I remember the Doc had it going this game. The only run he gave up was a solo homer to Kruk over the right field fence. Things were looking up after this one.

The first home opener I ever attended and instead of spring (or winter) like conditions; It was 90 degrees at game time. Nails and Wally were in the lineup for the Phils and Hubie Brooks played at RF. The place was rocking after this game and it shoulda been a harbinger of things to come but it was NOT to be.

I don't have any memories of this game, but I did find a scorecard from this game that I apparently went to a day before I turned 13. Looks like it was a good one, better than the previous years opening day loss to the Pirates.

Gooden's 4th straight Opening Day start is a success as he and Franco combine to all but shut down Philly, aside from Kruk's 5th-inning bomb of a homer. Doc made 8 Opening Day starts for the Mets, second-most among pitchers to Tom Seaver's 11. Coleman and Jefferies began the season banging back-to-back doubles off the wall to give the Mets a quick 1-0 lead in the first, and then Herr and Brooks pull off a double steal of second and home in the 4th. Terry Mulholland also stole second for the Phillies, making him the first pitcher to steal a base on Opening Day since Joaquin Andujar in 1985 ... who also did it against the Mets.

Some rare good defense also helped preserve the win. With 2 runners on, Carreon made a nice catch on a ball hit over his head to end the 6th, and then Coleman caught a Daulton drive right at the wall to end the 8th. Carreon had actually just replaced McReynolds in LF. Kevin jammed his knee on the first-base bag trying to beat out a grounder in the 4th, and he'd miss the next 7 games. That was likely the source of his poor start to the season.

To date, this is the sixth-fastest Opening Day game in Mets history, clocking in at 2 hours 13 minutes. The win improved the Mets record on Opening Day to 19-3 since 1970!

I was at this game, watching from the loge level along the right field line. It was 1-0 Phillies in the bottom of the ninth inning. Rick Cerone came up and slugged one over the left-center field wall off Roger McDowell to tie it up. Len Dykstra just turned and watched it go out.

In the tenth, Hubie Brooks batted against Joe Boever. He hit a long, high drive down the left field line. I followed the ball and when I saw the people seated above the scoreboard all standing up in unison, I knew the game was over. It was coming down right into their section. Hubie had a game-winning home run! It was his first homer since his return to the Mets.

Also in this game, Pete Schourek and Doug Simons both made their major league debuts. Simons finished it and got credit for the win.

Later, I went out behind the bullpen near the players' parking area. When Hubie came driving out, the crowd there gave him a huge cheer. It was a wonderful early-season afternoon at Shea.

Cool story, Hank, thanks for sharing! I recently watched this game back but my broadcast got cut off in the bottom of the seventh inning so I didn't get to see any of the exciting parts. It seemed like fans were overjoyed with Brooks' return, as I heard several "HUUUUUUBIE"'s during the game. Didn't hurt that he won the season opener as well on a steal of home. Too bad his great start in 1991 would end in a terrible finish.

Jason Grimsley really had his curveball working. The Mets couldn't hit it at all, allowing him to tally a career-high nine strikeouts. I thought for sure the Phillies left him in too long when he put two men on base with one out in the 7th, but Mitch Williams relieved him and induced a pop fly out of Coleman that Dykstra caught and then nailed Miller at the plate attempting to score to end the inning. Phillies had no one else to blame but themselves for the loss, as they stranded 11 runners on base and constantly had Viola on the ropes but couldn't deliver the big hit.

Upon rewatching this season, Rick Cerone is becoming one of my favorites players on the team. He's gritty and clutch and was quite underrated. The broadcast also caught Tim McCarver puffing on a cigar during the game -- all this time I had no idea he did that! He hid it quite well.

One of the more memorable Mets broadcast moments over the years happened on this afternoon. In the 9th, with the Mets trailing by 1, Buddy let Rick Cerone hit against a RHP, and Tim McCarver immediately questioned the decision. With Mackey Sasser in the dugout with good power, and Cerone, who was a part time vet with little power, in a spot where a homer or extra base hit was prudent in a 1 run game....I did understand what McCarver was getting at....but all of that changed when Cerone hit a homer to tie to game , with Tim proclaiming "Now I understand it!", on WWOR.

An inning later, Hubie Brooks ended the classic game. If this game happened just one day earlier on opening day, it would be remembered a lot more.

April 10, 1991 was a beautiful spring day. In the early afternoon, my Dad, Louis, joined his friends and co-workers for their local team practice... With all intentions to come home and watch the game...

My Dad, 32 years of age, carrying the bases in at the end of the practice, fell to the ground and died on April 10, 1991.

As my sister and I sat home and waited to hear from the hospital we had the game on. But after we received the news I don't remember anything after that. I was sixteen.

I am so grateful that the game was on even though I don't recall any of it.

He raised me, a Mets fan. And proud to be!

Wally Whitehurst pitched seven innings and got his first win of the season as the Mets defeated the Expos. A special game for Whitehurst with it being played on his 27th birthday.

Gooden went the distance in this early April game on a cold Saturday afternoon, striking out 14......This was one of those decisions that even back then, before pitch and inning counts were much of a thought, writers were questioning on this day as to why Doc was out there for that long.

Mets wrap up their season-opening 7-game homestand 5-2 thanks to yet another fantastic start by Viola. After getting 1-hit by Chris Nabholz near the end of 1990, the Mets get some revenge against the lefty, scoring four times in the first inning and then chasing him in the seventh after a Keith Miller double put runners on second and third with nobody out. Reliever Bill Long then walked all three batters he faced, forcing in two more runs. It would be his last of 159 big-league appearances.

During the game, Kiner and McCarver talked about how Expos infielder Junior Noboa wanted to become a lawyer after baseball. I looked to see if those desires became reality but he instead became a talent scout and is now an executive in the Diamondbacks organization. I also saw he played for the Mets in 1992, something I have zero memory of (probably for good reason).

Kevin Elster received his first start of the season here and responded by going 3-for-4 with a homer. He also had a fun at-bat in the sixth when he fouled the first pitch down the right field line that just missed being a double, then fouled one down the left field line that also just missed landing fair. On the third pitch, he belted one into the gap in left-center to finally claim his two-base hit.

Finally, watching Kiner's Korner following the game, Ralph chatted with Viola and talked about the pitcher rejecting a 3-year extension the Mets offered him because he wanted more money. In retrospect, the Mets should have been happy he did that. Viola fell apart during the season's second half, then signed with the Red Sox and became the second highest-paid pitcher in baseball behind Gooden. However, he was never the same guy he showed he could be in 1990 and the Mets were lucky they didn't overpay for someone clearly in the twilight of his career. Instead, ironically, they chose to overpay for a bum like Bobby Bonilla, who had the highest salary in baseball from 1992-94. Sad face.

Off to another hot start to his season, Viola spins eight strong innings to help the Mets snap an early season three-game losing streak. Viola also doubled for his first career extra-base hit. Mets pitching collected 12 doubles in 1991, which ranks second in team history. They hit 17 in 1988.

