SB Nation - Turk Wendell

Profiles in craziness: The Matt Franco Game

Matthew Callan — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:00:13 -0000

During Monday night's game against the Yankees, an SNY text poll asked Mets fans to vote for their favorite Subway Series game ever. I was somewhat surprised that the runaway winner of this poll was the 2006 contest the Mets won in walkoff fashion against Mariano Rivera on a David Wright RBI double. But I was absolutely flabbergasted that another walkoff win against Rivera finished dead last in the voting.

I'm referring to the game played on July 10, 1999, which shall be known hereafter as the Matt Franco Game. The David Wright walkoff in 2006 was a thrilling moment, and perhaps Tuesday's walkoff will one day join the pantheon of great Subway Series victories (if it hasn't already). But neither can hold a candle to the Matt Franco Game, which destroys all crazy contenders. I can only assume that viewers who voted in this poll were either too young to remember 1999 or were stricken with a sudden bout of amnesia just as they dialed their phones. So, in the interests of educating the youth and/or amnesiacs of America, I thought a history lesson was in order.

On the glorious afternoon in question, the Mets were in the midst of a torrid stretch. At the beginning of June, they snapped a horrific eight-game losing streak by clobbering Roger Clemens at Yankee Stadium and had been playing out-of-their-minds baseball ever since. On July 9, Al Leiter matched up against Clemens for the second time that season and it was deja vu all over again. Just like their first matchup, Leiter dominated the Yanks while The Rocket was victimized by a long Mike Piazza homer in the Mets' 5-2 win at Shea.

The matchup on July 10 would be Rick Reed against Andy Pettitte, but neither starter would figure in the decision. The Yankees drew first blood when Paul O'Neill reached Reed for a two-run homer in the top of the first. The Mets immediately began chipping away at the deficit when Rickey Henderson (enjoying an ungodly season for a 40-year-old man) singled to start the bottom of the first, stole second, and came around to score on a Mike Piazza double. Roger Cedeno followed his lead in the second inning by singling, stealing second and third, and scoring on a Rey Ordonez sac fly to tie the game at 2.

The Mets took their first lead of the day in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to some lucky breaks and faulty Yankee fielding. Benny Agbayani reached base when a ball took a fortunate hop over third baseman Scott Brosius's head, then scored from first when Rickey Ledee couldn't chase down a long double from Robin Ventura. A Cedeno sac bunt moved Ventura to third, and Ordonez followed by hitting a ball to shallow right field. Ventura was not fleet of foot, yet tagged up on the fly out anyway. Paul O'Neill's throw from right beat Ventura to the plate by a considerable margin, but Jorge Posada failed to adequately block the plate, and Ventura slid around him for the Mets' fourth run. Yes, that means Rey Ordonez had two RBIs in this game. I told you it was a weird one.

The Mets' lead was short lived, as all leads in this game would prove to be. Rick Reed had been sharp since his rough first inning, but started off the top of the fifth by allowing consecutive dingers to Ricky Ledee and Jorge Posada. He was replaced in the top of the sixth by righty Greg McMichael, who gave up his own leadoff longball to O'Neill, putting the Yanks on top again. The visitors stretched their lead to 6-4 in the top of the seventh on yet another solo homer, this one by Chuck Knoblauch. You could BLAME BELTRAN for that one. Reliever RIgo Beltran in this case, but a Beltran nonetheless.

Pettitte held serve through six innings and gave way to Ramiro Mendoza in the bottom of the seventh, who proved to be just what the Mets ordered. Rickey Henderson started a rally with a check-swing blooper to right that he hustled into a double. Then John Olerud worked a two-out walk, which brought Mike Piazza to the plate, licking his chops.

Piazza proceeded to completely destroy a Mendoza pitch, launching it over the picnic tent beyond the visiting bullpen over the left field fence. The ball traveled an estimated 482 feet, and rocketed off Piazza's bat at such a speed that broadcasters were caught by surprise. Michael Kay (then the Yankees' radio man) didn't even have enough time to complete his signature "track, wall..." home run call, while in Mets' booth, Bob Murphy and Gary Cohen could only mutter "oh my goodness..." in sheer awe. Even the normally stoic Piazza allowed himself to Cadillac things a bit, as he flipped the bat while the ball sailed away. It was a thing of beauty and it gave the Mets a 7-6 lead.

