Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties

[Chad ochoseis]

June 27, 2008 - Carlos Delgado, who was batting .235 at the time and sucking so badly that there was serious talk of cutting him and trading for Richie Sexson (?!?), sets a Met record with 9 RBIs to help beat the Yankees 15-6 at MFYSII. He then goes on to have possibly the best three month stretch of any position player in Met history, and had a real shot at being named MVP if the Mets had managed to win the division.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yes! That game is worthy!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Make it 64, seed, and sort into subgroups.[/quote:38mqrvrx]

I think it would be more interesting to get rankings, rather than a single winner. We know that most of these games won't stand a chance to be the winner.

I'm afraid, though, that I don't have a good suggestion about how we'd go about this. Maybe the end-of-year player rankings that we do could serve as a model.

[Gwreck]

My proposal:

Tackle the top 20 first. Have everybody select their top 20 and weight them MVP-voting style, the 20 points for #1, 19 for #2, etc.

Then, after the top 20 is set -- start with the next 20 under the same system. Rinse, lather, repeat...

[batmagadanleadoff]

August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest.

[Gwreck]

Trainspotting moment: actually the first 3 batters had reached (1 scored) narrowing the score from 9-6 to 9-7.

[metirish]

1) -Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants.

2) - Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06

3) - Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000

4) - Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000

5) - Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001

6) - Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader. - 07/08/2000

7) - Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000?

8) - Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006.

9) - Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002

10) - Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003

11) - The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04

12) - 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres.

13) - June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run.

14) - Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000

15) - Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game.

16) - The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006

17) - The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007

18) - Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009

19) - The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05

20) - two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - Mets 4 - Marlins 0 - 09/18/2006

21) - The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007

22) - Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above. - 08/22/2006

23) - Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse - 09/30/2007

24) - Mets win NLCS - 10/16/2000

25) - Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8 - 06/30/2000

26) - ast game ever played by Montreal Expos - 10/03/2004

27) - Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable) - 09/27/2008

28) - Mets clinch NL East - Various Mets parade around with booze and cigars - 09/18/2006

29) - NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play - 10/04/2006

30) - Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer - as remembered on the UMDB.....lets not forget Floyd

1 out in the bottom of the 9th at Shea and the Angels have electric Francisco Rodriguez closing. Anderson, pinch hitting, drives one just shy of the track in right center, with RF Vladimir Guerrero running towards center and CF Steve Finley sliding while running toward RF to make the catch; he can't and it bounces off his leg and rolls into a vacant RF; he gets up and tracks the ball down, all the while Anderson is busting it around the basepaths, and despite a perfect relay throw, Anderson just beats the throw home to tie the game at 2. His face slammed into the catcher; he's there laying in pain, but when he gets up, oh what an ovation. And the capper: Cliff Floyd hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the 10th.

31) - Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner - 05/19/2006

32) - 2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: -
Todd Zeile hit a 3 Run Home Run to tie the game and hit a go ahead Home Run in the 10th to account for all 5 of the Mets runs in this 5-3 win over the Phillies. UMDB - 06/02/2004

33) - Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow.
Well who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would have been the stopper? It's the future of the Mets that saves them in the present. Coupled with Phillies loss (thanks to last years NLCS villian Yadier Molina) Mets shave 2 more games off of their Magic number. We are still a long ways away from a division title but there is no doubt the Mets needed this one. Credit Sosa for coming in and putting out a fire in the 6th and credit Alou for playing hurt and producing at the same time. Mets are off to Florida for 4 and then back home to end the season against the Nats, Cards, and Marlins. Hopefully things go well and we can capture a second straight division crown. - UMDB - 09/19/2007

34) - The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. - 08/30/2005

35) - NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable. - 10/18/2006

36) - Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming - 08/12/2000

37) - After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. - 09/27/2001

38) - A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. - 06/29/2002

39) - Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. - 07/23/2003

40) - The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. - 08/21/2004

41) - Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. - 04/16/2005

42) - By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. - 09/07/2006

43) - This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. - 05/17/2007

44) - David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. - 08/07/2008

45) - In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade. - 10/04/2009

46) - Mets win Game 3 of the 2000 WS - Benitez gets the Save

47) - Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004


48) - Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS - Mets are down 2 and rally big for the win
Perez 2B
Alfonzo 2B
Piazza 2B
Ventura 2B
Zeile groundout
Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2.

49) - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s - NLCS - Game 5 - 10/11/2000

50) - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. - NLCS Game 1 - 10/12/2006

51) - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers - 06/18/2004

52) - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins - 09/19/2006(good one)

53) - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. - 04/24/2007

54) - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez. - 06/15/2007

55) - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. - versus Giants - 06/29/2007

56) - The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden - 07/08/2000 - Grim the game memories have the wrong memories ....

57) - Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?"

Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth.

It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career - 04/04/2005

58) - August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest. - 08/23/2009

59) -the 2 HR game by Piazza as a member of the Padres 08/09/06

60) - Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12
06/07/2005


61) - Benny's pinch slam in the Tokyo Dome - 03/30/2000

62) - Pedro flirts with a no-hitter in LA.......Pedro coughs up two in the eighth as Williams can't catch up with the drive, and they get only one run in support of Martinez, despite four doubles...Penny went 9. - 08/14/2005

Edited December 10, 2009 by Guest

[TransMonk]

I don't see it on the list (I do see 08/08/06)...the 2 HR game by Piazza as a member of the Padres 08/09/06 should be included.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Do we have Benny's pinch slam in the Tokyo Dome?

http://leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=6078

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

That game sucked till the last second. it shouldn;t count.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Memorable. Especially since it took the start of what was looking like a miserable (and Bennyless) season and began a turnaround toward a pennant-winning (and Benny-filled) season.

Not that we mayn't have turned the season around otherwise given 160 games, but hauling ass home from Japan with two losses and three(?) days off would have stunk.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

That game sucked till the last second. it shouldn;t count.[/quote:2tgtyuiq]

Agreed. I've fallen asleep twice trying to watch it as an SNY Mets Classic.

[metirish]

Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12
06/07/2005

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

That game sucked till the last second. it shouldn;t count.[/quote:mih5objz]

Agreed. I've fallen asleep twice trying to watch it as an SNY Mets Classic.[/quote:mih5objz]

I can remember fighting to stay awake watching it the first time: It was on at like 5 in the morning. Thrilling if you like seeing Mike Hampton throw pitches out of the strike zone for 3 hours.

[metirish]

Did you go to work that day...I was curious to see what day it was...checked on UMDB and it was a Wednesday......I guess that was early Thursday morning here?

Actually I think you have the games mixed up JCL....MH pitched the wednesday night game(29th) and the Benny slam was the night after

http://leaptoad.com/mets/metannual.php?ThisYear=2000&tabno=3&month=03

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember listening on the radio as I was driving to work in the morning. After I arrived I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes and heard the home run. (It was worth delaying my walk across the parking lot for that!)

A nice way to start a work day.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12
06/07/2005[/quote:2tsukb3x]

Beltran and Cameron both out with brain damage for this one, I think, and Gerald Williams was in centerfield. On the no-hitter-ending drive to the wall, Williams collapsed before hitting the wall. I'm not sure, but I recall thinking Willie had a more legit centerfielder on the bench.

OE: I must be conflating. They got hurt later than that.

[metirish]

No , they were in the lineup. Cam in the two hole and Beltran 3rd. I looked and the collision happened August 11.....as remembered on the UMDB

Glenn November 6, 2005 One of the scariest on-field moments in Mets history took place in the bottom of the seventh inning of this game. David Ross of the Padres hit a Tom Glavine pitch to right center field. Centerfielder Carlos Beltran started running full-speed after the ball, as did right fielder Mike Cameron. Both outfielders dove, gloves outstretched, and collided head-to-head while in mid-air. Both left the game, Cameron on a stretcher and Beltran, miraculously, under his own power. Both suffered fractures of the facial bones, although Beltran's injuries were less severe and he returned to the lineup only a week later. Cameron's injuries (facial fractures, swelling, etc.) were much more severe and he would miss the remainder of the season.