All nine hits Viola allowed were singles, including opposing pitcher Chris Nabholz's first career hit. Viola and Nabholz squared off against each other just six days earlier at Shea, with the Mets winning that game too, 7-1. Nikco Riesgo, making his major league debut, also collected his first career hit. Riesgo spent 1990 in the Mets system at Class A St. Lucie, hitting .298 with 14 HRs, 94 RBI and 46 SBs! But he was traded to Philadelphia in the Tom Herr deal (yuck) and then wound up in Montreal as a Rule 5 draft pick.

Meanwhile, this was another game in which Mets batters did not strike out. Want to know when the last time they recorded a game with no strikeouts? May 25, 2010 in an 8-0 win over the Phillies! Goes to show how rare these types of games really are.

The definition of an ugly win. Mets strand nine runners on base, don't get a hit in between a two-out double by Darling in the second and a two-out single by O'Brien in the ninth, but still come out on top. Already notoriously wild, Phillies pitcher Jason Grimsley isn't helped by John McSherry's microscopic strike zone, leading to six walks in what's otherwise a solid start. But much like his last start against the Mets on April 9, his Phillies lose 2-1.

This was Jim Fregosi's first game managing the Phillies. He replaced Nick Leyva in a rare managerial change in April. Fregosi -- the same guy the Mets traded Nolan Ryan AND three others for in 1971 in one of the worst trades in baseball history -- served as Philly skipper for six seasons, notably bringing the team from worst to first in 1993, but ultimately losing to the Blue Jays in the World Series.

As for the Mets, Darling left after six scoreless innings with shoulder stiffness but proved to be ok. This was my first time seeing Doug Simons in action. He was a Rule 5 draft pick from the Twins and had to stay on the big league roster all season or be returned to Minnesota. Stay he did, but perhaps not to the Mets' benefit -- he started the year hot but saw his ERA balloon up into the 5.00s for most of the year. On the other hand, Kevin McReynolds started the year ice cold. He entered this game hitting 1-for-21 with 0 RBI to begin the season, and put up an 0-for-4 here. The Mets also might have had a shutout if he caught a ball that was in his glove but he dropped on a jumping play at the wall that instead went for an RBI double for Charlie Hayes in the eighth. However, the next game Kev hit a double and a homer with 4 RBI to finally break out of his slump.

This game ended with the fog too much to continue. They waited until after midnight from what I remember but it just wasn't getting any better. I believe this is one of only two games in Mets history to be called due to fog. A nice, shortened Mets win.

Foggiest game I can remember there being at Shea. It was delayed for an hour and 36 minutes in the bottom of the sixth (why Gooden was taken out after just 75 pitches), then again in the bottom of the seventh when the game was finally called. You literally couldn't see second base from home plate.

The Mets were about the worst hitting team in baseball to begin the year, hitting just .223 in April, but showed signs of heating up with 12 hits over six innings here. Rick Cerone stayed hot by going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles. He hit safely in each of his first 10 games of the season, which is tied for fourth longest in Mets history. David Wright holds the record at 14 set in 2007. I wasn't sure why the Mets signed Cerone in 1991 considering they already had Sasser and O'Brien with Hundley waiting in the wings, but he proved to be one of the team's most capable hitters during the year, and even threw out 45% of baserunners trying to steal!

For the Padres, their pitching was not very impressive. It was Lilliquist's first start of the year, and he'd only get one more before spending most of the rest of his career coming out of the bullpen. I also threw up a little in my mouth seeing Rich Rodriguez. He was only in his second big league season here and actually had some decent years relieving for San Diego, but he absolutely stunk by the time he got to the Mets in 2000. Mark me down as not a big fan.

You know something is horribly wrong when Vince Coleman and Tommy Herr are at the top of the lineup for the Mets.

Maybe the baseball Gods were angry, which is why they ordered the fog to stop this game.

Nice win for the Mets on a Saturday afternoon at Shea. The Mets fell behind early, 2-0, then tied it at 2-2. The the Giants scored two in the fifth on a Will Clark homer and it looked like that would be the difference.

But in the bottom of the ninth Bud Harrelson sent Mackey Sasser up to lead off, pinch-hitting for Charlie O'Brien. Sasser homered to make it 4-3, and then Mark Carreon, batting for Alejandro Pena, homered to tie the score. It was the first case of back-to-back pinch-homers in the NL since 1975.

Howard Johnson's two-run homer in the bottom of the twelfth won the game. Rookie Pete Schourek picked up the win as the Mets improved to 14-9.

This game was Kahn's shirt day for kids. I need old yearbooks to help my memory because I cannot remember exact dates of games I went to before 1993. I was at this one because in some old pictures of myself, I am wearing the "Property of Mets" shirt they gave away at this game. Dwight Gooden pitched this game and it looks like he did good.

This was the greatest regular season game I have ever attended until 1999, when Matt Franco singled off of Mariano Rivera to beat the New York Yankees.

I sat in left field, upper deck box, first row, overlooking the whole stadium. The stadium was rocking that night, as it was Darryl Strawberry's return to Shea, as a Los Angeles Dodger.

The game had everything, including Straw homering off of Frank Viola, Gary Carter getting a big hit against his former mates, and, best of all, John Franco striking out Darryl to end the game.

Absolutely awesome!

I was thisclose to missing the whole game because a distant relative had died in an auto accident 2 days before and there was talk of the wake being held on Tuesday. But blind fortune went my way; the wake was rescheduled for Wed. (I didn't have anything to do with it) and I watched the game on Channel 9. It was weird to see Darryl in a visitors uniform as well as the Kid. I remember Straw hit a home run and then Franco struck out Straw to end the game.

One clarification to the two earlier posts on this game: John Franco did indeed retire Darryl Strawberry for the final out of this game, but it was on a ground ball to third, not a strikeout. The Dodgers had scored twice in the top of the ninth--the first run scoring on a pinch-double by Gary Carter--off Franco to make it 6-5 Mets. The Dodgers then had the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on first when Darryl grounded out.

Strawberry's homer came in the sixth inning off Frank Viola with the Mets up 6-0 at the time. It was only his second home run of the season in his 25th game as a Dodger.

David Cone struck out the side in the first inning.

Mackey Sasser had difficulty in returning pitches to the mound, because of a mental anxiety from which he was suffering.

David Cone started wearing #17 in this game. Keith Hernandez was present.

One of the few games in which HoJo wore #44, as he homered to help the Mets win on Mother's Day. He'd go back to his usual #20 a few days later.

Brooks hit the first of 4 grand slams the Mets would get in 1991 during this pretty easy win. He hit at least one grand slam every year from 1985-89, but had the streak snapped with the Dodgers in 1990. It was his only grand slam he'd hit as a Met, and the 7th of 8 during his career. HoJo also just missed hitting a home run 3 times in this game, flying out to deep left and center, and fouling one down the LF line that missed being fair by about 5 feet. And poor Tim Teufel, he goes 0-for-4 and ends the game hitting .080 for the season but he hits all four balls hard. Just a case of bad luck.

No luck either for Padres starter Eric Nolte. He had an 8.58 ERA over 122.2 innings for the Padres' AAA team in 1990 but for some reason they thought he'd be a good addition to their rotation in '91. Not so much. His ERA jumped to 11.05 with this loss and San Diego released him just 6 days later.

