centerfield maz

Saturday July 1st 2000: The Mets Braves rivalry was at it's peak at this point in time, with Bobby Cox's Atlanta club (48-32) one game in front of the Mets (46-32) in first place.  44,593 came out to Shea for this Saturday matinee with Greg Maddux (9-2) going up against Al Leiter (9-1).  Starting Lineups Atlanta Braves         New York Mets 1 Quilvio Veras 2B 1 Melvin Mora SS 2 Andruw Jones CF 2 Derek Bell RF 3 Chipper Jones 3B 3 Edgardo Alfonzo 2B 4 Andres Galarraga 1B 4 Mike Piazza C 5 Brian Jordan RF 5 Robin Ventura 3B 6 Bobby Bonilla LF 6 Todd Zeile 1B 7 Rafael Furcal SS 7 Jay Payton CF 8 Fernando Lunar C 8 Benny Agbayani LF 9 Greg Maddux P 9 Al Leiter P I n the home 1st, Derek Bell doubled & reached third a ground out, he then scored when a third strike to Mike Piazza got passed the catcher; Fernando Lunar. The Mets then exploded in the 2nd inning, Benny Agbayani hit a solo HR & the flood gates opened. Al Leiter singled, Melvin

Sunday, June 28th 2015: At this point in the Mets 2015 N.L. Championship season, the Mets were at a low. They had just five wins in their last sixteen games & were 4 1/2 games behind the Washington Nationals.  It was the most games behind the Nats, the Mets were all season. But today would be the turnaround for the Mets, from this point on they may have had difficulties but they never fell that far behind Washington again. Today was the highly anticipated debut of yet another Mets young star pitcher. Local Long Island kid; Steven Matz was finally brought up to the big leagues after going 7-4 with 94 strike outs in 90 innings at AAA Las Vegas.  Matz was looked at as one of the top pitching prospects & his addition to an already talented staff brought more belief in this team. Starting Lineups Cincinnati Reds         New York Mets 1 Brandon Phillips 2B 1 Curtis Granderson RF 2 Joey Votto 1B 2 Ruben Tejada SS 3 Todd Frazier 3B 3 Lucas Duda 1B 4 Jay Bruce RF

On June 18th 2004, Richard Hidalgo came over to the Mets from the Houston Astros in exchange for Jeremy Griffiths & David Weathers. Although his stay in New York was brief, he made his spot in Mets history, setting a club record by homering in five straight games. Before his streak, he had hit three HRs in his first ten Mets games. On July 1st, 2004 Art Howe's Mets (38-39) were at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati to face Dave Miley's Reds (42-36). In this game Al Leiter pitched seven shut out innings giving up just two hits. He left with a 4-0 lead but reliever Ricky Bottalico gave up five quick runs in just 0.2 of an inning pitched. The Mets had three other HRs on the night, hit by Eric Valent, Shane Spencer & Jose Reyes. In the 8th, Hidalgo hit a solo HR, his first in his club record setting streak. It was also the game winning run as the Mets squeaked out a 7-6 victory. The next three were against the AL New York team, as the Mets swept the int

Tuesday June 27th 1967:  Hollywood set up its cameras at Shea Stadium for a scene for the original movie version of “The Odd Couple”starring Walter Matthau & Jack Lemmon. Shea made it’s film debut in a game between the home town New York Mets & the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Originally Roberto Clemente was asked to be the batter in the movie scene, but he declined the part because he did not want to be portrayed as a weak hitter. Another Future Hall of Famer & star of the 1960 World Series, Bill Mazeroski took the part, getting paid $100 for his role. The scene in the film takes place from the press box in the top of the 9th inning with the Mets holding onto a one run lead.  Sports writer Oscar Madison is covering the game & gets an emergency phone call in the press box from his roommate Felix Unger.  Oscar sarcastically comments to a sports writer while getting up, the Mets still have a chance if they make a triple play. On the phone call Oscar gets annoyed whe

In 2008 Carlos Delgado matched Dave Kingman for the franchise record of seven multi HR games in a season. Lucas Duda matched the feat in 2015 for the NL Champion Mets. Delgado's season went like this: On April 27th, Delgado had just hit one HR in the opening month of the 2008 season. Willie Randolph's Mets were in second place just 1.5 games back as they hosted Bobby Cox's fourth Atlanta Braves. Future SNY studio analyst Nelson Figueroa was on the mound on his way to his second win as Delgado helped him with two HRs in the 6-3 win. Delgado's first HR came off John Smoltz & the latter in the 9th inning off Will Ohman. Friday night June 27th the Mets were in third place under new skipper Jerry Manuel who had replaced Randolph as manager. This became a record day for Carlos Delgado, as he would drive in nine runs & hit two HRs in the Mets 15-6 win across town in the subway series opener.  Delgado came to bat in the 5th inning with the score tied at fou

Thursday June 25, 1971 : Gil Hodges second place Mets (40-28) made a trip up North into Canada, to Parc Jarry in Montreal, for a twi night double header. The Mets were only 3 ½ games out of first place being hosted by Gene Mauch's fifth place Expos (28-39). In this twin bill, Cleon Jones would set an MLB record by walking six times in the two games, helping the Mets to the doubleheader sweep. In the first game a young Nolan Ryan (6-4) went up against Montreal's Jim Britton. Starting Lineups New York Mets         Montreal Expos 1 Bud Harrelson SS 1 Ron Hunt 2B 2 Mike Jorgensen CF 2 Stan Swanson LF 3 Cleon Jones LF 3 Rusty Staub RF 4 Ed Kranepool 1B 4 Ron Fairly 1B 5 Dave Marshall RF 5 Bob Bailey 3B 6 Ken Boswell 2B 6 John Bateman C 7 Jerry Grote C 7 Boots Day CF 8 Tim Foli 3B 8 Gary Sutherland SS 9 Nolan Ryan P 9 Jim Britton P Cleon Jones walked three times in this game, drawing the base on balls from three different pitchers; Btitton, Claud

William Alfred Shea was born June 21st, 1907 in New York City. Shea began his education at NYU then moved on to Georgetown & Harvard Law. At Georgetown he played basketball on the varsity team. He began practicing law & became known as a guy who got things done. Through this success he made many political & powerful contacts throughout New York City. In 1957 when the New York Giants & Brooklyn Dodgers left New York for the West Coast, New York's Mayor Robert Wagner asked Shea to head a committee to help bring National League baseball back to the city. Without getting much feedback from the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates or Philadelphia Phillies, he along with Branch Rickey announced a formation of a new baseball league to rival the majors, named the Continental League. The Continental League was to be a third League, with teams in Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Toronto, Denver, Atlanta, Buffalo & New York. The owners of the National & Amer

Tuesday June 21st 1977: It was less than a week after Tom Seaver had been traded away & the Mets were in last place. Everything about the Mets seemed dismal.  Joe Torre's Mets (29-37) were already 13 1/2 games out of first place as they hosted the last place Western Division, Atlanta Braves (23-44). The Mets sent Jon Matlack to the mound against Andy Messersmith, who's best days were behind him after being one of the games top pitchers in the early to mid seventies. Starting Lineups Braves 1 Barry Bonnell CF 2 Junior Moore 3B 3 Willie Montanez 1B 4 Jeff Burroughs RF 5 Gary Matthews LF 6 Vic Correll C 7 Rod Gilbreath 2B 8 Darrel Chaney SS 9 Andy Messersmith P Mets