Majestic as the homer was, it would not hold up. In the top of the eighth, the latest Mets reliever, Dennis Cook, gave up a two-run shot to Posada that put the Yanks ahead once more, 8-7. It was the catcher's second homer of the day and the Bronx Bombers' sixth of the game. Cook, Turk Wendell, and Pat Mahomes managed to cap the Yanks' scoring there, but their teammates went quietly against Mike Stanton in the bottom of the eighth.

That meant the Mets would have to rally against Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth. Rivera saved both Yankee victories against the Mets back in the Bronx in June and barely broke a sweat on either occasion. But those games occurred during the Mets' miserable losing streak. Their luck had turned since then, and it would keep on turning.

As usual, Rivera retired the first man he faced, getting Brian McRae to ground out harmlessly. The rest of the inning would be anything but a breeze. Next up was Rickey Henderson, one of the very few men able to earn a free pass against Rivera, and he did just that. Edgardo Alfonzo followed by hitting a long fly ball to deep center field. Bernie Williams pursued it, but never got a good read on the ball, and it fell just beyond his reach. Henderson ran to third and Alfonzo scampered to second, putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.

The next batter was John Olerud, and all he needed to do was hit a fly ball deep enough for the speedy Henderson to tag up and score. Olerud scorched one, but right at Tino Martinez at first. Martinez held the runners as he retired Olerud himself, bringing the Mets down to their final out.

With first base open, Mike Piazza the next scheduled batter, and rookie Melvin Mora behind him, the Yankees' next course of action was obvious. But once Piazza received his intentional walk, Bobby Valentine sent up his best lefty pinch hitter, Matt Franco, in Mora's stead. He'd later say his reasoning was that Rivera threw cutters, the pitch Valentine himself served up in batting practice every day.

Rivera's cutter was a little different from Valetine's, though, and Franco quickly found himself in an 0-2 hole. Rivera's third pitch came in right at the knees and certainly could have been called strike three, but home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg deemed it a ball. From the Yankees' dugout, Joe Torre scream THAT'S NOT LOW, but his opinion was of little consequence. Franco took full advantage of his stay of execution and laced Rivera's very next pitch into shallow right field.

Henderson scored easily, and Alfonzo raced toward the plate right behind him. Paul O'Neill heaved a throw to the plate, but it was just a hair too late to nail Fonzie, and the Mets had themselves a walkoff 9-8 victory. Franco was hoisted into the air by his jubilant teammates, a display of emotion that further rankled the button-down Yankees. You have to remember that back in 1999, not every walkoff win was celebrated like a playoff victory. But if any walkoff win deserved jumping and hollering and fist pumping, it was this one.

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How unlikely was the Mets' win? Prior to Franco's hit, the Yankees had won 124 straight games in which they had a lead in the eighth inning. The Yankees had also belted 6 homers in this game, and in the previous 50 years, teams who hit 6 home runs in a game had a record of 214-15. And to top it all off, throughout all the insanity the Mets somehow managed to keep Derek Jeter hitless, something they'd never done before and have seldom done since.

Since the Matt Franco Game came on the heels of their exciting win against Roger Clemens, The New York Times went so far as to call this "The Greatest 24 Hours in the Mets' History." The Old Gray Lady admitted this characterization was a pure technicality, since none of the Mets' miracles of 1969, 1973, or 1986 had occurred within such a timeframe. Still, you'd be hard pressed to find a 24 period where more awesome things happened to the Mets.

There you have it, kids. That was the greatest Subway Series game of all time, and I don't wanna hear any guff otherwise, dagnabbit. And for more on Edgardo Alfonzo, consult your school library.

Mets Morning News: Once Again, The Mets Make Sure To Remind Us That Byrd Is Most Definitely The Word

Steve Schreiber — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:11:16 -0000

Meet the Mets

On Friday evening, the Mets announced the signing of a veteran free agent center fielder with the initials "MB". That's right, Marlon Byrd has joined the club on a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. The 35-year old was a 4-win player as recently as 2010 with the Cubs on the strength of solid defense and above league average offensive production but he fell off the cliff in 2012, split between Chicago and Boston. He'll compete for a job this spring.

You can add two more relievers to the Mets' watch list, as sources say Jose Valverde and Francisco Rodriguez are on the radar. They're not perfect options, as they've both seen their stuff decline in recent years, but either one could be a decent buy on a one-year deal with lots of incentives. Anybody who can try to unseat Frank Francisco as closer is a positive.

There was a little chatter on Michael Bourn yesterday: Peter Gammons, speaking on MLB Network's Hot Stove show, mentioned that he'd gotten the sense that there was optimism among his sources regarding the Mets' pursuit to get the 11th pick in the draft protected, which would ultimately allow them to further pursue Bourn. I'm warming up to the idea of Bourn, as long as the 11th pick is protected and assuming he'll agree to sign for three years.

