National League Standings, July 8, 1990
METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE JULY 8, 1990 GAME:
Michael
May 13, 2008
The all-star break could not have come at a worse time after this game. With this win...I believe the Mets completed a stretch of 27-5 baseball, quite possibly the best any Mets team has played for a period of about a month in team history.
Dave VW
August 7, 2022
You're pretty close, Michael. Since losing three in a row and then winning vs. Montreal on June 5, the Mets went 26-5 between that win and this win. That took them from 4th place in the NL East and 8.5 games out of first to 2nd place and just a half game back. Despite getting so close to first, they actually wouldn't overtake the Pirates until July 27. Unfortunately, they pretty much played .500 ball after the All-Star break and saw this hot stretch go to waste.
Outdueling an unusually effective Marty Clary, Viola picked up win #13 here, tying him with Oakland's Bob Welch for most during the first half of 1990. Only Tom Seaver tallied more first-half wins in a season than Viola in Mets history, notching 14 twice. Of note, Viola needed just 3 pitches to retire the Braves in the fifth inning of this game. And despite starting the Mets' last game before the break, Viola still pitched in the All-Star Game, though he didn't start it (that honor went to Cincinnati's Jack Armstrong). Viola, as well as John Franco, each tossed a scoreless inning, though the NL still lost 2-0, getting 2-hit.
Speaking of Franco, he did something here he only did 15 times as a member of the Mets -- get an at-bat. He bounced out to short in the 9th, then tightroped his way around a pair of walks to record his 17th save. In 14 seasons with the Mets, Franco went 0-for-15 at the plate with 9 strikeouts.
As a final note, it was absolutely awesome to hear Bob Murphy on the WWOR telecast. He had such a great delivery and cadence calling a ball game, I forgot how enjoyable it was to listen to him. Too bad there weren't any home runs in the game, I would have loved to hear one of his signature "there it goes" calls.
Now it's your turn! Tell us what you remember of this game:
Please note:
We're looking for your comments about this specific
game. We've had people use this space to share their thoughts on how the
current season is going, or on ways that the Mets can improve the team.
Such comments, unless in the context of
this particular game,
will be considered off-topic and will be removed.
Example One
The Mets suck! They need to trade Smith and get somebody like
Jones.
This comment is off-topic and will be removed. It has nothing to do with
any specific game. But here's an acceptable alternative:
Example Two
The Mets suck! Smith made three errors in this game, and hit into a
double play, and the Mets blew a 5-0 lead. They need to get rid of Smith
and get somebody like Jones.
See the difference? Here you're getting the same point across, but it's in
the proper context. We wouldn't consider this message to be off-topic, and
we would let it remain.
We do appreciate anybody who takes the time to share their thoughts on our
site, and we hate to remove anybody's postings. But if we didn't take
steps to ensure that only on-topic messages were retained, The Ultimate
Mets Database would become a confusing jumble of unrelated comments,
and would thus be less enjoyable to visitors like you.
Thank you!
