The expansion Rockies' first game. I was in the upper deck as a guest of some law firm. Gooden pitched a shutout and Bobby Bonilla went deep once, maybe twice. I'm not sure. We couldn't get a program, though. They sold out two hours before gametime.

The ninth of ten consecutive Opening Days that I personally attended from 1985-1994. Dwight Gooden pitched a gem besting the immortal #1 expansion draft pick David Nied.

This was the first game in Rockies' history. Eric Young was the first batter in their history. But no one claimed the first RBI in Rockies' history that day. Later that season the Mets shut out the Marlins in their first game against Florida. In 1997, the Mets shut out the Yankees and Blue Jays in their first matchups. And in 1998 the Mets blanked Tampa Bay the first time those two teams played.

That's five teams who were shut out by the Mets the first time they played them. I'll bet no other team can top that record.

Dante Bichette hits the 1st homer in Rockies history

I was at this game with my then five-year-old son.

Mike, it's hard to hit a homer when your team gets shut out! Bichette's home run actually came in the next game, April 7, in the 7th inning off Bret Saberhagen.

Sat in the upper deck for this one, the first regular season game for the Rockies. They had a moment of silence for Steve Olin & Tim Crews of the Indians who had been killed in the boating accident that injured Bobby Ojeda; I think ex- Jets DE Dennis Byrd threw out the first pitch. (He was injured the previous November with a neck injury that ended his career.) I also remember that there were no programs on sale at all because they were gone, although I did request one by mail which I got a month later! And who was the starting catcher for the Rockies? Current Marlins manager Joe Geraldi.

On the this bright and sunny Rockie innaugural game day, Doc Gooden was truly outstanding. We were there early enough to get programs, as well as pendants welcoming the Rockies to the NL.

I was at the game in the Upper Reserves behind home plate, Section 2, Row M. I had gotten there early to get two programs- one to keep score and one to save. Remember a fan sitting next to me saying I wasn't going to be leaving Shea with both programs if there was a Mets no-hitter. With the Mets history, thank God that never happened as Andres Galarraga got the first Rockie hit in their history! The Rockies needed 4 more days to get their first regular season victory!

My only opening day in 55 years of watching baseball. Dwight is lights out, shut out. Went with my buddy Rick. Had a blast - except - NO ROCKIES METS FIRST GAME SCORECARDS. They "fell off the truck!" Right! Then went to NYC and watched the Whalers beat the Rangers 5-4!

Watching this game back, I caught a glimpse of the flags flying at half staff and wondered why, so thanks for clearing that up, Shickhaus Franks. And thanks for flushing flash for that great trivia, and everyone else for your memories. I watched a weird version where the game was broadcast on ESPN, but was dubbed over by the Rockies announcers and replayed for the Colorado audience that night. Duane Kuiper was a founding member of the club's broadcast team -- he's the Giants announcer who has that patented "it..is..OUTTA HERE" home run call. He broadcast for SF from 1986-92, joined Colorado for their inaugural season, then went back to SF in 1994 and has been there ever since.

They said this game was a sellout but I still saw lots of empty seats on TV. I also don't think Dennis Byrd threw out the first pitch, the broadcast I watched had former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent and NYC mayor David Dinkins do the honor, and both were greeted with a round of boos. Coleman also got booed when he struck out in his first AB, as did Bonilla when he popped out behind the plate with 2 runners on in the first. But I didn't hear much more boos as the defense looked strong (Bonilla, Kent and Orsulak all made nice plays) and Gooden had little trouble, save for loading the bases with 2 outs in the third and letting a runner advance to third with 2 outs in the ninth. Of his 8 career Opening Day starts, this was likely his best.

Bonilla hit a home run that was just fair and just barely over the fence. That followed his 2-homer performance from the previous year's Opening Day win. In his 4 Opening Day starts for the Mets from 1992-95, he hit .381 (8-for-21) with 6 RBI. He was also allegedly down 30 pounds from the previous year, and he looked quite lean and fit. Eddie Murray also stole a base, which I thought was quite rare. He'd only steal 2 bases all year, his second not coming until September 25!

