Lost Classics: April 20, 2000

The Mets were playing the Baltimore Orioles tonight in a most hotly contested Spring Training matchup. Usually, I skip these, but I was home, and making (and eating) dinner, and I flipped the game on, and stepping to the plate was Melvin Mora. I always have very fond memories of Melvin Mora, and his short stay with the Mets, where he proved to be a plucky and emerging talent. After bouncing around in the Minor Leagues for years, Mora finally made it to the Majors with the Mets in 1999. A 27 year old rookie who wasn't counted on to amount to anything.

Mora would appear in 66 games for the Mets that season, and accumulated only 31 at bats, posting an unspectacular .161 batting average.

But on October 3rd of that season, with the Mets needing a win in the final game of the regular season, it would be Mora, coming through with a clutch single in the bottom of the 9th, racing to 3rd on an ensuing single by Alfonzo and scoring the winning run on a Brad Clontz wild pitch, sending the Mets off to Cincinnati for the Wildcard Play-In game that they would eventually win to advance to the Playoffs.

And it would be in the playoffs that Mora would have his own personal coming out party. In Game 4 of the NLDS vs. Arizona, Mora gunned down a runner at home in the 8th inning, short-circuiting a D'Backs rally. Filling in for an injured Rickey Henderson in Game 2 of the NLCS in Atlanta, Mora would belt his first Major League HR off Kevin Millwood. More clutch hits and clutch defense in the classic Game 5, including a key defensive stop in right field on a Larry Jones 2B that turned into another out at home plate. And another 2 key hits late in the fateful 6th game, one driving in a run in the 8th, the second setting up a run in the 10th. He would finish the NLCS with 6 hits, a .429 average, and a place in the hearts of all Mets fans. All this would earn Mora a key role off the bench as the 2000 season began.

And provides the perfect lead-in for this Lost Classic from early that season.

There are often games early in seasons when you know that this season will be the year that's special. When you know that something is different about this team, setting it apart from previous years. Maybe it's a comeback victory. Maybe it's a great pitching performance. Or maybe it's something as simple as the atmosphere of the crowd in the stands that night.

April 20th, 2000 was one such night.

It was a cool Thursday evening in April. I was home on break from College, and I took the opportunity to go to what would be my first Mets game of the season. The Mets had started the season half a world away in Japan, and had returned to the states with a bit of jet lag. Merely 8-7 as the game began, nobody knew what the year would hold. But expectations are high following the showing of 1999, the key offseason acquisitions and whatnot.

We don't know that the Mets are already 3 wins into a 9 game win streak that will send them on their way to being one of the hottest teams in Baseball throughout the summer, on a ride that will sweep them all the way to their first World Series in 14 seasons.

All we know on this night is that the Mets and the Brewers are facing off in the finale of a 3 game series. The Mets, looking for the sweep, send Al Leiter to the mound, facing off against Steve Woodard. I am in attendance, having purchased my ticket from a group of gentleman, fresh from the office, who have an extra seat, a Mezzanine Box, section 10. A $30 ticket for $20. Not bad at all.

It would be a battle for Leiter from the outset. Leiter will start the game by allowing a leadoff double to Marquis Grissom, who will steal third before scoring on a Jeromy Burnitz sac fly. Leiter will also walk Mark Loretta and Charlie Hayes before getting out of the jam.

In the 3rd, Leiter will allow a 2 out double to Hayes. James Mouton will follow that by launching a Home Run into the bleachers in Left.

Leiter will also allow a Home Run to Hayes in the 5th inning. He departs after 6 innings, giving up 8 hits, 3 walks, and only 4 strikeouts. The Mets will be trailing, at the time, 4-1.

Woodard would keep the Mets almost completely in check early on. Through 6 innings, he's dangerously close to perfect. He's allowed only one hit. But it is a loud, long hit, off the bat of Mike Piazza. A long Home Run, well over the bleachers in left, soaring just below the DiamondVision screen.

But the Mets cannot muster anything else off of Woodard through the first 6 innings.