Whitehurst and Schourek combined to make quick work of the Padres offense. Schourek pitched the final 4 innings for the save, and I wanted to see if that was the longest save in team history. Actually, a ton of pitchers have earned 4-inning saves for the Mets, most recently Brian Stokes (remember him?) in 2008. The longest save belongs to Doug Sisk, who earned a 5-inning save vs. the Cardinals in 1983.

In the 7th inning, Padres 3B Scott Coolbaugh grounded a hit down the LF line. The ball stopped near the stands and some kid, probably around 14 or so, jumped over the railing, ran over to the ball, picked it up and jumped back over the railing, forcing a ground-rule double call. I couldn't believe the nerve of this kid, who made it worse as, when security approached him, he looked on with this expression of like, "What did I do wrong? Is that not allowed?" I kept waiting to see if he'd be escorted to the exits but, to my disbelief, it looked as if they let him stay. That really grinds my gears.

As luck would have it, I was able to watch this game directly after the Mets' 6-1 win the previous night. Much like that game, the Padres bats were quiet, nearly getting shutout by a dominant Doc Gooden. An error by Coleman in the 6th allowed San Diego to score their only run. Or, as Rusty Staub would say, an "errah." The Padres actually only made one out to the outfield the entire game, a flyout to center by pinch hitter Garry Templeton in the 8th. Other than that, every other out was either a groundout, strikeout or popout (and there was only one of those, too!)

Home runs by Magadan and McReynolds in the Mets' 5-run 7th inning sealed San Diego starter Ed Whitson's fate, who clearly should have been pinch-hit for when he batted in the previous inning. Though he singled in that at-bat, he was already at 97 pitches and clearly had nothing left when he went back out there for the 7th. It was a hard, fast fall for the right-hander. He ranked third in the NL with a 2.60 ERA in 1990, but after this start made just 5 more big-league appearances until his career was over.

After hitting a grand slam the previous game, Hubie Brooks took a seat on the bench for this game. Teufel also rode the pine after an 0-for-4 the previous night (though all four outs were hard hit). Wouldn't you know it, he spelled a hobbled Tom Herr late in this game and batted in the 8th, delivering an excuse-me, check-swing single to right. Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good.

I was 8 years old, but I remember this Friday game because this was the first time my father was able to convince my mother to let me stay up and watch the late night West Coast game with him.

Viola pitched a complete game gem. My father got a good laugh when Strawberry, during one of his at bats, called a timeout, didn't get the call, and Viola floated one right by him. Darryl was my favorite player, but my father and I both hated him in that white and blue Dodger uniform.

I'm sure there are no comments yet regarding this game because it's so painful for us Mets fans to recollect. Up 2-0 in the 8th thanks to a superb start from Ron Darling, who tied his season-high with 9 Ks, the Mets commit 3 errors in the inning, including two by Jefferies at 3B on back-to-back at-bats, allowing the Dodgers to score 4 runs and steal a win. Nine batters came to the plate in the inning and only 1 hit the ball out of the infield (Murray's RBI double). Jefferies had actually just made a really heady play before his two blunders, fielding a grounder by Scioscia and tagging Murray, who had strayed to far off the 3B bag, out.

Jefferies then had a chance to redeem himself in the 9th when he came up representing the tying run with one out. He rapped a ball down the first base line that should have been a double, but Murray was guarding the line, snared the grounder and stepped on the bag for the second out. Tough all around game for Gregg.

Keith Miller and HoJo also had errors. The bad defense was par for the course in 1991, as the team ranked second in the NL in errors, with only Houston committing more. Also, Darling hit a double in the game and I found that, among pitchers, he has the most two-base hits in Mets history with 20. Tom Seaver is second with 17.

This game marked the second time in 1991 the Mets were facing a team that was playing their first game after firing a manager. First on April 23 when Jim Fregosi took over for Nick Leyva for the Phillies. Now Joe Altobelli took over for Don Zimmer, albeit for one game, as he was replaced by Jim Essian the next day. Altobelli may also be the only manager in history to be ejected the one game he managed for a team, as he was thrown out of this game for arguing when warnings were given in the fifth inning after Chuck McElroy nearly hit Gooden with a pitch. It may or may not have been retaliation for when Gooden nailed Doug Dascenzo in the back the previous inning.

Speaking of Gooden, this game started a streak of four games in a row in which he gave up at least 5 runs. His ERA went from 2.39 to 2.97 after this game, and it would soar to as high as 4.39 by the end of June. However, this still marked his 9th straight start against the Cubs in which he picked up a win. Doc actually ended his career with a 28-4 record vs. the Cubs.

This was another game the Mets scored early and then went to sleep at the plate. After collecting all 8 runs over the first 3 innings, they managed just one hit over the remaining five innings. Cubs pitching retired the final 13 in a row. McReynolds got some rare boos during his first at-bat as reaction toward his recent comments in the papers, when he said New York fans "like to kick players when they're down." But those boos quickly evaporated after he hit RBI doubles in his first two plate appearances. He also made a diving catch during the 9th that probably saved the game, as Franco needed some good defense behind him to lock down the save.

I also meant to add that Ralph Kiner had an epic battle with Jose Vizcaino's name all night. At first he called him "Val-keeno," which made me laugh hysterically. He must have said his name 20 times, differently every time.

This was the day that Gregg Jefferies famously wrote his "letter to the fans", read on WFAN earlier in the day. Gregg attempted to defend himself when talking about the issues he had with his teammates.

As for the game, Gregg wasn't in the lineup but Cone was fantastic for an easy 6-2 win.

I attended this game with my family and our best friends. I remember Hojo's homer. This was actually the first loss I ever attended lol. Sadly not the last loss. We went to get Vince Coleman's autograph at Pergament department store after the game.

I have very vague memories of this game. I was in the car with my father and mother. We were going on some long trip for Memorial Day weekend. My father flipped on the radio for the score, and I heard all kinds of things that no 7-year-old probably should hear.

14 to F'IN 4!! JESUS H CHRIST!!! Stop snorting coke Gooden, damn you!!! 5 years ago seems like an eternity!!! 14-4!! Son of a....

Then my mom yelled at my father for his potty mouth! Ahhh childhood...

Now I'm 22, and my father yells at me to calm down when Looper blows a save or when Randolph makes some idiotic double switch or leaves Dae- Sung Koo or Danny Graves in for 2 more innings then he should. My mother yells at both of us to shut up now. The circle of life is complete!

I have very vague recollections of this game. I was 8 years old, and my family was on a long drive for a Memorial Day weekend vacation. My father flips on the radio and hears the score. He starts muttering all kinds of stuff that 8 year olds probably shouldn't hear. "Fourteen to eff'n 4! Jesus H Christ! What the hell's wrong with you, Gooden??!" My mom yelled at my father to cut it out, but she just didn't understand! It was my first true taste of how much a labor of love it would forever be to root for the Mets! But when you get seasons like this year, it's ultimately worth it!

On an afternoon when the sun didn't even pretend to peak out behind the clouds on a gloomy day, David Cone was outstanding and went the distance. The offense singled the Cubs to death for an easy win.

Watched this one recently. One of the crazier endings of a Mets game, as in the 10th inning with 2 outs, Milt Thompson hits a routine ground ball to Magadan at 1st base, but unfortunately, the bat broke and was also coming toward Mags at the exact same time as the ball. There was nothing he could do but duck from the bat hurdling toward his head, and the ball ended up hitting him in the leg on the ground, rolling away as the winning run scored.