Toby Hyde relays to us that Top Prospect Alert's top 150 prospects included 5 Mets farmhands: Zack Wheeler, Travis d'Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard, Gavin Cecchini, and Brandon Nimmo.

In case you missed it, Ted Berg (formerly of SNY) has hooked on with USA Today Sports where he'll write about baseball. Congrats!

The Mets offered up their picks for the Super Bowl yesterday.

Around the Majors

Sources say that Anthony Bosch personally injected Alex Rodriguez with PEDs. Welp.

The Yankees signed Travis Hafner to a deal worth $2 million plus incentives. Assuming he's healthy, he'll hit lots of long home runs in Yankee Stadium.

The Reds signed lefty reliever Manny Parra to a one year deal.

Yesterday At AA

Amazin' Avenue's Chris McShane will be at spring training! If you want to find out who is ITBSOTL, or who the KOST is, or whether Ruben Tejada reported to PSL early or just merely on time again, go ahead and ask away.

Matthew Callan says farewell to the now illegal fake to third/throw to first move and it comes complete with video of Turk Wendell pulling off the feat.

Matthew Artus remembers former New York mayor Ed Koch, who passed away yesterday.

Spencer Schneier looks into the Mets who made Jonathan Mayo's top 100 prospects list.

Was Sandy Alderson telling the truth? The full story at 11.

The Mets signed Marlon Byrd and are looking into a pair of relievers.

The Mets signed Johan Santana on a previous February 1st. What a day.

Mets Morning News: With Bourn and Oswalt On The Radar, Ex-Astros Must Be The New Market Inefficiency

Steve Schreiber — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 16:30:05 -0000

Meet the Mets

Word came out on Saturday that the Mets had interest in righty Roy Oswalt for their pitching staff. Unfortunately, Oswalt's agent didn't know that the Mets were interested. It seems as if they considered him for their vacant rotation spot before they agreed to a deal with Shaun Marcum a few days back.

Nick Cafardo in the Boston Globe lists three teams that are waiting for a bargain on center fielder Michael Bourn – the Mets, the Mariners, and in a bit of a surprise, the Orioles.

SNY has interest in hiring Bobby Valentine for the network's pre-game studio show. Valentine would likely contribute to a short slate of games.

A memorabilia dealer wants Jose Reyes to spill the beans on Carlos Delgado's relationship with controversial sports medicine doctor Anthony Galea under oath.

Around the Majors

Due to a rule change, the old fake to third, throw to first play is now considered a balk. Somewhere, Turk Wendell sheds a tear (and then shoots a bear and rips its teeth out to add to his necklace).

The Rangers added righty hitting utility man Jeff Baker on a minor league deal. The only reason why this is relevant is because Baker is a right handed bat with a pulse.

Scott Rolen is on the Dodgers' third base radar, even though the team says they will go with Luis Cruz at the hot corner. Interesting that the Dodgers spent somewhere around $50 billion on the rest of their roster but may only end up with 28-year old Luis ".261/.296/.394 career minor league hitter" Cruz or the reanimated corpse of Scott Rolen at that position.

King Felix Hernandez is in no rush to re-up with the Mariners and is looking for more than a four year extension.

People affiliated with the Diamondbacks continue to throw Justin Upton under the bus – this time former star Luis Gonzalez says that Upton didn't show leadership. NEED GRISSION!

Nationals' second baseman Danny Espinosa will try to play through a torn rotator cuff this year.

Yesterday At AA

On a previous January 26th, Major League Baseball changed the controversial balk rules that saw the Mets rack up 40 balks in the 1988 season.

Mets Player Performance Meter, Week 5: Pitchers

Chris McShane — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:01:09 -0000

When it comes to pitching, it has been an uneven week for the Mets. The starting pitching was generally very good over the course of the team's past six games, but the bullpen was downright horrible. At 20-17, the Mets still find themselves right in the middle of the National League East. The bullpen's 5.13 ERA is the worst in the NL, but its 3.81 FIP and 4.11 xFIP suggest it should get better with time.

