G-Fafif

The Mets stumbled into one victory in Philly. Maybe make it two? Seth Lugo vs. Aaron Nola. Suzi Quatro with Chris Norman. https://youtu.be/iGaF4tKUl0ohttps://youtu.be/iGaF4tKUl0o

A satisfying win in an unsatisfying season.

DeGrom versus Wheeler, as opposed to DeGrom and Wheeler on the same side, pitching for truth, justice and the Metropolitan way. Sigh. But mostly Cy.

This was the ninth nine-inning game in franchise history in which the Mets have totaled at least 11 hits yet have scored no more than 1 run. They are 0-9 in these games.

https://twitter.com/metsbackpage1/status/1305689201208365057?s=21https://twitter.com/metsbackpage1/status/1305689201208365057?s=21

I'm opting for http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/09/14/new-years-steve/conditional optimism.

Los Bravos have signed recently expunged Giant legend Pablo Sandoval to a minor league contract.

Neil Walker, DFA'd by Phillies, has elected free agency.

One step closer...

September 11, 1997: John Olerud hits for as unlikely a cycle as one could imagine.

Matz activated. Drew Smith told to take his usual hike.

Until last night's game developed into a monumentally satisfying blowout, I was more miffed that Jake was to be charged with an earned run than I was delighted by the Mets' substantial lead.

Last night produced the first 18-1 win in Mets history, birthing the 24th such regular-season* Unicorn Score in franchise annals — a score the Mets have won by once and only once. *The 13-7 score of July 16, 2006, at Wrigley Field, highlighted by a then-record 11-run inning, was duplicated in 2015 NLDS Game 3.

Nolan Ryan appeared in his first major league game (and notched his first strikeout) on September 11, 1966.

Jack Heidemann.

From the last game prior to this one that the Mets wore first responder caps. The teams observed a pregame moment of silence to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Mets also wore hats from eight New York City departments that sustained losses that day, and a firefighter sang the national anthem. Hernandez, sporting an FDNY hat, struggled in his first start since he gave up five runs and six hits over three innings at Philadelphia on Aug. 30. He traveled back to New York after that shaky outing and got a cortisone shot in his sore right foot. https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270911121https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270911121

Gary's mother-in-law died last night.

Joe Torre.

I did not know Bowie Kuhn was a) at the 25-inning game and stayed for 25 innings.

Mets wore ‘em annually through 2007. MLB introduced r/w/b Look How Patriotic We Are Caps for all teams in 2008 and thereafter got tetchy about the Mets maintaining their thing.

Gelbs was relaying the Wright story.

Tom Seaver: Supporter of local youth baseball and patron of nearby bakery. https://napavalleyregister.com/sports/pro/mlb-valley-coaches-fans-remember-tom-seaver/article_97b68edc-44b9-501a-89ba-3ba50d8d852a.htmlhttps://napavalleyregister.com/sports/pro/mlb-valley-coaches-fans-remember-tom-seaver/article_97b68edc-44b9-501a-89ba-3ba50d8d852a.html In 2016, he even agreed to throw out the first pitch at St. Helena Little League's opening day ceremony and give a speech to the players. Justin-Siena senior Max Zuntz was one of those players. Zuntz could never have dreamed his name would share a baseball with the great Seaver one day. But it happened this past January, thanks to the fact his neighbor owned a bakery that the Seaver family frequented many times over the years. Model Bakery owner Karen Mitchell said she had such a friendly relationship with the Seavers that when Zuntz's May birthday was coming up, she broke her own rule – don't bother the celebrities – by asking Seaver to sign a ball that she would give a most appreciative friend for his birthday. He readily obliged, writing “To Max, Best of Luck, Tom Seaver, HOF '92. Seaver wasn't just another celebrity to Mitchell. His daughter, Anne, worked at Model Bakery's Napa store at Oxbow Market when it opened in 2008. Still, Mitchell told the story with so much emotion, one might have thought she'd kept the ball. “People that know about baseball stats said ‘How in the world did you ever do that?' Well, I just smiled a lot,” Mitchell said. “Tom would come to the bakery for lunch with his caregiver two or three times a week and he'd been a regular customer and friend for a while. He didn't normally (sign memorabilia) unless it was for charity; famous athletes are pretty careful about getting their signature out there. But he did it as a favor for me because it was Max's birthday and Max is such a baseball fan.

Tim Graham of The Athletic catches up with R.A. Dickey. More of a Blue Jays angle, but that works, too, given the knuckleball taking flight ten years ago in Buffalo. Plus there's a sweet Seaver anecdote. When I was having my Cy Young season, I met a few times. He always challenged me on my hitting, which I found pretty funny. He was always asking me if I'd hit a home run yet. “Don't talk to me until you've hit a home run.” He was great with that stuff. https://theathletic.com/2055379/2020/09/11/qa-r-a-dickey-on-his-endangered-weapon-his-home-pitching-lab-tom-seaver/https://theathletic.com/2055379/2020/09/11/qa-r-a-dickey-on-his-endangered-weapon-his-home-pitching-lab-tom-seaver/

Agreed. Tim commits.