This was the game Cone and Harrelson got into it in the dugout after Cone supposedly shook off a pitch-out sign from the dugout. After the inning was over, Buddy got in Cone's face and starting poking and shoving him in the chest and Hubie Brooks had to get in between the two to keep them from going to blows. It was an ugly scene in an otherwise nice game for the Mets -- never trailing in a win over the reigning world champion Reds on the road. Despite the dugout spat, Cone still went 8 innings without giving up an earned run and struck out 13, although Buddy may have been giving him the silent treatment as he left his pitcher on the mound for 147 pitches -- the second-highest count of Cone's career according to baseball reference.

This was the Mets only win at home against the NL champion Braves in all of 1991. They lost 2 out of 3 in this series and got swept in a 3-game series in September. They barely got enough to win here, a McReynolds 2-run homer their only offense. It was his first home run at Shea since September 11 of the previous year. The Mets managed just two base runners outside of their 2-run fourth inning, as the offense continued their struggles.

Luckily Viola was up to the task. He took a perfect game all the way into the 6th inning when Rafael Belliard reached on a wild pitch after swinging at strike three with one out. He scored two batters later when Ron Gant singled to end the no-hitter. Viola put two runners on in both the 7th and 8th but got out of danger both times, then started the 9th but exited after the game was delayed almost an hour by rain. Franco got the last two outs to seal the win. Not counting the rain delay, this was the quickest Mets game of the 1991 season, clocking in at 1 hour and 53 minutes.

I also noticed for the first time that Rick Cerone didn't wear a batting helmet with ear flaps. I don't know how that thing stayed on his head.

Atlanta LHP Steve Avery shuts down the Mets at Shea, and to top it off, he goes 4-for-4 with three singles and a triple.

Avery was not a bad hitting pitcher through his career. He finished with 14 doubles, 4 triples, 4 homers, and 32 RBIs in 437 at bats.

A stunning thing happened in the top of the fourth inning of this game. With one out, Mark Lemke laid down a perfect bunt on which Sid Bream raced from third base for the plate. Ron Darling moved quickly off the mound and got the ball to catcher Rick Cerone for an out on Bream. The Braves had executed a squeeze play the right way, but were still denied a run thanks to Darling's and Cerone's fast reactions. It was the only time I can remember a runner being thrown out at home in that fashion.

The Mets take a fast 2-0 lead in the first but only muster two hits the rest of the game, squandering a solid performance from Whitehurst. His only mistakes are a two-out RBI seeing-eye single to Otis Nixon in the third, and a two-run homer to Sid Bream in the fourth.

You could tell the Mets' frustrations were reaching a boiling point with this loss. I looked up some quotes in the archived New York Times game story. Coleman was quite upset that, when he lead off the 8th with a walk, he was then flashed the hit-and-run sign instead of the straight steal sign on the first pitch with Magadan at the plate. He was gunned out, and said, "Why put a hit-and-run on with me on base? The best base-stealer in the world. I don't need no hit-and-run. If I'm straight stealing in that situation, you can't throw me out." Third base coach Mike Cubbage took the blame for getting the signs mixed up. But Harrelson then took umbrage with the lack of offense, saying, "Pete Smith hadn't pitched a whole lot, and he looked like Cy Young against us." Indeed, Smith was coming off shoulder surgery and got his first win in five starts in 1991 here, as well as his first major league win since June 5, 1990.

Swinging for the fences in the 9th, McReynolds flew out to left, HoJo popped out behind the plate, and Brooks popped out to third, although Jeff Blauser caught the ball falling down behind the mound as the wind had really picked up by the later stages of the game. This was also Julio Valera's penultimate appearance with the Mets; it also being his first appearance with the Mets in 1991 and his first relief appearance since pitching for Class A Columbia in 1988. You got the feeling the Mets were holding it together with duct tape and silly string and things were on the brink of unraveling in an ugly way.

I remember attending this game, it was the first and only time I ever got to see Doc Gooden in person. He baffled the Astros on a beautiful summer night in June.

If I remember correctly, this was a Monday, and it was my last day of second grade. Since I couldn't go out and get loaded like I usually did when I got done with classes later in life, I did the next best thing. I had my friends come over, we grabbed some Cokes out of the fridge, and played Nintendo until the Mets came on.

Darling was so-so on this night, but the Mets came to Cincy ready to hit. Howard Johnson had a monster shot into the upper decks of the old Riverfront.

Overall, a great day for a lad like me!

Kinda surprised I'm the first comment here, as this was a great game! Reds open with four straight singles off Whitehurst to score two runs, HoJo hit his last of five grand slams with the Mets in the third inning, the Reds battle back to tie it up at 5-5 in the 8th, and the Mets jump ahead again in the bottom of the frame thanks to a clutch pinch-hit RBI single by McReynolds off the flame-throwing Rob Dibble. Keith Miller adds an RBI sac fly and Alejandro Pena, spelling an injured (I think?) John Franco, gets the final five outs, including Barry Larkin on a strikeout to end the game. Very exciting.

Good seeing the Mets get a win without Coleman, McReynolds, Magadan or Jefferies in the lineup, plus without Franco available out of the pen. This was Garry Templeton's first ever start at first base and he looked like an absolute natural. I found it interesting he wore #11, the same number Tim Teufel -- who he was traded for -- wore. Johnson's grand slam was made even more special considering he was just 2-for-34 lifetime vs. Browning at the time of that at-bat. Browning was known for giving up longballs though -- he led the bigs with 32 HRs allowed in 1991, the third time in his career he led the bigs in that category.

Randy Myers took the loss, which was also special considering he had gone nine scoreless outings with seven saves vs. the Mets since being traded for Franco prior to the 1990 season. Meanwhile, I have no memory of Rich Sauveur with the Mets. He lasted all of six games with the team in '91 and spent most of the year with AAA Tidewater. He seemed like one of those guys who mastered the minors but could never cut it at the major league level. He held a career 2.91 ERA in the minors, but a 6.07 ERA in the majors.

The 5th and most recent (as of July 2010) walk-off grand slam by a Met as Kevin McReynolds did it to turn defeat into victory with 2 outs in the 9th inning.

A weird game as there was scoring in only 3 innings: the Mets grabbed the early lead with 4 runs in the first, then the Expos scored 5 runs off Doc in the 5th, and then the grand slam in the 9th.

I was at this game as a 12-year-old following my last year of elementary school. I don't remember anything else other than how it ended and the fact this was the only time I sat in the Diamond Club suites.

I suppose when Ed K wrote his post in 2010 he was technically correct about this being the last game in which the Mets hit a walk-off grand slam. Robin Ventura also famously hit one in the NLCS in 1999, but was mobbed running the bases before he could even reach second base. Since 2010 (and as of this post), there have been three others -- Jordanny Valdespin in 2013, Ike Davis in 2014, and Jose Bautista in 2018. A real ragtag group who have joined the club!

