centerfield maz

Tuesday April 30th, 2002: On this evening in the desert the Mets went up against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Bank One Ball Park. A good crowd of 36,743 came to see Bob Brenly's World Champions host Bobby Valentines, New York Mets.  Rick Helling went up against Al Leiter, who was going for a feat never done before in MLB.  Going into this game, Leiter had victories against 29 MLB teams that have been in existence since 1901. With tonight's win, he becomes the first pitcher to beat all 30 MLB teams. The Mets pounced on Helling in the 1st inning, Roberto Alomar & Mo Vaughn both singled, then Mike Piazza blasted a three run HR making it 3-0. In the 2nd, Roberto Alomar tripled with one out & scored on a Roger Cedeno fielder's choice. Mike Piazza then came to bat & blasted his second HR in as many innings. This gave him seven HRs & 16 RBIs on the young season. In the 3rd, a two run Joe McEwing HR finally knocked out Helling who allowed eight earned runs on eight...

Sunday April 29th, 1962: At this early point in the Mets inaugural season,  Casey Stengel's Mets had only won two games in their first 14 tries. It would be a long year trying to earn wins for the 1962 Mets.   Ob this day, Casey would earn his third Mets victory & see first shut out in team history.  The Mets hosted the Philadelphia Phillies on this Sunday afternoon double header at the Polo Grounds. A good crowd of just under 20,000 came to the old ballpark to see 26-year-old Al Jackson pitch for the Mets, against the Phils, Art Mahaffey. Jackson, would be one of the better pitchers for the Mets in the early 1960's, accomplishing many firsts in team history. In this game, he became the first Mets pitcher to toss a shutout.   Jackson pitched nine innings, allowing eight hits & one walk, while striking out four to earn his first win of the year. In the home 2nd, Mets slugger, Frank Thomas hit a HR off Art Mahaffey. It was already Thomas...

Friday April 29th, 2022: On this brisk April night, the Mets wore black uniforms & made franchise history. Buck Showalter's first place Mets (14-6) took on the Philadelphia Phillies (10-10). Tylor Megill took the mound against Aaron Nola in front of 32,416 at Citi Field. These lucky fans were about to witness Mets history. Megill who had been outstanding early in 2022, had an easy 1-2-3 first inning getting the first two Phillies to ground out & then getting Bryce Harper to fly oy deep to center. In the top of the 2nd, M egill struck out Nick Castellanos to start out the inning. He got a fly ball out from JT Realmuto then issued his first walk. Next Alec Bohm hit a line drive that Brandon Nimmo snagged for the third out. In the 3rd, Didi Gregorius started the inning with a line drive out at second base. Megill then struck out Odubel Herrera. Brandon Nimmo made an outstanding diving catch of a Jean Segura line drive which ended up saving the no hitter. In the top of the 4...

Friday April 29th , 2016 : Terry Collins second place Mets (13-7) were riding a six-game  win streak as they entered a weekend series with Bruce Bochy's San Francisco Giants (12-11).  A crowd of 39,764 settled in to Citi Field on chilly rainy evening. The Mets were hot & tonight would erupt in total fire with a historic third inning.  Steven Matz took the mound for New York & cruised along with six scoreless innings striking out four scattering seven hits getting his record to 3-1. Jerry Blevins allowed the only Giants run, Logan Verrett continued his good pitching with a scoreless 8th besting his ERA to 0.52. Hansel Robles mopped up. Tonight marked the first time in six games that Yoenis Cespedes returned to the Mets line up after bruising his right leg. The Mets got to Padre starter Jake Peavey with a historic third  inning, scoring 12 runs the most in franchise history. The Mets sent fifteen men to the plate collecting eight...

  Amos Joseph Otis   was born on April 26, 1947 in Mobile, Alabama.  Otis grew up in the same Mobile area as Met outfielders, Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee & the Hammer, Hank Aaron. The speedy five foot eleven Otis was originally signed by the Boston Red Sox as a short stop in the 5th round of the 1965 draft. He was sent to the Appalachian League that same year, where he batted .329.  I n 1966 he was the New York Penn. Leagues All Star first baseman, playing for A ball Oneonta. That same year the New York Mets Player of development, Whitey Herzog who was running a highly talented farm system, managed to draft Otis away from Boston.  In 1967 the with the Mets organization he batted .268 & stole 29 bases after being promoted to AAA Jacksonville. MLB Debut- Mets Career:  Otis got a September call up making his MLB debut on September 6th, pinch running for Tommy Davis at Shea Stadium in a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The next night he came in to play...

Monday April 25th, 2022: Buck Showalter's Mets were coming into St. Louis with the best record in baseball (12-5). The Mets had taken 2 of 3 in Arizona, the first series of the latest road trip.  Tonight, Max Scherzer took the mound for the Mets, against the Cardinals' Miles Mikolas, in front of a big crowd of 35,455 at Busch Stadium. Scherzer was brilliant once again, with another amazing start in the fourth game of his Mets career. In seven innings of work, Max shut out the Cards, as he struck out ten batters, allowing just two hits & one walk. It was the 106th time in his career he has had double figures in strike outs. In the 2nd inning, Max struck out the side, fanning Corey Dickerson, Dylan Carson & Edmundo Sosa. In the 3rd, after walking Tommy Edman & he gave up a single to Paul Goldschmidt. one of the two hits he allowed. But Scherzer then struck out Tyler O'Neil to end the inning.  He added two more strike outs in both the 5th & 6th innings as well....

Saturday April 22, 2006:  As Willie Randolph's 12-5 Mets were taking on Bruce Bochy's 7-10 Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, Mets analyst Keith Hernandez, made a comment as the camera panned inside the Padres dugout & a woman was seen sitting on the bench.  After Mike Piazza (who was now a member of the Padres) blasted a 2nd inning HR, Hernandez commented to Gary Cohen "Only Player personnel in the dugout. I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout".  Gary Cohen responded, "There's only trouble brewing, if you say that".  To which Keith replied, he was only joking. "I love you gals out there".  He later said he stood by his beliefs that baseball is a man's game & it just gets in the way. He said if viewers took his comment about women in the kitchen seriously "they should get a sense of humor". Of course, some people got upset over the comment & he was reprimanded by SNY...

The 2000 NL Champion Mets had their first big win streak early on in April. They were finishing up a series in Pittsburgh, getting ready to come home for a ten game homestand.  They had started out the season with a two-game series in Japan, returning to the US to continue play four days later. The tired jet jagged club started out the season at 5-7 up to this point.  Sunday April 16th, 2000: The Mets closed out this three-game set with Gene Lamont's Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium. Today all the bats started to wake up. The club scored 12 runs on 15 hits with Robin Ventura leading the way. In the 1st inning, Ventura started out his big day with a three run HR off non other than future Met, Kris Benson. The three run HR was Ventura's second long ball of the year.  The Pirates got right back, knocking Bobby Jones out of the game with a four-run 2nd, Pat Mahomes came in for relief.  Mahomes would take the Mets to the 5th inning, ...