Edited December 10, 2009 by Guest

[G-Fafif]

Pedro took two no-hitters deep in 2005. The Astro one was June. The Dodger one (after the Beltran/Cameron mishap) was August.

Date of NLCS clinching: 10/16/2000 (I saw different upthread).

[Guest Edgy DC]

here's the almost-no-hitter I was thinking of. 8/15/05 against LA.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN200508140.shtml

No UMDB memories. Pedro coughs up two in the eighth as Williams can't catch up with the drive, and they get only one run in support of Martinez, despite four doubles.

[metirish]

Checked the box for the Dodger game....

Pedro has this line....8 innings, 2 hits , 2 runs , 1 walk and 5 SO....

Mets lost the game 2-1

Penny went 9 , 10 hits....Mets scored 1 in the fifth and LA got 2 in the 8th.

[metirish]

1) -Bobby Jones - 10/08/00-NLDS - Game 4 versus the Giants , Jones one hits the Giants.

2) - Endy Chavez - "The Catch" - Game 7, 2006 NLCS - 10/19/06

3) - Benny Agbayani's game-winning homer in the 2000 NLDS.- 10/07/2000

4) - Another game from the 2000 NLDS: J.T. Snow hits a demoralizing homer off Armando Benitez, but the Mets come back and win on a Darryl Hamilton RBI, with the game ending on John Franco's top moment as a Met, his strikeout of Barry Bonds. - 10/05/2000

5) - Piazza in the first baseball game played in New York after September 11. - 09/21/2001

6) - Clemens beans Piazza, split Shea-Yankee Stadium doubleheader. - 07/08/2000

7) - Clemens tries to kill Piazza in public again, - 10/22/2000?

8) - Game One of the 2006 NLDS was October 4, 2006.

9) - Estes vs. Clemens - 06/15/2002

10) - Glavine shits the bed in 40 degree weather on opening day - 03/31/2003

11) - The Victor Diaz Game : 9/25/04

12) - 8/8/06 - Mike Piazza's return to Shea as a member of the Padres.

13) - June 17, 2001 (Father's Day). Sunday night baseball, Subway Series. The Mets come back to beat the MFYs with a dramatic 6-run 8th inning rally, capped by a Mike Piazza home run.

14) - Welcome Abordick - 07/29/2000

15) - Tom Glavine gives up seven earned runs in a third of an inning, thereby ending his Mets career - 10/30/2007 - now this was a memorable game.

16) - The 16-inning win over the Phillies - 05/23/2006

17) - The John Maine one-hitter on September 29 that got them there was also pretty memorable - 10/29/2007

18) - Omir Santos hits a disputed go-ahead homer at Fenway in the top of the ninth, and an angry Jonathan Papelbon leaps out of the dugout. Plus, a save by J.J. Putz - 05/23/2009

19) - The Mr. Koo game. - 5/21/05

20) - two HRs from The Moustache(J Valentin) - Mets 4 - Marlins 0 - 09/18/2006

21) - The four-game sweep at the Phils that kicked off the collapse in earnest, including the Marlon Anderson baseline call and the 11-10 fall-back/comeback/Wagner choke job to end it. - 08/27/2007

22) - Pujols hits two home runs and knocks in seven runs. Delgado hits two home runs and knocks in five. Beltran wins it with a walk-off off Isringhausen. Michael Tucker (!) starts in left for the Amazin's, goes 1-2 with a walk and a HBP. It's the first game that popped into my head outside of those mentioned above. - 08/22/2006