This really was an epic win that left Kiner and McCarver speechless. It was McReynolds' last of four career walk-off homers, as well as his last of six career grand slams. He was a torrid hitter at the time, having batted .335 since May 1. It was kind of surprising Montreal left in the southpaw Scott Ruskin to face him with the bases loaded and two out. Earlier in the inning, Harrelson tried to run the Mets out of the rally by executing a double steal with one out and a 3-1 count on Magadan. Dave swung and missed and the ball beat Keith Miller to third but hit him to prevent Wallach from catching it. Some might call the play gutsy, but I thought it was unnecessarily risky.

This was the third time Gooden and Dennis Martinez faced each other in 1991, each winning one of the prior games. Martinez (who I always remember for his signature windup style and his massive wad of chewing tobacco) was on the ropes early as the Mets snapped his 23 consecutive scoreless inning streak with four in the first, be he didn't allow a run the rest of the game. Then it was the Expos turn to bat around in the fifth, scoring five to take the lead. Other than that inning, Gooden went seven scoreless, allowing just three hits. Even though the Mets didn't commit any errors in the game, their poor defense still didn't help in the fifth, particular when Magadan dove and had a Dave Martinez grounder carom off his glove that no one decided to chase after, giving him an RBI and a double. Also, Sasser had Grissom out on a caught stealing but Templeton dropped the throw, and the catcher also couldn't handle a wild pitch by Gooden in the inning that scored another run. It was all pretty ugly. Thankfully, McReynolds sent everyone home happy and started a stretch in which the Mets would win 14 of their next 16 games (but somehow only gained three games on the first-place Pirates).

It was my ninth birthday and as I remember, my family took me to see this game and the fireworks afterward as a celebration. Do not remember anything about the game. I was not yet the big fan I am today.

This Sunday afternoon game was played on a day that Mike Tyson celebrated his 25th birthday. Doc got shelled early-possibly riding a hangover resulting from a long New York City Saturday summer night-but who knew at the time. With the Mets loss in this one I suffered my largest defecit ever to the "boys" as I had dropped 2 dimes on Doc with the hope of breaking even (was down a grand and they were laying 2-1). The Metties battled back from the wrong side of a 9-2 score and scored twice amid a ferocious rally in the bottom of the ninth. With the bases loaded the always selective Dave Magadan stepped to the plate from the left side. On a 3-2 pitch he took an inside pitch for strike 3 and the game was over. Ouch babe!!

Dave Magadan actually led off the bottom of the ninth by grounding out. Kevin McReynolds followed with a double and Howard Johnson homered to make it 10-9. Hubie Brooks walked to put the tying run on but Rick Cerone lined out and Mark Carreon struck out for the final out of the game.

The teams combined for 27 hits, and Doc gave up three home runs in 4.1 innings, including the only homers of the 1991 season by Steve Lake and Sil Campusano. It was also the last homer of Campusano's career. The Phillies sent him down about a week later and he never played in the majors again.

A very odd boxscore, seeing Wally Backman leading off and playing third base for the Phils, Roger McDowell pitching in relief for the Phils (he had to leave the game with a pulled side muscle), and Tommy Herr, Rick Cerone, and Garry Templeton playing for the Mets.

I just found a program and scorecard of this game while cleaning stuff out of my former room in my parents house, so I apparently was at this game but I don't have any memory of it as I was 11 years old at the time. According to the scorecard it also appears I left during the 8th inning.

As mentioned on my post about Hubie Brooks, I'm almost certain that this is the game he hit the upper deck HR.

Other memory of this game as a spectator was the Phillie Phanatic hassling Charles Barkley of the 76'ers behind the Phillie dugout.

Attended this game against the awful Phillies in Philly. The Mets won easily 8-2 as I watched with quiet contentment. You don't make joyful Met noises in Philly. I'm yet alive to this day because I understood that.

Regrettably it was heading into the all star break as the Mets extended to a 7-game winning streak. But for a bit more they didn't cool, they picked up after the break to make it 10 in a row. They were making their run and were going to finally steamroll past the Pirates! They reached 53-38.

Then the wheels fell off and the engine dropped out, worse than in 1977. How can a 53-38 (94-68 season equivalent) team end by going 24-46 (56- 106 season equivalent). Can anyone explain how this happened?, I forget, probably because I tried hard to. Even the "awful" Phillies, 14 games behind the Mets after this game, finished a half game ahead of them. A dark era had come, anti-climaxed, of course by 1993, the worst Met season in context ever.

This was the night the Padres chose to pitch to the wrong ex-teammate. With the winning run on second base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Garry Templeton (traded to the Mets by San Diego that season) was walked intentionally to set up a force play situation. Kevin McReynolds, another former Padre, came to bat and hit an RBI single for a Mets victory. I guess the Padres figured if an old friend was going to beat them, let it be one who left the team five years ago instead of a more recent one.

Instead of watching the debacle that was the Mets' 7-1 loss to the Padres in Game 1 of their Wildcard series last night, I tuned in to this uplifting affair against San Diego from 1991. Wise choice, indeed. I couldn't believe they chose to pitch to McReynolds (one of the hottest hitters in the game for the past 2 months) instead of the weak-hitting Templeton in the ninth, even if Larry Andersen had good career numbers against Kevin and the walk set up a force at every base. His walk-off handed the Mets their 9th straight win and caused the New York Times to print, "The Mets win everything these days." During his pregame commentary, even Rusty Staub, giddy over the recent winning streak, said the Mets "should have an exciting second half." Oh, how wrong they'd all be.

This was the first game after the All-Star break, and the Mets would go 31-50 in the second half. Hubie Brooks opened the scoring with an opposite field home run, his 15th dinger of the year; he'd actually only hit 1 more the rest of the season. As he was apt to do, Buddy left Gooden in way too long. Up around 120 pitches in the 8th, Gooden allowed a 2-out single to Tony Gwynn with McGriff due up. Instead of bringing in Franco (who wasn't even warming up and Buddy said it was too early to bring him in, give me a break), Gooden stayed in and walked McGriff, then gave up an RBI single to Jerald Clark before finally getting the hook. Alejandro Pena entered and coughed up a game-tying RBI double to Santiago (who tied a Padres record with 3 doubles in the game). Franco then came in a batter later and got out of the inning, making Buddy look even dumber for not bringing him in to face McGriff.

More bad Mets defense too. Elster threw one in the dirt and Carreon flat out dropped a flyball in centerfield that allowed a run to score. He made up for it with an RBI single in the 6th, though. Magadan also could have been charged with an error on a booted ground ball in the 5th but the official scorer must have wanted to be nice to him as Dan became a father for the first time earlier in the day.

This was also Tim Teufel's first time ever playing against the Mets, as he had just recently been traded to San Diego after 5+ seasons in NY. He struck out on 3 pitches against Doc in his first AB and later became his 1,500th career strikeout victim in the 7th.

My brother was "stuck" going to the game with his girlfriend and two of her girlfriends... begged me to go along with him because he couldn't handle them by himself. Needless to say, I met my wife that night, who was one of her girlfriends. Game? What game?

In one of the flukiest games ever, the Mets were one hit by Greg Harris. What made it fluky, however, was that my main man, Mackey Sasser, started in right field, got the Mets' only hit, and robbed TWO home runs. Pure insanity.