Good to see the Mets pin the L on David Nied. He was the same guy who made his ML debut vs. the Mets the previous year by tossing 7 innings of 1-run ball while still with Atlanta. That was the same game Coleman decided to get into a shoving match with Jeff Torborg while on the field. The Rockies' lineup actually didn't look half bad (for an expansion team), but their pitching would be horrid, finishing the season with a 5.41 team ERA -- almost a full run worse than the second-worst team, Pittsburgh (4.77).

Overall, a nice way to start what was an otherwise crappy season.

I was at this season opener and, besides Gooden's shutout, remembered two things about it. Just four months after his horrifying injury on the football field, the Jets' Dennis Byrd was on hand with his wife Angela for a pre-game ceremony. Byrd didn't throw out the first pitch, but he was presented with a picture frame of a special Mets jersey with his name and number 90 on it.

My other memory was the crazy situation with program sales. This was the first game in Colorado Rockies history and the sports collectibles business was booming. People were buying up the game day magazines in huge bunches for the purpose of selling them as limited-edition souvenirs. I saw one guy who purchased one hundred of them and a few others who bought at least fifty or more! Meanwhile, there were many among the Shea Stadium faithful who complained about not being able to get a scorecard because there were none left. This was a case of actual baseball fans being victimized by a certain kind of corporate greed. I found it very sad.

I was at this one. It was so early in the season, and things looked promising at this juncture. Saberhagen dominated the expansion Rockies and everyone chipped in on offense. Little did Met fans know we were mere months away from golfing accidents in the clubhouse, bleach spraying, tossed firecrackers, and being shown "The Bronx."

The Rockies, who had not yet played a regular season game at batter-friendly Coors Field, came into Shea for a season-opening two game series, and managed a total of one run and six hits in 18 innings.

I was at this game as well. It was a weekday day game and recall the weather was very nice. I believe fans received an "Inaugural Series" pin. We sat in the company box seats, and still remember the section, 92K.

The Mets make easy work of the Rockies to win the first two games of the year... quite possibly the only thing that went easy for the team in 1993. Saberhagen was on point and very economical with his pitches, needing just 89 to navigate 8 innings. I found it to really be something that he only struck out 1 over his 8 innings -- the last Mets pitcher to go at least 8 innings with no more than 1 K was Bartolo Colon in 2014. Saberhagen was also toying with a no-hitter until pinch-hitter Jim Tatum singled in the 6th.

After making some really nice defensive plays in the opener, Bonilla flat out dropped a fly ball in the first inning, though the wind may have been a contributing factor. Still, he took his time getting the ball back into the infield, which allowed Dante Bichette to get all the way to the third base. Bonilla was rightly booed for the blunder, but he seemed to take it in stride when he acknowledged the crowd after they mockingly cheered for him making a routine catch later in the game. Speaking of bad defense, Tony Fernandez committed 2 errors in the game, the first multi-error game by the 4-time Gold Glover since 1988. Watching these games back, announcers fawned over this guy and were certain he'd be the reason the Mets bounced back in 1993, and they couldn't have been more wrong. Meanwhile, Bichette entered the record books as the first Rockies player to score a run and hit a homer when he connected for a no-doubter in the 7th.

During the broadcast, the crew brought up Ron Hunt's record of 50 HBPs in 1971. That just boggles my mind. For comparison's sake, Mark Canha just set the Mets record in 2022 with 28 HBPs. He was barely halfway to the record! Meanwhile, what WWOR telecast wouldn't be complete without a Kinerism. When talking about Vince Coleman, he said the outfielder took up "taekwondu" over the offseason. I guess for him that's a pretty mild gaffe, but I still got a chuckle out of it.

I remember thinking that the Mets could gain the lead in the NL East with a win that night. If only I knew what was in store for them that year.

The first time the Mets ever played on Good Friday at Shea and this was one of their many losses in a horrible season.

Frank Tanana's 1st start in his one season as a Met. He pitched great on this afternoon nationally televised game and won his first ever National League game. After this win, the Mets were 6-4 and actually playing pretty decent baseball. Little did anyone know what the rest of the year had in store.

This turned out to be the very last time during the 93 season that anyone could have had any hope. Frank Tanana pitched great, Bonilla had one of his best games as a Met with 2 homers and 5 RBI and the Mets climbed back over the .500 mark at 8-7.

