Most Memorable Mets Games of the Noughties - Group 5

[metirish]

Please vote for 10

101) - Shawn Green's singular moment of triumph, walkoff eleventh-inning blast off Russ Springer to beat the Cards 2-1. - 06/25/2007

102) - : What had been El Duque-Joe Blanton 0-0 duel heads to ninth. Ramon Castro, the slowest man alive, doubles. The only way to get him home without a homer, it appears, is to hit a ball where the worst fielder alive can't quite catch up with it...which is what David Wright does when he dunks a double out of the reach of Jack Cust. Mets beat A's 1-0. - 06/23/2007

103) -: Strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play ends long overdue sweep of Braves at Turner Field, 10-6. - 07/30/2006

104) -: Floyd grand slam...Beltran grand slam...Wright two-run homer...all in the same inning. Mets put up an 11-run sixth, a team record, beat Cubs at Wrigley 13-7. - 7/16/06

105) - : The moment of Alay Soler: Two-hit shutout that cements his place in the Met rotation (until he completely disappears by July, not only never winning another game, but never pitching in another win). - 6/10/06

106) - : Weird home run incidence: Julio Franco becomes oldest man to hit a home run AND Kaz Matsui hits a home run in his first plate appearance of the year for the third consecutive year in a row. Mets beats Pads at Petco, 7-2. - 4/20/06

107) - : The Mike Jacobs rookie rampage crests with a 4-for-5 night, two homers, four RBI. Mets establish residence in Arizona, sweeping four from the Diamondbacks, 18-1. - 8/24/05

108) - : At virtually the same moment Randy Johnson is finishing off his perfect game in Atlanta, Cliff Floyd caps ninth-inning rally with two-out single to beat Jason Isringhausen and Cards 5-4. Mets move to within one game of .500 and, for what it's worth, shake me out of my default "I don't really care if they win or lose" funk I'd been in ever since they'd fired Bobby V and let Fonzie walk. (I did care, just not as much as I had before Art Howe...I was so pissed for so long.) - 5/18/04

109) - : Mets somehow up 6-5 at Turner Field. Bottom of the ninth. Armando gets two outs. Then a walk. Then a balk. Then a walk. Two on. Julio Franco, then a bad guy, singles to center. Here comes Chipper Jones with the tying run and...HE'S OUT! Tsuyoshi Shinjo, in his otherwise hollow second go-round as a Met, throws him out at the plate to end the game. It wasn't much, but it was 2003. - 5/23/03

110) - : Brady Clark reaches on an Andres Galarraga error to tie Expos 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth. In the eleventh, Esix Snead launches a three-run blast to win it, 6-3. Brady Clark? Esix Snead? The 2002 Mets winning in dramatic fashion in September? Lost in the shuffle: a Met killer is born, as Endy Chavez goes 4-for-5 for Montreal. - 9/21/02

111: - These are supposed to be memorable, yet one might have to call this the forgotten gem of the 25-6 tear that catapulted the Mets back into contention in this star-crossed season. Mets trail Philies, one of their two competitors for first place, 7-5 entering the ninth at the Vet and score five runs on six hits and two Philadelphia errors. Mets pull to within a not altogether improbable 8-1/2 of first with 24 games to go. Two remain with the Phillies, six are left with the Braves. - 9/3/01

112 ) -: Mike Piazza beats Rheal Cormier in the bottom of the ninth with a home run, 6-5, which in itself was great, but was that much greater because... - 7/29/01

113) - : Robin Ventura beats the returning Turk Wendell in the bottom of the ninth with a home run, 4-3, 24 hours earlier. Two Mets walk off bombs against the Phillies in two days. - 7/28/01

114) - : Bobby Valentine outargues Marlin skipper Tony Perez and umpire Kerwin Danley into a favorable call at third (something about "abandoning the base") and it's eventually all for the good as Shinjo singles home the winning run in the eleventh, keeping the Mets' faint midsummer pulse ticking. - 7/18/01

115) - : Shinjo introduces himself with two orange wristbands and one home run. Mike reintroduces himself with a pair of dingers. The Mets raise their 2000 pennant and bop the Braves at the Home Opener, 9-4. - 4/9/01

116) - : Mets open league title defense at Turner Field. Instead of folding per usual at the Dread, Robin Ventura takes John Rocker deep in the eighth, Kerry Ligtenberg the same in the tenth. Two two-run Robin eggs laid on Atlanta win it 6-4. - 4/3/01

117) - : Slumping Mets down 1-0 (Jeff D'Amico outdueling Mike Hampton) with two out in the bottom of the ninth when Robin Ventura drives home Jay Payton with a double. With two out in bottom of the tenth, Payton ends it with three-run bomb off Juan Acevedo. Snaps the Mets out of their morass and points them toward October. - 9/13/00

118) - : Emergency starter Grant Roberts buries Mets early. They're down 4-0 after a half inning, 7-2 after an inning and a half. Yet a slow, steady comeback commences, climaxing in the bottom of the eighth with a tie-breaking single from Matt Franco. Mets win first game of makeup matinee doubleheader 9-8 (and go on to sweep the twinbill). - 7/27/00