Went to this game as a guest of my girlfriend's family friend. Our seats were 1st row, on the homeplate side/edge of the Giants dugout. I sat right next to baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent who introduced HIMSELF to ME. What a nice guy! Anyway, it was the day the Mets traded Ron Darling to the Expos. The Commish asked ME what I thought of the trade, I told him the Mets got the short end of the deal. Many players walked up to the Commish to say hi, including Will Clark and Roger Craig. The Commish signed a ticket stub for me and my girlfriend's idiot brother asked him to sign a pack of cigs. The commish's people declined and he signed a ticket stub for that tool also. Great time!

Was awsome to see the Mets pull this one out for a win., even though neither team was in contention. I remember totally losing respect for Kevin Mitchell once he left us, and he got a lot of booing that day. 1991 was the first year of the authentic collection MLB baseball caps, and I remember after this game going to Modell's and getting myself an authentic blue Mets cap. By the way in this game I saw Kevin McReynolds' hat. He takes a size 7 and a half.

The previous comment here says neither team was in contention, but that's not really true. Though the Mets fell out of the race by August, beating the Giants here moved them to 14 games over .500 and made them winners of 11 of their last 13 games, getting them to within 4.5 of the first-place Pirates. So the Mets were very much alive by this point in the season. Also, not sure why you'd lose so much respect for Mitchell considering he didn't leave on his own accord but was traded. It's not like he picked another team over the Mets, like Strawberry did. Watching the game back, I didn't really hear many boos for Mitchell, aside from when he parked one off of Gooden in the 6th inning, but I wasn't really listening for them either so maybe there were a few boos I didn't notice.

The major news before this game was the trade of Ron Darling to Montreal for Tim Burke, marking the end of his 7+ year stay in New York. With Fernandez coming back from a broken arm, the Mets were going to be stuck with too many starters, so someone had to be the odd man out, with that being Darling. Burke definitely helped solidify the bullpen in '91 but struggled mightily in '92.

The third inning was an fun one for the Mets. O'Brien led off with his first hit at Shea since April, then Gooden followed with a butcher boy double. After a walk and a strikeout, Jefferies delivered a bloop 2-run single, and the Mets tacked on 2 more and pretty much coasted to a win despite some late-game home runs by SF. It was also neat to see Rod Beck and Mike Remlinger as rookies in this game, as both would go on to become some of the best relievers of the decade.

One final note: When Francisco Oliveras was taken out of the game, McCarver, delivering one of his famous one-liners, said, "You can now say the Giants are 'sans Francisco.'" After Kiner gave no reaction to the joke, McCarver asked, "No?," to which Kiner quickly responded, "No. I don't think you can say that." It was quite LOL worthy.

Darryl Strawberry and Gary Carter homered in the first inning to set the tone for this game. It was Strawberry's first game at Shea after signing with LA in the previous offseason.

His first game was on May 7th my friend. A game I attended where Straw homered off Frank Viola. I am surprised no one has corrected you.

This game was "The Revenge of the Ex-Mets!" There was so much hype around Strawberry coming back to Shea for the first time. Mets fans weren't happy with the way he left. There was lots of booing and energy at Shea. Then Darryl and Gary slug big homers in the first inning to shut up the Shea crowd.

Sid's first start of '91 after breaking his arm during spring training. The crowd was hyped for his return and he delivered with six splendid innings and even doubled and scored a run on offense, but he left with the game tied at 1-1. An error by Jefferies in the seventh allowed LA to take the lead, but the Mets bounced back by batting around in the eighth, highlighted by McReynolds' 3-run homer and a Cerone grounder that went through the legs of Lenny Harris at 3B to score a run, as well as a second run when Juan Samuel kicked the ball trying to pick it up on the return throw from the outfield. It truly was a play for the blooper reel.

Speaking of McReynolds, he started in CF in this game, something I have no memory of him doing with the Mets. But with Coleman hurt, Boston slumping and Miller a defensive liability, I guess he was the best option. I also found it interesting the Mets didn't strike out in this game. They and the Yankees led all of baseball in '91 with three games with 0 times struck out.

For the Dodgers, Strawberry hit another homer off his former team. He'd hit four career homers against the Mets, but all of them came in '91. Also, with Ramon Martinez on the mound, ESPN showed highlights of his brother, Pedro, pitching for LA's minor league affiliate in Bakersfield. Little did they know, those highlights also showed him pitching to none other than Mike Piazza! How about that: two future Hall of Famers on the same minor league team in 1991. And they played like Hall of Famers that year too -- Pedro went 8-0 with a 2.05 ERA with Bakersfield, while Piazza hit 29 HRs with 80 RBI. Both would debut for the Dodgers the following year.

This was a very interesting Saturday afternoon game. The Mets picked up 4 runs in the 4th inning, but in the top of the 5th, Tommy Lasorda elected to pinch hit Dave Hansen for Orel Hershiser, and he hit a 3-run homer to make the game 4-3. Later in the inning, Eddie Murray hit a 3-run homer, and the Mets never recovered in the game. Mackey Sasser hit a 2-run homer in the 9th, but the Mets were too far behind at that point to have a chance.

I was at this game back in 1991. I remember distinctly that I was excited that my all-time favorite player Charlie O'Brien was playing. (The 2 days before Sasser and Cerone played.) Some jackass behind me said (when they announced the starting lineup and said his name) great, we lost, this guy can't hit worth a $hit! When he hit a double off the top of the wall at the farthest part of the park I turned around and said, "Some bad hitter, frickin moron." All he could do in response was make nasty comments. I was disappointed because he didn't hit a HR and would have if it was hit ANYWHERE else!

He also hit in 3 runs that day, the most of any of the Mets team. In my book, he was the main reason they won.

Are you kidding? Charlie O'Brien? He was a horid hitter, and his defense was the reason the Mets had him. Even with his defense, he was an overall louse of a player. Terrible! So what, he had one game he did well, this one!

A nice Sunday afternoon win for the Mets, who were hot at the time. Gooden beat former Met Bobby Ojeda.

Sadly, no one knew it at the time,but this game was the highwater mark for the 1991 Mets, and the end of the Mets being a contender for years. After this game, the team would play some of the worst baseball in team history through the end of the year. Finishing 7 games below .500 after being 15 above on this summer day.

Looks like we found Charlie O'Brien's one fan. I, like Michael, am also dreading what follows over the remainder of this season, and the years that are to come. The Mets wouldn't be 15 games over .500 again until July 24, 1997. Ouch.

This was Ojeda's first start against the Mets since being traded over the offseason. He actually never beat the Mets in three career starts, though his final two were much better than this one. On the flipside, Gooden couldn't lose when facing LA. This win improved him to 14-1 lifetime vs. the Dodgers, his only loss coming in 1985. However, he would face them 4 more times over his career and lose each one. Eric Gregg had a terrible strike zone behind the plate here, causing Doc to yell at him in the second inning. Buddy came out to protect his pitcher, but wound up getting ejected.

