A Great opening day. Doc walks the bases loaded in the first but gains command as the game goes on. Hojo blasts a bomb off his favorite pitcher Todd Worrell and the Mets have an easy victory over the hated Cards.

I'll never forget this game, it was the first Opening Day game I had ever been to. Hojo was my favorite Met at the time and to see him hit one over the right field fence is something I'll never forget.

Just watched this one on the old tape. A note about this game is that it's the first time in Keith Hernandez's Mets career that he batted anywhere other than 3rd in the starting lineup.

An interesting thing about this game is that it was the 1,989th regular season victory in Mets history. It was the only time ever that the team's all-time win total and the year were exactly the same.

An early season NBC Game of the Week. Strawberry hit his first homer of the year after an early season slump but the Mets still lose a tough one in extras as Don Aase gave up a rocket to Pedro Guerrero to win it. The Mets really struggled early in the year, starting off 3-7.

I remember being concerned early. Ten games in and already 5 games out of first. The Cubs were hot. The Mets had a respectable year but never played with passion. A 3-7 start is not the end of the world, but you could see the lack of guts on this team.

I caught a foul ball off the bat of Mark Ryal of the Phillies. I was sitting 4 rows behind the 3rd base dugout with my wife and my father-in-law. It was a line drive that I caught with one hand while I had my beer in the other hand. When we got home we had three messages on our answering machine and one was from my friend who lives in Philadelphia and happened to be watching the game and saw me on TV. I would love to get a tape of this game as I heard that even Fran Healy commented on what a great catch a fan made!

I was waiting for the right moment to ask my fiance to marry me, when the Mets hit 3 consecutive home runs! Its was amazing! Everyone in our section was cheering even more after they noticed what happened. We left and returned shortly after to more cheers! One of the best days ever..!

The Mets hit 3 homers in a row in this game, as Keith, Straw and McReynolds all went deep in the 3rd inning. I don't believe a Mets team would accomplish this feat again until 2007.

One of the worst in injuries in the history of Shea unfortunately occurred during this game. Phillies RF Ron Jones crashed into the plywood wall and severely tore a knee ligament. A promising career was derailed. The outfield wall was padded the next year. Mr. Jones passed away in 2006 from "natural causes," may he rest in peace.

John Updike references this game in his novel "Rabbit at Rest" on page 184. He mentions a third inning three-run home run by Mike Schmidt, his fourth of "the young season" and the five-hundred-forty-sixth of his career, putting the Phillies up 5-0.

Went with this kid from work Dave and his father. Sat field level down the first base side. The game was unremarkable for the most part. Remember late in the game getting some ice cream from the concession stand in rightfield and yelling at Darryl Strawberry to demonstrate some leadership.

Lee Mazzilli hit the game winning 3-run homer in the 8th inning in this one to win it. One of his last real big hits as a Met.

I attended this game with my mother, as I did many times as a child. This game was horrendous. Yes, the Mets won, and they beat Greg Maddux, who fell to 0-3 with the loss. But the overwhelming memory of this game was the fact that it was 40 degrees out, windy, and simply a miserable day. This was compounded by the fact that Sid Fernandez was working at a snail's pace all afternoon. It didn't matter that the bases were empty. He took no less than a minute between pitches.

To this day, my mother will groan and talk about this game whenever she hears the name Sid Fernandez.

I, too, was at this game. And I agree with Mets2Moon... it was FRIGID. After about four innings, my parents had to leave Shea Stadium because of the windy, chilly conditions. I, on the other hand, froze my you-know-what off and stayed. It's a wonder that my parents didn't drive off and leave me to catch the train home! (They wound up listening to the game on the radio in a toasty warm car.)

The highlight of the contest was Hernandez's home run. In the bitter cold and the wind against the hitter, he blasted an opposite-field shot over the wall in left. Keith must have had TNT in those guns of his to hit a ball that hard and long under those circumstances.

Yes, it was cold out. But that win began a hot year for me, as I witnessed 11 wins at Shea Stadium in 13 appearances.

An early season day game against the eventual NL East champs, although absolutely no one knew how good the Cubs were going to be at this point in the season.

Sid dominated the Cubs lineup on this day and Keith Hernandez hit what would be his last Shea homer, an opposite field shot over the left field wall.

Kevin McReynolds, as he so often did during this time, hit the game tying homer in the 8th and then Carter went deep off Mitch Williams to get the Mets to an impressive 3 of 4 series win against the Cubs. It ended up being one of Gary's last truly big moments with the club and also unfortunately not a sign of things to come against the Cubbies for the rest of the 1989 season.

This was a big night for Bob Ojeda. He pitched seven and two-thirds scoreless innings before the Braves got a run in the eighth. Ojeda even hit a pair of singles and scored a run in the game. The win for Bob was his first one after that freak accident with a hedge clipper the previous year.

The game was also a milestone for the Mets. It was the 2,000th regular season win in team history.

I was ten years old and went to Shea with my dad. Must have been already the fifth game we went to that year. I only really remember it because Darryl Strawberry had an inside-the-park home run. The sheer power and speed he had was amazing to see especially as a kid. I was in awe. The memories will last forever.

I went with Eddie, a coworker of mine. He had lived in Beach Channel and we passed through his old neighborhood to pick up his friend Joey. We bought tickets at the box office. The seats were located down the left field line near the foul pole. Ed and Joey amused themselves by smoking some pot during the game. Ed thought it was cool when it was posted on the DiamondVision that Reds starting centerfielder Rolando Roomes had attended Beach Channel High School. Because of the location of our seats we could see into the Reds bullpen. Thought it was funny when we saw Rob Dibble flip the bird to Mets fans who were cursing him out when he was warming up late in the game. Left after the top of the 10th. Heard the roar of the crowd outside when Hojo hit a game winning home run off of Dibble in the bottom of the 10th. Ironic, because the last time I attended a Mets-Reds game in April 1985, Strawberry hit a game winning home run off of John Franco to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning.

Cone went all the way in this one on a sunny Saturday and HoJo drove in the only 2 runs of the game for the Mets. Despite not really playing all that well to this point, the Mets moved into 1st place after this win, a position they'd hold off and on at various points in the 89 season before fading badly down the stretch.

