Ultimate Mets Database: Game of August 30, 1990

Howard
March 28, 2004
Wonderful afternoon game at Shea - a gorgeous afternoon with near-perfect weather, rookie sensation 21 y/o Todd Hundley was catching and hit a double, Gary Carter was playing one of his first games AGAINST the Mets in years, and Darryl Strawberry hit a monstrous grand slam deep into the right field mezzanine. All this, and the fun of watching the beer guy tripping four aisles up from my family, sending his entire freshly-filled tray of beer flying - then cascading - down the aisles. . .

A childhood memory not to be easily forgotten.

Michael
October 6, 2006
Everything you said about this game is correct Howard, except this game was a night game, not an afternoon one. I only know because I happen to have the game on tape and was recently watching it.

Dave VW
July 25, 2022
Funny with a name like Howard you don't also mention that Howard Johnson also smashed a tape-measure 3-run shot in this blowout win! Strawberry's grand slam was the last of 5 the Mets hit in 1990 and the last of 4 he hit during his Mets career. Jefferies also homered and had it get caught by Alejandro Pena in the bullpen. I miss the times when Met relief pitchers would do that. Of interesting note, Giants starter Mike LaCoss gave up just 5 home runs in 77.2 innings in 1990 -- 4 of those were hit by the Mets.

Sid was phenomenal here, tying a season high with 12 Ks. Loved seeing the SSSSSSSSSSSSID strikeout tally signs across the upper deck facade. But geez, here's another example of Buddy sticking with his starter for too long. Already having thrown 110 pitches entering the 8th, Sid stayed out there and gave up a walk, double, another walk, and single before finally getting relieved at 126 pitches. What's the point of this with one month left in the season and your team up 7-0? I get back in this era no one really paid attention to pitch counts, but Sid's body language was screaming that he was out of gas the entire inning. I really think Buddy gets a lot of undeserved credit for the 1990 turnaround when it was really just a case of a good team that got off to a slow start. And Buddy's shortcomings would be sorely exposed the following season.

One other thing that irked me: the WWOR telecast routinely relayed incorrect pitch counts all season. When Sid was taken out, they said he ended with 119 pitches. That's 6 off! Whoever was in charge of keeping track of this obviously flunked his first grade math class.

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