Player	Last Week	This Week	Comment
Manny Acosta, RP			The Acostalypse's 18.00 ERA this week was just the third-worst on the pitching staff.
Miguel Batista, SP			7 innings, 5 K, 1 BB, 0 runs? Yep, we all saw that coming.
Tim Byrdak, RP			A fine week from the most entertaining relief pitcher the Mets have had since Turk Wendell.
D.J. Carrasco, RP			Smell ya later, D.J. Smell ya later forever.
R.A. Dickey, SP			Even without a strikeout, Dickey threw six scoreless innings.
Frank Francisco, RP			The best of Frankie Frank's three outings was the one in which he pitched one inning and allowed two hits, a walk, and a run. 32.40 ERA since last week.
Dillon Gee, SP			Allowing 7 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk in 5.1 innings, Gee's was the worst starting pitcher performance this week by a wide margin.
Jon Niese, SP			Niese didn't have his best game, but the results were better than his past couple of starts.
Bobby Parnell, RP			Parnell has put up the best numbers in the bullpen so far this year. Here's hoping he gets the appropriate playing time.
Ramon Ramirez, RP			He was one of the LOLpen culprits on Sunday in Miami, but he struck out 8 and walked 2 in 4.2 innings.
Jon Rauch, RP			It's the third consecutive red arrow for Rauch, whose 4.60 ERA this season has happened without allowing a home run so far.
Johan Santana, SP			At 8.53 K/9 and 1.42 BB/9 over two starts, Johan deserved better than a 3.55 ERA for the week. What a year so far.

Bobby’s Bullpen: How Valentine Handles Relievers

Mattsullivan — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:01:28 -0000

Since Bobby Valentine was named the new Boston Red Sox manager at the end of October, most of the conversation has revolved around who will be in his bullpen. Even before Valentine took over the Red Sox had lost their closer, Jonathan Papelbon, to the extreme generosity of the Phillies. The Red Sox added two major pieces to the puzzle by acquiring Mark Melancon and Andrew Bailey. The team also made the controversial decision to move the best remaining reliever, Daniel Bard into the starting rotation. The second best reliever remaining from the 2011 squad, Alfredo Aceves moved back and forth between the bullpen and spot starting duties last year and is also currently in the running for a starting role.

With all this focus on who will or will not be a part of the bullpen, we have not given much thought to how the new manager will use the players he has. Former manager Terry Francona was generally very predictable in this respect. 34 of the team’s 56 save opportunities went to closer Jonathan Papelbon last year. Daniel Bard recorded 34 of the team’s 75 holds, over three times more than runner-up Alfredo Aceves. He was unusually quick with the hook last year, in part because of the failing of the starting staff, leading the lead in the Bill James created Quick Hook stat, with 52. This was not typical for Francona, who lead the league in the opposite Slow Hook stat the previous year and generally was more inclined toward giving his starter a long leash.

Francona ran the bullpen in a very straight-forward way, he generally used one player for saves as often as possible, he gave to eighth inning to his second best reliever, possibly even bring them in an out or two early in close games. Outside the final two innings, he played both the platoon match ups and relied on players like Matt Albers and Alfredo Aceves to get the game to his top guys.

Until we have seen him in action, it is impossible to predict exactly how Bobby Valentine will handle his relievers, but looking at what he has done before might help to clue us in to some of the ideas he will bring to the table in managing the bullpen.

First, I decided to look at a few basics. I wanted to know if he had relievers throw more or less innings than the norm in his previous managerial stints. In both Texas and New York, Valentine was very close to average in the total number of innings pitched by his relievers. It is unlikely that he will allow the bullpen to pitch 517 innings. Only one team under his watch ever pitched that over 500 innings, and that was back in 199, as manager of the Rangers. His teams routinely ranked in the bottom five of the league in relief innings outside that one season, when Valentine leaned heavily on Kenny Rogers, Jeff Russell and Rich Gossage as Bobby Witt and Oil Can Boyd flamed out.

Like Francona, Valentine has favored giving the vast majority of save opportunities to one man. With Mets, he began with John Franco in that role and then handed it over to Armando Benitez. With Texas it took him a few seasons to find his man, but beginning in 1987, Jeff Russell was the closer except for a brief time in 1990 when Rogers was forced to fill in temporarily. One important difference between Valentine and Francona is the number of innings the two ask of their closers. Under Francona Keith Foulke was the only pitcher ever to top 70 innings in while serving as the primary closer. Valentine’s closers typically approached 80 innings, both in New York and in Texas. In general, Valentine has relied more heavily on a few favored pitchers than Francona has in recent years. In New York, he relied heavily on Franco, Turk Wendell, Dennis Cook and Pat Mahomes.