Amazingly, this same team would proceed to go 13-45 over the next 2 months, playing unspeakably bad baseball in every single possible way.

Boy do I remember this game! I took a group of preteen aged kids from my church. We sat in the upper deck and the stands were empty for a late April Saturday afternoon game. The kids knew I was a die hard Met fan (I found out many of them were Yankee fans but just wanted to go to a game) so they started cheering "Let's go Padres" just to bust my chops. Needless to say many fans in our area gave me the finger, yelled words to me I am not allowed to print on this website. I acted like I never saw those kids before. It would have been great if the Mets pulled it out. Anyway, that was my last time bringing the kids to any game. I gave them a nice lecture on the bus ride home.

I have been a Dodger fan for 15 years now and I have gone to Shea to see many Met and Dodger games, but this one was one I always remember for some reason. It was the first game that Mike Piazza ever played at Shea and he hit a homer of Doc Gooden. Other than that we only had one other hit but Orel Hershiser pitched a complete game that was a gem.

Like I said for some reason I remeber this game well. Maybe because we were only a .500 team that year and nothing really exciting in the standings happened for us, with the exception of Piazza getting the rookie of the year. And by the way I did get Pedro's autograph. That's right as a rookie pitcher for us. I have it on the stub to this day.

But for me it was just a great day to remember as a fan and the good old days before all my friends got married and playing hooky from work. A great personal Dodger Met memory for myself. Plus hey I root for you guys all the time except of course when you play us.

Frank Tanana was having a great day until the eighth inning of this game. From the first to the seventh, he was pitching a shutout and had singled to drive home the Mets only two runs. This was both the first hit and first RBIs ever for the 39-year-old Tanana, who had spent the previous twenty years in the DH-plagued American League. Then, a pair of singles to start the eighth got Frank lifted and the Giants eventually won it in the ninth. Such was life for the Mets in '93, their worst season ever!

This was the first of 10 walkoff losses the Mets suffered in 1993. They intentionally walked a slumping Will Clark (although he did have 2 hits in this game) to pitch to Williams with 2 out in the 9th, but with Franco hurt and no other trustworthy lefties on the team, Torborg really didn’t have any better options.

When they walked Clark, Rusty Staub talked about how baseball could skip the 4 pitches and just let the batter go to first if they were looking for ways to speed up the game. He was quite ahead of his time, as MLB finally adopted his idea in 2017.

Ramon Martinez started this game for the Dodgers, but the winning pitcher, thanks to a two-run single by Tim Wallach in the bottom of the eighth, was Ramon's brother Pedro.

This was Pedro Martinez' first major league victory. Pedro was a reliever in his time with the Dodgers, appearing in 67 games and starting just three of them. It wasn't until 1994--after being traded to the Expos for Delino DeShields-- that he became a starter.

The Dodger catcher in this game was Mike Piazza. Both Mike and Pedro came up to the Dodgers in September of 1992.

This was the last shutout Gooden ever pitched for the Mets.

Attended this second game of the then new Florida Marlins first ever series against the Mets with my dad, oldest sister, and her then boyfriend. They were giving out pins for the series. The Mets lost this game; they lost every game I attended in 1993. I remember how much of a joke it was that even the expansion Marlins had been ahead of them. I still have my pin.

In the middle innings of this game, Tim Bogar booted then threw away a routine double play grounder, sending Marlins runners rounding the bases and sending the crowd into a chorus of boos. You could even hear the disgust in the voices of McCarver and Kiner on the broadcast at that point. Nothing was working at this point in the season for the Mets, and Torborg would lose his job a little more than a week later

Todd Hundley grounded into a triple play 4-6-3-6 in the fifth inning in this Met loss.

Watched this one very recently. A well played game on both sides. Bobby Bonilla hit a bomb that was out of the park in a second. Then with 2 outs in the 9th, Todd Hundley hit a game tying homer. Finally in the 12th, the Expos squeaked out a win off Anthony Young, giving him another loss (though as was often the case, it wasn't totally his fault). A tough loss in what was probably the worst few months of baseball in modern (Post 1960's) Mets history.

