17 innings, 5-3 over the Astros. Marked by Beltran's diving catch onto Tal's Hill in the sixteenth; he drives in winning run in the seventeenth.[/quote:yxaztqsf] Oooooh. Me likely. Thirteen straight scoreless innings, the last ten by the bullpen. http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=7318 Here's a double nomination --- 8/24-25/2005. In the first, the scuffling Mets hit the desert and get a boost from Mike Jabobs, hitting his first career homer in a 14-1 win, though he's due to go back down the next day, in support of Victor Zambrano. The next day, the newly-christened Jake-Monster is spared the demotion as the intervention of that day's starting pitcher --- Pedro Martinez --- gets him an executive pardon, and he rewards the faith with two more homers in an 18-4 win. As they complete the sweep with a modest 3-1 win the next day, the team starts a tradition for the next few years, of straigtening out their act (however temporarily) by takign a visit to the desert and dominating. (OE: G-FaFiF had it already.)

Edgy DC Dec 13 2009 03:08 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

9/21/02: Brady Clark reaches on an Andres Galarraga error to tie Expos 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth. In the eleventh, Esix Snead launches a three-run blast to win it, 6-3. Brady Clark? Esix Snead? The 2002 Mets winning in dramatic fashion in September? Lost in the shuffle: a Met killer is born, as Endy Chavez goes 4-for-5 for Montreal. This really happened?

G-Fafif Dec 13 2009 03:25 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Edgy DC"] 9/21/02: Brady Clark reaches on an Andres Galarraga error to tie Expos 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth. In the eleventh, Esix Snead launches a three-run blast to win it, 6-3. Brady Clark? Esix Snead? The 2002 Mets winning in dramatic fashion in September? Lost in the shuffle: a Met killer is born, as Endy Chavez goes 4-for-5 for Montreal. This really happened?

I was there and had the same reaction.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 13 2009 03:38 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I remember that game. We were camping and heard it come in on staticy radio, best way to hear a g-winning HR.

Nymr83 Dec 13 2009 03:51 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

9/12/09: Mets forge unlikely as hell comeback versus Phillies, from down 8-4 after blowing 4-0 lead. David wins it 10-9 on two-out homer in top of ninth at CBP. Nice antidote to unassisted triple play game, 8/23/09 (whoops, I just mentioned another one). i was there in philly, what a great time

G-Fafif Dec 13 2009 04:55 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I don't know that these qualify as memorable, per se, in that I had to look them up and get my memory way refreshed on the details, but I do remember thinking at the end of this particular series that if it took place in October, it would be talked about for ages. As is, I doubt anybody's talked about it since April 2000. Still, to my mind, they're what helps make a baseball season compelling while it's in progress. That alone should be memorable. Three-game series at Pittsburgh, each game rather intense in its time: Friday night, 4/14/00 Leiter takes 4-2 lead to eighth. Kevin Young homers with nobody on. Al departs with two out. Turk gets out of it. Armando comes on in the ninth. Gets two quick outs. Then surrenders double to Jason Kendall, triple to Pat Meares. Brian Giles is intentionally walked; Young strikes out. Top of tenth: Ordonez thrown out trying to score go-ahead run. Bottom of tenth: Mike Benjamin gets aboard on infield single with two out off Franco. Steals second. Takes third on Piazza's throw. Stranded. Top of eleventh: Piazza, Ventura, Zeile single to load bases with one out (slow men). Payton, indicating bases-loaded problem that would plague him all year, hits into DP. Bottom of eleventh: Trouble keeps finding Franco. One out, then Kendall reaches on Ventura error. Kendall picked off for second out. Then Johnny hits Meares with pitch, but gets out of it on force of pitcher Jose Silva, allowed to hit, as Gene Lamont has burned through his bench. Mets break through in top of twelfth: Ordonez singles, Agbayni doubles, Mora singles them home. Bell lines to first, doubling off Mora. Fonzie walks...Mike homers. Mets take 8-4 lead...but Pirates make life difficult for Dennis Cook. A walk, a wild pitch, an infield single and a Mike Benjamin double make it 8-5. With two on and two out, Adrian Brown hits a frighteningly long fly to center that Payton tracks down to end it. Saturday afternoon, 4/15/00 Heretofore unknown quantity Glendon Rusch is masterful in his first Met start: complete game, allowing only a walk and four hits. Alas, two of them are a leadoff single to Giles and a home run to Young to open the bottom of the seventh. Mets can't touch lefty Jimmy Anderson (en route to a 5-11, 5.25 ERA season). They collect just five singles and are blanked 2-0 in 1:57. Sunday afternoon, 4/16/00 Top of the first features a HBP of Rickey Henderson by Kris Benson, an Aramis Ramirez throwing error that keeps the inning going and a three-run homer by Robin Ventura. Great, right? Bobby Jones hits Jason Kendall and gives up a single to Pat Meares. Jones leaves with a calf strain. Pat Mahomes comes on and, in a blink, it's 4-3 Pirates. Jon Nunnally homers to put the Mets ahead 5-4 in the second. Zeile adds an RBI double in the third to make it 6-4, chasing Benson. Mahomes gives it all back in the bottom of the third with Kendall and Giles driving home runs and making it Pirates 7 Mets 6. Mets come back in fourth with RBIs from Bell, Alfonzo and Ventura off Chris Peters, to make it Mets 9 Pirates 7. Ventura sac fly and Payton double off Marc Wilins make it 11-7 in the top of the sixth. But here come the Bucs again in the bottom of the inning, with solo HRs from Giles and Wil Cordero off Turk. It's 11-9 Mets. Robin adds an insurance run off Scott Sauerbeck in the eighth, doubling home Piazza. Final is Mets 12 Bucs 9. Mets commit three errors. Mahomes goes four innings for the win. Ventura has 6 RBI. Fonzie and Mike score three runs apiece. Bell goes 3 for 6. Mike and Robin go 3 for 4. There are six unearned runs altogether between the two teams. This is a day after the Mets can't do anything offensively, which was a day after the Mets posted 20 hits (and three other errors). And for not so good measure, the final out of the final game was a pop fly by the Pirate third baseman, a fellow often associated with the Mets of 2000, but not for this game: Luis Sojo. An incredible series. Now completely forgotten. That's baseball for ya.