Chris Jaffe, who quite literally wrote the book on baseball managers, has an interesting insight into Valentine’s pitcher preferences:

He likes pitchers that strike batters out. Yeah, everyone does, but Valentine’s staffs actually do it. In 1986, his first full season managing the Rangers, they led the league in strikeouts per inning. Then they did it again in 1987, and again in 1989. In all, Texas never finished lower than fourth in K/9.

The results weren’t quite as extreme in New York, but the same trend existed. Until Valentine got there, the Met staffs had for years routinely been among the bottom of the league in striking out opponents. In 1997 under Valentine, they stayed near the bottom, finishing 13th in K/9. Then they moved to seventh in 1998, fourth in 1999, and second in 2000. They stayed in the top six the rest of his days there, but as soon as he left, they cratered back to the bottom of the league.

Jaffe goes on to point out that while the talent on the roster aided this trend, Valentine did give more playing to big strikeout pitchers, even when, as in the case of Bobby Witt, they also happened to be overly prone to walking hitters. That has Andrew Miller written all over it, now doesn’t it? Miller is currently dealing with a strained hamstring, but when healthy he is the type of guy that Valentine just might tolerate a bit more than most managers.

As for when and how often Valentine will go to the bullpen, it is hard to say. When he began managing he was prone to the slow hook, pulling guys only after they had either gone deep into the game or given up a large number of runs. Jaffe lists his first year as manager as having the 8^th highest single total season total of Slow Hooks. However, unlike Francona, who is sixth overall in slow hooks for his career, Valentine has not been notably fond of leaving his starters out there over his career. As his very average relief innings totals imply, he doesn’t go to the extreme when it comes his starter’s arms or max out the minutes on his dugout phone.

In looking over Valentine’s time with the Mets and the Rangers, I couldn’t help but notice one interesting tidbit. Over the entire time period that Valentine managed the Mets, they were very good in important situations. Fangraphs has a statistic called clutch which measures "how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment." Under Bobby V, the Mets relievers were significantly better in high leverage situations. Mets relievers were responsible for 13.99 win probability add (WPA) overall in his time there, the fifth best mark during that five year span. They were second in the clutch rating, however, approximately 1.77 times better when it mattered most. These numbers are extremely fluky and making assumptions based on them is generally not a good idea, but it is interesting to see that his most recent team was so much better in high leverage than one might expect. If he did influence that phenomenon at all, he must have learned to so between 1992 and 1998, because his Rangers teams did not exhibit the same clutch tenancies.

Despite his reputation as an iconoclast and an innovator, Bobby Valentine doesn’t appear likely to re-conceptualize the idea of the bullpen from the ground up. He will stick with one player as his closer just like almost everyone else in the game. He may give that player a few more early entrances and lean a bit more on the guys he comes to trust. It will be interesting to see if is still as enamored with high strike out guys as has been in the past. However, he will probably differ from Francona in the small details more that in his overall approach.

New York Mets Baseball Card of the Week: 1992 Upper Deck Pat Mahomes

Rob Castellano — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 17:37:50 -0000

I was reminded that Pat Mahomes once existed by a recent story in the FanShots from GenJackRipper. And wouldn't you know it, a couple days later I found his card among my stack of childhood heroes.

Obviously the card is worth less than nothing. Hell, he's not even on the Mets at this point. But there was clearly a point when I felt this thing was really valuable. Valuable enough to add to my stockpile for all these years. I mean it was sitting between a couple of Mike Piazzas and a stack of '86 Mets.

I can vividly remember that early stage of fandom where Christmas meant a new haul of baseball cards. And at that point even the relief pitchers out at Shea were a huge deal. Good or bad, didn't matter. Literally; before I knew much about statistics they were all good in my ignorant little mind. Obviously they were good, because they were on the Mets. Pat Mahomes was good because he could throw hard. Dennis Cook was good because he could throw left-handed. And obviously Turk Wendell was a legend among the 10-12 year old demographic.

To that end, Mahomes endeared himself even further during his first of two seasons on the Mets by going 8-0 over 39 relief appearances during that fateful '99 season. Nevermind his 4.80 FIP or his 5+ BB/9, for a 12-year old 8-0 is a really big deal. Ah the sweet, simple ignorance of youth.

It may seem a little silly, a little ridiculous and just downright wrong at this point. But honestly, who among us wouldn't trade our beloved analytics to go back to watching baseball through those innocent, rose-colored glasses if we could?