This was my first trip to Shea Stadium. I sat right on the field parallel with 1st base with my dad. Future Met Jay Bell homered off Doc Gooden, but the sour loss was sweetened when a cop arrested two guys trying to get on the field to give back a foul ball. The cop gave me the ball! Not bad for my 1st game.

One of the forgotten, weirder games in team history. Before the game, it basically came out unofficially that the Mets would fire Jeff Torborg. All through the game, the broadcast would make references to Torborg potentially losing his job after the game, and then during the game, the Mets announced that they would have a press conference once the contest was complete....which made it clear as day that Torborg was gone. So we had a manager in the dugout who was basically fired, but still managing. Naturally, the Mets would pick this night to have possibly their most unlikely win of the season, scoring 3 in the 9th to tie and then Bonilla hit the game winning homer in the 10th. Once the game was over, the cameras even caught the umpires shaking Torborg's hands as he walked off the field, seemingly everyone knew he was fired. Truly a weird night at Shea.

The Mets lose to Atlanta in Dallas Green's first game as manager. The Mets were 13-25 (.342) under Jeff Torborg this season and they compiled an 85- 115 record under Torborg in 200 games.

The Mets went 46-78 (.371) under Green for the rest of 1993 and finished the year with 103 losses.

I was invited to this game last minute by two friends of mine. We sat in the upper deck. It was only memorable because of Dwight Gooden's good pitching and GREAT hitting that day. He went 3-3 with a home run to left field. A good shot, too!

Despite all the games I've been to, it remains to this day the only game I've attended live and seen a pitcher hit a home run.

As Anthony stated in his entry on this game, Dwight Gooden excelled both on the mound and at the plate. He pitched eight solid innings with the only Braves run coming on a homer by David Justice. Meanwhile, Dwight had three RBIs with a solo homer and a two-run single. Vince Coleman and Jeff Kent also went deep for the Mets as well.

Gooden's home run was the sixth of his career, tying him with Tom Seaver for the most ever by a Mets pitcher. Dwight would slug his seventh homer forty days later to set a new club mark.

Good well-pitched game. Dave Magadan almost tied the game in the 9th inning but Atlanta's center fielder slid and made a game-saving catch for the Braves. Miss going to Shea, hope to go to Citi Field soon.

My major takeaway from watching this game was being amazed at how many scrubs had career years for the Phillies in 1993, which ultimately helped them get to the World Series. This game encapsulated that idea perfectly. Tommy Greene, in the middle of a 16-4 season, goes the distance to pick up his third of what will be 5 straight complete games. After the season, he only won 2 more games the rest of his career. Pete Incaviglia belts 2 home runs, bringing his total to 5 in his last 5 games. He hits .274 in 1993 and ties for the Philly lead with 24 homers as a part time player. He hits .233 with just 36 HRs the rest of his career. Dave Hollins also hit a 3-run homer and made the All-Star team the only time of his career in 1993. It's just crazy how many bad-to-mediocre players performed so well for Philadelphia this year.

Dallas Green, in just his fourth game managing the Mets, gets the same level of productivity out of his squad as his predecessor. They scratch out just 5 hits and go 0-for-10 to end the game. This was my first time watching Tanana on the hill for NY. He reminded me of what Rich Hill is today: a crafty, soft-tossing lefty who may fool an opponent one time through a lineup but is bound to get beat up if left out there much longer. Of interesting note, while watching this game I learned Tanana's catcher during his big-league debut in 1973 was none other than his former manager, Jeff Torborg.

This game also represented the 5,000th in Mets history. Fittingly, the Mets lost all their other previous 1,000-game milestones as well.

Perhaps the most improbable win of the 1993 season for the Mets. Dominated by Danny Jackson all game and losing 4-1 entering the 9th, Bonilla led off with a single that chased Jackson and brought in closer Mitch Williams. "Wild Thing" didn't help much, though. After HoJo popped out, Kent singled and Fernandez walked to load the bases. Gallagher, who homered in the 3rd for the only Mets run so far, followed with a 2-run single, making it 4-3 and forcing Philly to take out Williams and bring in former Met David West. West induced a double play grounder from pinch-hitter Chico Walker, but shortstop Juan Bell booted it for his second error of the game, reloading the bases for Coleman. Vince hit a check-swing liner to first that also could have been a double play but Kruk dropped the ball, though he was still able to get Fernandez out on a force play at home.