This was the first baseball game my daughter attended. She was a little more than 2 months old at the time. My wife, daughter, and I were attending the game with another couple who also brought their infant son. We had seats very close to the field, up the first-base line at Shea. In the second inning, someone hit a wicked foul ball that just missed us by a few rows. Needless to say, it put a fright into us concerning the safety of our kids.

As far as the game itself, Jim Deshaies was masterful for the Astros, while Dwight Gooden looked mortal. He had his strikeout pitch (the "rising" fastball) working, but his control wasn't stellar, and Kevin Bass (the Mets' nemesis in the '86 playoffs) got to him. We had been hoping to tell our daughter as she grew older that her first game was pitched (and won) by a Hall-of-Famer, but it was not to be.

Leading off the bottom of the ninth, Barry Larkin hit a grounder to Kevin Elster and Elster booted it. It was Kevin's first error in 88 games, a major league record for a shortstop.

By July of 1990, Elster was kicked out of the record by Cal Ripken, Jr, who went 95 games without an error.

This was the first game I went to and it was glove day! I remember Mackey Sasser slammimg a home run, Lee Mazzilli chasing down a fly ball and flopping over the small Shea Stadium retaining wall in left field, and the Mets winning in extra innings.

Mackey Sasser hit his first homer of the season in this one and Magadan won it with a single in extras. I definitely remember Lee Mazzilli tumbling over the left field wall. It's also been shown in a number of Mets highlight packages over the years.

Although he would make his way back later in the 2nd half of the year, this game was the symbolic end of Keith Hernandez's Mets career.

He banged knees with the Dodgers 2nd baseman on a ground ball, and though he stayed in the game at first, it turned out that he broke his knee and would be done for 2 months. When he finally did come back, he was essentially a part time player and it was clear that his days were numbered.

The Mets won this in the 10th on a bases loaded walk by Goose Gossage, as both he and Craig Lefferts completely lost the strikezone in the inning to give a struggling Mets team a victory.

I believe this was the game when an unnamed Mets player, upon seeing that the lineup card had Jefferies batting 2nd again, crossed his name off and wrote "Are we really trying?"

Whoever it was, wasn't wrong at the time. Jefferies was playing absolutely horrible those first 2 months and it had gotten insane that Davey kept playing him at the top of the order so much and every day. But to his credit, Gregg did end up having a fantastic 2nd half of the season, rebounding from his deplorable first 2 months.

You've heard of games ending on a walk-off? Well, this game ended on a BALK-OFF!!!

Doc fell behind Fernando early, 3-0, with Mike Davis driving in two early runs. But the Mets came back to tie it with one in the fifth on an RBI single by Barry Lyons, and two more scoring in the seventh on a Gregg Jefferies pinch-hit double.

Rick Aguilera and Randy Myers combined for five innings of shutout relief while Dodger relievers Tim Crews, Jay Howell, and former Met Ray Searage did the same.

Roger McDowell came in to pitch the bottom of the twelfth, and he started it off by walking Dave Anderson. Willie Randolph followed with a single and after an error the Dodgers had runners at second and third. While pitching to John Shelby, McDowell balked and the Dodgers scored the winning run.

According to espn.com's Jayson Stark, a game has ended on a balk only three times in the last 30 years.

I believe this was the game where the Mets got 4 outs in one inning.

What happened was there was a runner on 1st with 2 outs. On the next pitch the batter struck out but Barry Lyons threw to 2nd anyway to get the runner going to 2nd. The ball got away and Dykstra picked it up and threw home to get the runner trying to score, and he was called out.

I narrowed it down to this game. I know it was 1989 at San Fran. I know Dykstra was still on the team and Lyons was catching and it was a night game, so this seems like the only game it could be.

Just watched this one recently on the old tape, the Mets were reeling badly as the Giants hit 3 separate 3-run homers. Sid Fernandez made a rare relief appearance as well (his last one as a Met).

The Mets had immense trouble beating the West champion Giants in 1989, one of the many reasons why they didn't repeat as East champs.

A very unexpected ending to this one. Dave Magadan, who did not hit many homers at all in his career (very good hitter though) hit a game-ending 2-run homer to beat the Pirates this night. Funny enough, Magadan had 2 game-ending homers as a Met (also one in 1992). Not bad for a guy with no power.

My uncle lived at Colden Towers at the time, 42-49 Colden St, (1.4 miles away from Shea) on the 13th floor (the elevator said 14) with a view of Shea Stadium from the balcony. He told me that when Magadan hit the home run to end the game in the 11th, he could hear the crowd roar from his dining room.

Of all the time lived there (1973-1994; I became a Mets fan in 1986) that's the ONLY time he told me he heard the crowd noise coming to the stadium. I watched many games on TV at his place and I'm sure I saw a walkoff or two but I never heard the crowd roar, so they must have been LOUD that night.

42,578 fans in attendance that night by the way, which is about full capacity at Citi Field, so hopefully the denizens of Colden Towers will hear the crowd roar again soon.

I was at this game with a friend, enjoying a Friday night game courtesy of two free box seats I won in a company raffle. Dave Magadan hit the game-winning walk-off home run was memorable since he was not known as a power hitter. However, he turned on a fastball, and we got the win.

Vern Law lined into a 3-6-3 triple play in the 5th inning, Dave Magadan and Kevin Elster fielding for the Mets who lost anyway.

I thought they would win this game, and bounce back from the 15-3 blowout the night before. The Mets had been very good at doing that.

Looking at the Retrosheet site, I see that the Mets had a 15-game winning streak up to this time in games following a loss of 6 runs or more. This dated back to September 1986, and it unfortunately ended here.

One of the last ABC games of the week ended up being an exciting game between 2 teams who'd battle all summer for the division. Kevin McReynolds, as he so often did, hit a big homer to tie the game in the 9th to try and help salvage a split in the 4 games series. But the Mets couldn't get push another run across before the CUbs won it in the 10th, ending with another 1 run loss on the road for the 1989 Mets. An issue that would happen all season long.

Darryl Strawberry's 200th career home run gives the Mets a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth, but the Pirates get an unearned run off Randy Myers in the bottom of the ninth to tie it up.

Strawberry then misplays Andy Van Slyke's leadoff single in the tenth and Van Slyke goes all the way to third. After intentionally walking Bonilla and Bonds, Roger McDowell gets Jeff King out, but pinch-hitter Benny DiStefano hits a slow infield grounder and the Mets can't turn two. Pirates win, 4-3--despite three homers by the Mets-- thanks to some questionable Mets defense.