In fact, the only hairy moment for the Brewers to this point in the game comes with the final out of the 6th inning. On a Rickey Henderson popup into shallow left, Shortstop Mark "Get Back" Loretta and the Left Fielder Mouton are both going for the ball. It appears to be Loretta's play easily, except that the ball is caught up in a breeze and being blown further back and to the left. Loretta and Mouton come together, and just as Loretta squeezes the ball, he is knocked flat by Mouton. Loretta will hold on, but he is on the ground for several minutes, and knocked from the game.

Pat Mahomes will take over for the Mets in the 7th. He will get out of a mild jam, just as 3 of the 4 gentlemen I'm sitting with decide that the game is hopeless, departing with the 7th inning stretch.

"Oh ye of little faith," the remaining gentleman will remark to me.

He's right.

Derek Bell, who is in the midst of a red-hot April that will win him hordes of fans in Queens that will just as soon abandon him during his ice cold second half that will eventually see him gone from the club completely following an injury in the first game of the NLDS in San Francisco, will lead off the last of the 7th. And he will jump on Woodard's first pitch, a fat fastball, and slam it into the Brewers bullpen for a Home Run to make the score 4-2.

Edgardo Alfonzo, who is embarking on what will turn out to be his finest season in the Majors, one that will lead to his first and only All Star Game appearance and lead to his name being bandied about as the Best Player in New York, will follow Bell's HR with a sharp single to left. Woodard is losing it, quickly. Piazza will follow with a walk. Woodard is gone, very quickly, and replaced with Valerio de los Santos. de los Santos will get Ventura to ground into a fielder's choice, with Piazza erased at second. David Weathers will enter the game to pitch to Todd Zeile. And Zeile will respond by nailing a single to right to score Alfonzo. Ventura is motoring around second as Burnitz fields the ball and unleashes a throw to third. A good throw will get Ventura.

But Burnitz's throw is not good. In fact, Burnitz airmails the throw so badly that it ends up in the camera well behind third base. Ventura is awarded Home. The game is tied, very quickly, 4-4.

The other guys should have stuck around.

The score will remain the same through the 8th and 9th. Dennis Cook will strike out the side in the 9th, with a Burnitz walk and steal (!) sandwiched in between. Piazza will lead off the Mets half of the 9th with a single against Bob Wickman. Kurt Abbott will pinch run, advance to second on a Ventura groundout and steal third with one out. But Benny Agbayani strikes out and Rey Ordonez grounds out to end the Mets threat.

Turk Wendell will navigate the 10th inning for the Mets. It is Curt Leskanic pitching for Milwaukee in the last of the 10th. He will strike out Jon Nunnally to lead off, and that will bring up Melvin Mora, inserted into the game as part of a double-switch in the top of the 10th.

And Mora will unload on Leskanic's first pitch and blast it out. A long, majestic, Piazza-esque Home Run that bounces off of the camera stand beyond the center field fence. It is Mora's first Major League HR. Or, at least, his first in the regular season. He's mobbed by the team as he reaches Home, capping off a sharp, well-played comeback victory that will finish off a sweep of the Brewers and extend the Mets win streak to 4 games.

And, although much of the already small crowd of 17,002 had departed, walking down the ramps following the game, the chants of "MEL-VIN MO-RA! MEL-VIN MO-RA!" are deafening.

And you knew, leaving the stadium after this game, that this 2000 Mets team, this season, would be special, and one to be remembered. And we still remember them fondly.

Mora would eventually be pressed into the starting Shortstop role following the injury to Rey Ordonez. Although his offense is good, his fielding at SS is less than stellar. But still, we think, it's good enough to get by. But management feels differently, and Mora is dealt in July to Baltimore for Mike Bordick. Bordick will play poorly for the Mets, and return to the Orioles as a free agent following the season. Mora will be a spare part for most of 2 seasons for Baltimore, but in 2003 he will blossom into an All-Star and .300 hitter. One that Mets fans remember and would have loved to have back.

But, for one night, a hero to all Mets fans, in a game mostly forgotten among the other masterpieces of the 2000 season.

Remember, Astroturf Is Their Fault

The latest Deadspin baseball season preview is up, and yeah, I know it's about the Astros, but it was written by Whitney Pastorek, who's both a friend of my sister's and a fellow McSweeney's Internet Tendency publishee. And it's also a pretty good read.