So with the bases loaded and 2 out, up comes Charlie O'Brien, who was starting just his second game ever in the #2 hole. With 2 strikes O'Brien did the miraculous, lining a double down the left field line to score 2, though Coleman was thrown out at home as he neglected to slide and just accepted getting tagged out. Now up 5-4, the Mets turned to Jeff Innis to preserve the win as Franco was used in the 8th and pinch-hit for in the 9th. But Innis got the job done, getting two ground outs and Dykstra to fly out to end the game. It's his first save of the season and third of his career. The previous inning Philly fans were marching around the stadium with brooms anticipating the series sweep, but it turned out their celebrations were a bit premature.

It was odd that this game featured 7 different pitchers, and all but 1 was left-handed. The 6-foot-10 Eric Hillman -- the tallest LHP in Mets history -- wiggled out of serious trouble a few times. In the 3rd, his own throwing error allowed 2 runs to score, but then Duncan, Kruk and Hollins all hit laserbeams for outs to limit the damage. In the 5th, Hillman loaded the bases with 2 out and Hollins hit a grounder to SS that Fernandez got Kruk out on a force at second but replays showed Kruk was safe. That erased at least 1 more run for the Phillies.

After the game, Juan Bell was waived by the Phillies, likely a direct result of his 2 errors in this game and overall .200 batting average. He was booed relentlessly by Philly fans (perhaps deservedly so), and when he was claimed off waivers by the Brewers he was asked how he felt about the fans in Philly, to which he replied, "What fans?" Ouch. Unfortunately, Bell died in 2016 from kidney failure at the tender age of 48.

Paul Gibson got the only win of his Mets career on this one, although I can't imagine more than a handful of Mets or Cubs fans saw this one. It was Memorial Day and this game was on at the same time as the huge Knicks-Bulls game in the NBA.

Nevertheless, the Mets have a rare road win in the 93 season.

I remember going to this game with my brother and my cousin. My uncle had tickets in the first row behind the camera guys on the first base side. This was probably one of the last dominant games Doc Gooden pitched for the Mets. Since I was a kid then, all I remember was standing up for the last strike of the game and Gooden struck him out looking to end the game.

On a side note we saw Bill Murray at the game and he signed my Mets cap.

Good for you, Eric! Murray was shown on the Cubs telecast looking incognito, so kudos for finding him in the crowd. Indeed, Gooden was nearing the end of his Mets brilliance, but he still had a few more gems left in the tank before it was all over. This game marked his final time starting against the Cubs at Shea. In those 17 starts, Doc went 15-1.

Just five days prior, he and Frank Castillo had faced off in Chicago with very similar results. In that game, Castillo allowed 7 runs in 3.2 innings as the Mets won, 11-3. Here he only lasted an inning and a third, throwing just 28 pitches before getting the hook. New York began the 2nd inning with six straight singles, and after a Gooden sac bunt, Coleman also singled to knock Castillo out. All told, the Mets tallied 12 hits in the game, all singles!

It looked ugly in the early going, however, as Kent committed errors on back-to-back plays (a la Gregg Jefferies) in the first, and then Gooden plunked Steve Buechele on an 0-2 pitch. Thankfully, catcher Rick Wilkins grounded out weakly to end the threat. Kent's defensive woes were becoming quite problematic at this time and I'm kinda surprised the Mets kept him at 2B for so long. Quilvio Veras had been tearing up the minor leagues for years at this point and could have easily been the new Mets second baseman by 1994. And with Eddie Murray being a free agent at season's end, Kent could have moved over to 1B. That would have been my plan of action, anyway.

Meantime, watching this broadcast was the first time I've ever heard of Tony Fernandez's kidney stone problems, which definitely explains why he performed so poorly in early 1993. He was batting .360 since the beginning of June through this game, so it looked like his woes were behind him... but unfortunately by this point the Mets were so far behind in the pennant race that Fernandez, who was a free agent at the end of the season, was more valuable as trade bait, and he'd be dealt to Toronto in just 4 days time. He'd hit .306 the rest of the year for the Jays, helping them win a second straight World Series. It was the second year in a row the Mets handed the Blue Jays a player that helped them win a championship, after David Cone in 1992.