Nails had his last hit as a Met in this game - a homer that provided one of the two runs in the shortened win for the Mets.

My family and I came to this game on a bus trip through my mother's work from about two hours north in NJ. There was a two- to three-hour rain delay after the first inning and since we were dependent upon a bus, we had to leave at a specified time, which was during the delay. Anyway, we got to see a whole game's worth of scoring in the one inning we were there for. The Mets jumped out to a 8-0 lead in the top half and the Phils responded with 5 of their own in their frame. I remember still getting home in time to see the end of the game.

One of the forgotten craziest games in Mets history. The Mets scored 8 times in the 1st inning, only to watch Cone give 5 of those back as he continued his terrible start to the 1989 season. The Mets finally ended things by scoring 5 times in the last 2 innings to take back the blown lead and put it away.

Also, the last appearance of Roger McDowell in a Mets uniform. As he'd be traded to these same Phillies just 48 hours later in the now infamous deal.

Naturally, a day after one of the craziest games in Mets history, both offenses go dormant less than 24 hours later. Bobby Ojeda went the distance in a 1-0 win. Amazingly, this was the 4th 1-0 complete game shutout for Ojeda in just about a year's span, as he had 3 in 1988.

Better remembered as the day of the second Massacre. Mets fans never forget...

I'll never forget sitting in the car listening to the game with my grandparents. Von Hayes won the game with a home run. All through the game, the announcers said the Mets and Phillies had made a trade, to be disclosed after the game. We were trying to guess who it was.

I remember the Mets "Dynasty" as we knew it then, took the biggest hit at the end of the game when they traded Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell to the Phillies for Juan Samuel. That trade WAS the beginning of the end of that great team. Davey Johnson ruined ANY talk of Dynasty when he endorsed that trade DURING the game.

My father drove us to Veteran's Stadium from Queens. The game was close. For some strange reason they pinch hit for Nails in the middle of the game. We had no idea. After the Mets lost we turned on the radio in the car to hear that the Mets made one of the dumbest trades they ever made. Lenny Dykstra for whiff machine Juan Samuel. Sure Dykstra tried to hit too many HR's but he really was the CF of the future at the time. Mookie was aging and would be gone a year or so later. Juan Samuel in CF. Ugh. The Horror.

This was my first ever Mets game I attended. I remember being disappointed that my favorite player Darryl Strawberry, wasn't in the starting lineup (he'd later enter the game and deliver an RBI fielder's choice). Mets fell behind early as Ron Darling just didn't have it. Curiously enough, Lenny Dykstra was lifted from the game after singling in his first at-bat. At the time, I remember hoping he wasn't hurt (turns out, it was WAY worse than that).

Mets rallied to tie the game at 5, but Von Hayes ripped a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Phillies a 6-5 win.

Adding insult to injury, in the parking lot as we were trying to leave, I found out Dykstra and McDowell were traded for Juan Samuel. At the time, I was disappointed but cautiously optimistic as Samuel had been a solid offensive player for the Phillies. However, the Mets decision to make him their centerfielder (while jettisoning their championship tandem of Dykstra and Mookie) turned out to be the latest in a long line of moves dismantling what had been a great team. Samuel gave the team virtually nothing the rest of the year (I think he was traded for the equally useless Mike Marshall in the offseason), while Dykstra blossomed into the star we all knew he could become.

After Samuel was dumped, the Mets never could get the center field position settled, trying out former outfielders like Keith Miller and Howard Johnson or rotating journeymen like Daryl Boston and Dave Gallagher in the coming seasons when they could have just gone with Dykstra all along.

Bye bye Nails!! We'll miss ya! In Retrospect... a very very sad day.

This is the first game for the Mets after the Dykstra/McDowell for Samuel trade, and Dwight Gooden beats the Expos to improve to 9-2 on the season. HoJo hits two 2-run homers off Kevin Gross in the first two innings.

It is Gooden's 100th career win against just 37 losses. The only pitcher to have 100 wins with fewer losses than Doc was Whitey Ford, who started his career 100-36.

A noteable game for many reasons. The first game in the post Dykstra-McDowell era, a trade that would become infamous for how much it backfired in the years to come, sadly. The Mets bet on Juan Samuel's speed and power combo, but didn't take into account the fact that he really had no position he could play well and he never walked so his OBP was putrid. Just a complete miscalculation by everyone involved.

This was also Gooden's 100th win. A great accomplishment considering he was 24 years old. Sadly, no one knew at the time it would be his last win of the 89 season. Doc would get hurt in his first start in July and not make another start for the year. HoJo also hit 2 homers in this game, continuing a month in which he played out of his mind, eventually winning Player of the Month for June.

This game was played the day my son, Sean Tyson, was born. I recall listening to the game on an old 60s transistor radio.

This game had the rare occurrence of Hojo hitting a ball that just went foul for a would be homer and then later in the at bat hitting it in fair territory to get it right.

Also channel 9 brought in Gary Carter to the broadcast booth (he was injured at the time). He spoke glowingly of the Juan Samuel trade that happened a few days earlier. Gary wasn't wrong often but I'm sure he'd like to have those quotes back.

Ron Darling connected for his first major league home run in this game!

The Mets beat the Phillies 5-1 behind Sid Fernandez, and the Mets set a National League record by having no assists in the game. It was only the second time in history that a team did that. The only other time was on July 4, 1945 by the Yankees in Cleveland.

Sid struck out nine in seven innings of work ,and Rick Aguilera struck out four more in two innings. The other fourteen Phillies outs came on 12 fly balls/popups and two ground balls to first base.

I remember listening to this game on WFAN. Down a run in the 9th, Howard Johnson hits a home run off Tim Burke to tie the game. It goes into extra innings. In one of the extra innings, Mookie Wilson gunned down a runner at home plate to keep the game alive but the Mets later lost it in the 14th.

Ron Darling hit a homer in this game, accomplishing the rare feat of homering in back to back starts (he had homered a week earlier).

Straw and Hojo homered as well and the Mets had a very rare road blowout in 1989 (The Mets were a terrible road team during the season, losing a bunch of close games).