So on Christmas Eve I present you the gift of this 1992 Upper Deck Pat Mahomes -- may the 12-year old in you rejoice:

Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Preview, Sunday 4/3, 1:20 CT: Welcome, Matt Garza

Al Yellon — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:00:22 -0000

Today is the day when we begin to find out the results of the somewhat controversial deal that brought Matt Garza from the Rays to the Cubs. Of the seven players involved in that deal, the only ones who made 25-man rosters this year were Garza... and Sam Fuld.

Gordon Wittenmyer in the Sun-Times has a profile of Garza including some things about how he has toned down his fiery personality a little -- but not too much -- so he can focus on his pitching instead of getting into clashes with his teammates, as he did with Dioner Navarro while he was with the Rays in 2008.

Garza didn't have a good spring and his statement supposedly blaming the dry air in Arizona didn't sit well with a lot of people. It's time for him to show us the reasons Jim Hendry was willing to send four minor leaguers to Tampa for him. Also, the Cubs have a chance to win a series against a team that was very tough on them a year ago and get this year off to a positive start. It's forecast to be the "warmest" day of the three days so far this season, with temperatures in the 60s.

For everyone who wants Starlin Castro to lead off, you are getting your wish -- for today, at least. Lineup:

Castro SS, Barney 2B, Byrd CF, Ramirez 3B, Pena 1B, Soto C, Soriano LF, Colvin RF, Garza P

Uniform number trivia and a bit of Cubs history: the last Cubs pitcher to wear No. 17 before Garza was Dave LaRoche, who wore it in 1973 and 1974. Since 1974 only two other Cubs pitchers have worn numbers lower than 20, both No. 13: Turk Wendell (1993-97) and Will Ohman (2006-07). If LaRoche's name sounds familiar, his sons are Adam LaRoche and Andy LaRoche, current major league players. He had two mediocre years as a Cubs reliever before becoming a pretty decent late-inning reliever (before they were called "closers") and posting 126 career saves.

Today's Starting Pitchers


Matt Garza Cubs	vs.	Ross Ohlendorf Pirates

15-10	W-L	1-11
3.91	ERA	4.07
150	SO	79
63	BB	44
28	HR	12
vs. Pit	--	vs. Cubs

Stats are 2010 season final stats

Matt Garza, because of his travels through the American League with the Twins and Rays, has missed pitching against the Pirates in interleague play -- this is his first career start against them. The only current Pirate he has faced is ex-Blue Jay Lyle Overbay (9-for-36, .250, 10 strikeouts).

Ross Ohlendorf's 1-11 W/L record is misleading -- he posted a decent 4.07 ERA and had the second-worst run support in the NL last year, only 2.9 runs per game started (21 starts). As befits Pirates pitchers from 2010, when they dominated the Cubs, he had a 2.08 ERA in two starts, both no-decisions (the Pirates won one and lost one). Geovany Soto is 3-for-8 against him.

Today's game is back on WGN, and also on ROOT Sports in Pittsburgh. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout.

Today's first pitch thread will be up at 1:15 p.m. CDT and the overflow threads will post at 2:15 pm, 3:15 pm and 4 pm CDT. These time frames will be pretty standard for most regular season games this year -- game preview about two hours to game time, a first pitch thread (on the front page) at game time, and then overflows at an hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time (approximately). If you need more overflows due to rain delays or extra innings, post them in the fanshot section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

In the Year 2000: 'Round Midnight

Matthew Callan — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:00:40 -0000

As I watched game five of the 2000 World Series for the first time in 10 years, one moment stuck out more than any other. Once the final out was recorded, and the Yankees celebrated on the field as the Mets fixed them with thousand-mile stares, there was no prerecorded music, nothing blaring over the PAs that had so terrorized the FOX crew all series. At this moment, Shea Stadium's organist took over, and they chose a wistful tune to play: Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight".

It might have seemed an odd choice at the time, or maybe oppressively literal (the last out was recorded almost exactly at the stroke of midnight), but in retrospect it was appropriate. The clock had struck 12 for the 2000 Mets--not just for their season, but their reputation. A team whose season was 95 percent streaks of dominance and thrilling comebacks would come to be defined forever after by the 5 percent where they came just short against the biggest baseball dynasty of the last 25 years.

Often, the team that loses a championship series/game is denigrated in the years to come. People quickly forget just how hard it is to get so far in the first place, that this in itself is an accomplishment. But at least in a one-team town, the local coverage will usually be sympathetic, with touches of "oh well, we'll get 'em next time!" sentiments. The 2000 Mets were never afforded such a luxury.