And if you think about it, in a way the Mets were to the '86 Astros as the Dodgers were to the '88 Mets (okay, not exactly, but work with me here), so we should sympathize with our Astro fan brethren and, in this case, sistren. And then there was astroturf, then the whole rainbow jersey thing, and then the Enron/Astros/Minute Maid/What's It This Year? Field debacle. Plus, they're from Houston, so they deserve sympathy for that, too. At least they stole Bagwell from the Red Sox.

Whitney takes a philosophical look at the 'Stros lifelong World Series drought:

What I'm trying to say is that lately, I've been looking at life as an Astros fan in a much, much different way. Houstonians! Don't you see how lucky we truly are? Every extra-inning playoff loss, every late-season win streak that isn't quite enough, every time we make it to the World Series only to get swept and called racists—those aren't pathetic events, they're dodged bullets! Stays of execution!

Impressively, she makes it through the whole post without a single Carlos Lee fat joke. Then again, I've made it through a month and a half of this blog without making a joke about Moises Alou peeing on his hands, so maybe we've all matured.

Baseball Season Preview: Houston Astros [Deadspin]

SWJM seeks SWJF. Mets Fan Only.

Throughout the season in 2006, and continuing this year, we have, while watching the Mets on SNY, been subjected to those ubiquitous network promos featuring the adventures of TV Head Guy, the rather beleaguered gentleman with a TV for a head constantly playing SNY. We would have to assume that he is a Mets fan. After all, he's rather calm, level-headed, just wants to go about his business and be left alone, and watch his favorite team.

The ads got annoying rather quick. But there was one such ad that stuck with me, particularly because of the cliche, but oh-so-true bit of symbolism it portrays.

In the ad, our hero is seen painting the toenails of a young woman, who giggles and coos over the Yankees. Suddenly, in walks his girlfriend, a Mets fan. She's shocked and appalled by what she sees. Mr. TV admits that he can't be exclusive, not in this town. He beckons his girlfriend to join them on the couch so that he can paint her toes next.

And it's over, just as soon as it begins. In fact, here it is, in case you forgot:


But here's what gets me. The female Mets fan is a very lovely woman. A tall, leggy, sultry brunette, who obviously has a good handle on life. She's come home, probably from a day at work, done some shopping, and is looking forward for a nice evening at home.

The female Yankee fan is a trashy blonde, looking for a good time. Doesn't matter with who or where at. She's the kind of girl who drinks too much at a bar and then vomits in the cab on the way home. She looks as if she's stumbled out of bed at around 3:30 in the afternoon and just threw something on and ran out of the house.

The symbolism just slays me. It's a very, very subtle dig at the Yankees, for sure. Not disrespectful, because the point that SNY still covers the Yankees is made...

...but we all know girls like that. And it's true. Most female Yankee fans didn't grow up in the City, and probably didn't follow the Yankees before 1996. But all of a sudden, they're screaming about how they're in love with Robinson Cano or Tino Martinez or Captain Jeter, and how the Mets suck, and how many championships did the Mets win, and how their father is getting them World Series tickets for when they make it, blah, blah, blah.

I'll admit that I haven't known many (in fact, few, if at all), female Mets fans. I know that the ones that I've seen at Shea are often the civil, attractive type. Much like the girl in the commercial. Yes, I have seen a few that got drunk and loud, but never to the point of embarrassment (El Guapo will be quick to remind me of the time we were at a game that ran late, and there was a drunk girl in full Mets gear screaming for a beer guy in the 10th inning, but that's a rare occurrence). I once had the misfortune of dating a Phillies fan who was the epitome of unhinged. I feel I am still atoning for this act of high treason. Needless to say, it didn't work out. I have, to date, not been fortunate enough to date a female Mets fan. I do hope to have my chance someday.

I don't know that we have many, if any, female readers. But if we do, consider this, and the SNY spot, a tip of the cap to the fairer Mets fans. But don't turn into the Bronx version after a couple of World Championships. We're all too good for that.

The Big Blog Roundup, March Metness Edition

Before we get to the links, let me share with you all the latest in Ballclub news. First up, we've set up a fledgling MySpace page, which we're told is where all the kids are hanging out these days. Want to be friends with us? Hit us up on our MySpace, dude.