23) - Miserable final game of the 2007 collapse - 09/30/2007

24) - Mets win NLCS - 10/16/2000

25) - Mets score 10 runs in the 8th to beat Atlanta 11-8 - 06/30/2000

26) - ast game ever played by Montreal Expos - 10/03/2004

27) - Santana's gem from 2008 that temporarily saved the season (actually put off the inevitable) - 09/27/2008

28) - Mets clinch NL East - Various Mets parade around with booze and cigars - 09/18/2006

29) - NLDS Game 1, two runners cut down at home on one play - 10/04/2006

30) - Marlon Anderson's inside-the-park homer - as remembered on the UMDB.....lets not forget Floyd

1 out in the bottom of the 9th at Shea and the Angels have electric Francisco Rodriguez closing. Anderson, pinch hitting, drives one just shy of the track in right center, with RF Vladimir Guerrero running towards center and CF Steve Finley sliding while running toward RF to make the catch; he can't and it bounces off his leg and rolls into a vacant RF; he gets up and tracks the ball down, all the while Anderson is busting it around the basepaths, and despite a perfect relay throw, Anderson just beats the throw home to tie the game at 2. His face slammed into the catcher; he's there laying in pain, but when he gets up, oh what an ovation. And the capper: Cliff Floyd hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the 10th.

31) - Geremi Gonzalez gives up 4 in the 1st to the Yanx, Mets come back with 3 in their half off Sour Unit ... Wright wins it w/a walk-off double off Mariano in the 9th following a 3-K top of the 9th from Wagner - 05/19/2006

32) - 2004 also gave us the "I Love Todd Zeile" game: -
Todd Zeile hit a 3 Run Home Run to tie the game and hit a go ahead Home Run in the 10th to account for all 5 of the Mets runs in this 5-3 win over the Phillies. UMDB - 06/02/2004

33) - Jorge Sosa's finest hour, staving off the doom that would eventually catch them anyhow.
Well who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would have been the stopper? It's the future of the Mets that saves them in the present. Coupled with Phillies loss (thanks to last years NLCS villian Yadier Molina) Mets shave 2 more games off of their Magic number. We are still a long ways away from a division title but there is no doubt the Mets needed this one. Credit Sosa for coming in and putting out a fire in the 6th and credit Alou for playing hurt and producing at the same time. Mets are off to Florida for 4 and then back home to end the season against the Nats, Cards, and Marlins. Hopefully things go well and we can capture a second straight division crown. - UMDB - 09/19/2007

34) - The best game of 2005 was probably August 30, 2005. Late 3-run come-from-behind homer by Ramon Castro over the Phillies. - 08/30/2005

35) - NLCS Game 6 in 2006 (Reyes lead-off homer, Maine betters Chris Carpenter in an elimination game) as pretty memorable. - 10/18/2006

36) - Benny Agbayani hands a kid in the stands a live ball. That the Mets won in spite of Benny's boner makes it charming - 08/12/2000

37) - After the first Brian Jordan Game and before the second Brian Jordan Game the Mets sucked it up one final time and swept the eternally pesky Expos after trailing 6-2. There was no margin for error post-9/11 and the Mets just kept fighting back in this one. The five in the ninth that put it away took, I swear, about half an hour. The inning started as I was leaving work and continued throughout an uptown subway ride and a block's walk to Penn Station to finding a seat on the train. Let out many whoops along the way. - 09/27/2001

38) - A pounding of the crosstown rivals that I can truly say I needed, for reasons that had little to do with the standings or anti-MFY self-esteem. We lost our cat Casey the night before and took him to Bide-a-Wee to arrange his cremation. Sadly and absently, we turned the game on not particularly concerned with the outcome. Felt uncommonly lifted by the proceedings that followed, including Roger Cedeno's straight steal of home, a spectacular misplay by Enrique Wilson and a homer to the heavens by Mo Vaughn. It's a long story, but Mo hitting one for Casey (and maybe to Casey) couldn't have been more appropriate. - 06/29/2002