Swan Swan H Dec 13 2009 05:06 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

FWIW, Newsday picked the Piazza post-9/11 homer as the "Best New York Sports Moment of the Decade."

G-Fafif Dec 13 2009 05:28 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

Bookends: 4/29/00: Ken Griffey's first game at Shea Stadium. During the offseason it appeared his first game might be the Home Opener, but he vetoed a half-assed trade proposal between the Mets and M's and famously went to Cincinnati where it never really worked out for him. Hence, he was the newest villain in town, booed all night -- which was 1969 throwback night, per a promotional tie-in with the release of the movie "Frequency". Griffey came up as the potential go-ahead run in the ninth. Armando, in veritable retro pajamas, struck him out on 3-2 to preserve the Mets' ninth win in a row (a streak that had begun with the Sunday game in Pittsburgh mentioned upthread). Very cold night, but all was well. 5/11/08: Ken Griffey's final game at Shea Stadium. Animus had been put aside long before. Griffey was one of the few veteran sluggers not suspect for substances. He is warmly received on a windy Shea day. Mets leave him three homers shy of 600 in a Mets' 8-3 win notable for the following: Oliver Perez steals a base; Mets use pink bats and some where pink spikes for Mother's Day; and the Reds bat out of order in the ninth, delaying the game's end interminably.

metirish Dec 13 2009 06:01 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 17 2009 09:53 AM