Gooden left this game early with a shoulder injury. At the time, the thought was that Doc would most likely miss only a start or 2 (especially with the All-Star break coming up). But the injury was much worse than the Mets let on early, and Gooden ended up missing over 2 months of action. In fact, this Reds game was the last that he would start in 1989, as his only other appearances came in a few relief spots in late September.

I remember watching this game as it happened. There was a rain delay and also the very rare occurance of a reliever hitting a home run. The Mets survived that rarity though as Sid pitched great besides it.

I remember this game 20 years ago today. Bob Ojeda was hit very hard in the 1st inning. It was a day game played at the Astrodome.

As a die-hard Astros fan, I always liked beating the Mets back in the day.

I also remember Mike Scott pitching great baseball. Too bad we never got to see Scott pitch in Game 7 vs the Mets. I know we would have won the series (sigh).

Gary Cohen made some sort of cryptic comment just now about how this was a significant date and Keith Hernandez immediately recognized this. I don't remember anything about this game, but from looking at the box score I see Keith didn't play. My general memory is that the Mets at the time were not getting their act together and the egos were colliding in the clubhouse (ultimately they got back in the race but fell short). Did Keith throw a tantrum and refuse to play in this game? Was Davey Johnson ticked at him and benched him? I'm drawing a total blank. Early signs of senility, I guess.:)

Kevin Tapani's only Shea appearance as a Met. I'm pretty sure it was a day game.

To the above comment, this was actually a night game. The ABC Game of the Week (one of the last ones before ABC lost baseball coverage after 1989). The Pete Rose betting saga dominated the broadcast talk all game long as the game was essentially over early. David West got killed in one of his last Mets games before being traded for Frank Viola.

I was one of the 47,267 people who were at this game, and the only way I know this is because it was Kahn's Beef Baseball Card Night, and knowing me, I would have been all over that. Still, I had to google what the 1989 Mets Kahn's Beef Baseball Card set looked like because unlike the 1988 set, I don't remember it. So it googled it and yes, now I remember these cards. They were a huge disappointment, just like the 1989 Mets.

Unlike the '88 set, most of the cards from the 1989 Mets Kahn's Beef Baseball Card set had terrible lighting. For instance, Keith Hernandez looked black. I remember my dad looking at the cards during the game and commenting on the terrible photography.

Besides the baseball cards, I don't remember anything about this game. Thankfully it's on YouTube, which helped me recall the zeitgeist of the 'Batman' summer of 1989, namely the Pete Rose scandal.

After the introduction of the starting lineups, the ABC broadcast team of Michaels, McCarver, and Palmer commented on the weak Mets lineup, with McCarver calling it, "like a B-team" and Palmer saying "it looks like half of Tidewater". They weren't wrong. The toothless lineup would have made my younger self sad, but by 1989, I was learning not to tie my emotions to the Mets.

As Michael mentioned in a previous post about this game, the announcers spent an inordinate amount of time talking about Pete Rose. At one point they commented on the irony that Rose's scandal was overshadowing Johnny Bench going into the Hall of Fame, and after that one comment, they never mentioned Johnny Bench again.

As far as the game, David West did not acquit himself well on this night. In what was to be an 'audition' to be trade bait (on national TV no less), he left the game after 4 IP and 7 ER, increasing his ERA from 0.63 to 3.93, but he did get a base hit. Davey didn't do him any favors with that punchless lineup, but again, Frank Cashen gutted that team so it wasn't all Davey's fault.

Played at night (with a late 8:12 pm start time) in humid 78 degree temperatures under an intermittent drizzle, flashes of lighting could be seen and the rumble of thunder was heard in the distance. The weather was probably the most exciting thing about this game.

I can't believe no one has posted about this game! In an otherwise miserable year, which saw the trade of Lenny Dykstra, this was the game that Tim Teufel swung on Rob Dibble after getting drilled in the back with a pitch. One of the biggest brawls ever, which included Juan Samuel landing a karate kick to Reds' reliever, Norm Charlton.

Yes, I was at this game with my Dad and sister. I was only 10, but I still hate Rob Dibble to this day for that. Teufel was 4 for 4 and Dibble came in and drilled him. I loved Teufel's fake to the ump that he was calm and then sprinted around him to charge Dibble. Then, after we thought everything was calmed down Samuel with the jump kick.

I remember all these guys around us in the upper deck cheering on the fight and my sister crying and yelling at them, "Stop it, stop it!!"

I remember that when Tim Teufel was interviewed about this after the game, he pointed out that he was from SOUTHERN Connecticut, whilst headhunter Rob Dibble was from NORTHERN Connecticut. The big payoff was the next day, in which Juan Samuel took Dibble deep. Great series.

I also remember Strawberry calling the Reds clubhouse trying to continue the brawl and challenging anyone to a fight who would. I remember after hitting Teufel, Dibble came straight after him and taunted him. It was wild.

One of a handful of games I went to in that crazy '89 season!!!! It was the 3rd rumble in 4 years between the Reds and the Mets (if you include Rose's push and shove with Dave Pallone in '88). Just watched the fight on YouTube. Rob Dibble would've been a decent UFC fighter, same thing for Myers and Charlton as well. I still have my ticket stub (I have almost every stub or paper from Mets games at Shea/Citi from 1979 to the present) but some of them have faded.

I was at this game with my parents and sister, a very rare event since my Mom wasn't much of a sports fan. I was 9, but I remember very little other than that my Dad and I had gone to the bathroom, and when we came back the crowd was roaring and standing. We had missed most of the fight between Teufel and Dibble, which was a shame. But I do fondly remember to this day the back page of the paper the next day: "Teufel Scuffle" Genius!

This was the first and best baseball game I ever saw. I was hoping someone else who was there remembered some details as I was only 8 years old. My best memories are: Darryl Strawberry robbing a home run in right field; Eric Davis getting injured while trying to make a catch, with manager Pete Rose walking to the outfield to a chorus of boos; incredibly loud "Dibble" chanting during his brief appearance; and Juan Samuel's game-clinching homer. Other notes: Someone taped the game for me but it broke not long after. Robin Williams and Billy Crystal were guest announcers for this fantastic game. And the Mets welcomed my family and me on the Jumbotron thanks to friend of the family Glenn Close.