39) - Worst Met year of the decade, so sure it's a loss. It was a loss of more than a game, though. Murph announces his retirement in the sixth inning. Me, like a schmuck, left after five in an effort to execute a Mets-Cyclones doubleheader. A comedy of errors ensued, so I never got to Brooklyn and missed the announcement and ensuing ovation. I learned about it on the train home and went into shock. No more Bob Murphy? I think I'm still in shock. - 07/23/2003

40) - The greatest game I'm certain nobody remembers. Bonds and Wright both explosive. Glavine comes back from cab ride. Looper pitches bravely. Howe even manages pretty well. Game is won on a fly ball lost by the other guys in the San Francisco sun. - 08/21/2004

41) - Pedro vs. Leiter, true beginning of the new era. New era didn't necessarily last as long as it should have, but everything felt different that sold out Saturday. Chris Woodward made a sensational catch in the outfield. Castro drives home Diaz in the ninth. As I'm leaving Shea amid a jubilant throng, a 7 train rolls west and everybody, without provocation, shouts and points at them. I don't know why we did it, but it felt great. - 04/16/2005

42) - By my calibration, the high point of the decade. Mets 35 games over .500, 16-1/2 in first place. Jose Jose!s his way around the bases for an inside-the-parker. Slides home, calls himself safe. Damn, I think, there's no way we're not winning the World Series. - 09/07/2006

43) - This was the five-run ninth. Shea could not have been deader for this pre-Subway Series day game. First eight innings had almost no regulars in action. Then the Cubs' pen sprung a leak, Willie -- in his finest hour -- juggled star pinch-hitters and Delgado snuck one to right field for the win. High-fiving strangers, screaming Let's Go Mets all the way to subway, the whole bit. And I was by myself. - 05/17/2007

44) - David's first and only walkoff homer, off Heath Bell. Went with my three best friends from high school, two of whom came to town special for the occasion of our final game at Shea together. In a season notoriously lacking happy endings, this was the real deal. - 08/07/2008

45) - In a year best appreciated for the pleasures one could glean from it personally, this Nelson Figueroa shutout tied a bow on a strange phenomenon. The Mets won a lot when I went and were otherwise pathetic. Home record with me in attendance, 26-10; without me, 15-30; on the road, 29-52. A lovely day to end an unlovely year in a memorable if ultimately unrewarding Met decade. - 10/04/2009

46) - Mets win Game 3 of the 2000 WS - Benitez gets the Save

47) - Eric Valent hits for the cycle in Montreal , and the UMDB reminds in the memory section about the guy in the stands that was riding Cameron and made the bet with him that if he(Cam) hit a HR he would leave his seat....Cameron obliged but the fan didn't....07/29/2004


48) - Game 4 of the 2000 NLCS - Mets are down 2 and rally big for the win
Perez 2B
Alfonzo 2B
Piazza 2B
Ventura 2B
Zeile groundout
Agbayani 2B and the Mets are up 4-2.

49) - Hampton 3-hit shutout and the Mets clinch their only pennant of the '00s - NLCS - Game 5 - 10/11/2000

50) - Tom Glavine "wasn't good" -A. Pujols but still managed 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB to start the series off right. - NLCS Game 1 - 10/12/2006

51) - Cameron hits walk-off HR vs. Tigers; the night Piazza was honored for setting a new HR record for catchers - 06/18/2004

52) - Day after the Mets clinch; all-scrub lineup still defeats Marlins - 09/19/2006(good one)

53) - Mets 2, Rockies 1. Easley hits tying HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th; Endy's walk-off drag bunt wins it. - 04/24/2007

54) - Mets 2, MFYs 0. Final time that Clemens faces Mets; Reyes parks one and shows him up well. 7 1/3 shutout innings from Perez. - 06/15/2007

55) - Reyes dances off third and scores a 12th-inning game-tying run on an Armando Benitez balk. Moments later, the Mets win 5-4 on Carlos Delgado's second homerun of the game. - versus Giants - 06/29/2007

56) - The only time the Mets ever faced Dwight Gooden - 07/08/2000 - Grim the game memories have the wrong memories ....