That, more than any other reason, is why they remain largely unloved by history, even among Mets fans. The New York sports press would not give the Mets pats on the back for simply making it to the World Series and doing their city proud. They would be compared unfavorably to the other team in the town, for the next few months and perhaps forever. And their fans, surrounded by partisans of The Enemy, would never have a chance to salve their wounds. Instead, they would have to hear from everyone--including fellow fans--how their favorite team had failed.

It didn't start out that way. In the immediate wake of the series, the press was, for the most part, kind. Many writers insisted the Mets had nothing to be ashamed of. Tyler Kepner's World Series wrap-up was entitled, "The Mets Lose Series, But Their Pride Is Intact." Some, like William C. Rhoden, went as far as to say "unlike after previous disappointments against the Atlanta Braves, there was no sense of devastation." Such an assertion reads as borderline delusional now; the 1999 Mets' loss to Atlanta in the NLCS is considered far more valiant in comparison to their loss in the 2000 World Series. But why, exactly?

Because eventually, the narrative that emerged--the only one that could--is that the Mets simply did not belong on the same stage as the Yankees. No matter that the Mets had won seven more regular season games than the Yankees. No matter that, in the first two rounds of the playoffs, they had alternated dominating wins with thrilling, come-from-behind ones. No matter that the Mets had snapped the Yankees' historic 14-game World Series winning streak, and defeated a formerly unbeaten postseason pitcher (Orlando Hernandez) in the process. No matter that each World Series game was decided by two or fewer runs. Those poor Mets should have counted their lucky stars they got to witness the Yankee Dynasty in person.

"In the end, the Mets were not the Subway Series' Little Engine That Could," Murray Chass wrote, in the type of assessment that would soon be repeated ad nauseum by all of his compatriots. "They couldn't because the Yankees were the Super Chiefs....Torre's team became champions again, and Valentine's turned into pumpkins."

This created a curious paradox. If the Yankees were a truly historic dynasty (and it's pointless to argue otherwise, because they were), it shouldn't have been shameful to lose to them. But somehow, losing to the Yankees became for more shameful than losing to the Mariners (the Yankees' ALCS opponents) would have been. Why?

I believe the blame can be squarely laid at the feet of Roger Clemens. When he hurled a broken bat at Mike Piazza in game two, he put the Mets in a no-win situation. Retaliate and lose some of your best players for who knows how many games, while also looking like a bunch of animals. (One can only imagine how the Mets would have been painted forever thereafter if they'd dared to do such a thing in the self-proclaimed Cathedral of Baseball.) Don't retaliate, and look impassive, uncaring, weak.

The Mets chose the latter, and before the game had even ended, people questioned their drive, their passion, even their manhood. To this day, despite Clemens' complete and utter downfall, it doesn't take long to find some neanderthal who will tell you that his bat-chucking act was a sign of his--and the Yankees'--testicular fortitude, and the Mets' "failure" to respond a sign of the exact opposite. It was a sign that the Yankees, well, they just wanted to win so damn much that they were willing to do anything--even things that were bat-poop insane. The Mets? They just didn't want to win that badly.

When George Steinbrenner complimented the Mets and their fans for their good behavior during the series ("We were treated so well, and our people could walk around by themselves with no problems."), it came across as a veiled insult, as if the visiting team should have been treated more roughly. The Daily News celebrated Yankee Stadium's aptly named Bleacher Creatures every day for engaging in behavior more befitting caged animals. Mets fans hadn't done anything like that during the World Series; therefore they, like the team they rooted for, must also lack the will to win.

Why, the Mets were so uncommitted to winning, they let the Yankees clinch the World Series at their stadium! And celebrate in their visiting clubhouse! Thus enabled, the Yankees proceeded to act like the marauding colonists they were. When a TV in the Yankees' locker room showed Bobby Valentine at his postgame press conference, one unnamed Yankee threw a towel at the screen, followed by a mocking chorus of "Who Let the Dogs Out." ("Yeah, we heard it," Turk Wendell said later. "And yeah, it hurt.") To emphasize the ownership even further, Roger Clemens--his psychotic bat-hurling act in game two now forgotten in the flush of victory--went out to the field with his sons and scooped up dirt from the Shea mound as a memento.

The Mets were actually offered a chance by Mayor Giuliani to participate in a massive parade honoring both teams, but were smart enough to decline. "It should be the Yankees' day of celebration for winning the World Series," GM Steve Phillips explained. "They deserve the stage to themselves." One can only imagine the howls of derision that would have followed the Mets if they'd opted to take part in the Yankees' victory parade, allowing themselves to be presented to the public like treasures from Gaul carried forth by Caesar's armies.