1) -Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants. 2) - Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06 3) - Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000 4) - Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000 5) - Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001 6) - Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader. - 07/08/2000 7) - Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000? 8) - Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006. 9) - Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002 10) - Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003 11) - The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04 12) - 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres. 13) - June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run. 14) - Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000 15) - Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game. 16) - The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006 17) - The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007 18) - Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009 19) - The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05 20) - two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - Mets 4 - Marlins 0 - 09/18/2006 21) - The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007 22) - Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above. - 08/22/2006 23) - Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse - 09/30/2007 24) - Mets win NLCS - 10/16/2000 25) - Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8 - 06/30/2000 26) - ast game ever played by Montreal Expos - 10/03/2004 27) - Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable) - 09/27/2008 28) - Mets clinch NL East - Various Mets parade around with booze and cigars - 09/18/2006 29) - NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play - 10/04/2006 30) - Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer - as remembered on the UMDB.....lets not forget Floyd 1 out in the bottom of the 9th at Shea and the Angels have electric Francisco Rodriguez closing. Anderson, pinch hitting, drives one just shy of the track in right center, with RF Vladimir Guerrero running towards center and CF Steve Finley sliding while running toward RF to make the catch; he can't and it bounces off his leg and rolls into a vacant RF; he gets up and tracks the ball down, all the while Anderson is busting it around the basepaths, and despite a perfect relay throw, Anderson just beats the throw home to tie the game at 2. His face slammed into the catcher; he's there laying in pain, but when he gets up, oh what an ovation. And the capper: Cliff Floyd hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the 10th. - 06/11/2005 31) - Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner - 05/19/2006 32) - 2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: - Todd Zeile hit a 3 Run Home Run to tie the game and hit a go ahead Home Run in the 10th to account for all 5 of the Mets runs in this 5-3 win over the Phillies. UMDB - 06/02/2004 33) - Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow. Well who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would have been the stopper? It's the future of the Mets that saves them in the present. Coupled with Phillies loss (thanks to last years NLCS villian Yadier Molina) Mets shave 2 more games off of their Magic number. We are still a long ways away from a division title but there is no doubt the Mets needed this one. Credit Sosa for coming in and putting out a fire in the 6th and credit Alou for playing hurt and producing at the same time. Mets are off to Florida for 4 and then back home to end the season against the Nats, Cards, and Marlins. Hopefully things go well and we can capture a second straight division crown. - UMDB - 09/19/2007 34) - The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. - 08/30/2005 35) - NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable. - 10/18/2006 36) - Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming - 08/12/2000 37) - After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. - 09/27/2001 38) - A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. - 06/29/2002 39) - Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. - 07/23/2003 40) - The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. - 08/21/2004 41) - Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. - 04/16/2005 42) - By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. - 09/07/2006 43) - This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. - 05/17/2007 44) - David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. - 08/07/2008 45) - In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade. - 10/04/2009 46) - Mets win Game 3 of the 2000 WS - Benitez gets the Save 47) - Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004 48) - Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS - Mets are down 2 and rally big for the win Perez 2B Alfonzo 2B Piazza 2B Ventura 2B Zeile groundout Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2. 49) - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s - NLCS - Game 5 - 10/11/2000 50) - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. - NLCS Game 1 - 10/12/2006 51) - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers - 06/18/2004 52) - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins - 09/19/2006(good one) 53) - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. - 04/24/2007 54) - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez. - 06/15/2007 55) - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. - versus Giants - 06/29/2007 56) - The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden - 07/08/2000 - Grim the game memories have the wrong memories .... 57) - Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?" Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth. It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career - 04/04/2005 58) - August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest. - 08/23/2009 59) -the 2 HR game by Piazza as a member of the Padres 08/09/06 60) - Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12 06/07/2005 61) - Benny's pinch slam in the Tokyo Dome - 03/30/2000 62) - Pedro flirts with a no-hitter in LA.......Pedro coughs up two in the eighth as Williams can't catch up with the drive, and they get only one run in support of Martinez, despite four doubles...Penny went 9. - 08/14/2005 63) - Trachsel vs. the Rox, broken up opposing pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao in the sixth (one-hitter) - 08/18/2003 64) - Glavine vs. the Rox, broken up by Kit Pellow in the eighth (one-hitter) - 05/23/2004 65) - Seo, Weathers, Benitez pitch to the minimum 27 batters vs. the Marlins, 6/17/03 66) - Trachsel vs. Angels, notable for just-called-up rookie SS Jose Reyes' first HR, a grand slam -06/15/2003 67) - Final game at Shea, 9/28/08 68) - First game at Citi Field, 4/13/09 69)- Carlos Delgado, who was batting .235 at the time and sucking so badly that there was serious talk of cutting him and trading for Richie Sexson (?!?), sets a Met record with 9 RBIs to help beat the Yankees 15-6 at MFYSII. He then goes on to have possibly the best three month stretch of any position player in Met history, and had a real shot at being named MVP if the Mets had managed to win the division. - 06/27/2008 70) - Speaking of Matt Franco, the middle game of the first Subway Series sweep was a 10-9 thriller won a dribbler by Shane Spencer. 