Tom Seaver Fan Club

I am definitely planning on buying some Mets tickets to at least a few games this year. For example, I plan on getting some Red Sox Mets tickets, some Chicago Cubs tickets, and maybe some Mets San Diego Padres tickets too. And in the fall, I expect to see the Mets in the playoffs too. Here’s a place to buy cheap New York Mets playoff tickets.

If you live in New York, you’re either a Met fan or a Yankee fan. But at least you don’t know what’s it’s like to be a Boston sports fan. You don’t often see Mets fans in Yankee Stadium, or a Yankee fan in Shea Stadium. However, one place in New York that you’ll be able to find both kinds of fans is at a rockin’ concert or maybe even at a Broadway show. NYC, called the ‘Greatest City on Earth’, is so full of fun things to do, great entertainment seems almost infinite. Forget about MLB games, you can catch an NHL game, an NFL or NBA game, you can go to a great stand-up comedy show, a Broadway or off-Broadway play, or catch live music at a little bar in the Village, or at venues like Madison Square Garden or Jones Beach. If you are interested in watching a Broadway play or musical (which I especially recommend if you’re looking for a great date idea), then here are the shows I recommend considering: Wicked, Spamalot, The Odd Couple, Three Days of Rain, Phantom of the Opera, Chicago the Musical, Lion King, Rent or Jersey Boys. Here’s a great place to find cheap Broadway tickets to all of these shows and musicals.

There are also lots of good concert tours this 2006 summer in New York to check out. For example, check out concert tickets for some of the hot tours coming up like Madonna tickets, Paul Simon tickets, Dixie Chicks tickets, Mariah Carey tickets, Eric Clapton New York, and tickets to the Dave Matthews Band. For sports tickets, you can get anything from sold out Yankees tickets, Mets tickets, New York Knicks tickets, Jets or Giants football tickets, NHL Islanders tix, the NY Islanders, or any other match up you can think of, professional or college. I read this Broadway date idea article and realized that you can get Broadway tickets online too, for any city. Whether it’s Boston or San Diego, Miami or Seattle, or anywhere in between, you can buy Broadway tickets to plays in any major city in North America.

Regardless of the entertainment you choose to see this year in New York City, I highly recommend seeing a mets game or two. The Mets are hot this year and it would be great to see them beat the New York Yankees, the Seattle Mariners, the San Diego Padres, the Boston Red Sox, the St Louis Cardinals, the Arizona D-Backs, or the Chicago Cubs.

Against a quality opponent like the Braves, I’ll take two of three every time.  You can’t be too greedy, especially on the road.

On Friday we had a great pitching matchup.  Pedro Martinez went head to head against John Smoltz, and between the two of them they had 379 wins.  Pedro was Pedro though, and he came out on top.  In the process, he improved to 5-0 on the season.  He gave up two runs on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts in seven innings.  His one blemish was a two run homerun by Chipper Jones in the sixth inning.  On the hitting side, David Wright got it done again.  He homered twice and drove in three runs in the 5-2 win..  Jose Reyes singled, tripled, drove in a run and scored twice.

Yesterday, it was Tom Glavine getting a little revenge against his old team.  He threw seven shutout innings and struck out one.  Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner each threw an inning to finish the 1-0 shutout.  The only run of the game came on Paul Lo Duca’s first homerun of the season.

This afternoon, Steve Trachsel ran into a buzzsaw.  By the end of the fourth, he had given up six runs on eight hits and FIVE walks.  The Mets tried to put together a rally in the eighth inning when they were down 8-4, and despite loading up the bases, they could only score one run to cut it to 8-5.  Carlos Beltran hit a two run homerun and Endy Chavez went deep for his first homerun of the season.

So with the loss, we now have a six game lead over the Braves.  The Mets have 16 wins and are eight games over .500 in a division where the next closest team is four games below .500.  And to make things even more fun, we have the Washington Nationals (bad team) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (even worse team) each coming to Shea for two game series before we host the Braves next weekend.

April 30, 1986  Mets 8, Braves 1  (13-3)

The Mets ran up the score against the Braves and walked away with their eleventh straight win.  Darryl Strawberry had a monster game.  He went five for five with a homerun, three RBIs and two runs.  Lenny Dykstra was three for five with two runs and Wally Backman scored twice.

Dwight Gooden coasted to his fourth straight win with eight innings of work.  He gave up only one run on six hits, and he struck out five.

