METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE OCTOBER 17, 1999 GAME:
Tess
October 20, 2000
I have been a Mets fan since I was 6, but I have never been to or even seen a game as exciting as this one. It was game 5 of the NLCS and it was the 15th inning. I remember the roar of the fans screaming down at John Rocker and then it came: the forever to be remembered Grand slam single by Robin Ventura! The crowd went wild, we were all hugging each other and jumping around and kissing stangers and going crazy. there was no feeling at all like that one, and I will always remember how loud that crowd was when Ventura got that hit, and how we all came together with one common goal; to get to the World Series. It didnt matter that the next day the braves went on to clinch the pennet, it didnt matter that I lost my voice the day before a big presentation , and it didn't matter that I had broke my toe jumping up an down like crazy, the only thing that mattered was that we won! and that rocker sucked! I am so privledged to have been part of this game, this history in the making.
Lou C.
August 14, 2001
Sat in the upper boxes in right field with my 8 year old son. We got pretty wet. When it went extra innings, I told the people around us that to be a true Met miracle they would have to be losing before they won. My son wanted to move down, because people were leaving. We went down to the loge by first base. It was getting cold and late and I told my son, against my better Met fan judgement, that we would leave if noone scored in the next inning. The rest is history. I'll always remember the Dunston atbat. And the Ventura blast. When it was in the air, the game was over. When it cleared the fence, all hell broke loose. I was at Game 7 in 86, the divisional clincher in 88, and the pennant winner in 2000. This was the most fun. people in the parking lot were telling my son that he would never forget that night. LA Woman, cold rain, my son, and alive for another day. It doesnt get better than that.
Milz
February 22, 2002
I remember I had to go to a very, very important family "get together" on this evening, unfortunately at a restaurant with no tv. Being die hard Mets fans, me and my brother had to finish it. The game kept on going, and dammit, I was going to sit till the end of it. I listened to the play-by-play on 660. Got to the point that my uncle came out in the parking lot twice to tell us to come in -- I wasn't budging. It was raining pretty hard that evening.
Then, bases loaded. Ventura comes to the plate. And you know what happened then.
Seeing it on television that night when I got home was awesome too. Robin didn't even make it to second! Remember: Grand Slam Single!! What bs. Me and my brother almost lost our voices that night.
Mike94
October 7, 2004
I started watching this game at home. It was getting late in the game and I had an hour and a half ride back to school in the rain. I thought I was gonna miss the end of the game. I continued listening to the game in my car on 660 WFAN. I sped through the rain so I could watch the Mets beat those damn Braves. I parked my car and ran back to my dorm with my bags and threw the game on the TV. I watched the game for about another hour or so and then POW!! Ventura hit the "grand slam single." When the ball left the bat I jumped up and yelled "GET THE #&*@ OUTTA HERE" and then watched it land on the other side of the fence and giving high fives to other Met fans in the room. One of my favorite sports moments.
Lee
November 28, 2004
The matchup for tonight was Greg Maddux vs. Masato Yoshii. In the first inning, Olerud connected off Maddux for a two-run homer to pick up where he left off from the night before and, after that, the game was a low scoring game that featured Chipper Jones getting hits and no one else did and everyone was going "Laaaaaarry!!" and it was also John Rocker's birthday and everyone wanted to see him but I don't think he ever pitched.
Another factor in the game was the weather. It was raining all game and there were a couple of rain delays and the game went a long time into the night. It then went into extras in a 2-2 game and then in the 13th the Braves threatned again when Keith Lockhart, their little used second baseman, got a base hit and then Chipper Jones hit another shot into the right field corner and Lockhart came around third but Melvin Mora saved the game by making an incredible throw to the cutoff, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Fonzie threw it home to Piazza, who blocked the plate incredibly and Lockhart ran over him but Piazza held on to the ball but he was injured.