Also, it's come to my attention that if you Google the word "ballclub" one of our posts is the fifth result that shows up. I mean, not that I'm constantly checking up on this sort of thing while I'm at work. It just came to my attention. Here's what's interesting: ahead of us are three (three!) Cubs blogs. The Cubs? Fuck that. You know what to do. Link us up. We will own that #1 spot by the end of March—that's my pledge to you. If you search "the ballclub"—with or without quotes—we own the first two spots. Again, this has just sort of come to my attention.

And now, this week's blog highlights:

• Didja know about this? Havya heard about this?
Mets Heads digs up the startling revelation that Jose Reyes was almost included in the 2001 trade that brought us The Robbie Alomar Era. As Kyle's mom would say, "Wha-wha-whaaaaaaaa?!" It's true. The Indians decided they didn't have enough scouting info on Professor Reyes so they elected to take Alex Escobar instead. I'd crack a joke here, but I feel too bad about the horrendous run of injury-related bad luck Escobar has had. Remember what a can't miss prospect he was once upon a time?

This little gem was reported by the Post's Joel Sherman on March 11, dropped into a little collection of notes. Joel, how can you be so casual about this? This is earth shattering! That sound you hear is the collective sigh of relief being breathed by Mets fans everywhere. That other sound is Mark Shapiro dousing a mountain of Jhonny Peralta bobblehead dolls with gasoline and setting them on fire.

• March Metness bracketology
In my favorite Met blog moment of the week, Faith and Fear in Flushing unveiled March Metness. Seasonally appropriate, no? A complete bracket of Met Memes that in the coming weeks will determine once and for all, as they put it, the "Quintessential Mets Thing." Round One commenced yesterday and continues apace.

Here's what I don't know: how are the matchups played out? Are they mapped to corresponding March Madness results? You guys want to fill us in? But if you'd rather keep it close the vest, if you're building a mystery, I can respect that.

Here's what else I don't know: where the hell is Shea Stadium Car Fire? Did that at least make the NIT or what?

• And now over to JackO and House for their thoughts
The original Friends of Bill join Simmons as he live-blogs about twelve total hours of NCAA Tournament action from yesterday and today. They started drinking beer at, startlingly, 9:33 AM (PT) Thursday morning and haven't stopped. Twelve hours of JackO and House! Does the fun ever start?! (I kid 'cuz I love.) I dug through quickly to pick a favorite quote and I'll have to go with this one:

9:51: Raftery calls Memphis "one of the great spurt teams … they have the ability to just explode from behind." It's like he's deliberately trying to get me fired.

Come on Bill, just leave ESPN and get on Blogger and and you can say whatever the hell you want.

• Our long citywide nightmare continues
And finally, over on Fortuitous Bounce we—okay, I—have pithy, snippy things to say about the multiyear extension given by the Knicks to Isiah Thomas. Allow myself to quote ... myself:

Pretty drastic indeed. If we haven't made progress, then oh my God it'll be sooo much work to, you know, fix it and everything. All that hiring a new coach, figuring out how to build a decent team with a future, making moves, what an effing drag, dude. Why don't we just extend Zeke's contract and hope for the best? I mean, fuck it, right? Okay, it's settled.

Why am I so much bitchier on that site? Oh, right. The team sucks.

Elsewhere:

• Shea Faithful interviews Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News to get the bad guys' side of things. Quoth Hagen: "I think getting Freddy Garcia was a great move for the Phillies and that the Wes Helms/Abraham Nunez combination should work well at third." I don't even have a joke here. You keep believing, Paul.

• The Eddie Kranepool Society helpfully offers suggested lineup to Omar Minaya. I have only a couple minor differences of opinion.

• Deadspin is already nineteen teams into their annual team-by-team baseball season preview. Deadspin editor Will Leitch, a Cards fan, affixes a particularly mean-spirited photo to the Mets preview article.

Update, 3/19: We're up to #4 on the "ballclub" Google search. We bumped out a Philippine news & sports site but we're still trailing those Cubs blogs.

Lost Classics: June 9, 1999

I was reading about the one-year anniversary of SNY over at Faith and Fear, and the guys over there were talking about the Mets Classics, the old games they have rerun. And rerun. And rerun some more. In fact, just this evening, I was watching yet another replay of Game 7 of the '86 Series. Yes, they warm the heart. But the Mets have a rich tradition of classic games. Interesting games. Games that make you scratch your head, and games that just make you proud to be a Mets fan. But only a handful of Mets Classics are ever seen on SNY. You can rattle them off pretty easily: The Clincher from '86. All the Playoff and World Series wins from '86. The Clincher from '88. Leiter's gem in the '99 Play-In game. Mike Piazza's HR after 9/11. And a smattering of "Instant Classics" from the '06 season.