Garett, you are right!!! This was the game where Robin & Billy were in the booth and as I remember it, Robin even caught a foul ball much to the amazement to Billy (who is very funny, even though he's a fan of the Bronx Evil Empire) and this is a HISTORIC game as well. This would be the LAST SHEA STADIUM appearance for Charlie Hustle as he would be banned one month later from Major League Baseball by the late Bart Giamatti.

Diiiiiiihhhh-Bullllll! This was the day after Dibble threw at the Mets heads, and Samuel repaid him with a HR. Great theater, plus the Mets won.

Garett! Holy crap! Here I am looking up my fav baseball memory and whose post do I find but yours! To add to what you said (and I could be wrong being 10 and all): Strawberry was slumping and the fans were booing him his first couple ABs. Mid-way through the game he robs a HR and throws out the runner at 2nd in one motion. The boos turned into "I love you Darryl". When Dibble came in and fans started chanting Dibbbbbbble Dibbbbble, he walked the first batter on 4 pitches. Then Samuel hit the home run on the first pitch. I remember watching the tape and listening to the reg play-by-play guys laughing their heads off at Robin and Billy. Something about stealing bases in Russia, in a Russian accent.

Garett! Holy crap! Here I am looking up my fav baseball memory and whose post do I find but yours! To add to what you said (and I could be wrong being 10 and all): Strawberry was slumping and the fans were booing him his first couple ABs. Mid-way through the game he robs a HR and throws out the runner at 2nd in one motion. The boos turned into "I love you Darryl". When Dibble came in and fans started chanting Dibbbbbbble Dibbbbble, he walked the first batter on 4 pitches. Then Samuel hit the home run on the first pitch. I remember watching the tape and listening to the reg play-by-play guys laughing their heads off at Robin and Billy. Something about stealing bases in Russia, in a Russian accent.

Sid Fernandez struck out 16 in this game, and maybe more amazingly, did not walk anyone. But his record fell to 7-3 when Lonnie Smith led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run.

Sid struck out everyone in the Atlanta lineup at least once. In fact, Smith had struck out in all three of his previous at bats in this game. Oddibe McDowell also was a K victim three times.

Mets fans (or Braves for that matter) may find this funny or bizarre. I needed to make a "party tape" of music for a Summer get together I was having.

Well, instead of recording tunes to a cassette tape, I decided to record a 3 hour continuous mix of music to a Betamax (remember those VCR days!) tape.

However, even though I was only going to play the audio, I needed a video control track to stabilize the recording.

Well, the Mets at the Braves on July 14th 1989 was a good video source as any. I recorded that game on SuperStation TBS as the video source.

It is funny to watch because it is essentially a 3 hour music video baseball game. The big, round eye glasses of the day are a real hoot to watch in 2007!

Lonnie Smith's top-of-the-ninth solo shot to win it for the Braves 3-2 was even set to music.

Looking back, it is a visual study in baseball anthropology.

The biggest crowd of the season of 49,122 attended this Saturday night game. It was such a big crowd partly because the Mets had won four in a row and were only three games out of first, but mostly because it was RC Cola Sports bag night. I had one of those in the late '80s and early '90s, which is the only reason I know I was there that night. The Mets also had an RC Cola Sports Bag night in 1988, but I checked the box scores, and I'm sure that this was the game where I got the RC Cola Mets sports bag.

There is no recording of this one on YouTube, but I found a few highlights which jogged my memory, mainly the fact that Gregg Jefferies had his breakout night for 1989, going 3-4 with a home run, falling only a single short of the cycle. Gregg was one of my favorite players in 1989 so I'm sure I felt like his good luck charm while I was cheering his second-inning home run.

In 1989, Gregg finished third in the Rookie of the Year balloting, and most Mets fans consider his season a disappointment, but what I didn't realize until now is that in the first half, he had 1 HR, 27 RBI, a .230 BA, and .602 OPS. Then in the second half he had 11 HR, 29 RBI, a .287 BA, and .815 OPS (including 8 HR in September). If he had put two of those second halves together, he would have trounced Jerome Walton for the ROY and more importantly, the Mets would have won the division.

Back to this one. In the top of the 8th inning, Rick Aguilera relieved Don Aase to hold a 5-2 lead with two men on base. Five pitches into his outing, he gave up a blast to Dale Murphy. There is no highlight of this, but I'm sure that when he got his only out to end the inning, the crowd (including me) heartily booed the bearded Aguilera off the mound. I was a great booer in my youth and Aguilera was never one of my favorites.

In the bottom of the 8th, Gregg Jefferies lined out in his bid for a cycle, but hits by Phil Lombardi, Kevin Elster, and a pinch hit by Lee Mazzilli rallied the Mets to retake the lead, then a fielder's choice off the bat of Juan Samuel gave the Mets a 7-5 lead.

In the ninth inning, Randy Myers (my favorite Mets pitcher) sealed the win for his 15th save, bringing his ERA to 1.44 and the Mets within three games behind first place Montreal.

Therefore, Rick Aguilera had another one of his patented 'Rick Aguilera wins', which means he gives up a bomb that blows the game, but then a Mets rally gives him the win.

Fittingly, this was Aguilera's last win as a Met. For the rest of July he went 0-3 with a 6.43 ERA (with the Mets losing seven in a row for good measure) before they shipped him off to Minnesota.  

One of true low points of the 1989 season for the Mets. After the Pirates put up a 5 spot in the 1st, the Mets chipped away and led 8-5 going into the 7th inning. A trio of relievers watched Pittsburgh score another 5 runs and the Mets got swept in a very important series. After winning 6 straight heading into this 3 game set, any momentum the Mets may have had vanished going into the all important Cubs series over the weekend (where they'd get swept as well). Also of note, this game would be the last appearance at Shea as Mets for both Mookie and Rick Aguilera.

The talk on the pregame before this NBC game of the week was about a potential trade for Frank Viola. Talks were clearly close at the time of this broadcast, and it would be completed in a few days. As for the game, it was clear that the debut of Wally Whitehurst would not go well, as he was hit around badly and the Mets lost another key game in the east race in a weekend that would end in a sweep

Mark Grace hit a walk-off 2-run homer off Randy Myers with two outs in the ninth as the Cubs swept a weekend series at Wrigley.

Bob Ojeda and the Mets fell behind early, 3-0, but got back in the game when they scored two runs in the fifth on an infield out and a sac fly.