07/03/2004 71) - The next day in which Ty Wigginton dominated, was pretty great, too - 07/04/2004 72) - The first game after that losing streak is the game I remember the second-most from that year (the game I mention below is my favorite). This time our two new studs Pedro and Beltran won the game and the Mets held on. Pedro and Smoltz were dueling, Braves led 1-0 in the top of the eighth. The 0-5 start combined with some general pessimism had me thinking this was another 1 run game against the Braves that we couldn't win. Then Beltran hit a two run home run in the eighth with one out to get Smoltz out of there, and Floyd and Wright opened it up on the bullpen with home runs of their own in the inning. Got us going to win 7 in a row after the disappointing start from the new free agents and manager. I still like to think that that game, and specifically that Beltran homer, got the franchise turned around. - 04/10/2005 73) - I also attended Piazza's last game as Met and am convinced he was blowing all those kisses directly at me. Not sure if anyone else brought that one up. - 11/02/2005 74) - A come-from-behind victory by the B-team Mets caps a three-game sweep in a 126-degree day-camp special afternoon, in which at least 50% of the attendees at the game are picnickers from the Mets Online Forum. Bobby Valentine, appreciating the MOFo support, treats us all to three seperate leftfielders (one of whom, Mike Marshall, executes a pull-back) and ice cream. The sweep is the first peep of hope that what seemed like a lost season may include a helluva run after all. - 08/08/2001 75 & 76) - On the downer side of memorable, 9/23/01 and 9/29/01, the two Brian Jordan games. Super sigh 77) - Pedro pitched eight good innings at MFYII , they get 1 in the first and we get 3 in the second and tack on three more through the game, they get 1 in the third and make it squeaky bum time in the ninth with two but Looper nails down the save for a 6-4 win , as remembered at the UMDB.....Beltran hit a blast and made a great game saving catch in the ninth. - 06/24/2005 78) - Opening day 2006...as remembered on the UMDB There is nothing better than being out there for Opening Day. The Home Opener is nice, but it doesn't quite have the same feeling as the real Opening Day. Last season, for the Home Opener, it seemed like the game happened, but nobody was really prepared for it. Not this year. Everything was in place. The crowd was ready, the Bunting was in place, and the Mets took the field, and it seemed everything was right with the world. Tom Glavine's first pitch of the season was a ball outside, prompting my friend to turn to me and say, "That's it, the season's a disaster! Break up the team!" The first car fire of the season took place behind the bleachers in Left Field during the bottom of the 1st. Took about half an inning before firemen got to the car. The new guys stood out, especially Nady, who ripped 4 hits, 2 of which led to runs, and LoDuca, who blooped a clutch 2-out hit in the 3rd to drive home the first run of the season. And, of course, David "The Truth" Wright nailed his first HR of the year in the 6th, a Piazza-esque blast to Right, prompting chants of MVP! MVP! MVP! Heilman was shaky, but a great relay throw from Floyd to Reyes to LoDuca cut down Soriano at home with the potential tying run in the 8th. Beltran also supplied a key assist from the OF as he cut down Vidro trying to stretch a single to a double in the 9th for the last out of the game, and Yes! A victory on Opening Day! - 04/03/2006 79) - Game 1 of the 2006 NLDS against LA - UMDB Lee A great victory for the Mets. With everyone reeling from finding out that El Duque wasn't pitching in the Division Series, and might join Pedro in not playing at all in the playoffs, there was a lot of anxiety brewing in New York that day. But we were all able to forget about all that for a few hours. John Maine pitched a solid 4.1 innings, and an incredible play at the plate saved two runs. For some reason that I still don't understand, the Dodgers third base coach decided to send Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew around third, even though the throw was coming in from Shawn Green to Jose Valentin. Valentin threw it down to Lo Duca, who tagged Kent, looked over at the umpire, suddenly realized Drew was coming, and he tagged him too. Possibly one of the craziest moments in Mets history. Delgado had a great game, driving in a few runs and hitting a bomb, and Floyd hit a bomb that we all knew right off the bat was gone. Nomar tied it up, but Delgado got the lead right back, and Wagner made it interesting, as he always does, but we came out with the victory and that's all that matters. 1 down, 10 to go. - 10/04/2006 80) -Steve Traschel's last game as a Met....Game 3 of the 06 NLCS in St.Louis...Trach was going through personnel stuff and it was showing in the playoffs...his previous start in LA he got pulled after 3....this game caused controversy for him because there was some question as to weather he pulled himself out...faking injury or something.....St.Louis wins 5-0 and take a 2-1 lead in the series. - 10/14/2006 81) - Bob Murphy Night meshes with Piazza's first appearance at first base...in relief of Mike Glavine. A sad and weird evening at Shea. - 09/25/2003 82) - Mets forge unlikely as hell comeback versus Phillies, from down 8-4 after blowing 4-0 lead. David wins it 10-9 on two-out homer in top of ninth at CBP. Nice antidote to unassisted triple play game, 8/23/09 (whoops, I just mentioned another one). - 09/12/2009 83) - Tom Glavine wins #300 on Sunday Night Baseball against the Cubs in Chicago - Tom goes 6.1 , gives up 6 hits with 2 runs 1 walk and 1 SO - Glavine had an RBI single to help himself. - Amit over the UMDB gets carried away with his memory. Glavine Gets # 300!!! Glavine was awesome as usual and the offense and bullpen backed him up this time. As a Mets fan I am glad I was able to watch the game from beginning to end. No doubt Glavine is a first ballot hall of famer. BRING ON THE BRAVES Heady times indeed - 08/05/2007 84) - Mike breaks catcher longball record, 5/5/04. 