Yes, new games are on the slate for the upcoming season. Games from '69 and '73.

Many still are simply forgotten. Lost in the annals of time except for people like us who remember them, who were there, or watching on TV. Games indelibly burned into our memories.

Flash back with me, if you will, for one such game.

It is June 9, 1999. A steamy, humid Wednesday night in what will become a magical season for the Mets. Not 5 days earlier, with the team mired in a 7 game losing streak, Manager Bobby Valentine had called for his own head if the team didn't improve over the next 55 games, to the tune of a 40-15 record. Since then, the Mets had not lost, winning the finale over the Yankees in the Bronx, and taking the first two games of a three game series over the Toronto Blue Jays at Shea. This night was the finale. In a season that will see me eventually attend 30 games, I am in attendance on this night, sitting in Mezzanine section 2, row A. Keeping score, as I always do.

A 7:40 curtain at Shea, featuring a pitching matchup of Rick Reed and David Wells.












It is apparent early on that Wells has his best stuff this evening. He strikes out Alfonzo and Olerud in the first. The Blue Jays jump on top on a leadoff HR from Catcher Darrin Fletcher leading off the top of the 2nd. In the 3rd, it's future Met Carlos Delgado doubling home Craig Grebeck with the Jays' second run. Former lazy Met Tony Fernandez will lace a single to right to follow that up. But Roger Cedeno charges the ball, and his throw home to Piazza is true, and well in time to nail Delgado at the plate. Jose Cruz, Jr pops a solo HR with 1 out in the 4th. 3-0 Jays.

Although Reed will continue to weave in and out of trouble for most of his 6 innings of work, he's fortunate to depart after laboring through 6 innings only trailing 3-0. 10 hits and 2 walks, but he's helped out by some stellar defensive efforts. It's not surprising, the infield behind him would do it all season long. In the 4th, Shannon Stewart is robbed on a diving stop up the middle by Alfonzo. In the 6th, he's robbed in the hole by Ordonez.

It is Turk Wendell taking over for the Mets in the 7th and turning in two strong innings. Dennis Cook will follow him in the top of the 9th and retire the Jays in order.

But the Mets haven't been able to touch Wells at all. Through 8 innings, only 4 hits, all singles. Wells has 6 Ks and no walks. And as he gets Henderson to ground to 3rd to start the last of the 9th, much of the sparse crowd of 18,254 begins to depart. Alfonzo singles to center, bringing about a faint murmur. But Olerud follows by hitting a comebacker to Wells, who goes to second to force out Alfonzo. 2 outs. But Piazza singles to right, moving Olerud to 3rd. Still, a faint murmur. It's a lefty/lefty situation with Ventura coming up. Not the best of odds.

But it is a different Robin Ventura this year. Ventura was a solid, if flawed 3Bman over 10 seasons with the Chicago White Sox. But he signed with the Mets before this 1999 season, spurning offers from hometown teams in California. After a slow start, Ventura caught fire, beginning with a doubleheader against the Brewers on May 20th that saw him blast Grand Slams in both games. He is embarking on a career year that will by season's end see him hit .302, with 32 HRs and 120 RBIs. He will win a Gold Glove for his efforts at Third Base. And he will deliver one of the most memorable hits in Mets History in October.

And, on this night, he will battle David Wells. He will work the count. He will foul off 2-strike pitch after 2-strike pitch. Piazza will steal second during the sequence. And then Robin will rip a clean single to center, scoring Olerud and Piazza, and cutting the Jays' lead to 3-2. Wells will depart for the evening. Ventura will as well, as Luis Lopez enters to pinch run. Robin has done his job. Now the need is for speed. And Brian McRae will bat against rookie closer Billy Koch.

And McRae will drill a shot down the left field line, down into the corner.

"SCORE LUIS! SCORE LUIS! SCORE LUIS!" I yell repeatedly as Lopez motors all the way around the bases, scoring without a throw. It's a double for McRae. Game tied.