April 29, 1986 at Fulton County Stadium 

Mets 10, Braves 5  (12-3)

The Mets doubled up the Braves, and ironically, they scored ten runs en route to their tenth straight win.  Darryl Strawberry had a three run homer and he drove in four runs.  Wally Backman was four for six with three runs and Keith Hernandez was three for four with three runs.

The Mets were actually down 5-2 going into the fifth inning before they rallied and took over.  Ron Darling only went 3 2/3 innings, but three relievers combined for 5 1/3 innings of one hit ball.  Roger McDowell pitched the final three innings without giving a baserunner to earn his first save of the season.

I missed this when I posted yesterday, but Brian Bannister is on the shelf with a hamstring injury.  Doesn’t look like he’s been placed on the DL yet, but if he misses any number of starts, Willie Randolph doesn’t have a ton of options.  I would mind them putting Aaron Heilman into the rotation for a spell.

Now I’m reading from Sportsline that my guess was correct.  Bannister will miss at least one start and Heilman will get the nod.

April 27, 1986 at Busch Stadium

Mets 5, Cardinals 3  (11-3)

The Mets swept the Cardinals and won their ninth straight game behind some strong pitching by Bob Ojeda.  Ojeda improved to 3-0 with his complete game, and he gave up three runs on nine hits.

Tim Teufel had a two run homer and Kevin Mitchell went two for four with a solo homerun and two runs.  George Foster also had two hits and drove in one run.

You wouldn’t consider a team that’s 14-7 as struggling, but the Mets have shown that they’re mortal the last couple of weeks.  They’re .500 in their last ten games, and they managed that only by taking the final two games in this most recent series against the San Francisco Giants.

Things didn’t kick off too well on Monday.  Even though we kept Bonds’ bat on his shoulders, Tom Glavine got roughed up by the rest of the Giants’ lineup.  He gave up six runs on six hits with six walks (gulp) in six innings of work.  Moises Alou did the bulk of the damage by driving in five runs.  On offense, the Mets managed only six hits.  Jose Reyes and Paul Lo Duca both drove home a run and Xavier Nady and Kaz Matsui both had two hits in the 6-2 loss.

On Tuesday, Steve Trachsel picked up his game and improved to 2-1.  He gave up only a single on three hits and two walks.  Duaner Sanchez was solid in two innings of relief and Billy Wagner pitched a perfect ninth and earned his fifth save of the season.  Cliff Floyd tried to break out of his slump and he drove home two runs in the 4-1 win.

This afternoon, things got interesting.  The Giants had a 3-1 lead until the Mets tied the game in the fourth on Brian Bannister’s two run double.  The Mets then took a three run lead into the ninth after scoring three runs in the eighth.  Then the wheels fell of the wagon.  With two outs, David Wright made a scoring error that cut the lead down to a single run.  Then Barry Bonds took Wagner deep to tie the game up.  It was three unearned runs, but the game was heaed for extra frames. 

The Mets then rallied in the eleventh and scored two.  Chris Woodward doubled home Ramon Castro and Jose Reyes singled home Woodward to make it a two run lead.  Darren Oliver got the job done in the bottom of the eleventh and the Mets snuck away with the win.

Even though the Mets have been struggling, everyone else in the division has struggled just as much.  The Mets have a five game lead over the second place Braves and Phillies and the Mets travel to Atlanta to take on their division nemisis.  Winning two of three would be huge, with a sweep being even better.

April 26, 1986 at Busch Stadium

Mets 4, Cardinals 3  (10-3)

The Mets made it eight in a row as they edged the Cardinals 4-3.  The Mets scored all four of their runs and had five of their eight hits in the first inning.

Lenny Dykstra led off the game with a homerun and Danny Heep went two for four with two RBIs.  Sid Fernandez was very solid in eight innings of work.  He gave up only two hits and two runs with ten strikeouts.  Jesse Orosco got the final two Cardinals out to earn his third save of the season.

April 25, 1986 at Busch Stadium

Mets 9, Cardinals 0  (9-3)

The Mets blew out the Cardinals as they won their seventh game in a row.  The game was actually close (2-0) until the top of the eighth when the Mets exploded for five runs to put the game away.

Ray Knight continued to hit well as he went two for four with two homeruns and four RBIs.  Gary Carter scored twice without getting a hit.  He drew three walks and Santana went three for five with two runs.