57) - Opening day 2005 brought out every emotion in the book. Pedro coughs up three in the first, and his debut is looking for all the world like the recent opening day trainwrecks of Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine --- that the Mets had again gone for the wrong ace at the wrong time to start another joyless chilly opening day in the noughts. And then something crazy happens. Pedro recovers. He more than recovers, he becomes PEDRO MARTINEZ. He strikes out 12 hapless Reds in six innings with dancing changeups that has us (me, anyhow) thinking, "Wait a minute, we really got this guy? There's not going to be a recall or anything?"

Kaz Matsui opens his second of three consecutive seasons with a homer, and Pedro's fellow NewMet Carlos Beltran goes deep for three runs later, giving the Mets, old and new, a 6-4 lead in the ninth.

It's almost perfect when Looper blows it in the ninth, as it leaves Met fans to suddenly absorb the reality that scapegoating Benitez can't make it all go away. But even as the notion of scapegoating is shattered, the notion of redemptors is not, as that start by Pedro is so inspiring that the very thought of it keeps Met fans modestly warm through what should have been a soul-crushing 0-5 start for the season and for Willie's career - 04/04/2005

58) - August 23, 2009. The Mets spot the pennant winning Phillies six first inning runs in Pedro Martinez's first start against his ex-teammates, but battle back. Comeback highlights include an Angel Pagan inside the park Home Run gimme when Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino stops chasing the line drive, incorrectly assuming that the umps would call a ground rule double. Pagan's drive ends up wedged in the outfield wall padding but the umps rule that the ball is nevertheless playable. In the bottom of the ninth, down 9-7, the Mets first two batters reach base. Jeff Francouer steps up to the plate, representing the winning run with nobody out. You know the rest. - 08/23/2009

59) -the 2 HR game by Piazza as a member of the Padres 08/09/06

60) - Pedro takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros....I remember someone here linked a thread from the SOSH , they had a thread going on it....I guess they missed Petey ...he went 9 innings , gave up 2 hits ,1 run , 1 walk and SO 12
06/07/2005


61) - Benny's pinch slam in the Tokyo Dome - 03/30/2000

62) - Pedro flirts with a no-hitter in LA.......Pedro coughs up two in the eighth as Williams can't catch up with the drive, and they get only one run in support of Martinez, despite four doubles...Penny went 9. - 08/14/2005

63) - Trachsel vs. the Rox, broken up opposing pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao in the sixth (one-hitter) - 08/18/2003

64) - Glavine vs. the Rox, broken up by Kit Pellow in the eighth (one-hitter) - 05/23/2004

65) - Seo, Weathers, Benitez pitch to the minimum 27 batters vs. the Marlins, 6/17/03

66) - Trachsel vs. Angels, notable for just-called-up rookie SS Jose Reyes' first HR, a grand slam -06/15/2003

67) - Final game at Shea, 9/28/08

68) - First game at Citi Field, 4/13/09

69)- Carlos Delgado, who was batting .235 at the time and sucking so badly that there was serious talk of cutting him and trading for Richie Sexson (?!?), sets a Met record with 9 RBIs to help beat the Yankees 15-6 at MFYSII. He then goes on to have possibly the best three month stretch of any position player in Met history, and had a real shot at being named MVP if the Mets had managed to win the division. - 06/27/2008

70) - Speaking of Matt Franco, the middle game of the first Subway Series sweep was a 10-9 thriller won a dribbler by Shane Spencer. 07/03/2004

71) - The next day in which Ty Wigginton dominated, was pretty great, too - 07/04/2004

72) - The first game after that losing streak is the game I remember the second-most from that year (the game I mention below is my favorite). This time our two new studs Pedro and Beltran won the game and the Mets held on. Pedro and Smoltz were dueling, Braves led 1-0 in the top of the eighth. The 0-5 start combined with some general pessimism had me thinking this was another 1 run game against the Braves that we couldn't win. Then Beltran hit a two run home run in the eighth with one out to get Smoltz out of there, and Floyd and Wright opened it up on the bullpen with home runs of their own in the inning. Got us going to win 7 in a row after the disappointing start from the new free agents and manager.

