Remembering Mets History (1988) Mets Hit Record Six Opening Day HRs

Monday April 4th, Opening Day 1988: An exciting Opening Day in Montreal brought 55,413 Canadians out to Olympic Stadium (Stade Olympique) to see Buck Rogers' Expos host Davey Johnson's New York Mets.

The previous year the Expos had won 91 games (91-71) finishing in third place four games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets (92-70) had finished second just one game ahead of Montreal.

Todays starting pitchers were Dwight Gooden for the Mets & Dennis Martinez for the Expos,  

Gooden had started the 1987 season in rehab which was the only year he missed being the teams Opening Day starter from 1985-1991 seasons.

In the Mets 1988 NL Eastern Champion season, Gooden would be an 18-game winner going 18-9 with a 3.19 ERA & 175 strike outs.

Montreal's Dennis Martinez would go on to win 15 games that year, then & win 14 games or more in six of the next seven seasons.

After a scoreless top of the 1st inning, the Expos got a 1st inning triple from Mike Webster who was then brought in by then the former Met Hubie Brooks with an RBI single. 

In the top of the 2nd, Darryl Strawberry started out his season with a HR, to tie the game. 

In the Mets 3rd inning, Lenny Dykstra walked then stole second & advanced to third on a balk. Kevin McReynolds then singled putting the Mets ahead 2-1, bringing in his first run of the year.

In the top of the 4th inning, Howard Johnson singled & short stop Kevin Elster hit a HR to left field putting the Mets up 4-1. 

The Expos would chip away at Gooden, in the bottom of the 4th Tim Raines collected an RBI double. In the 5th four Expo hits highlighted by RBIs from Jeff Reed & Tom Foley tied up the game. 

It stayed that way until the top of the 6th, Gary Carter singled & Dave Magadan drew a walk. Lenny Dykstra then blasted a three run HR to make it a 7-4 Mets lead.

The Mets were not done yet, the Expos brought in Randy St. Claire to pitch in relief in the 7th.

Longest HR Ever Hit at Stade' Olympique:  With one out in the top of the 7th, Darryl Strawberry connected with a mammoth HR, estimated to travel up to 525 feet from home plate. The blast reached a set of lights on the upper rim of the ballparks dome. It is considered to be the longest HR ever hit at Olympic Stadium. 

It was Straw's second HR of the day. 

The next batter, Kevin McReynolds followed with another HR, going back-to-back giving the Mets a 9-4 lead.

Hubie Brooks was not done taunting his former team as he hit a two run HR off David Cone, pitching in relief making it a 9-6 game.

In the top of the 9th, Kevin McReynolds hit his second HR of the game, giving the Mets an Opening Day team record of six HRs on the day. They went on to a 10-6 win.

1988 Mets: The Mets won the NL East in 1988 but were upset in the NLCS by the eventual World Champion Dodgers. 

Also in 1988, Darryl Strawberry would become the second Met in team history to ever lead the NL in HRs. He hit 39 HRs, matching his career best from the previous year. He also led the league in slugging (.545) while driving in over 100 runs for the second straight year.

Kevin McReynolds hit 27 HRs & drove in a career high 99 runs while tying his career best batting average at .288.