And the evening was just beginning to get interesting.

Koch would get out of the 9th, sending the game into extra innings. Cook continued for the Mets in the 10th, retiring the Jays in order once again. Against Koch, the Mets will go quietly in their half. John Franco enters for the 11th. He will allow a leadoff single to Fernandez, but Fletcher hits into a nifty 4-6-3 double play. More infield defense.

As the clock ticked later on into the night, and the midweek crowd dwindled, the second subplot of the evening began to take hold.

The New York Knicks, led by Allan Houston and Larry Johnson, were in the midst of a miraculous run to the NBA Finals. This night, they are in Indiana, playing the hated Pacers in game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The series, tied 2-2, had to that point been a tense, taut battle, highlighted by a miraculous 4-point play scored by Larry Johnson in Game 3. It has been a back-and-forth battle most of the evening, with the Knicks hanging on to a slim lead in the 4th quarter. This as the Mets and Jays are headed to the 12th inning. Many fans have the game on radios, and the scoreboard has been giving updates throughout the evening.

It is the 12th inning when the game takes its oddest turn.

Pat Mahomes has taken over for the Mets. He allows a 1-out single to Shannon Stewart. With Grebeck batting, Stewart takes off for second. Grebeck swings through the pitch, but Piazza throws Stewart out at second.

Or so we think.

Home plate umpire Randy Marsh awards Grebeck first base. Seems he hit Piazza's glove with his swing. Catcher's interference is the call. Error on Piazza.

Cue Bobby Valentine.

Valentine will storm out of the dugout and blow his stack at Marsh. Marsh will get in Bobby's face. Bobby is ejected. And then he really lets Marsh have it. He starts flailing his arms, bobbing his head and screaming so loudly he can be heard in the Mezzanine. The crowd loves it. "BOBBY! BOBBY! BOBBY!" is the chant. Finally, Valentine screams his peace, and retreats to the clubhouse.

Mahomes will get Jacob Brumfield to pop out, and strike out Delgado to get out of the jam.

In the top of the 13th, it's Olerud coming up with a stellar diving stop on a smash by Fletcher, turning a 3-6-3 double play to end another Jays threat.

In the last of the 13th, against future Met Graeme Lloyd, the Mets will get Henderson on to lead off, but strand him. The crowd is jovial as Piazza bats with 2 outs. "M-I-K-E, MIKE! MIKE! MIKE!" is the chant, mocking the J-E-T-S chant. Mike strikes out.

But cheers erupt from the crowd. As the fans with the radios already know, and the scoreboard is about to tell us, the Knicks have emerged victorious, a 101-94 win on the road to tilt the series in their favor. They will win Game 6 that Friday night as well, to beat the Pacers and move on to the Finals.

It is around this point, that the most infamous moment of the game occurs. Though it is lost to those in the stands, who cannot see into the Mets dugout, there is, caught by the cameras, a gentleman with an odd pair of glasses and a fake moustache in a Mets T-shirt who has appeared in the dugout. It's Bobby. Donning the Groucho Marx disguise, he has snuck back into the dugout following his ejection to see the end of the game. The Moustache will become legendary in Mets, and Bobby V's lore.

By the 14th, I'm exhausted. It is not uncommon, as games such as this carry on past midnight, for me to begin to root for anyone to score, out of delirium. The Jays do not score in their half of the 14th. Tom Davey begins the bottom of the 14th for the Jays. He walks Lopez. He walks McRae. Davey is pulled for ageless lefty Dan Plesac. Cedeno lays down the sacrifice, moving Lopez to 3rd. The Jays pull the infield and outfield in as Ordonez steps to the plate.

I'm screaming for a fly ball. Something to get that run home.

"YES!!!" I scream as Ordonez delivers. A long fly ball to left, over Brumfield, landing softly in left field, as Lopez trots home with the winning run. A most gratifying winning run, capping off a memorable comeback victory for the Mets. And not a moment too soon, at 12:16AM, capping off 4 hours and 33 minutes of baseball. Thrilling, well-played baseball. The kind that the Mets will play all summer long, as they fulfill their Manager's promise and embark on the 40-15 stretch that will eventually land them in the Playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons.

A blip in the larger picture, but a game that is well worthy of a Mets Classic.