They also talked about the Foreman vs. Morrison fight on the WGN telecast, which was to take place that night. The 24-year-old Morrison, who starred in Rocky V four years earlier, beat the 44-year-old Foreman in a unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO heavyweight championship. He lost it later in the year to Michael Bentt, and lost his life to AIDS in 2013. He was 44.

This is the Mets second straight painful loss. After blowing a 5-run lead the night before, here the Mets can't hold a 2-run lead. A Kim Batiste home run ties the game in the 8th, and Franco implodes trying to keep things tied in the 9th, with some bad defense as assistance.

Schourek was pitching a gem, actually perfect through 4.2 innings until Wes Chamberlain clobbered a home run. Despite losing the lead in the top of the 8th, Dallas Green opted to let Schourek hit in the bottom of the frame with 1 out instead of going to a pinch hitter (Jeff Kent was available). But then, after Schourek allowed Dykstra to lead off the 9th with a single, Green quickly yanked his pitcher in lieu of Franco. If he was on that short of a leash, why let him hit in the 8th? Those decisions made absolutely no sense. Perhaps Green went to the same bullpen mismanagement school as Buddy Harrelson.

Anyway, Mariano Duncan sacrificed Dykstra to second and Kruk grounded out to move Lenny to third with 2 down. But then Franco doomed himself by walking Darren Daulton, who was 0-for-10 lifetime vs. Franco at that point, on 4 pitches. Lefty masher Pete Incaviglia was next, who grounded what could have been the final out of the inning to third, but Chico Walker (starting in place of Howard Johnson) mishandled the ball and threw late to first, allowing the go-ahead run to score. A walk to Chamberlain brought up Batiste, who came through again by lining a 2-run single into left to put the icing on the cake. To my eyes, Batiste looked like a really good prospect at the time and his playing style and body type reminded me a lot of former Met Juan Uribe.

With Tony Fernandez traded earlier in the day, HoJo sick and Kent benched for a third straight game due to both hitting and fielding struggles, it left the Mets with an infield of Walker, Bogar and McKnight. Gross.

This may have been way before Curt Schilling reached his peak, but he was already fully dominant vs. the Mets, as this was his fourth straight complete game he threw against them. Meanwhile, though Schourek really struggled in 1993, this was definitely one of his better performances. Still, this marked his fourth straight start taking a loss.

The Phillies broadcast had this trivia question during the game: Who were the 6 Mets managers to also play for the team? In order, they were Gil Hodges, Yogi Berra, Roy McMillan, Joe Torre, Bud Harrelson and Dallas Green. However, they forgot one: Mike Cubbage, who played for the Mets in 1981 and managed them for 7 games after Harrelson was fired in 1991. Can you name the 2 others who've joined the club since 1993?

Dave VW, the answer to the question at the end of your previous entry is Bobby Valentine and Willie Randolph. But why are you writing about so many Mets games from the early 1990s when the team was so unenjoyable to watch? Seems kind of depressing to me.

Correct you are, NYB Buff. I guess my reasoning for watching and reviewing these games is threefold:

1. I'm a glutton for punishment, apparently. 2. During the early 1990s I was a preteen, and so I don't remember very much from this era. I'm mostly eager to learn how it all went so wrong. 3. It'll make watching and reviewing the successful years of the late 90s and early 2000s that much sweeter in comparison.

This game can be viewed as the first after the Mets decided to pull the plug on the 1993 season. The previous day, the team traded Tony Fernandez to Toronto for Darrin Jackson. In other moves, they released Paul Gibson (for the second time, this time for good) and called up Dave Telgheder, traded Wayne Housie for future setup man Josias Manzanillo, and placed Howard Johnson on the disabled list with “acute viral syndrome” (another way of saying, "he's so bad let's make something up to get him off the roster") and called up Doug Saunders. All these moves meant many on-the-field changes, which included Jeff Kent starting his first game at 3B for the Mets, Jeff McKnight taking over 2B, and Jackson getting the start in CF.