After falling behind, 4-2, the Mets tied it in the seventh with a two-out rally. Gary Carter singled, Kevin Elster doubled, and pinch-hitter Keith Hernandez singled them both home to make it 4-4. Aside from that flurry, the Mets managed just two other hits the whole game.

Mark Grace did hit a walk off 2 run homer off Randy Myers to complete the weekend sweep. I remember before this series no one was sure how good the Cubs were and how long they would hang around in NL East contention. I knew after this series that the Cubs were for real and they never fell out of 1st place the rest of the way.

In my book, this was the saddest 11-0 win in Mets history, because on this day the Mets traded Mookie Wilson to the Blue Jays for LHP Jeff Musselman.

Sid Fernandez pitched a complete game 4-hit shutout and had some odd numbers: just one strikeout and two walks allowed. Kevin McReynolds drove in six runs and hit for the cycle with a double in the second, a 2-run homer in the sixth, an RBI single in the eighth, and a bases-clearing triple in the ninth.

Frank Viola's first start as a Met. He pitched very well and ultimately got the win. The Mets rallied in the 9th for 3 runs with 2 outs as McReynolds got the big hit, with help from Juan Samuel.

This was the beginning of what would be the best stretch of baseball the team would play all season. Getting red hot from early August for about 3 weeks.

I was eight years old, remember being at this game. Samuel got caught stealing and a guy screamed "Samuel, you suck!" Jefferies got thrown out at the plate from first base with the score 11-3.

This was my 8th birthday and the first game I ever went to. HoJo hit a bomb over the center field fence. I remember looking for the ball in the parking lot after the game.

Although it's generally forgotten today, Kevin McReynolds had more late inning big homers than anyone on the team from 87-91. And this game was one of them. I remember it well, an exciting game between two teams who were both in the race. And Kevin ended it in the Shea Twilight. Shea looked so weird and strangely awesome on TV when the game was still going on in the very late afternoon/early evening around 5-6:00. And this game was one of those, a great memory.

This was the game in which Kevin McReynolds left early since his wife went into labor (perfectly acceptable), but sadly his replacement, Mark Carreon, misplayed a ball in left field horribly, leading to a 1 run Philly win.

Just watched this one. Gary Carter's last 4-hit game as a Met (and really one of his last productive games as a Met in general). Darryl Strawberry hit an absolute moonshot that hit the facade of the upper deck at Veterans Stadium off of future Met Dennis Cook. Also Juan Samuel's 3rd and final Mets homer, even though the season still had 7 weeks left and he played regularly.

Due to all the rain that New York was getting during this period of time, Shea's outfield was beyond wet. And this was the game where Strawberry decided to wear plastic bags in his shoes to try and attempt to keep his feet dry. It was funny watching him leg out his triple with the bags in his cleats. Mid-August was definitely the high point of the 89 season, as the Mets were playing their best baseball and looked primed to catch the Cubs. Didn't quite work out that way.

I was at this game watching from the field level seats just to the left of home plate. Howard Johnson homered into the Mets' bullpen for their only run until the ninth, when two guys named Kevin came through in the clutch.

With one out, Kevin McReynolds hit one into the Padres' bullpen in left to tie the game. Later in the inning, with Barry Lyons on first, Kevin Elster came up. He hit one into the left field corner. Lyons (who was not a "speed demon") came around third and headed home. Bip Roberts' relay throw came up short, bouncing off catcher Benito Santiago. Barry was safe and the Mets had a 3-2 win. What an ending!

I remember watching this one as a youngster. There was a rain delay during the game and WWOR put together a nice musical piece on the Mets to pass the time...it was fun. I also remember Strawberry hit an absolute BOMB to the very back of the right field fence, past the bullpen.

One of the Mets last NBC game's of the week, and I believe the last ever at Shea (NBC lost the Game of the Week after 1989).

A young John Wetteland actually started for the Dodgers. The Mets beat him up pretty good as he was out by the 4th. Bobby Ojeda pitched well and the team had a fairly routine 4-1 win. Sadly a few days after this, Willie Randolph hit a shocking 9th inning homer, starting the downward spiral of the season.

Don Aase. He gave up a three-run homer to Willie Randolph in the top of the ninth with the Mets ahead 3- 2. It was Randolph's only home run the whole year! The Mets went into a tailspin after that and couldn't catch the Cubs. It was also Ramon Martinez's rookie season (he started the game) and he did a decent job.

One of my top 10 worst regular season losses. Willie Randolph taking Don Aase deep to the opposite field...I still have nightmares about it. Aase will always live in infamy for that home run.

I didn't attend this game, but watched it on TV...Future manager (but for how long?) Willie Randolph came on Kiner's Korner to talk about his 9th-inning homer that won it for the Dodgers, and said, "Sorry, Met fans..."

For some reason, I'll never forget that...

This had a very frustrating occurrence. In the 6th inning, the pitcher Ed Whitson doubles, and the Mets believe that he did not touch first base. So they appeal. However, Sid Fernandez balks in the process. Ed Whitson takes third, and the appeal is lost.

Mental errors like this were not uncommon with the Mets in this era.

Just watched this one on the old tape. To add to the above comment about Sid's balk.....right after it happened, Davey Johnson was screaming at his infield to try the appeal play again to see if Whitson missed 1st base, but they weren't moving from their positions and Davey didnt seem to understand why until he came out of the dugout and realized that the umpires told the Mets infield that due to the balk, an appeal of the previous play was no longer allowed. Not only that, but the next two batters both hit homers off Sid to give the Padres the lead. Truly a strange sequence in year full of them. 1989 truly was the weirdest season in Mets history (at least in my view)

My friend and I made a road trip to see the Flushing Nine that particular day. It was a mostly forgettable game. The Mets were out of it after the fifth inning. The reason I remember this is because the game was so frustrating for the Mets, that after the eighth inning, Darryl Strawberry caught the final out, and then he threw the ball over the right field stands, and into the parking lot, where it proceeded to hit the windsheild of a car!

This was the first time ever that the previous season's two Cy Young Award winners faced each other in a game.

This was the "salami" game that gave me my 15 minutes of fame. Abe Lebewohl, the owner of NYC's famous Second Avenue Deli, had announced a promotion offering a free salami to anyone who showed up with a ticket stub from a game won by new Met Frank Viola. Being kind of a wise-ass, I thought it would be fun to see their reaction to a ticket from a road game. I ordered a ticket through the Dodgers, and had it sent via FedEx. I showed up at the restaurant the next morning with my ticket, and the next thing I knew, I was besieged by media and got my picture and a story in all the major city newspapers. Lebewohl gave me a whole box of salamis!

