Dave VW
January 24, 2023
Well, Jon's comment has survived for nearly 17 years without getting corrected, but the streak ends here. Based on Coleman's baseball reference game log, it may appear as though the firecracker incident happened after this game -- as this was indeed Coleman's last in a Mets uniform. However, that infamous event actually happened on July 24 after a Dodgers game in Los Angeles, and Coleman was allowed to play in three more games with the Mets before the team told him to get lost.
Coleman didn't start in this game but did pinch hit in the 8th inning, reaching on a single and scoring on an Eddie Murray groundout. Staying in the game for defense, he also reached on a wild pitch while striking out in the 9th, prolonging a Mets rally that got the team to within a run. But Ryan Thompson popped out to the catcher a batter later to end the game. With that, Coleman's career in New York was over. Thank goodness.
Dallas Green probably left starter Eric Hillman in the game one batter too long, as the lefty was holding his own until a 2-out rally in the 7th when Bernard Gilkey and Ozzie Smith hit back-to-back singles. Met-killer Brian Jordan was up next, and Jeff Innis was ready in the bullpen for the righty-on-righty matchup. But Green stuck with Hillman, and Jordan lined a single to right to put St. Louis up 4-1. Innis then came on to get Todd Zeile to pop out to end the frame. More poor bullpen management by Dallas, which I'm noticing is becoming a trend.
Speaking of poor, Bobby Bo fanned three times in the game, twice looking. The final time ended the top half of the 8th and occurred on a pitch that was a good 6 inches off the plate outside. Bobby had enough and went after home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, leading to his ejection. Bonilla did get a favorable call earlier in the game, however, when he completely missed tagging Jordan on a steal attempt of third in the 5th, but he got the call due to how far in advance O'Brien's throw made it to the base.
I've also started noticing how adept the Mets were at pinch hitting in 1993. Sure enough, they hit .277 pinch hitting during the year, which led the NL. Jeff McKnight, who had a PH single in this game, collected 19 pinch hits to lead the team. The Mets record, however, is 24 set by Rusty Staub in 1983.
Both Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver were away from the team at the time, so Bob Carpenter and Bob Murphy filled in on the WWOR telecast. What a welcome change that was! The game was delayed at the start for over 2 hours due to rain, as this was during the time of "The Great Flood of 1993" that affected the areas around the Mississippi River. The guys talked about how bad all the flooding was and how the rain just would not let up. I was only 12 at the time but I remember this being a big story on the news and how costly the weather event was, both in terms of money and lives.
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