85) - Not a milestone, but plenty dramatic: Mike comes off DL after three months with a resounding blast, 8/13/03 (next day the lights went out in NYC). Same pitcher -- Jerome Williams of the Giants -- gave up both. - 08/13/2003 86) - And no discussion of the decade's homers could be complete without acknowledging Mo Vaughn's 505-foot detonation off the Budweiser sign, 6/26/02. 87) - Plus latter day horror show of note: Phillies 11 Mets 10, 8/30/07 after we had a 5-0 lead, trailed 8-5 and led 10-8. Yet we were still stunned one month later - 08/30/2007 88) - Another milestone: Lenny Harris breaks all-time career pinch-hit record, 10/6/01. I swear they treated it like it was Cal Ripken Night (which was going on some 200 miles to the south). - 10/06/2001 89) - Lastings high-fives the fans following first ML home run (such a contretemps). - 06/04/2006 90) -Pratt slam beats L.A. in ninth (longest ninth-inning game in N.L. history to that point, 4:09 - 05/30/2000 91) - Mets clinch playoff berth for second consecutive year for first time ever. - 09/27/2000 92) The Chip Ambres Game. Every decade needs one of these. - 07/22/2007 93) Joe McEwing takes ownership of Randy Johnson (Mike takes him very deep, too) - 5/21/00 94) -(N): Ryan Church second concussion, beginning of end - 5/20/08 95) - Water main break delays start, Pirates wallop Ollie 13-1, Billy rags on Ollie thereafter - 4/30/08 96) - 9/25/08: Shea's last walkoff win: Beltran gets one past the lethal Micah Hoffpauir in the rain, scoring Reyes. Featured big hits by Robinson Cancel and Ramon Martinez, plus Pedro's farewell. 97) - : Delgado goes 5-for-5, his fifth hit one Omar Infante falls down on, scoring Wright in the bottom on the ninth to beat the Braves 5-4. - 08/21/2008 98) - : Delgado goes the other way, to left, scoring Cancel and Wright (David captured inadvertently posing like Captain Morgan after crossing home plate, one knee in the air), beats Phillies 3-1 to take series in which the two rivals came in tied for first...first time since September 1985 Mets entered a three-game series tied for first to play the team with whom they were tied. - 7/24/08 99) - : Damion Easley's inside-the-park home run breaks tie, keys Brian Lawrence (!) to victory over the Brewers, 12-4. - 08/02/2007 100) - Mets win longest game of the decade, 17 innings, 5-3 over the Astros. Marked by Beltran's diving catch onto Tal's Hill in the sixteenth; he drives in winning run in the seventeenth. - 07/07/2007 101) - Shawn Green's singular moment of triumph, walkoff eleventh-inning blast off Russ Springer to beat the Cards 2-1. - 06/25/2007 102) - : What had been El Duque-Joe Blanton 0-0 duel heads to ninth. Ramon Castro, the slowest man alive, doubles. The only way to get him home without a homer, it appears, is to hit a ball where the worst fielder alive can't quite catch up with it...which is what David Wright does when he dunks a double out of the reach of Jack Cust. Mets beat A's 1-0. - 06/23/2007 103) -: Strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play ends long overdue sweep of Braves at Turner Field, 10-6. - 07/30/2006 104) -: Floyd grand slam...Beltran grand slam...Wright two-run homer...all in the same inning. Mets put up an 11-run sixth, a team record, beat Cubs at Wrigley 13-7. - 7/16/06 105) - : The moment of Alay Soler: Two-hit shutout that cements his place in the Met rotation (until he completely disappears by July, not only never winning another game, but never pitching in another win). - 6/10/06 106) - : Weird home run incidence: Julio Franco becomes oldest man to hit a home run AND Kaz Matsui hits a home run in his first plate appearance of the year for the third consecutive year in a row. Mets beats Pads at Petco, 7-2. - 4/20/06 107) - : The Mike Jacobs rookie rampage crests with a 4-for-5 night, two homers, four RBI. Mets establish residence in Arizona, sweeping four from the Diamondbacks, 18-1. - 8/24/05 108) - : At virtually the same moment Randy Johnson is finishing off his perfect game in Atlanta, Cliff Floyd caps ninth-inning rally with two-out single to beat Jason Isringhausen and Cards 5-4. Mets move to within one game of .500 and, for what it's worth, shake me out of my default "I don't really care if they win or lose" funk I'd been in ever since they'd fired Bobby V and let Fonzie walk. (I did care, just not as much as I had before Art Howe...I was so pissed for so long.) - 5/18/04 109) - : Mets somehow up 6-5 at Turner Field. Bottom of the ninth. Armando gets two outs. Then a walk. Then a balk. Then a walk. Two on. Julio Franco, then a bad guy, singles to center. Here comes Chipper Jones with the tying run and...HE'S OUT! Tsuyoshi Shinjo, in his otherwise hollow second go-round as a Met, throws him out at the plate to end the game. It wasn't much, but it was 2003. - 5/23/03 110) - : Brady Clark reaches on an Andres Galarraga error to tie Expos 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth. In the eleventh, Esix Snead launches a three-run blast to win it, 6-3. Brady Clark? Esix Snead? The 2002 Mets winning in dramatic fashion in September? Lost in the shuffle: a Met killer is born, as Endy Chavez goes 4-for-5 for Montreal. - 9/21/02 111: - These are supposed to be memorable, yet one might have to call this the forgotten gem of the 25-6 tear that catapulted the Mets back into contention in this star-crossed season. Mets trail Philies, one of their two competitors for first place, 7-5 entering the ninth at the Vet and score five runs on six hits and two Philadelphia errors. Mets pull to within a not altogether improbable 8-1/2 of first with 24 games to go. Two remain with the Phillies, six are left with the Braves. - 9/3/01 112 ) -: Mike Piazza beats Rheal Cormier in the bottom of the ninth with a home run, 6-5, which in itself was great, but was that much greater because... - 7/29/01 113) - : Robin Ventura beats the returning Turk Wendell in the bottom of the ninth with a home run, 4-3, 24 hours earlier. Two Mets walk off bombs against the Phillies in two days. - 7/28/01 114) - : Bobby Valentine outargues Marlin skipper Tony Perez and umpire Kerwin Danley into a favorable call at third (something about "abandoning the base") and it's eventually all for the good as Shinjo singles home the winning run in the eleventh, keeping the Mets' faint midsummer pulse ticking. - 7/18/01 115) - : Shinjo introduces himself with two orange wristbands and one home run. Mike reintroduces himself with a pair of dingers. The Mets raise their 2000 pennant and bop the Braves at the Home Opener, 9-4. - 4/9/01 116) - : Mets open league title defense at Turner Field. Instead of folding per usual at the Dread, Robin Ventura takes John Rocker deep in the eighth, Kerry Ligtenberg the same in the tenth. Two