Dwight Gooden was exceptional as he improved to 3-0.  He went the distance and gave up only five hits, while striking out five.

April 24, 1986 at Busch Stadium 

Mets 5, Cardinals 4  (8-3)

It took ten innings, but the Mets won their sixth game in a row.  The Cardinals had a 3-1 lead heading into the eighth inning but the Mets shaved that lead in half on Gary Carter’s RBI single.  The Cardinals added a run in the bottom half of the inning, and the Mets went into the ninth down by two runs.

George Foster led off the ninth with a double and he moved to third on Ray Knight’s ground out.  Then Howard Johnson came up huge a two run blast that tied the game, sending it into extra innings.

The Mets didn’t waste much time to put the game away.  Wally Backman led off with a walk and stole second base.  Keith Hernandez grounded out to third and Gary Carter flew out to right.  Darryl Strawberry was given an intentional pass, and then George Foster came up with another big hit as he singled home Backman.

Roger McDowell threw the ninth and tenth and didn’t give up a hit while striking out two. He improved to 2-0.  The bullpen really kept the Mets in the game as four relievers (including McDowell) combined to throw five innings of one hit ball.

On the one hand, the Padres are a pretty mediocre team, so a 2-2 split doesn’t sit well.  On the other hand, anytime you head out west, it’s never easy regardless of who you’re playing so I guess I can’t be too disappointed.

Things got off to a nice start on Thursday with a 7-2 win.  Steve Trachsel was on the losing end of a pitchers dual with Jake Peavy.  Fortunately Peavy only went seven innings.  In the eighth, the Mets scored six runs.  One of those runs was on a solo homerun by Julio Franco, who set the record for the oldest player to hit a homerun.  The old man just keeps on going and he’s two for eight this year with the homerun as a pinch hitter for the Mets this year.  Carlos Delgado hit a two run homerun in that eighth inning as well.

Friday was a typical Petco game.  The Padres scored only two runs in fourteen innings, but that was good enough because the Mets’ bats were held in check.  Carlos Delgado hit a solo shot in the fourth inning, and that was the only run the Mets could muster.  Brian Bannister had another nice start but it went to waste because the Mets’ bats couldn’t pick them up.  The big concern is Bannister’s walk total.  He’s now walked 15 batters in 23 innings.  So far it hasn’t come back to haunt them because batters are hitting only .181 against the right hander.  The pen did a very nice job.  Six shutout innings between six pitchers before Chad Bradford finally caved and gave up a run in the fourteenth inning.

Yesterday it was Pedro’s turn and he improved to 4-0.  He struck out eleven in seven innings and he gave up only one run on two hits and two walks.  Jorge Julio had another good outing after a very rough start.  He’s now made four straight appearances without giving up a run and he’s given up only two hits in five innings with eight strikeouts.  Carlos Delgado homered in his third straight game and Ramon Castro and Xavier Nady also went deep in the 8-1 win.

Today, the Mets couldn’t win the series.  The Padres jumped all over Victor Zambrano in the fourth inning and tagged him for four runs.  Down 5-0, the Mets scored four in the sixth, but that’s all they’d get.  Endy Chavez drove in two runs and David Wright and Carlos Delgado both had two hits.  Zambrano dropped to 1-2 and gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks in four innings.  Two of those seven hits were homeruns.

Next stop is San Francisco.  The Giants are tied with the Rockies for first in the NL West.  After that, the Mets hop on a plane and head to Atlanta for an important series against the Braves.  As it stands, the Mets are 12-6, three and a half games ahead of the second place Braves.

April 22, 1986 at Shea Stadium

Mets 7, Pirates 1  (7-3)

This one was over pretty quickly as the Mets scored in each of the first five innings.  After five, the Mets had a 7-0 lead as Bob Ojeda coasted to his second win of the season.  He threw seven innings and gave up only one run on four hits.

Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter both drove in two runs.  Ray Knight hit his fourth homerun of the game as he went one for one with two runs and three walks.  Kevin Mitchell and Rafael Santana both scored twice.

April 21, 1986 at Shea Stadium

Mets 6, Pirates 5  (6-3)

The Mets came from behind in grand fashion to win their fourth game in a row.  The Pirates scored single runs in both the first and second inning, but the Mets came back with two in the third inning on a two run shot by Gary Carter.  The Pirates added two in the sixth off of starter Rick Aguilera, and that 4-2 score stood until the bottom of the eighth.