Trading Fernandez made plenty of sense, but I'm not sure what the Mets saw in Jackson. He had some decent but blemished seasons in San Diego, hitting for good power but doing little else. And he wasn't hitting at all for the Blue Jays. On top of that, the Mets already had Bonilla, Coleman, Orsulak and Gallagher having good years in the outfield, plus Ryan Thompson and Jeromy Burnitz waiting in the wings. What did they need another OF for? Even with Fernandez's struggles, I find it hard to believe the Mets couldn't have at least gotten a low-level prospect or two for him instead of this bum. Quite fittingly, Jackson made the last out in this game, while Fernandez went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple in his first game for Toronto, and hit safely in 13 of his first 14 games with his new team.

Despite going 0-for-2, Gooden finished the game with a .282 average, which was the highest in the lineup. Eddie Murray's .268 was the next highest. Pretty sad. Believe it or not, the Mets and Phillies were actually the last two teams in the NL not to get shutout in 1993. Obviously, the Mets' streak ended here, while the Phillies went all the way until their 4th-to-last game of the season until they were finally goose egged. Gooden also pitched well but was doomed by a couple of 2-out rallies: in the 3rd when Dykstra stole second and scored on a Mariano Duncan single, and in the 4th when he hit Milt Thompson on an 0-2 pitch and Kim Batiste and Mickey Morandini followed with RBI extra-base hits. Philly starting pitcher Danny Jackson continued his brilliance vs. NY, recording his first shutout since 1988 (though he did record the dreaded golden sombrero by striking out 4 times in the game). Jackson held an impressive 2.22 ERA in 18 career starts against the Mets, though somehow he only went 6-6.

Along with Darrin Jackson, the aforementioned Telgheder also made his Mets debut in this game pitching the 9th inning. He looked great, striking out his first two batters and then getting Dykstra to foul out on a play I have no idea how Coleman made. Pulling his head away as he neared the stands, Coleman just stuck his glove out and somehow made a backhanded, no-look catch that you have to see to believe. But he also dropped Batiste's RBI double earlier in the game, so you always get the good with the bad when it came to Vince Coleman.

Along with the regular game on this day, this was also Old Timers Day at Shea, as the '73 Mets and '73 A's were introduced and played a few innings, unfortunately to a crowd that you could count on only a couple of hands.

Sadly, by the time the 90's came around, this day had lost all its luster and was attended by only hundreds of fans.

Anthony Young took his 21st consecutive loss in this game, putting him two away from tying the ML record. He left the game with the Mets trailing 3-1, and the team made it 3-2 on a Jeff Kent homer in the 7th, but Jeff Innis uncharacteristically gave up back-to-back home runs to right-handed hitters in the 8th to spoil any chance of Young ending his streak.

The Phillies were almost trying to give this game away, with #5 starter Ben Rivera on the mound and Kruk, Daulton, and Hollins all out of the lineup. But the Mets would not be denied their losses in 1993, and this one put the cap on the Phillies' first four-game sweep at Shea Stadium since 1980.

Doug Saunders made his major-league debut, starting at 2B and batting second. He singled in his first AB -- on the first pitch, no less -- and went 2-for-4, but also committed what I thought should have been an error on a Pete Incaviglia grounder in the second. Incaviglia ended up scoring on a Kim Batiste single later in the inning. Saunders really had no business being in the majors but with HoJo out, Fernandez traded and no one else stepping up, the Mets gave him a shot. Maybe the only real highlight for the Mets in this game was Eddie Murray collecting his 1,595th career RBI, tying him with Mike Schmidt for 23rd all-time (at the time). The Philly broadcast team made a big deal about how Baltimore already had retired his number 33 -- which was odd considering Murray was still an active player. But it must have been in an unofficial capacity because everything I can find shows his number wasn't retired until 1998.

The Mets attempted a 9th inning rally, as Kent doubled off Dykstra's glove to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out against closer Mitch Williams -- who blew a devastating save against the Mets less than a month earlier. After a Hundley pop out, Bogar singled to get the Mets within 2. With Charlie O'Brien and Vince Coleman left on the bench, Dallas Green opted for O'Brien, which I found quite telling how highly the Mets thought of Coleman. Unfortunately, Charlie flew out to Dykstra to end the game, making the Mets losers of 6 in a row and 10 of their first 12 games in June.