two-run Robin eggs laid on Atlanta win it 6-4. - 4/3/01 117) - : Slumping Mets down 1-0 (Jeff D'Amico outdueling Mike Hampton) with two out in the bottom of the ninth when Robin Ventura drives home Jay Payton with a double. With two out in bottom of the tenth, Payton ends it with three-run bomb off Juan Acevedo. Snaps the Mets out of their morass and points them toward October. - 9/13/00 118) - : Emergency starter Grant Roberts buries Mets early. They're down 4-0 after a half inning, 7-2 after an inning and a half. Yet a slow, steady comeback commences, climaxing in the bottom of the eighth with a tie-breaking single from Matt Franco. Mets win first game of makeup matinee doubleheader 9-8 (and go on to sweep the twinbill). - 7/27/00 119 ) - Friday night, - Leiter takes 4-2 lead to eighth. Kevin Young homers with nobody on. Al departs with two out. Turk gets out of it. Armando comes on in the ninth. Gets two quick outs. Then surrenders double to Jason Kendall, triple to Pat Meares. Brian Giles is intentionally walked; Young strikes out. Top of tenth: Ordonez thrown out trying to score go-ahead run. Bottom of tenth: Mike Benjamin gets aboard on infield single with two out off Franco. Steals second. Takes third on Piazza's throw. Stranded. Top of eleventh: Piazza, Ventura, Zeile single to load bases with one out (slow men). Payton, indicating bases-loaded problem that would plague him all year, hits into DP. Bottom of eleventh: Trouble keeps finding Franco. One out, then Kendall reaches on Ventura error. Kendall picked off for second out. Then Johnny hits Meares with pitch, but gets out of it on force of pitcher Jose Silva, allowed to hit, as Gene Lamont has burned through his bench. Mets break through in top of twelfth: Ordonez singles, Agbayni doubles, Mora singles them home. Bell lines to first, doubling off Mora. Fonzie walks...Mike homers. Mets take 8-4 lead...but Pirates make life difficult for Dennis Cook. A walk, a wild pitch, an infield single and a Mike Benjamin double make it 8-5. With two on and two out, Adrian Brown hits a frighteningly long fly to center that Payton tracks down to end it. - 04/01/2000 120) - Saturday afternoon - Heretofore unknown quantity Glendon Rusch is masterful in his first Met start: complete game, allowing only a walk and four hits. Alas, two of them are a leadoff single to Giles and a home run to Young to open the bottom of the seventh. Mets can't touch lefty Jimmy Anderson (en route to a 5-11, 5.25 ERA season). They collect just five singles and are blanked 2-0 in 1:57. - 04/15/2000 121) - Sunday afternoon, Top of the first features a HBP of Rickey Henderson by Kris Benson, an Aramis Ramirez throwing error that keeps the inning going and a three-run homer by Robin Ventura. Great, right? Bobby Jones hits Jason Kendall and gives up a single to Pat Meares. Jones leaves with a calf strain. Pat Mahomes comes on and, in a blink, it's 4-3 Pirates. Jon Nunnally homers to put the Mets ahead 5-4 in the second. Zeile adds an RBI double in the third to make it 6-4, chasing Benson. Mahomes gives it all back in the bottom of the third with Kendall and Giles driving home runs and making it Pirates 7 Mets 6. Mets come back in fourth with RBIs from Bell, Alfonzo and Ventura off Chris Peters, to make it Mets 9 Pirates 7. Ventura sac fly and Payton double off Marc Wilins make it 11-7 in the top of the sixth. But here come the Bucs again in the bottom of the inning, with solo HRs from Giles and Wil Cordero off Turk. It's 11-9 Mets. Robin adds an insurance run off Scott Sauerbeck in the eighth, doubling home Piazza. Final is Mets 12 Bucs 9. Mets commit three errors. Mahomes goes four innings for the win. Ventura has 6 RBI. Fonzie and Mike score three runs apiece. Bell goes 3 for 6. Mike and Robin go 3 for 4. There are six unearned runs altogether between the two teams. This is a day after the Mets can't do anything offensively, which was a day after the Mets posted 20 hits (and three other errors). And for not so good measure, the final out of the final game was a pop fly by the Pirate third baseman, a fellow often associated with the Mets of 2000, but not for this game: Luis Sojo. An incredible series. Now completely forgotten. That's baseball for ya. - 04/16/2000 122) - Ken Griffey's first game at Shea Stadium. During the offseason it appeared his first game might be the Home Opener, but he vetoed a half-assed trade proposal between the Mets and M's and famously went to Cincinnati where it never really worked out for him. Hence, he was the newest villain in town, booed all night -- which was 1969 throwback night, per a promotional tie-in with the release of the movie "Frequency". Griffey came up as the potential go-ahead run in the ninth. Armando, in veritable retro pajamas, struck him out on 3-2 to preserve the Mets' ninth win in a row (a streak that had begun with the Sunday game in Pittsburgh mentioned upthread). Very cold night, but all was well. - 04/29/2000 123) - Ken Griffey's final game at Shea Stadium. Animus had been put aside long before. Griffey was one of the few veteran sluggers not suspect for substances. He is warmly received on a windy Shea day. Mets leave him three homers shy of 600 in a Mets' 8-3 win notable for the following: Oliver Perez steals a base; Mets use pink bats and some where pink spikes for Mother's Day; and the Reds bat out of order in the ninth, delaying the game's end interminably. - 05/11/2008 124) - File under curiosity or milestone: the Mets short-circuit the Phillies' Wild Card chances with a four-run top of the eighth, coming back to win 6-5. Which was fine. But here's what makes me remember this game. Jae Seo (Kwanju, South Korea) started. He was followed to the mound by Danny Graves (Saigon, South Vietnam), Kaz Ishii (Chiba, Japan) and winning pitcher Shingo Takatsu (Hiroshima, Japan). Four consecutive Asian-born pitchers in a Major League Baseball game. Had to be a first. Maybe an only. And none of them was the most celebrated of Asian-born 2005 Mets, Dae-Sung Koo, whose last appearance came in August. Then again, he was known more for his bat. - 09/26/2005......AWESOME 125) - Met fans furious about the 2001 offense get everything they hope for in an expensive offensive makeover going into 2002. Everybody disappoints, but fans are so grumblyfrustrated with big shots Roberto Alomar and Mo Vaughn that it's only just dawning on them by the end of the year that Jeromy Burnitz is pulling down $7 million (and due $12 milion the next season!) while putting up the OPS of a reserve infielder. Just as the boos start swinging his way, he clubs a titanic late-season walkoff jobbie off of Juan Cruz of the Cubs. It's his last clout of the year, but somehow I get the (correct) impression that Burnitz (if only Burnitz) will turn it around the next season. - 09/17/2002