Gary Carter led off the eighth with a ground out, and then Darryl Strawberry struck out.  George Foster drew a walk, and then Ray Knight came up huge with a two run shot to tie the game.

Roger McDowell came in to pitch the top of the ninth.  Former Met Lee Mazzilli drew a lead off walk, and then Bill Almon moved him to second on a bunt.  R.J. Reynolds then struck out to make it two outs, but Joe Orsulak singled to drive home Mazzilli, giving the Pirates a one run lead.

Pat Clements came in to pitch for the Pirates in the ninth, and Lenny Dykstra led off the inning with a single.  Kevin Mitchell moved him over to second on a bunt and then Tim Teufel doubled Mitchell home to tie the game up.  Keith Hernandez drew a walk, and the Pirates went to their pen and brought in Jim Winn.  Then Gary Carter singled to bring home Teufel to complete the dramatic comeback.

April 20, 1986 at Shea Stadium

Mets 8, Phillies 0  (5-3)

The Mets finished their sweep of the Phillies in grand fashion.  They jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and never looked back.

Sid Fernandez and Roger McDowell combined for a two hit shutout.  Fernandez struck out six and McDowell struck out two.

Danny Heep hit a big three run shot in the first inning, and Darryl Strawberry went two for four with a run and two RBIs.  Lenny Dykstra did his job at the lead off spot.  He had two hits and he scored twice.

The Mets had a chance to put some room between them and the Atlanta Braves.  Things got off to a nice start on Monday and the Mets were 10-2, the best they’ve been after twelve games in franchise history.  Unfortunately, it went down hill from there.

Pedro did his job on Monday and improved to 3-0 in the Mets 4-3 win.  It wasn’t a picture perfect start, but it was enough to get the win.  He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.  Give some props to the bullpenas well.  Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner held the Braves hitless in the final 2 1/3 innings and Wagner picked up his fourth save of the season.

On the hitting side, the big blow was a two run shot by Carlos Delgado in the third inning that gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.  Xavier Nady gave the Mets some insurance with a run in the fourth.  He also homered in the second inning, his fourth of the season.  Paul Lo Duca went three for four with a run and Nady finished the game with three hits.

Tuesday is when things got messy.  Andruw Jones homered twice against Victor Zambrano, who took the loss.  He gave up seven runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.  The Mets managed only a single run on three hits.  Chris Woodward went deep with a solo shot in the third inning to account for that one run.

Today’s game was the heartbreaker as the Mets dropped their first series of the season.  Tom Glavine was on.  He gave up a solo homer to Andruw Jones in the seventh, then the Braves added a needed insurance run in the eighth when Pena scored on David Wright’s fielding error.  Woodward singled home Reyes in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough.  In all, the Mets made three errors.

Glavine gave up the two runs (one earned) on four hits with five strikeouts in eight innings and his great start went to waste.  Aaron Heilman threw a perfect ninth to finish things out for the Mets.

So now the Mets stand at 10-4.  They now go on a west coast swing that will start in San Diego tomorrow.  Three of the four games are night games.  They won’t be back to Shea until May 1, 2006 when they square off against the Nationals again.

April 19, 1986 at Shea Stadium

Mets 3, Phillies 2  (4-3)

The Mets came from being on two different occasions to top the Phillies for the second straight time.  Gary Carter scored on Barry Lyons ground out to tie the game at 1-1 after five innings.  The Phillies scored another run in the sixth, but the Mets answered in the bottom half of the inning when Kevin Mitchell doubled home Dwight Gooden.  Then in the bottom of the eighth, Gary Carter singled home Mitchell to put the Mets up for good.

Dwight Gooden was awesome.  He went the distance and struck out ten Phillies.

April 18, 1986  at Shea Stadium

Mets 5, Phillies 2  (3-3)

Most of the scoring in the this game took place in the first inning.  The Phillies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with two solo homers off of starter Ron Darling.  The Mets then followed that up with three in the bottom half of the inning.  Lenny Dykstra led off with a single and moved to second on starter Steve Carlton’s wild pitch.  Tim Teufel struck out and then John Russell allowed a passed ball and Dykstra moved to third.  Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter drew back to back walks to load the bases up, and then Darryl Strawberry drew a walk to drive in the first run.  George Foster struck out, and then Ray Knight singled home Hernandez and Carter to give the Mets the lead.

