Sep 30 2019 03:37 PM
Somebody asked at the end of yesterday's game if the Mets had ever ended the season with a walkoff . The answer is YES! This is the Mets fourth walkoff win to close the season, against only one walkoff loss, and even that sole loss deserves an asterisk next to it (more on that below).
First some background. Remember how the Mets started their lives notoriously bad on opening day, and even won a World Championship before they won an opening game? But since then have been an opening-day juggernaut? Remember? Well, the same is true, oddly enough, of the Mets on closing day, only perhaps even moreso.
The Mets lost the ultimate game of the regular season their first nine years of their existence. That's an embarassing way to enter the winter (or, if it's 1969, to enter the playoffs). But since then, they have gone on a tear of 31-18 on closing days, good for a .633 winning percentage since 1970, anda a .534 winning percentage overall even counting those first nine years. They've only lost two closers in a row three times in this period, and no losing streak ever went more than two games/years. Unfortunately, one of those three two-game skids with the twin cock-punch losses of 2007 and 2008.
Ouch, my cock.
But back to the good news. The Mets made it all the way to 1983 before a walkoff win ended their season. Wouldn't you know it that the breakthrough would involve Bambi's Bandits? Unfortunately, George "Bambi" Bamberger wouldn't be around for this one as he ended his season early to go fishing, leaving the team in the hands of Jumbo Frank Howard. With the Mets down 4-3 to the visiting Expos with two out and two on in the ninth (thanks for nothing, Hernandez), Howard called for Rusty Staub to grab a bat and pinch-hit for starting pitcher Tim Leary, still in the game after throwing nine innings. With pinch-runners Mark Bradley and José Oquendo also entering the game as pinch-runners, Staub socked a double to plate both of his fellow late-entering teammates. This was the second end of a doubleheader between the two teams that day, and I could count the Mets' 1-0 win in the opener as another closing game, since it came on closing day, but that's a bit of a stretch.
This was the Mets' last season played entirely in black and white before the fun started in 1984.
Anyhow,
The walkoff season-ender didn't return to the Mets' lexicon until 1994. And that was by accident. With two out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 15th of that season's unending ender, the Phillies' Ricky Jordan snuck a bases-loaded single through the infield off of Mauro "Goose" Gozzo.
Now, the reason there's any controversy is that this wasn't supposed to be the closing game. And there is a strong argument to discount it from this list entirely. Unlike the October farewells we get in most seasons, this
Bobby Bonilla was the Mets' player rep that year. I don't know whether he supported the strike or not, but after the game, he was reppin' as only Bonilla can.
Counting that or not, the Mets got the game back at the close of the next season. Tied at 0-0 through 11 innings, Tim Bogar of Dallas Green's Fightin' Ninety-Fives worked a bases-loaded walk off of Brad Woodall of the Braves. Jason Isringhausen started off with eight shutout innings, but Pete "Foots" Walker
Walkoff walkoff win number three came for the Mets in the pennant-winning 2000 season. With runners on first and second and no outs, Jorge Velandia grounded to Atlanta third-baseman Geoff Blum. Blum made a throwing error, allowing Benny Agbayani to come around with the winning run from second,
But the first walkoff HOME RUN in Mets history came yesterday afternoon/evening, as Dom Smith capped 2019, with Mets down 6-4 in the bottom of the 11th,
Thanks, Dom. I hope you're still a Met next year.