The Mets last ever appearance on the NBC Game of the Week, although more importantly, a tough loss in the pennant race. The Mets would start September losing their first 4 games, essentially putting them against the wall of having to play perfect baseball for the rest of the month, something they certainly couldn't accomplish.

Juan Samuel got the game winning hit in the 9th inning in a game that the Mets absolutely had to win (at the time, at least). It's not going out on a limb to say that this was the last noteworthy highlight of Samuel's Mets career. He would be gone after the season as the Mets quickly admitted defeat on the trade.

Just watched the old tape of this one. Gregg Jefferies delivered one of the most impressive offensive games in Mets history. He went 4-5 with 2 homers. In the 1st inning he hit a rocket off the top of the wall for a double. In the 3rd he hit a line drive home run. In the 4th, he hit a rocket for double. In the 5th he hit another home run. And in the 7th he hit a ball to the warning track.

He was as locked in as any hitter I've seen for a single game.

Me, my cousin, my late aunt and another person went to this game and we met Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo of WFAN who was asking people to give their opinions on sports topics for a TV show that would air later in the year. My cousin was interviewed and he went on that show. I also remember the traffic was pure heck because of the U.S. Tennis Open going on across the street; that is probably the reason why the Mets mostly play on the road on the final weekend of the Open.

It was Jerry Koosman Day at Shea, as the Mets inducted him into the team HOF. Unfortunately, the team that day did not pitch like the 69 Mets. Pitt hit 3 homers, including one by pitcher Jeff Robinson and 2 by Bonilla. Still in the Eastern division race at this point, this extra inning lose in the late afternon at Shea was brutal for the Mets chances of staying alive.

I can't believe nobody mentioned this game. Dickie Thon with a walk-off home run. God, 1989 sucked!

This was my first game at Veteran's Stadium. I was 8. All I remember is talking junk to the kids behind me about how the Phillies sucked.

Lenny pinch hit in the ninth before the Thon-Bomb off of Aase. I booed as loud as I could. For some reason, I had a lot of hate towards Dykstra at that time. Probably because Samuel stunk up the place.

I watched this game from the front row at Veterans Stadium. My sister was working in Philadelphia and got tickets from her employer, which owned a box along the left field foul line. Before the game, Ron Darling came down to our area and signed autographs.

The game was close for a while, but the Mets then won easily. Gregg Jefferies and Howard Johnson hit homers. Tom O'Malley got a 2-run single in the ninth.

There was one pleasant surprise for us on this night. I looked in front of me and I saw Number 16 walking to the mound. Dwight Gooden was making a relief appearance! He pitched three shutout innings, holding the Phillies down as the Mets slowly piled up runs. What a treat this was!

A Mets' win on the road, Doc in relief and seeing it from a front row seat. Great night!

I along with some college buddies made our only trip to Canada for this game, which was my first ever away game I attended. I don't recall too much about the game itself, although I did get Julio Machado's autograph. Also tried to get Ron Darling's auto, but he stated "I don't sign baseball cards".

I remember visiting a gentlemen's club downtown after the game and recall seeing some somber Mets fans there. One guy was dressed as Doc Gooden in full NY pinstripes!

My family and I traveled up to Montreal for the weekend to see this game (and the night before as well). This was my first time ever at a domed stadium and I was so infatuated with domes back then. The Mets were in the race with the Cubs and they had won the Friday night game, I was pumped. So they get blown out Saturday night and in this particular game got shut out 1-0 by Mark Langston. Pretty much put an end to our post season hopes. But it was an experience for me even though the Mets only scored 1 run in the 2 games I witnessed.

This was my first ever game, to celebrate my 9th birthday the next day. I got HoJo and Randy Myers' autographs before the game, and was sorely disappointed in the results. I still remember worrying that all games I'd see in my life would be this boring, just one run and the Mets shut out on three hits. If only I knew that the next 13 years and 75 games I'd see would all be unique in their own ways. But I'll always remember this one fondly.

When I look back at the career and life of Darryl Strawberry, the first thing that comes to my mind is dissapointment. The Mets are in my blood. I recall so many games and players it scares people. I fondly look back at the days of Straw, Carter, Keith, Doc, etc. However that fondness doesn't come without its fizzling feel of underachievement. I feel Straw epitomized the Mets underacheivement in the 1980's. On this day in 1989 during a season where the Mets dynasty and Darryl's life and potentially tremendous career were both unravelling, Darryl is called back from the clubhouse (he had gotten undressed after the Mets had falled behind 10-4, assuming a loss) after a Mets rally puts them within 4 runs with the bases loaded with two out. What I felt was the true beginning of the end of the greatest Mets era ever, Straw strikes out on 3 pitches, putting the Mets out of the race. When Straw went public not long ago and broke down in tears over his troubled life I too could not help but shed tears also. In a way I feel NY was awfully hard on him, too hard in fact. I also feel that he denied his raw talent which may never been seen in a Mets uniform again, by his inability to exorcise his personal demons. I'll always remember Straw for the great player he was, not the great person we wish he could have been.

I think this was the game that Davey Johnson and Darryl Strawberry went at it chest-to-chest in the Mets clubhouse.

Even though the NL East race was all but over and the game didn't mean a whole lot, still a memorable game. Gary Carter hit his last homer as a Met. Keith Miller hit his 1st homer of the 89 season and ran around the bases quicker than any player I've ever seen. It seemed like he was back in the dugout before the announcers finished their home run call.

Also, the first and only save of Gooden's Mets career came in this game, as he was giving the team some relief appearances to assure full health for the next spring training.

This game marked the end of an era: it was the final time Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter appeared in the starting lineup in the same game.

Sid Fernandez hit his only major league homer in this game. It came off the late Dan Quisenberry in the 8th or 9th inning.

Todd Zeile was catching for the Cardinals in this one. He talked about it with Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez on SNY's telecast of tonight's game, in which like El Sid, Zack Wheeler has also homered and struck out 10+ batters vs. the Phillies.

Gary Carter's last hurrah as a Met. 3 for 5 with 5 RBI. Those were his last runs batted in as a Mets player.