The Mets added two more in the bottom of the seventh on a two run single by George Foster.  Ron Darling went seven innings and gave up two runs on four hits with four strikeouts.  Jesse Orosco pitched the final two innings in impressive fashion.  He gave up only one hit and he struck out four in earning his second save of the season.

Right now, the Mets are the best team in baseball, and I’m loving it.  The Mets hosted a hot, then cold Brewers team and took two of three games.  The Mets got off to a nice start on Friday behind a solid start by Tom Glavine.  Glavine was just a touch better then Chris Capuano in the 4-3 win.  He gave up a single run (unearned) on six hits.  I did a double take when I saw the strikeout total of eleven.  I couldn’t check the game logs for last year, but I don’t remember him even coming close to that total.  It’s the first time he’s struck out more then ten in a game since he signed with the Mets and it’s the first time since 1994 that he struck out eleven (he did it twice that year).

Xavier Nady got the Mets on the board with a solo shot in the second inning.  Carlos Delgado drove in two of the Mets four runs and Jose Reyes scored twice.

Yesterday’s game was a downer and it ended the Mets winning streak at seven games.  Steve Trachsel was touched up for four runs, but it was the bullpen that did almost as much damage.  Jorge Julio continued to struggle and he gave up three runs in his one inning.  Darren Oliver also gave up a run.  David Wright and Ramon Castro drove in the two Mets runs and the Mets only managed six hits and two walks.

The Mets got back on track today.  Brian Bannister had his third solid start of the season and he improved to 2-0.  He gave up a single run on six hits and five walks (gulp) with four strikeouts in five innings of work.  This time the bullpen didn’t hurt them quite as much, although Darren Oliver gave up two runs in the sixth to make the game interesting.  a five run eighth blew the game open, and the inning was capped off by a three run homer by Carlos Delgado.  Victor Diaz later drove in two runs with a double and Xavier Nady homered and drove in three runs.

The Braves come to town for a three game series beginning tomorrow.  Right now, the Braves are in second place, even though it’s with a 6-7 record.  The Mets already have a four game lead, and they can bury the Mets with a sweep.  Pedro Martinez will take the mound tomorrow against Jorge Sosa.

April 14, 1986 at Shea Stadium

Cardinals 6, Mets 2  (2-3)

The Mets were completely shutdown in this game as they were held to four hits through thirteen innings.  They managed to scrape together a run in the third on Tim Teufel’s sac. fly and then they tied the game up in the bottom of the ninth on Darryl Strawberry’s RBI single.  A nice start by Dwight Gooden went to waste, as he went eight innings and he struck out six in the no-decision.

The Cardinals opened the game up in the thirteenth, and Randy Niemann took the loss for the second time in three days.  In an odd stat line, he was credited with two earned runs while only giving up one hit.  Willie McGee led of the inning with a single, and then Tom Herr reached on a fielders choice.  Niemann was then pulled, and Bruce Berenyi came in and lost control pretty quickly.

This would be the one and only time that the Mets had a losing record the entire season.

The 1986 Mets jumped out to a nice early lead with a long winning streak in late April and early May.  It looks like the 20th anniversary edition 2006 Mets are going one step further by having a phenomonal start right out of the gate.  They’re now 7-1 and they’ve won their last six games.  Granted they’ve played the Marlins and the Nationals, but beating the bad teams is almost as important as beating the good ones.

Brian Bannister looked really sharp on Tuesday.  The game was scoreless through three innings but the Mets finally gave him some run support with two in the fourth and two in the fifth.  Bannister ended up giving up only a single run on three hits with no walks and one strikeout.  The sole blemish was a solo homerun by Alfonso Soriano.  On the hitting side, Carlos Beltran went yard and Jose Reyes went two for five with a triple, two RBIs and a run.  Paul LoDuca had three hits and Bannister even helped out his own cause by going two for two and scoring on Reyes’ triple.

On Wednesday, we got vintage Pedro.  In fact he had a line very similar to Bannister’s.  He gave up a single run on three hits and only one walk in seven innings.  He did it all with an economical 85 pitches.  Aaron Heilman pitched a scoreless eighth (already has three holds) and Wagner closed the game out to earn his second save.  The Mets only managed three runs, but Pedro did his job.  Beltran and Delgado both had two hits and an RBI.