G-Fafif Dec 16 2009 03:57 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

File under curiosity or milestone: September 26, 2005, the Mets short-circuit the Phillies' Wild Card chances with a four-run top of the eighth, coming back to win 6-5. Which was fine. But here's what makes me remember this game. Jae Seo (Kwanju, South Korea) started. He was followed to the mound by Danny Graves (Saigon, South Vietnam), Kaz Ishii (Chiba, Japan) and winning pitcher Shingo Takatsu (Hiroshima, Japan). Four consecutive Asian-born pitchers in a Major League Baseball game. Had to be a first. Maybe an only. And none of them was the most celebrated of Asian-born 2005 Mets, Dae-Sung Koo, whose last appearance came in August. Then again, he was known more for his bat.

Edgy DC Dec 16 2009 06:45 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

September 17, 2002: Met fans furious about the 2001 offense get everything they hope for in an expensive offensive makeover going into 2002. Everybody disappoints, but fans are so grumblyfrustrated with big shots Roberto Alomar and Mo Vaughn that it's only just dawning on them by the end of the year that Jeromy Burnitz is pulling down $7 million (and due $12 milion the next season!) while putting up the OPS of a reserve infielder. Just as the boos start swinging his way, he clubs a titanic late-season walkoff jobbie off of Juan Cruz of the Cubs. It's his last clout of the year, but somehow I get the (correct) impression that Burnitz (if only Burnitz) will turn it around the next season. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes ... 9170.shtml I think I have a soft spot for games featuring late season walk-off homers against the Cubs in otherwise lost seasons. The lost IGT: http://thecranepoolforum.yuku.com/topic ... tml?page=1