It is all this baggage that makes 2000 hurt much, much more than 1999 to so many Mets fans. In 1999, the Mets were lauded for getting as far as they did, for overcoming so many obstacles, for flying so close to the sun before their wings melted. 2000 could never be mourned or celebrated. The traditional media wouldn't allow it. The emerging blogosphere would not allow it. And if you lived anywhere in the tri-state area, that loudmouth in the next cubicle would never allow it, either.

Perhaps if the Mets had continued their winning ways, the pain might have subsided. But as it turned out, 2000 was the last hurrah for the Mike Piazza Era. 2001 brought mediocrity, and a late season surge that fell short. The Mets' first game back at Shea after 9/11, in which Piazza hit a dramatic home run, became a footnote (at best) in most observers' eyes to the Yankees' playoff run that year. The recent Tenth Inning addendum to Ken Burns' Baseball had a lengthy segment on baseball in New York following the terrorist attacks, and did not even mention the Mets in passing.

2002 could only aspire to mediocrity, as Steve Phillips tried to shore up an aging team with some questionable acquisitions like Jeromy Burnitz and Mo Vaughn. Shawn Estes--who'd actually pitched against the Mets in the 2000 playoffs--was tasked with retaliating against Clemens in his first at bat at Shea since The Incident. Asking him to do so was ludicrous, and his response--throwing behind Clemens--only perpetuated the Mets' spineless reputation even further.

All remnants of the World Series team were scattered to the four winds rather quickly. In the 2000 offseason, Mike Hampton confirmed his long-rumored dislike for New York by signing a contract with Colorado that still seems insane, while praising the local school system as the real reason he went west. Bobby Jones, author of the only one-hit postseason shutout in franchise history, was allowed to depart for San Diego.

The subsequent years' winters brought more departures. Benny Agbayani and Todd Zeile were traded to Colorado in a three-way deal for Burnitz. Robin Ventura was traded to the Yankees for David Justice, who was then traded to the A's. Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook were packaged together and sent to the Phillies. Rey Ordonez, whose injury prompted the trading away of Melvin Mora, was himself traded to Tampa Bay. Todd Pratt was sent down the Turnpike to Philadelphia. Rick Reed was shipped to Minnesota. None of these deals returned anyone of substance.

Most shocking of all, Edgardo Alfonzo--considered one of the best second basemen, if not one of the best players in the game in 2000--became plagued by back issues that turned him into a shell of his former self. The Mets made no serious attempt to resign him when he attained free agency in the winter of 2002, and he left for San Francisco--but not before taking out ads to thank Mets fans for their support.

Two years after leading the Mets to a pennant, Bobby Valentine had "lost the clubhouse". (Translation: He could do very little with the overaged, underachieving team he was handed.) The last straw came when tabloids feasted on rumors that Grant Roberts and other Mets smoked pot (pre-Tim Lincecum, a hangable offense), and the manager had the nerve to make light of this revelation. At the end of the 2002 season, he was gone, giving way to the doldrums of the Art Howe years.

In the accelerated pace of the 21st century, and the highlight-driven, ESPN-ified sports world, the 2000 Mets' accomplishments went largely forgotten. There is no room in this world for second place (if there ever was one). When the Mets invited a few members of that team to Citi Field during last year's Subway Series, it took many by surprise. Some--even Mets fans--laughed at the very idea. Why would they bother to celebrate a team of losers?

To me, the word "losers" and the 2000 Mets do not belong in the same sentence. As I stated in my 1999 Project, I reject the idea that a team that doesn't win the World Series is a loser. I reject the Steinbrennerian concept that holds the only way a fan can enjoy a season is if his/her team wins it all. If you disagree, I don't envy you, because I can only imagine that you are more often miserable than not.

Did it hurt to go back and watch the 2000 World Series again? Oh god, yes. Trust me, it did, and I don't recommend other Mets fans to do the same. But I don't regret delving back into that season as a whole. It reminded me that this was a great team, that it had amazing moments to rival anything the team has ever done--and considering the Mets' insane history, that's saying something. I refuse to enjoy them any less because they couldn't defeat the biggest baseball dynasty of the last 30 years.

I embarked on this project to see if my prejudices were wrong, if 2000 would still pale in comparison to 1999 if I examined it more fully. Truth be told, I can't say 2000 even comes close to supplanting 1999 in my heart. But I've come away with a new-found respect and appreciation for what the Mets accomplished that season. In the years to come, I hope more Mets fans--and the team itself--realize that this team is one worth remembering.