I remember that it was quite warm before the game and I wore shorts, but then around the 2nd inning a cold front blew into Shea and it became like 40 degrees. I also remember Gary getting all those hits. Gary doing well that day is one of the best memories I've ever had at Shea.

It was very warm at the beginning of the game, but quickly turned windy and very cold. They gave wool ski hats out for the promo, we didn't realize at the time we would need them so soon. It was my first date with my future wife, it took me years to get her to another game!

I cite this game as probably the worst game I attended in my youth.

The Mets were in the teeth of a pennant race with the Cubs and desperately needed to close this game out to keep pace.

David Cone kept the game close early, long enough for HRs by Elster and Strawberry (who had not had a hit in about a week, and was booed mercilessly throughout the game...until the HR) gave the Mets a 4-1 lead. It wa a 5-1 lead in the 9th.

This would be when the roof caved in.

With Myers on in the 9th, the Expos preceeded to chip away. Galarraga singled. Brooks dunked a hit. Wallach hit an RBI double. Grissom struck out. Fitzgerald slapped a 2-run single to make it 5-4.

At this point, the crowd was murderous. That was it for Myers. On came the Iguana man, Julio Machado.

He fared no better.

Raines pinch hit and walked. Wallace Johnson pinch hit and struck out. Otis Nixon, who had pinch-run for Fitzgerald, and Raines pulled off a double steal with Dave Martinez at the plate. He worked the count to 1-2, a few fouls, a few balls, the count full, the crowd on their feet.

Martinez then looped a dying quail into left. Mark Carreon was playing there that day. He came in...in...dove...

And missed it.

Nixon and Raines scored. 6-5 Expos.

The Mets would put 2 on in the last of the 9th, but ultimately fail.

1989 is an eminently forgettable year for the Mets, in my opinion. An ugly year where the team as a whole vastly underachieved. And this game is the lasting memory I have from that season. Close, but embarassingly far away.

This loss officially eliminated the Mets from playoff contenion for the 1989 season. Another year the Mets should have won!

Yes, the loss did eliminate the Mets from contention under the 2 division winner format but not the case if there were wild cards then. There would have a tight race for 2 spots between the Mets, Padres, Cardinals and Astros. Mets and Padres would have been the winners as the 2 best records of teams not to win division. 1989 NLDS would have been Mets vs Cubs and Giants vs Padres.

My first game at Shea. It was one of those nights when El Sid was "on". He threw a complete game shutout and only allowed three hits over the nine innings. On top of this, he ended up providing offense also! A wonderfully pitched game.

I remember it was tough to see Lenny Dykstra in Phillies pinstripes when we had Juan Samuel. . . it just seemed wrong. Funny - it still does.

A fun note about this game, Mark Carreon made a catch in left field where the ball bounced off his glove while it hit the top of the wall to take a homer away, and he caught it in the air on the way down. The 2nd time he made a catch exactly like that at Shea, as he did it in pretty much the same exact fashion in a game earlier in the summer.

The last home game of the 89 season, Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez pinch hit and get a standing O. I remember the line when Carter hit a double down the left field line and I liked the call Bob Murphy made: Gary Carter ripped it!

How about the fight between Roger McDowell and Gregg Jefferies after the last out. I never saw Darryl run as fast while playing in a game than he ran toward the mound that night, wearing a winter-like parka, I might add.

Another disappointing finish of the late '80s.

Was watching this game on Channel 9 and then all of a sudden all heck breaks loose when McDowell and Jefferies start to rumble. I'll never forget Roger's post-game comment: "Gregg's been through some tough times this season. There's been a lot of pressure on him and maybe it all got to him. I never disliked him, but I don't think we'll be exchanging Christmas cards this year."

Wow, this was actually my first ever Mets game that I had ever been to. Hard to believe that its been 14 years since that doubleheader at Three Rivers, but I am still a hardcore Mets fan till this day. I don't remember much about the games themselves, but I just remember being so thrilled that the Mets swept the doubleheader!!!

TCOR, you've come to the right place! Here's what happened in game one of the doubleheader:

Frank Viola pitched a seven-hitter, allowing two unearned runs, and the Mets came from a 2-0 deficit to win, 6-2. Kevin McReynolds opened the Mets scoring with his 21st homer, then Gregg Jefferies hit his 12th to tie it in the 5th. The Mets took the lead on an RBI groundout by HoJo. Another infield out scored run number four, and RBI singles by Dave Magadan and Juan Samuel in the 9th put it away. As for game two...please see my comments in that listing!

The Mets swept this doubleheader, but another disappointing season was coming to a close.

The defending Eastern Division Champions were poised to finish the 1980's with another championship, but the team never rose to the occasion. After the Mets fell out of first place right before Memorial Day, they never were able to get back to the top of the division. All summer long, the Mets, Cards, Expos, and Cubs were jockeying for position. The Mets looked like they were fading when they lost seven straight in late July, but they came back to within a game and a half of the Cubs by August 24th. But from that point on this group that should have had a lot more to show than one World Series ring and one Division half-pennant could only manage to split their final 36 games while the Cubs finished 22-13 in their last 35.

Anyway, enough editorial commenting: the second game of this doubleheader was a great performance by David Cone, who pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out ten. Howard Johnson hit a 3-run homer in the fourth inning to give the Mets a 4-0 lead in a game they eventually won, 7-0. The last two runs scored on a bases-loaded single by Tom O'Malley. The Mets did not allow an earned run in either game of this doubleheader and the bullpen got the whole night off.

Just watched this one on the old tape. El Sid finished the season well and the Mets won 4 games at Pittsburgh to finish...something they'd have A LOT of trouble doing the next few years unfortunately. 1989 was easily one of the weirdest years in team history. Everyone kept waiting for the Mets to pull away from the Cubs and Expos all through the season but they never could put together a long stretch of great baseball. Keith and Carter barely played and when they did they sadly contributed nothing. Their on-field production and leadership was sorely missed. Straw, while having a good season in general, had the worst season of his Mets career. The trade of McDowell and Dykstra for Juan Samuel proved to be one of the most ill-advised trades in team history. Gooden missed 2 months. In a strange way, 1989 really proved more than any other year just how much more talented the Mets were than other teams in that era. With the exception of HoJo's career year, almost NOTHING went right for them that year, and they still won 87 games basically in their sleep.