G-Fafif Dec 26 2009 01:31 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

STRICTLY FOR THE HELL OF IT (no need to poll these)... APRIL 15, 2005 The Marlins will be sending ace Josh Beckett to the hill, so let's just throw our sacrificial lamb/temporary starter Aaron Heilman out there to absorb his pounding. Instead, the Mets handle Beckett just fine and Heilman, an afterthought heading into the season, comes within one lousy infield hit of immortality (curse you, early and often, Luis Castillo). Aaron's line: 9 IP, 0 R, 1 H. For his trouble, he's eventually a reliever. AUGUST 21, 2001 & MAY 11, 2002 Will Mike Hampton ever learn? His first two returns to Shea are an education in the short memory of fans (who boo the 2000 NLCS MVP relentlessly) and a math lesson, which is to say, subtract the Rockies' totals and the Mets' totals and you'll see we beat our onetime ace twice. The Mets jumped on Hampton in August '01, with four in the first and a Piazza solo job in the second (they never liked each other, it was said) as the Mets got their footing for the run they would make at the division. The encore featured a three-run homer by SUPER Joe McEwing, erasing a Rockies' 3-1 lead. Al Leiter was the beneficiary both times; one assumes he didn't care for not being considered the ace here in 2000. The May 11, 2002 game's other noteworthy returns: Todd Zeile, Rick White and, to little reaction, Benny Agbayani, each purged from the ultimately 2001 club (as if their removal really helped matters).

Edgy DC Dec 26 2009 10:02 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

One of the great head-scratchers of post-game quotes was Heilman saying something to the effect of "I just have to figure out a way to come out and beat them again in five days." Like most folks, I thought, "Hey, Aaron, you just made stooges of a major league ballcub. Make them adjust to you. Until then, don't change a thing." I don't know if he heard and listened to my thoughts or not, but the next time out against those same Fishies, seven runs in four innings.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 26 2009 10:19 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

APRIL 15, 2005 If I recall, a cold, damp, uncomfortable night to hit. Not to take away anything from Heilman, but a few of them happen every year.

G-Fafif Dec 27 2009 07:43 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

JUNE 2, 2005 Two episodes that would be highlight film staples had they made a highlight film of 2005 and had the 2005 Mets rated a highlight film in the latter-day sense of having to earn one. From the AP account: 1) In the first inning, Martinez was pitching to Luis Gonzalez when the Shea Stadium infield sprinkler system went off, shooting water everywhere. Some pitchers might have been annoyed. Martinez was amused. "I just got wet," he said, laughing it off. "Water is a blessing." On a chilly June night, Martinez reacted like a kid playing in a pool in the middle of summer. "I made it fun," he said. "It was fun." 2) New York RF Mike Cameron fell down chasing Jose Cruz Jr.'s fly ball in the sixth inning but made the catch while flat on the ground. The Cameron catch was Amazin' as any play a Met not named Endy Chavez made in this decade, including the D-Wright barehanded grab in San Diego two months later. The sprinkler romp...well, that was just vintage Pedro while there was vintage Pedro. And, oh yes, the Mets beat Arizona, 6-1.

Rockin' Doc Dec 27 2009 06:04 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I voted in each of the most memorable games polls. I only voted for those games that I truly remembered, so I generally voted for fewer than 10 games. I hope that isn't a problem, but I didn't want to vote for games based on the description provided if I have no actual recall of the game.

G-Fafif Dec 28 2009 01:25 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

APRIL 26 & 27, 2002 Back-to-back no-hit bids, by Shawn Estes on Friday night and Pedro Astacio on Saturday afternoon, each against the Brewers, each carried to the seventh. Estes makes Jay Payton's second-inning home run off Glendon Rusch hold up for a 1-0 complete game one-hitter. Astacio, while a car fire rages in the Shea lot that will someday be Citi Field, combines with Armando Benitez on a three-hitter for the 2-1 victory. Things look good for those crisp 2002 Mets.

Edgy DC Dec 28 2009 01:38 PM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

I was searching for those. I was at the car-fire game with KC. Great atmosphere. Yeah, I said it. A great atmosphere at Shea. In 2002.

G-Fafif Dec 29 2009 03:28 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[quote="Edgy DC"]I was searching for those. I was at the car-fire game with KC. Great atmosphere. Yeah, I said it. A great atmosphere at Shea. In 2002.

To while away the boredom of Spring Training in 2007, I ran a series of posts on FAFIF under the umbrella March Metness, an NCAA-style tournament to determine the Quintessential Mets Thing. After announcing the brackets, one reader insisted we should have included Parking Lot Car Fire...and not even the same Parking Lot Car Fire.

Edgy DC Dec 29 2009 05:35 AM Re: Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

We're so close. We really should pump this up to 162 games --- turn it into a decade of memorability compressed into a single 120-win super-memorable season.