Remembering Mets History (1985) Gary Carter Hits Walk Off HR in a Triumphant Mets Debut in Home Opener

Thursday April 9th, 1985: The New York Mets had just come off one of their best seasons in years. 1984 was their first winning season since 1976. Their 90 wins were the most since the 1969 Championship season, when they won 100 games.  

There was a lot to be excited about coming into the new season. The Mets had a lot of young talented players, mixed in with some solid veterans. They had great starting pitching & a deep bullpen. The Mets had the games most exciting pitcher in 19-year-old Dwight Gooden, who's blazing fastball burned rookie strike out records all across the league the previous year. 

A young Ron Darling was the number two man behind Gooden & the bullpen that featured Jesse Orosco & Roger McDowell who would both save 17 games each.

The line up had power; speed & good bench players ready to fill in. The lineup was highlighted by young slugger Darryl Strawberry who had won the Rookie of the Year Award two seasons earlier. he teams leader & role model was veteran Keith Hernandez who was a true .300 plus hitter & big RBI guy. Atop the order was speedster Mookie Wilson & in the middle was veteran slugger George Foster. 

Then in the off season the Mets brought in the game's best all-around catcher & big run producer in All Star Gary Carter. Carter would be the guy to put the Mets over the top making them a true powerhouse team. The Mets also brought in Howard Johnson from Detroit to platoon with Ray Knight at third base. All this brought a new revived excitement to Shea Stadium & it was the place to be in 1985.

The 1985 season opened up at Shea Stadium to a crowd of 46,781 who came out to see Davey Johnson's Mets take on Whitey Herzog's St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets & Cardinals bitter rivalry of that era would really heat up this season.

Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog had been the Mets Director of Player Development in the 1960's & helped groom many players on the 1969 Championship team & 1973 NL Pennant winner. 

In 1972 after the sudden passing of Gil Hodges, Whitey lost out on the manager's job to Yogi Berra, who was the more popular choice. 

Herzog left the Mets organization very bitter; he moved on to be a successful manager in Kansas
City winning three AL West Titles & in St. Louis where he would win two pennants & a world series.

Also, Herzog had had an ongoing feud with Keith Hernandez during his days with the Cardinals. Herzog accused Keith of lack of hustle & was using drugs, he had a big part in Hernandez getting traded to New York. All these events & dramas came to a boil in this classic rivalry.

The Opening Day pitchers were the Mets rookie phenom pitcher of 1984, Dwight Gooden, who was getting his very first Opening Day start, going up against the Cardinals Joaquin Andujar.

In the top of the 1st inning Dwight Gooden retired the Cardinals in order.

In the bottom of the 1st, Mookie Wilson singled & stole second. Keith Hernandez singled, bringing in Mookie to make it 1-0 Mets. 

Next, Gary Carter came to bat for the first time in a Met uniform, receiving a huge ovation. He was hit by a pitch putting two men were on. Darryl Strawberry then walked to load the bases. Joaquin Andujar's control issues continued as he walked Howard Johnson bringing in the Mets second run. The chance for a huge inning ended when Rafel Santana lined out to Ozzie Smith.

In the top of the 2nd inning, St. Louis' Jack Clark led off with a HR narrowing it to a 2-1 Mets lead. Clark would by far the lead the Cardinals in HRs that year with 22. Andy Van Slyke would be second with 13, as the Cards were more of a hit & run team. 

In the top of the 3rd, the speedy Cards came back, Lonnie Smith singled & went to third on Tommy Herr's double. Smith then scampered to the plate as Gary Carter was charged with a passed ball tying up the game.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Andujar retired the first two batters, George Foster hit a solo HR putting the Mets back on top 3-2. Foster would hit 21 HRs & drive in 77 runs that season.

In the home 4th inning, Doc Gooden collected a one out base hit. Next, Wally Backman reached on an error by the pitcher Andujar. After Mookie Wilson flew out, the reliable Keith Hernandez brought in another run with a base hit, making it a 4-2 Mets lead.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, George Foster collected his second hit of the day with a one out single. After Howard Johnson flew out to center, Rafael Santana doubled scoring Foster making it 5-2 Mets.

But those pesky Cardinals fought back. In the top of the 7th inning, Andy Van Slyke & Ozzie Smith collected back-to-back singles to start the inning. Manager Davey Johnson removed Dwight Gooden & brought in reliever Doug Sisk.

Gooden went six innings allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with six strike outs & two walks.

Doc Gooden Trivia: In this Dwight Gooden's incredible Cy Young season he won the triple crown of pitching, leading in wins (24) ERA (1.53) & strike outs (268). Gooden would not allow three earned runs in a game for seven more starts. In 35 starts he would allow three runs or more just seven times. And he allowed more than three runs just once all year.

Sisk struck out former Met Mike Jorgensen & then got Lonnie Smith to ground out to Keith Hernandez. But Siskcouldn't close out the inning, as Tommy Herr drilled a two-run single making it a one run game 5-4.

Doug Sisk & Bill Campbell pitched scoreless 8th innings keeping the score 5-4.

In the top of the 9th Doug Sisk ran into more troubles. Willie McGee that year's batting leader, had a one out pinch-hit single. With McGee hurting, Ivan deJesus came into run. Then Sisk hit Lonnie Smith with a pitch moving up the tying run into scoring position. Tommy Herr reached with his third hit of the day to load the bases. 

Sisk struck out Terry Pendleton for the second out, but then he walked Jack Clark, tying up the game at 5-5. 

Doug Sisk Trivia: Sisk would get credit for a blown save; he would become the target of the Shea boo birds when from April 21st to June 14th he lost five straight decisions & his ERA rose to 7.68. The rest of the way he was used sparingly, in twenty games, but was 3-0 with two holds, just one more blown save & a 2.95 RA. But on a good team he & George Foster remained targets of the boo's.

 Jesse Orosco came on & retired Tito Landrum for the third out.

In the bottom of the 9th, the Cardinals Neil Allen, the man Keith Hernandez had been traded for, came on to pitch. 

George Foster made the first out grounding out to Ozzie Smith. Howard Johnson then singled. Rafael Santana hit a ground ball to Ozzie Smith, but the only play was at first base. 

With two outs, pinch hitter Rusty Staub walked & Wally Backman reached on an error at second by Tommy Herr. But Neil Allen got Mookie Wilson to fly out to end the inning as the game went to extra innings.

Tom Gorman came on to pitch the top of the 10th. He retired the first two batters then gave up a double to Ozzie Smith. But Gorman was able to retire Tom Nieto with a fly out to center field.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Neil Allen started by striking out Keith Hernandez. Then came the newest Met Gary Carter who was about to have a great start to his career in New York. Gary Carter blasted a walk off game winning HR into the left field bullpen, giving the Mets an exciting 6-5 win.

Carter raised his hands in the air as the Shea crowd went wild. This was a time of high fives, curtain calls & a cocky Mets attitude during one of the best eras in team history. 

The winning pitcher on the day was Tom Gorman, in 34 games Gorman was 4-4 with a 5.13 ERA.

The losing pitcher was Neil Allen, after going 1-4 in 23 games for the Cards he was traded to the A.L. New York team.

1985 Pennant Race: In the exciting 1985 season, the Mets were three games back of the Cardinals going into St. Louis with six games left to play. They took the first two games to get within one game in the standings. 

By they dropped the third game & then lost two of three to the Expos finishing the season 98-64 three games behind the Cardinals. St. Louis beat the Dodgers in the NLCS then lost to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.