119 ) - Friday night, - Leiter takes 4-2 lead to eighth. Kevin Young homers with nobody on. Al departs with two out. Turk gets out of it. Armando comes on in the ninth. Gets two quick outs. Then surrenders double to Jason Kendall, triple to Pat Meares. Brian Giles is intentionally walked; Young strikes out. Top of tenth: Ordonez thrown out trying to score go-ahead run. Bottom of tenth: Mike Benjamin gets aboard on infield single with two out off Franco. Steals second. Takes third on Piazza's throw. Stranded. Top of eleventh: Piazza, Ventura, Zeile single to load bases with one out (slow men). Payton, indicating bases-loaded problem that would plague him all year, hits into DP. Bottom of eleventh: Trouble keeps finding Franco. One out, then Kendall reaches on Ventura error. Kendall picked off for second out. Then Johnny hits Meares with pitch, but gets out of it on force of pitcher Jose Silva, allowed to hit, as Gene Lamont has burned through his bench. Mets break through in top of twelfth: Ordonez singles, Agbayni doubles, Mora singles them home. Bell lines to first, doubling off Mora. Fonzie walks...Mike homers. Mets take 8-4 lead...but Pirates make life difficult for Dennis Cook. A walk, a wild pitch, an infield single and a Mike Benjamin double make it 8-5. With two on and two out, Adrian Brown hits a frighteningly long fly to center that Payton tracks down to end it. - 04/01/2000

120) - Saturday afternoon - Heretofore unknown quantity Glendon Rusch is masterful in his first Met start: complete game, allowing only a walk and four hits. Alas, two of them are a leadoff single to Giles and a home run to Young to open the bottom of the seventh. Mets can't touch lefty Jimmy Anderson (en route to a 5-11, 5.25 ERA season). They collect just five singles and are blanked 2-0 in 1:57. - 04/15/2000

121) - Sunday afternoon,
Top of the first features a HBP of Rickey Henderson by Kris Benson, an Aramis Ramirez throwing error that keeps the inning going and a three-run homer by Robin Ventura. Great, right? Bobby Jones hits Jason Kendall and gives up a single to Pat Meares. Jones leaves with a calf strain. Pat Mahomes comes on and, in a blink, it's 4-3 Pirates. Jon Nunnally homers to put the Mets ahead 5-4 in the second. Zeile adds an RBI double in the third to make it 6-4, chasing Benson. Mahomes gives it all back in the bottom of the third with Kendall and Giles driving home runs and making it Pirates 7 Mets 6. Mets come back in fourth with RBIs from Bell, Alfonzo and Ventura off Chris Peters, to make it Mets 9 Pirates 7. Ventura sac fly and Payton double off Marc Wilins make it 11-7 in the top of the sixth. But here come the Bucs again in the bottom of the inning, with solo HRs from Giles and Wil Cordero off Turk. It's 11-9 Mets. Robin adds an insurance run off Scott Sauerbeck in the eighth, doubling home Piazza. Final is Mets 12 Bucs 9. Mets commit three errors. Mahomes goes four innings for the win. Ventura has 6 RBI. Fonzie and Mike score three runs apiece. Bell goes 3 for 6. Mike and Robin go 3 for 4. There are six unearned runs altogether between the two teams. This is a day after the Mets can't do anything offensively, which was a day after the Mets posted 20 hits (and three other errors).

And for not so good measure, the final out of the final game was a pop fly by the Pirate third baseman, a fellow often associated with the Mets of 2000, but not for this game: Luis Sojo.

An incredible series. Now completely forgotten. That's baseball for ya. - 04/16/2000

122) - Ken Griffey's first game at Shea Stadium. During the offseason it appeared his first game might be the Home Opener, but he vetoed a half-assed trade proposal between the Mets and M's and famously went to Cincinnati where it never really worked out for him. Hence, he was the newest villain in town, booed all night -- which was 1969 throwback night, per a promotional tie-in with the release of the movie "Frequency". Griffey came up as the potential go-ahead run in the ninth. Armando, in veritable retro pajamas, struck him out on 3-2 to preserve the Mets' ninth win in a row (a streak that had begun with the Sunday game in Pittsburgh mentioned upthread). Very cold night, but all was well. - 04/29/2000

123) - Ken Griffey's final game at Shea Stadium. Animus had been put aside long before. Griffey was one of the few veteran sluggers not suspect for substances. He is warmly received on a windy Shea day. Mets leave him three homers shy of 600 in a Mets' 8-3 win notable for the following: Oliver Perez steals a base; Mets use pink bats and some where pink spikes for Mother's Day; and the Reds bat out of order in the ninth, delaying the game's end interminably. - 05/11/2008

124) - File under curiosity or milestone: the Mets short-circuit the Phillies' Wild Card chances with a four-run top of the eighth, coming back to win 6-5. Which was fine. But here's what makes me remember this game.

Jae Seo (Kwanju, South Korea) started. He was followed to the mound by Danny Graves (Saigon, South Vietnam), Kaz Ishii (Chiba, Japan) and winning pitcher Shingo Takatsu (Hiroshima, Japan). Four consecutive Asian-born pitchers in a Major League Baseball game. Had to be a first. Maybe an only.

And none of them was the most celebrated of Asian-born 2005 Mets, Dae-Sung Koo, whose last appearance came in August. Then again, he was known more for his bat. - 09/26/2005......AWESOME

125) - Met fans furious about the 2001 offense get everything they hope for in an expensive offensive makeover going into 2002. Everybody disappoints, but fans are so grumblyfrustrated with big shots Roberto Alomar and Mo Vaughn that it's only just dawning on them by the end of the year that Jeromy Burnitz is pulling down $7 million (and due $12 milion the next season!) while putting up the OPS of a reserve infielder.

Just as the boos start swinging his way, he clubs a titanic late-season walkoff jobbie off of Juan Cruz of the Cubs. It's his last clout of the year, but somehow I get the (correct) impression that Burnitz (if only Burnitz) will turn it around the next season. - 09/17/2002

Edited December 24, 2009 by Guest

[Guest themetfairy]

I just went with 104 (incredibly fun to watch on ESPN), 113 (incredibly painful for me, personally, even though the Mets won. Was in Kase's Mezz seats that afternoon) and 115 (gotta love Mr. Sparkle!).

[TransMonk]

101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 116