This afternoon we ran up the score.  Beltran, David Wright, Cliff Floyd and Carlos Delgado all homered and Delgado went three for five with two RBIs and three runs.  Chris Woodward drove in three runs and Jose Reyes went two for six with an RBI, a stolen base and two runs.  Victor Zambrano walked more guys then he struck out, but he got the job done.  He gave up three runs on six hits with four walks and three strikeouts.  Darren Oliver had an impressive start and pitched two innings and struck out four.  Jorge Julio was touched for a run in the eighth and Duaner Sanchez pitched a perfect ninth inning.

The Mets face their first big test this weekend against the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Brewers won their first five, but they’ve struggled since then so hopefully we’ll be able to take advantage of them while they’re down.

April 13, 1986 at Veterans Stadium

Phillies 4, Mets 2  (2-2)

Two homeruns off of  Rick Aguillera accounted for three of the four Phillies runs.  The Mets actually outhit their opponents 10-6, but they could only push two runners across home plate.

Keith Hernandez went three for three with a run and Ray Knight went two for four with a run and RBI.  Hernandez drew the lone walk of the game.

Aguillera went six innings and gave up four runs on four hits while striking out six.  Bob Ojeda threw the final two frames and he held the Phillies to no runs on two hits and a walk.

April 12, 1986 at Veterans Stadium

Phillies 9, Mets 8 (2-1)

I know the Mets lost this game, but what a nail biter. This one’s worth doing a full recap on.

Sid Fernandez and Steve Carlton started the game for their respective team, and the Mets once again jumped out to an early lead. Lenny Dykstra led off the game with a single and he stole second base. He moved over to third on John Russell’s error, and then scored on Tim Teufel’s ground out. The Mets added another run in the second inning on Ray Knight’s solo homerun.

Things got interesting for the Phillies in the bottom of the third. Steve Jeltz drew a lead off walk and moved to second on Steve Carlton’s bunt. Gary Redus walked and was forced out at second base on Milt Thompson’s fielders choice. Juan Samuel then walked to load up the bases and then the Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt drove two runners home with a single. The Phillies took the lead in the fifth when John Russell drove in Thompson and Mike Schmidt with a single.

The Mets answered in the seventh inning. Ray Knight singled with one out, and moved to second on Rick Schu’s throwing error. Rafael Santana singled, and Knight moved over to third base. Then Danny Heep singled home Knight to make it a 4-3 ballgame.

In the top of the eighth, the Mets busted the game open. Gary Carter singled and then Darryl Strawberry struck out. George Foster singled to put runners at first and second, and then Ray Knight drove home Carter with a double. Santana was given an intentional pass to load the bases and then Howard Johnson struck out. Lenny Dykstra then came up huge with a two run single, and Tim Teufel followed it up with an RBI single. The Mets went from being two down at the end of the sixth to being up by three with Phillies having only six outs left to come back.

And come back they did. With Roger McDowell on the mound, Glenn Wilson reached on an error by Keith Hernandez. Russell struck out and then Von Hayes drew a walk. Jeltz then tripled to make it a one run game, and Garry Maddox followed that up with a single to tie the game up and send it into extra frames.

Neither team scored in the first four extra innings, and finally in the fourteenth inning, the Mets got on the board. Wally Backman singled with one out and then moved to second on Dykstra’s single. Tim Teufel then followed that up with a single to give the Mets an 8-7 lead. Unfortunately the scoring ended there because Keith Hernandez followed that up by grounding into a double play to end the inning.

Mike Schmidt singled off of Randy Niemann to lead off the bottom of the fourteenth and then he moved to second on Glenn Wilson’s single. Russell then reached safely on a bunt to load the bases up. Von Hayes then drew a walk to tie the game up, and Jeltz followed this up with a walk of RBI single to end the game. Phillies win 9-8 with a ton of drama.

April 11, 1986 at Veterans Stadium

Mets 9, Phillies 7 (2-0)

The Mets made it two in a row as they outhit the Phillies in a high scoring affair. The Mets jumped out to huge leads in the third inning (6-1) and the fourth inning (9-2) only to see Ron Darling try to give the game back to the Phillies. The Phillies actually had the tying run at second base in the eighth inning, but Roger McDowell eventually got them out of the jam.

Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez both came up huge. Carter went three for five with five RBIs and three runs, including a two run homer in the first inning. Hernandez was two for five with three runs.

Bob Ojeda got the win, but he got help from Roger McDowell in that eighth inning. Jesse Orosco got the final out of the game to earn his first save of the season.