With runners on second and third and one out in the third, the Dodgers chose to intentionally walk Hubie Brooks to get to Carreon and set up a force at any base. The move backfired, as Carreon doubled in two and the Mets collected four straight hits for six runs. The six-run inning tied their highest-scoring frame of the year. They achieved their highest-scoring inning against the Dodgers the year before too, with 8 runs in the third inning at LA on May 21. The Dodgers were a lot like a Queens-West team in 1991, with six of the nine players in their lineup either former or future Mets, plus Gary Carter and Dennis Cook coming in later. And as you'd figure, Strawberry received plenty of boos each time he came to bat, as well as lots of cheers when he struck out. But he seemed to take it well, flashing a big smile multiple times during the game, despite the final outcome.

Also, it was weird seeing Don Criqui call the game along with McCarver, as Kiner was up in Cooperstown for the HOF inductions. I don't remember Criqui at all and apparently his only ties to the Mets is doing sporadic fill-in work during '91. According to Wikipedia, he holds the record for longest-tenured NFL broadcaster in U.S. TV history, calling NFL football for 47 seasons. Who knew.

I love this site! I think back to all the Met games I possibly remember, and I can go back and peg exact dates just by little tidbits of info I casually remember from childhood.

I remember this game because, I swear, of all my years watching baseball, this was the only time I EVER witnessed Tony Gwynn striking out! Viola got him to end an inning.

Too bad the game result didn't go the Mets way.

A weekday afternoon game, and the Mets still had thoughts of trying to stay in the race with the Pirates, with the win cutting the pirates lead to 5.5 games. Also a note, Don Imus, the famous radio personality, made a visit to the Sportschannel booth on this day.

Sadly, after this win, the Mets would go on an 11 game losing streak, killing their season completely.

This was an extremely hard loss for the Mets. They had already lost 5 in a row, and it looked like they would end that streak today.

They had a 4-2 lead in the top of the 8th, and a chance to put the game away with the bases loaded, nobody out. But they couldn't score a single run. In the bottom of the 8th, the Cardinals scored 3 runs, and held on to beat the Mets 5-4. The pitcher that got the Mets out in the 8th was coincidentally named Cris Carpenter, not the same guy as the Cardinals' current star pitcher.

This one really hurt. After this, they would lose 5 more in a row for an 11-game losing streak.

I think this was one of the most devastating losses ever for the Mets. While there was no longer any hope of them making the playoffs, now they couldn't even win a game.

The 10th loss in a row for the Mets on this afternoon, as Viola continued his bad 2nd half. The talk on the broadcast during this one was about how Frank maybe should have taken the Mets contract offer from earlier in the season back in March-April. As his 2nd half collapse (on the back of his very mehh finish to the 1990 season in which he blew multiple leads down the stretch in the pennant race), had potentially cost him a few million. Fortunately for Viola, he was only one of about 500 problems with the team by this point in the year. The losing streak would continue to 11 in a row a few nights later, as the great era from 1984-1991 (the first half anyway) was officially over, dead and buried.

El Sid finally ended the Mets 11 game losing streak on the back end of this doubleheader. An 8-0 shutout with homers by Elster, McReynolds and Mark Carreon.

In my opinion, at least with decades of hindsight now, August and September 1991 was the true low point for the franchise in modern times. They literally went from one of the best teams in the NL and competing for a playoff spot in July (on pace for 90 wins in mid-July)....to being one of the worst teams in the sport overnight. No gradual decline to see it coming. Just flat fell off a cliff.

Gooden weirdly walked 5 in his 5 innings on this night, and he was checked multiple times by trainer Steve Garland during the game for shoulder issues. He kept attempting to stretch out or adjust his shoulder all night until the Mets and Doc decided to pull him after 5.

As it turned out, Gooden would not pitch again in the 1991 season.

A CBS game of the week and Wally Whitehurst had absolutely nothing on this day. It seemed like every hit the Reds had was a bullet somewhere. It ended at 7-0 on this day but it easily could have been much worse.

I don't remember anything about this game, except that I was seven years old and it was my first baseball game. The only reason I'm certain it was this game that was my first was I know it was in August of 1991, against the Reds, and that the Mets won.

I remember being really impressed and excited the next day when my mom showed me the box score of the game in Newsday. I was just shocked beyond words that something I was part of was important enough to end up in the newspaper! For the rest of the baseball season, I would cut out the box score section of Newsday and closely examine Mets box scores until I finally understood how they work.

David Cone struck out nine batters in six innings for the win on a Friday night at Riverfront Stadium. In the bottom of the sixth he struck out the side on nine pitches. According to baseball- almanac.com, this has only happened 37 times in the history of major league baseball. Cone was the second Met pitcher to do this, with Nolan Ryan being the first on April 19, 1968.

Cone's nine-pitch victims were Herm Winningham, Randy Myers, and Mariano Duncan.

This was the first major league game for Mets OF Terry McDaniel, who came into the game in an eighth inning double switch. McDaniel wound up the season 6-for-23 with eleven strikeouts, was waived in November and claimed by Pittsburgh, but never made it back to the majors.

Not an especially memorable game since the season was winding down. But Keith Miller turned around a blazing Rob Dibble fastball in the 10th inning to win the game for the Mets. A rare homer for Miller, and coming off a guy who threw the hardest in the league at that point was a nice footnote in the last weeks of the season.

Along with the rare Keith Miller homer, this game was the first Mets win on WWOR channel 9 in almost 6 weeks, since July 21. August of 1991 was truly a low point in franchise history, as the team just went off a cliff in every way.

Mets were so pathetic at this point in the season that fans at this game were more interested in rooting for Jimmy Connors, who was playing a US Open match across the street at the same time as the game. Unfortunately, Connors suffered the same fate as the Mets this day.

This was the only Met one-hitter ever thrown against the Montreal Expos and a bright moment in a disappointing season. Mets had been 2.5 games out of first at all-star break and gone 19- 38 since then to fall 17 games behind when Shourek threw this gem which was his only complete game shutout of his MLB career. Kenny Williams got a single to left in the fifth to ruin the no-hit bid. This was also the first of three one-hitters in eleven days thrown by the Mets. Cone started and lost a one-hitter on September 14th, and then Cone won a one-hitter on Sptember 20th.

Quite possibly the most forgotten one hitter in Mets history (at least modern Mets history). Pete Schourek throws a gem, with the only hit a harmless single by Ken Williams in the 5th inning. The attendance for this game was almost non-existent, about 9K, not helped by the fact that it was a mid-week afternoon game and school had already started by this point. I've never even seen any highlight from this afternoon even after all these years. Maybe we should ask Pete if his parents taped it to make sure it happened.

The only one-hit game (out of twenty-seven) by Met pitchers that they lost. In the bottom of the fifth, Cone gave up two walks, got two outs, then gave up a two-run single to Lankford. A run scoring double by McReynolds in the ninth was not enough and the Mets lost 2-1. A typically frustrating game in the 1991 season.

I was at this game and remember it clearly. After Cone walked two, he threw a wild pitch prior to Lankford's single. Also, Lankford threw out the tying run at the plate with 2 out in the 9th to end the game. Fitting for the person that had the only hit for the Cardinals.

This series was supposed to be played at Olympic Stadium but due to structual damage at that ballpark, the Expos were forced to play the rest of the 1991 season on the road and only 4,000 diehards were witness at Shea to this unusual doubleheader between two teams going nowhere.