Then, in the fifteenth, Lockhart tripled and scored and it was 3-2 Braves. Then, the Mets rallied and loaded up the bases for Todd Pratt and he walked to tie it up and Ventura step up, Mr. Grand Slam himself, and, as I knew he would, he hit it out but before he could reach second base he was mobbed by his teammates and he never made it to second so he was only given one RBI and it will be forever known as the "grand single" It was the greatest game I ever went to.
Even Stephen
October 20, 2004
I was never more proud of the Mets than when I watched this game. 25 men pulling together as a team. Every player doing his part.
Shawon Dunston refusing to give up. Orel Hershiser acting on the phone acting like a pitching coach. Al Leiter and Rick Reed warming in the bullpen, ready to go.
This was one game that truly was a team effort.
Kiwiwriter
October 14, 2004
The greatest and most thrilling Mets game I ever saw.
In the pouring rain, the Mets and Braves poured it on through 15 soggy innings. I never saw such intensity at Shea, such crowd involvement, or such drama. Or a 14th-inning-stretch. I have seen many sea serpents (my name for extra-inning games) at Shea Stadium, including a 17-inning disaster in 1979, but never this.
My wife Kathy was blowing her nose from sinuses and hiding under the stands in the late innings, when they ran out of food.
Everybody played. My scorecard was utterly bedraggled.
My biggest memory is that Bobby Valentine brought on a relief pitcher to throw an intentional walk, then yank him. That was overmanaging defined.
After the game, Kats was furious about having to sit through such horrid weather and was reluctant to join me at the World Series. But she did, for Game 3. Logically, that game went into the 10th inning.
Mets97
October 18, 2004
"Well, I remember the last play because Robin Ventura played it out on one leg the whole game, and there was a point where I thought about taking him out, and he said 'No, leave me in,' and he comes up and gets the winning hit, it's gotta be poetic justice. Justice indeed. -Bobby Valentine
"Run around the bases? Nah. I'm too tired." -Robin Ventura
"I'll tell you, these Mets are Rasputin-like. You cannot put them away. They will not die." -Bob Costas
"They couldn't see beating the Braves 4-in a row, but they can see beating them 2-in a row. They've taken it one game at a time and now maybe they're seeing light at the end of the tunnel." -Joe Morgan
Jose
November 8, 2006
hey I been a Mets fan since I was 5 years, the night of October 17, 1999 was a night every Mets fan will cherish for the rest of their lives. I remember I was 17 at the time a junior in HS, I was suppose to go to a B-day party that night, I was getting ready for the party, while I took a shower I had the game on my small radio, after I showered I tuned in the TV again, I think it was the most nervous night I have ever witnessed. At the party they had the game on, in the living room there were some Yankees fans, and like 3 Mets fans including me, when the bot. 15th came all 3 of us Mets fans where doing the rally hat, and then came the Ventura's Grand SLam single, we screamed, we jumped, we cried, and hugged. "WE STILL BELIEVE GO METS!!!" I still believe YEEAAH!! What a game, it was amazin' playing under the rain, making sure that it was not our last game of 1999, we kept on fighting. Hey my fellow Mets fans let us the keep the faith and believe, we will have our town back real soon.
alleydally
September 6, 2006
My friend and I moved down a couple times from the upper deck, eventually moving to the front row of the loge boxes right near the foul pole in left field (by the Atlanta pen). We would have moved again but after the Braves scored in the 15th, we decided to stay put and watch the Mets' at-bat. And what an at-bat! I remember it like it was yesterday:
Dunston fouled off like eight pitches before singling up the middle and then stole second with Franco pinch-hitting. Franco walks and then Fonzie bunts the runners up. Olerud is walked intentionally to load bases, and Pratt walks on a 3-1 pitch, flings his bat and runs down to first as Mets tie it.