The Mets three game series with the Florida Marlins became a two game series when Saturday’s game between the division rivals was rained out.  Since I missed Thursday’s game, I’ll touch on that here.

And Thursday was important.  Pedro Martinez made his first start of the season and he looked good at times and bad at times.  He gave up only four hits in five innings, but he walked five and he hit three batters.  Hot head Jose Guillen even came at Pedro because he was a victim of the bean ball twice. 

Fortunately it didn’t matter because the Mets bats showed up.  Carlos Beltran drove in four runs and scored twice and Jose Reyes went three for five with two RBIs and two runs.  Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran both went yard.

Friday’s game was a blow out.  Jose Reyes hit his first homerun of the season and he went three for five with three RBIs and two runs.  David Wright homered and drove in three runs and Steve Trachsel picked up the win with six solid innings.

Today’s game was the nailbiter.  Tom Glavine went against Dontrelle Willis and by the time the starters had left the game, it was tied 2-2.  In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets didn’t waste much time to finish things up.  Carlos Beltran drew a walk and moved to third on Carlos Delgado’s single.  Then David Wright drove in his third run with a sac. fly to end the game.  Billy Wagner picked up the win and Tom Glavine gave up only two runs on five hits in six innings of work.

As it stands, the Mets are atop the NL East.  Ironically, after all five teams finishing with a .500 record in 2005, the Mets have the only winning record at this point in time.  The Mets now travel to Washington to play in their home opener on Tuesday and hopefully they’ll be able to keep the winning streak going.

April 8, 1986 at Three Rivers Stadium

Mets 4, Pirates 2 (1-0)

The Mets started their season on a winning note by topping the Pirates 4-2. The Mets jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by Keith Hernandez and a sac. fly by Gary Carter.

The Pirates answered with a run in the bottom half of the first when R.J. Reynolds hit a lead off homerun off of starter Dwight Gooden. He’d give up another single in the inning to Johnny Ray, but he’d then hold the Pirates to only one run on four hits the rest of the way.

George Foster drove in a run in the sixth with an RBI double and Keith Hernandez drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single in the seventh. Hernandez was the player of the game.  He had two of the Mets’ six hits, he drove in two of the four runs, and scored another.

Dwight Gooden was exceptional and threw a complete game. He gave up only six hits and he struck out six Pirates.

I was keeping an eye on this game on Yahoo.  I was thinking, here’s where all the trades to shore up the bullpen will pay off.  Wagner was used in the ninth, and Willie Randolph went to Jorge Julio in the tenth.  Then he got shelled.  Five runs, one walks and four hits put this game out of reach in a hurry.

Carlos Delgado hit his first homerun as a Met.  And rookie Brian Bannister looked sharp.  He gave up three runs on two hits and four walks in six innings of work.  He struck out four.

We gave up a third starter for Julio.  And speaking of Kris Benson, it looks like he and Anna Benson are back together.  Sorry guys.

Tom Glavine had a great start today in the Mets 3-2 win over the Nationals.  He threw 100 pitches through six innings and he gave up one run on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts.  Not to shabby for the old man.  Aaron Heilman got touched up for a run and five hits in two innings of work, but Billy Wagner did what he’s paid to do.  He gave up a hit in the ninth but struck out one en route to his first save of the season.

Paul Lo Duca drove in the first run of the season for the Mets.  He singled home Xavier Nady in the third inning.  Glavine gave up his one run in the fourth but the Mets answered in the bottom half of the inning when Nady drove home Cliff Floyd to make it 2-1. 

David Wright added an insurance run in the sixth with a solo homerun which made the run the Nationals scored in the seventh kind of moot.  Xavier Nady made his Mets debut by going four for four with a run and an RBI.  The only newcomer who didn’t do much was Carlos Delgado.  He went zero for three with a walk and strikeout.

The rookie, Brian Bannister, gets the start on Wednesday.  He’ll throw against John Patterson.

Monday, the Mets kick things off in the senior circuit.  They start a two game series against the Washington Nationals at Shea Stadium and it’ll be Tom Glavine against Livan Hernandez.  There’s no doubt that expectations are high this season for Mets fans, and getting off to a good start will be huge.

This is a solid story by Marty Noble about the Mets quest for their first World Series win since 1986.  Beginning on April 8, I’ll be documenting the last time the Mets won the fall classic and nothing would make me happier then to have a parallel story by documenting the 2006 World Series Champion New York Mets.