Watched this one recently. A game that was supposed to be played up in Montreal but moved to NY due to Olympic Stadium issues. That meant that almost no one was at this game. Announced attendance was around 4,000. And despite the lack of people, the fans who were there were actually quite rowdy for such a small crowd, surprisingly. Especially considering how meaningless the game was at the time. HoJo got a few "MVP" chants during the game. And it was clear that anytime he got on base, he was going to run to try and get closer to 30 steals. He did eventually get there later in the season.

Keith Miller hit a rare homer that went just over the left field wall, and when Expos LF Ken Williams jumped for it, he lost his glove over the fence. The Montreal pen had to retrive it.

The third one-hitter thrown by Met pitchers in eleven days! Schourek had thrown one on September 10th, and Cone had started and lost one on September 14th. Both that day and this day. the Mets only got one run, but this time, Cone made it stand up with a shutout.

As stated by Ed K, this was the third Mets one-hitter over an 11-day period. The only Cardinal hit was a double by Felix Jose leading off the eighth inning. Cone pitched - and won - this one in a complete game after combining with Jeff Innis six days earlier in a loss at St. Louis. These three games were also the only one-hitters the Mets had for the entire 1990s.

It was Cleon Jones Day on this afternoon at Shea, as the Mets inducted him into the team HOF. As for the game, HoJo continued his fantastic finish to the season with a line drive homer to right field, eventually winning Player of the Month honors for September.

I was watching this "game" on Ch. 9 when all of a sudden, it's 9pm and I had a decision to make whether to continue to watch the Mets-Pirates (w/o Barry-roid Bonds in the lineup) or go to Ch. 2 and watch "Murder In New Hampshire: The Pamela Smart Story". Tough choice though: Underachieving rich grown men playing a boy's game or Helen Hunt in a bikini? Guess which one I chose to watch.

One of my first Mets games as a kid. We were supposed to catch the second game of the doubleheader but the first one was still going on. Watching from way up in the red seats, some random rookie hits his first career home run, a solo shot in the bottom of the 14th inning. Not until years later do I realize that rookie was Todd Hundley.

Just watched this game. Interesting fact, WWOR joined this game in progress at 7:30PM, when it was already in the 9th inning. They carried the rest of this first game and all of the 2nd game of this day's doubleheader. This means that the first 8 innings of this first game wasn't seen by anyone in New York on tv, as it seems WWOR either didn't have the rights to show it before 7:30 or just didn't see the need, as it was beyond meaningless at this point in the season.

Either way, Hundley's first homer was certainly a highlight, as it skimmed the top of the wall to go over the fence.

Bud's last game as manager and another loss.

Mike Cubbage's first game of his short managerial stint with the Mets.

For about a month and a half I had tuned out the Mets after their 10 game losing streak in august and their flat play to finish up the season in september. Then I turn on the TV and David Cone strikes out 19 and gets arrested for sexual abuse the same day. I really felt like this game optimized what was a rather grim season. A season that would replicate itself in one way or another five more times until a guy named Piazza came around.

Like so many loyal Shea fans we took the trip down the Jersey Turnpike every time the orange and blue played in cheesesteak land. I believe that this was the last game of the year. Some time in late summer, the short-term 80's dynasty ended, although no one realized it at the time.

Cone had a slew of K's through the first 6 and I realized that he might reach 20 or 21 at that pace. In the top of the 7th, he walked and was out on the bases the whole inning. The bottom of the inning, he had no K's.

It was still exciting to see him get close and eventually tie the record that Seaver set one warm spring day in 1970. The writers, however, downplayed the feat as many of the players in the Phillies lineup were really Scranton-Wilkes Barre Red Barons that year.

The other night SNY showed this game and it featured the broadcast team of Ralph Kiner and Frank Cashen. (Tim was getting ready for the post-season for CBS.) I remember watching the game and the weather was rather dreary and many of the Phillies were swinging and missing like they had one foot out of the Vet. After the game, Ralph and Frank talked about the hopes of 1992 which turned out to be a long nightmare until Metal Mike Piazza arrived on the scene in May of 1998.

Cone's best start in his career. Although you could never tell if the Phillies had one step on the plane; 18 of the k's were swinging if I remember. =

The 1991 Mets seem to be a largely forgotten team among fans. Probably because it was the team right between the Strawberry era and the "worst team money can buy" 1992 Mets. But this team was just as disappointing. Channel 9 showed a stat on one of the last games of the '91 season, and it said no team in HISTORY had ever finished below .500 after being at least 14 games above .500 after at least 90 games. Except the 1991 Mets.

The Phillies starting catcher that day was Doug Lindsey, who was making his Major League debut. He went 0 for 3 with 3 Ks and never started another MLB game (although he did get into four more games with three more at-bats with the Cubs and Phillies in 1993).

I hate to take anything away from Cone, but it really is true that the Phillies practically had a spring training lineup this game. Three guys combined for 10 of Cone's 19 Ks: Kim Batiste, Wes Chamberlain and Doug Lindsey. A real murderer's row. But a record is a record. His 19 Ks are still tied with Tom Seaver for most in a game in Mets history, and at the time tied the NL record for a 9-inning game, since topped by Kerry Wood, Randy Johnson and Max Scherzer (all with 20). However, the Mets remain the only ML team to have two different pitchers get 19 Ks in a game. The 19 Ks also allowed Cone to tie Roger Clemens for the ML lead in 1991 with 241.

As the previous commenter All-time Metfan alluded to, Cone was under investigation for rape allegations during this game, though I don't believe he was ever arrested, and the charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence. At the same time, he was also being sued for $8 million by three different women over alleged threats he made against them while they were accosting Sid Fernandez' wife after a game. That claim was also later dropped. But Cone admitted to looking into the stands every so often during this game, keeping an eye out to see if the cops were on their way to put him in handcuffs. What a story.

Outside of Cone, the other big story was Howard Johnson, whose RBI single in the seventh inning allowed him to overtake Will Clark for the NL lead, making him the first switch-hitter to ever lead the NL in RBI. He also led the NL with 38 HRs. He hit .285 with 10 HRs and 11 SBs in September to win Player of the Month honors, making him the last Mets player to win that award until David Wright in 2006. But this was it for HoJo. He completely forgot how to hit in 1992 and never regained his old form. He had more home runs in 1991 than he did over the remaining four seasons of his career, during which time he hit just .219. So sad. He also stated in a postgame interview he wanted to remain in the outfield in 1992, as he had become the Mets' regular right fielder in September. I wonder if changing positions might have had any effect on his sudden career downslide?

I also noted that the Mets announced lineup was completely different than their actual lineup, as they had made several last-second changes. I bet it had something to do with the alleged all-night party they threw prior to the game, causing some guys to not be able to play as planned (Templeton and Carreon were in the initial lineup but replaced with Boston and Gardner). Didn't affect Boston any -- he led off the game with a first-pitch triple, then hit one of only four career home runs off a left-handed pitcher in the ninth. Keith Miller also went 4-for-5 with a homer and two doubles in his last game as a Met -- even though Cashen said during the game, "...we always have plans for Keith Miller." I guess those plans included trading him, along with Jefferies and McReynolds, to Kansas City for Bret Saberhagen and Bill Pecota during the offseason. The times were definitely a-changin' for Mets fans in the very near future, and not for the better.