At this point, the place is ROCKING. Literally, and there were like 20,000 empty seats. I remember vividly the fans in the box seats jumping up and down in the rain (and the rain was falling hard); it was tremendous support...
and then Ventura launches the bomb to right. Before it went out I hugged my friend. I didn't even see the ball go out, I knew we had won it with a sac fly at least.
I remember getting on the subway afterward. I asked about the Jets game and somebody said they lost again. I didn't care, not after that Met win...it culminated a whirlwind weekend at Shea, starting with the Friday 1-0 loss, but the back- to-back nail-biting wins. It was crazy at Shea, it was so nice the Mets were in the postseason again. Throw in the Pratt HR vs. Arizona and it was a great run.
Ed K
January 30, 2013
I had drawn my company's tickets for Game 5 and watched Game 4 on Saturday night wondering if my tickets would be any good. But after the Mets won on Saturday night, my wife and I made the trek to Shea for an unforgettable game. Unfortunately, we may have been the only fans to leave the game before it ended. We had a babysitter on short notice watching our infant son for a fixed time and could not stay for extra innings. I did get home in time to see the Ventura walk-off on television. Almost the entire time that we were at the game, everyone was standing.
Shickhaus Franks
May 31, 2013
I was at a bar in Hoboken which no longer exists (I forgot the name) watching this classic game and when Ventura hit the "grand-slam single" a lot of people went crazy and then some and there was talk of a Subway Series but thanks to Kenny Rogers... (As you know, it did happen in 2000.)
D.C.
September 26, 2013
I can watch this whole game every day and never get bored. THIS was the epoch of the Mets-Braves rivalry in the 90s, and watching Bobby Cox and Bobby V try and out-manage one another makes me nostalgic.
Grand slam single in the rain, Robin Ventura being held aloft by Todd Pratt with "L.A. Woman" playing in the background; that's how I remember the 1999 Mets.
Charlie
November 18, 2021
Been to hundreds of Met games at Shea, and this one will sting me a little forever. A friend of a friend offered me a ticket, and we sat through the rain for a game that seemed like it would never end. Until the 15th inning...I don't remember how it came about, but the Marlins scored and we were both spent. For some inexplicable reason we decided to leave, and heard the rest of the game in the car on the way home. A decision that will haunt me forever.
sms516
March 6, 2023
One of my all-time favorite games as a Mets fan, not just because we won but because it truly was a complete team effort. Everyone played a role in the win.
Glenrock
July 24, 2024
A thrilling win that kept the Mets alive in the NLCS. Robin Ventura came through with a clutch RBI in the fifteenth inning to cut the Braves' Series lead to three games to two. Ventura's hit should have been a grand slam homer, but it got reduced to a run-scoring single thanks to other Met players not allowing him to circle the bases.
The happiness was understandable, but how could the Mets still be so absent-minded by doing what they did? On the television replay of the hit, Ventura was seen waving his left hand at his teammates and yelling to them "No! No!" while he was between first and second base. Instead of completing his home run trot, Robin was greeted by a black-shirted mob (led by baserunner Todd Pratt) that got in the way and prevented an actual slam. Although it was a key post-season victory for the Mets, their overexcitement turned it into one of the more embarrassing moments in team history.
Pratt's statistics show that he did not have a run scored during the Series. He blew his chance for one by not controlling his emotions soon enough.
Dave VW
August 5, 2024
I love reading all these comments. Even the ones I disagree with. "Glenrock," where my mom was a science teacher for 20 years, recently wrote how, when the Mets prevented Ventura from rounding the bases, it was "one of the more embarrassing moments in team history." I could not disagree more. The Mets were so overjoyed and overcome with emotion they couldn't help themselves from congratulating and celebrating with Ventura as he rounded the bases, and it created one of the most iconic scenes in Mets history. You may be the only fan that looks back at this moment with negativity.
