Remembering Mets History (1999) Mike Piazza Homers in Seven of Eight Games / Drives in Runs in Ten Straight

Friday August 13th, 1999: Bobby Valentines first place, New York Mets (70-47) had just swept a series with the San Diego Padres at Shea Stadium. Mike Piazza had three hits & drove in three runs. This would start a streak where he would drive in a run in ten straight games. 

The Mets were hot, winning ten of their last 14, as they came to San Francisco to open their West Coast Road trip.

 A crowd of 25,533 came out to see Dusty Baker's Giants (59-56) host the Mets at 3com Park. The Giants would win this one 3-2, as Russ Ortiz beat Masato Yoshi. 

In the top of the 4th inning, Mike Piazza hit his 24th HR of the season. It would start a stretch where Piazza would homer in four consecutive games. In this game, he would collect three hits, his second straight three hit night & keep his average up at .314.

Saturday August 14th, 1999: This Saturday matinee brought a huge crowd of 57,583 out to see the Mets, Giants matchup. On the mound for New York was Orel Hershiser (11-9) as he took on the Giants, Kirk Rueter (10-6). The forty-year-old veteran Hershiser had a fine year for the 1999 Mets going 13-12 & pitching 5.1 scoreless innings in the post season.

 Mike Piazza would enjoy a four hit day today, giving him ten hits in his last three games. In the 4th inning he would hit his 25th HR, a two-run shot with John Olerud on base. 

The Mets put up five runs in the inning. As Robin Ventura doubled & Benny Agbayani both doubled, then Rey Ordonez & Rickey Henderson had RBI singles as well. Agbayani would double in another run in the 5th as the Mets went on to a 6-1 win.

Sunday August 15th, 1999: Another big crowd of 41,853 came out for this Sunday afternoon game. Two veterans took the hill today as the Mets Kenny Rogers took on Livan Hernandez.

Rogers would go 5-1 after coming over from Oakland for the 1999 Mets.  But he went 0-3 in the post season, taking two losses to the Braves, including walking in the winning run of the Game #6 final loss.

Today, the Mets would bash Livan Hernandez for seven runs, then beat up the bullpen of Alan Embree & Jerry Spradlin for another five runs. In total the Mets scored 12 runs & knocked out 16 hits in the 12-5 win, of the rubber game in the series.

Piazza had two hits & blasted his 26th HR of the year, his third HR in as many games. This two run shot came off of Alan Embree in the 7th inning. Piazza had now raised his Batting average to .322 & now had driven in runs in four straight games for 86 RBIs on the year. 

Robin Ventura hit a grand slam in this one & was leading Piazza by one HR for the team lead, Ventura had 97 RBIs nine ahead of Piazza. Mike had missed some time with an injury earlier in the season would play twenty less games than Ventura.

Monday August 16th, 1999: The Mets went South down the Pacific Coast to San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium facing Bruce Bochy's third place Padres (54-65).  The Padres were the reigning NL champions.

Mets manager Bobby Valentine sent rookie Octavio Dotel (4-1) to the mound to face Sterling Hitchcock (11-9).

In the top of the 2nd, Piazza continued his HR streak, hitting a HR in his fourth consecutive game.  It was his 27th HR of the season, a solo shot tying Ventura for the team lead. 

In the top of the 7th, Rickey Henderson made it 2-0 with a solo HR. Dotel pitched six hitless inning, but in the 7th he walk the first two Padre batters, then gave up a three run HR to Phil Nevin.

In the 7th, Edgardo Alfonzo & John Olerud both singled. Mike Piazza came up, but grounded into a double play, but Alfonzo scored on the play, tying up the game. 

The game went to extra innings, where Alfonzo was the hero, hitting a 10th inning HR off Will Cunnane. Armando Benitez got his 14th save to close it out, with Dennis Cook earning the win.

Mike Piazza had a great four game stretch that week, collecting ten hits, four HRs, seven RBIs & scored five runs. He was now batting .321 with 27 HRs & 88 RBIs.

Tuesday August 17th, 1999: The Mets took a 3-2 loss & Piazza did not homer, but he did drive in a run with a sac fly, making it five games with at least one RBI.

Wednesday August 18th, 1999: The Mets left San Diego taking two of three as they went on to a 9-1 win. The team's HR leaders Mike Piazza & Robin Ventura both hit HRs on the day, giving them each 28 on the year & they both drove in three runs each, with Ventura reaching the 100 mark. Piazza started a new HR streak where he would hit one in three straight games, his RBI streak was intact at six. Masato Yoshi pitched a complete game victory to get to 8-8.

Saturday August 21st, 1999: Tony LaRussa's third place St. Louis Cardinals (62-60) came to Shea, with Mark McGwire who had hit 70 HRs last season, setting the single season MLB mark. He would hit 56 & lead the NL with 147 RBIs in 1999.

The Mets slugger, Mike Piazza hit a three-run 1st inning HR off Kent Merker, extending his RBI streak to seven games. The three run HR gave him 94 RBIs on the season. His 29th HR gave him back to back HR games & six out of the last seven HR games as well.

Shawon Dunston drove in two runs, Rickey Henderson & Benny Agbayani an RBI each in the 7-4 Mets win. The winning pitcher was Pat Mahomes, who pitched 3.1 scoreless innings in relief to get to 7-0 on the year.

Sunday August 22nd, 1999: To make up for Friday's rain out, today was a Sunday double header, with the Mets taking the first game walk off style. With the Mets down 7-6 in the 9th, Rey Ordonez drew a walk, he tied the game scoring on Rickey Henderson's double. Edgardo Alfonso then singled the bring in Rickey with the win.

In the 1st inning, Joe McEwing & Mark McGwire had both homered. McGwire would hit two on the day, his 50th & 51st HRs of the season. 

The Cards would take a 6-1 lead into the 8th Inning. Jon Olerud hit a grand slam HR off Rich Croushore & Pizza followed with a solo shot going back-to-back & tying up the game.

Personally, Piazza had now homered in three straight, seven out of his last eight games. It was his 30th HR & 95th RBI of the season. 

In the second game, he would go 1-2 with a two-run single in the 9th inning of the Mets 7-5 loss. That got him to ten straight games with an RBI, setting a Mets franchise record. In the ten games, Piazza had 19 hits, seven HRs & 20 RBIs.

Trivia: He would break his own record the next season, in 2000 as he would drive in runs in 15 straight games. In 2022 Francisco Lindor would tie the ten games streak.