I still like to think that that game, and specifically that Beltran homer, got the franchise turned around. - 04/10/2005

73) - I also attended Piazza's last game as Met and am convinced he was blowing all those kisses directly at me. Not sure if anyone else brought that one up. - 11/02/2005

74) - A come-from-behind victory by the B-team Mets caps a three-game sweep in a 126-degree day-camp special afternoon, in which at least 50% of the attendees at the game are picnickers from the Mets Online Forum.

Bobby Valentine, appreciating the MOFo support, treats us all to three seperate leftfielders (one of whom, Mike Marshall, executes a pull-back) and ice cream.

The sweep is the first peep of hope that what seemed like a lost season may include a helluva run after all. - 08/08/2001

75 & 76) - On the downer side of memorable, 9/23/01 and 9/29/01, the two Brian Jordan games. Super sigh

Edited December 10, 2009 by Guest

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Did you go to work that day...I was curious to see what day it was...checked on UMDB and it was a Wednesday......I guess that was early Thursday morning here?

Actually I think you have the games mixed up JCL....MH pitched the wednesday night game(29th) and the Benny slam was the night after

http://leaptoad.com/mets/metannual.php?ThisYear=2000&tabno=3&month=03[/quote:3gthuoet]

Yeah, I think they were both early-morning start times, and both games were complete snoozefests, forgive me for getting the deets outta whack. That Hampton game was disgusting.

[G-Fafif]

Two no-hitter flirtations worth noting:

Trachsel vs. the Rox, 8/18/03, broken up opposing pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao in the sixth (one-hitter)

Glavine vs. the Rox, 5/23/04, broken up by Kit Pellow in the eighth (one-hitter)


Honorable mention as Pitching Performance of the Decade:

Seo, Weathers, Benitez pitch to the minimum 27 batters vs. the Marlins, 6/17/03


One other one-hitter of note: Trachsel vs. Angels, 6/15/03, notable for just-called-up rookie SS Jose Reyes' first HR, a grand slam

[G-Fafif]

Final game at Shea, 9/28/08
First game at post-Shea 4/13/09

[batmagadanleadoff]

That game sucked till the last second. it shouldn;t count.[/quote:1hhjpxe9]

Agreed. I've fallen asleep twice trying to watch [the Agbayani-Japan game] as an SNY Mets Classic.[/quote:1hhjpxe9]


Not to worry. Next week, the Mets will re-air this game from 1999 where Matt Franco delivers a game winning come from behind pinch hit off of MFY superduper closer Mariano Rivera. Bet you never saw that game before. Why I'll bet you never even heard of that game. Warm up your TV recorder because they'll never show that game anymore after that. Ever.

[Guest Edgy DC]

It's amazin' isn't it? What's with cable stations and choosing to be so redundant in programming even with a wealth of available alternatives at their disposal, and a viewing audience at home with a host of recording devices?

[batmagadanleadoff]

It's amazin' isn't it? What's with cable stations and choosing to be so redundant in programming even with a wealth of available alternatives at their disposal, and a viewing audience at home with a host of recording devices?[/quote:38kr6gy5]"

I ... uhhhh .... errrr ... uummmm .... made up the part about SNY re-airing the Matt Franco game next week. I have no idea what the next SNY classic game will be. I was merely going for the joke. But all the rest of my post is factually corect.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well my point works broadly. Hopefully specifically.

[metirish]

Point well taken , it would be great if SNY showed some of the games listed here.....