A few of my takeaways from this game that have not yet been mentioned:
I was stunned when starting lineups were announced and Roger Cedeno's name wasn't featured. I thought he was the Mets hottest hitter at the time, as he just went 3-for-3 in Game 4. Turns out he was suffering from "back spasms," so Melvin Mora got the nod in RF instead. But Cedeno did come in as the last man off the bench to pinch run for Matt Franco in the 15th, and he would be the only "official" runner to score on Ventura's home run.
This was Yoshii's final appearance as a Met. He started out well enough, but second time through the lineup the Braves tattooed him. They started the 4th with a double, double, single and walk to score 2 and chase Yoshii from the game. He'd then be traded to Colorado during the offseason.
With 2 runners on and nobody out, Hershiser relieved him and retired the next three on 2 strikeouts and a groundout to get out of the inning without any further damage being done. Unbelievable clutch work right there. It was the first time he stranded inherited runners on base since the 1988 NLCS vs. the Mets. He wound up doing yeoman's work out of the pen, tossing 3.1 scoreless innings.
In the 6th, the Braves had the bases loaded with 1 out and Maddux at the plate. He just barely missed hitting a double down the RF line that would have blown the game open. Then, with 2 strikes, the Braves have him try to get down a suicide squeeze, but he misses to strike out, and the runner on 3rd is tagged out in a rundown. That was a huge bullet dodged, and some uncharacteristic poor execution by Atlanta.
Valentine then burned through 4 pitchers to get through the 7th inning, including Dennis Cook to throw two intentional balls and then yank him. I was very worried that type of overmanagement was going to come back and bite us.
The Braves left 19 runners on base in the game. They had to have felt like they missed a golden opportunity to end the series after this loss.
When Eddie Perez singled in the 10th, it was the first time a Brave had reached base vs. Armando Benitez all season. They were 0-for-26 against him prior to that hit.
Ventura was an incredibly unlikely hero. Aside from playing with a bum leg and sore shoulder, he was also 0-for-16 in the series before finally getting a single in the 11th. He then hit the ball well but flew out in the 14th before making history in the 15th.
Rey Ordonez was having a terrible series, at least offensively. He went 0-for-6 in this game, which included grounding into an inning-ending double play in the 6th when the Mets had the bases loaded. He also popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt for an out in the 12th, the third time in the series he did that. Through 5 games, he's 1-for-16.
After Mora recorded is 3rd OF assist of the playoffs in the 13th, the NBC broadcast caught him high-fiving with the fans as he made his way back to the dugout. It reminded me a lot of what Lastings Milledge would do a few years later.
Piazza's maladies continued, as he was removed after 14 innings with a "strained forearm." At that point, we had no clue if he'd be available in Game 6, if we even made it that far. Sadly, his many injuries left him virtually useless in this series.
The 12-pitch Dunston AB in the 15th is the key play of the game, outside of Ventura's game-winner. Valentine had Dotel up to bunt next, but at the last second pulled him back in favor of Matt Franco. Taking Dotel out meant either Al Leiter or Rick Reed would have to pitch next if the game were to continue on past the 15th, as they were the only pitchers the Mets had left. Thankfully, that was a problem the Mets were able to avoid.
The final line by the 8 relief pitchers the Mets used: a combined 12 innings, 9 hits, 1 run, 15 strikeouts. Stellar.
At the time, in terms of time elapsed, this stood as the longest postseason game in MLB history at 346 minutes (or 5 hours, 46 minutes). It was broken a few years later by a Yankees/Red Sox marathon that went 5 hours, 49 minutes in 2004.
I don't remember if I watched the ending live, but I sure remember listening to Gary Cohen's call of the grand slam single over and over again, to the point of memorization. "That ball is...OUTTA HERE!! OUTTA HERE! A GAME-WINNING, GRAND SLAM HOME RUN OFF THE BAT OF ROBIN VENTURA! THEY'RE MOBBING HIM BEFORE HE CAN GET TO SECOND BASE! THE METS HAVE WON THE BALL GAME!" Still gives me chills to this day.
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