Tom Glavine threw a complete game six-hitter to win this game for the Braves. He did not walk or strike out anyone, and threw just 79 pitches in nine innings.

The one Met run came on Darrin Jackson's only home run as a Met.

This was such a typical Tom Glavine mid-1990s performance. He was completely hittable but he had line drives hit right at people, somehow maneuvering through a 79-pitch complete game with no walks or strikeouts by taking advantage of a team that put the first pitch of an at-bat into play 13 times (10 if you don't count sacrifice bunts). No Met had an at-bat lasting over 5 pitches the whole game. According to my research on baseball reference, it's the fewest pitches in a 9-inning complete game ever against the Mets...though accurate pitch counts weren't consistently kept track of until the 1990s, so who really knows. But, only three pitchers have managed to pull off a no-walk, no-strikeout, 9-inning complete game since Glavine: Pedro Astacio in 1994, Joel Pineiro in 2006, and Rick Porcello in 2014. So yeah, it's pretty rare.

As Bob wrote, Darrin Jackson was the only batter to hang a run on Glavine with his lone Met home run. Meanwhile, Saberhagen had a dandy of a game himself, as he only allowed a Sid Bream homer during his 8 innings. The Mets just missed handing him the lead in the top of the 8th, too. Saberhagen himself led off with a single and moved to 2nd on a sac bunt by Coleman. Doug Saunders, playing in just his third career major league game, seemed to give himself up rather than going for the go-ahead hit, as he tapped out weakly to 2B in order to move Saberhagen to third. Murray, up next, worked the count to 2-0 before jumping all over a pitch that landed just a couple feet foul down the left field line. So close! A few pitches later, he flew out to left and that was that.

In the bottom of the 9th, Saberhagen had reached 100 pitches and came out in favor of Eric Hillman, making his second-to-last relief appearance of the season. Jeff Blauser greeted him with a lead-off infield single and was sacrificed to 2nd by Pendleton. Justice then pounded a grounder to first which Murray knocked down but the ball bounced too far away from him to get the out. Even if he fielded it cleanly, I don't think he or Hillman were going to beat Justice to the bag anyway. Here's when I start to question Dallas Green's strategy. Right-hand hitting Ron Gant up next and a double play away from getting out of the inning, he could have intentionally walked Gant to load the bases and face Sid Bream lefty-on-lefty, which the Braves would have countered by going with a righty off the bench. At which point, the Mets could have turned to a righty out of the pen, like Innis or Maddux, and gotten the better matchup. Perhaps the Braves would have pinch hit again and gone with Otis Nixon or some other lefty, but I'd at least force the Braves to have to react to my moves. Or perhaps just bring in a righty to face Gant and take your chances. Instead, Green brings in Franco to intentionally walk Gant (I never like bringing in a pitcher who is then asked to intentionally walk his first batter -- let the pitcher being taken out do that!), and the Braves do what you expect and pinch hit with Hunter for Bream, getting the righty-vs.-lefty matchup. Working the count full, Hunter hits a flyball to center that scores the winning run. Maybe Jackson had a chance to get him out at home, but we'll never know because for some unknown reason Murray cut the ball off near the mound. Who knows why, but it probably didn't matter anyway.

I looked at Franco's numbers in June. He had no saves, two blown saves, and the Mets lost 6 of the 8 games he appeared in. Simply awful.

The Mets lose for the 12th time in their last 13 games, suffering yet another walkoff loss. With a 2-1 lead entering the 9th, Dallas Green opted to stick with Saberhagen instead of going to closer John Franco. But Sabes naturally got into trouble, as Al Martin (who homered earlier) and Orlando Merced hit back-to-back singles to begin the bottom of the 9th. That's when Franco was finally summoned, but we already knew what was inevitable. A sac bunt put runners on 2nd and 3rd, and the Mets intentionally walked Jeff King to load the bases. Hoping for a strikeout or ground ball, Franco instead walked Kevin Young to force in the tying run. Don Slaught, pinch-hitting for starting catcher Tom Prince, then delivered a single to center to walk it off as the Pirates complete the 4-game sweep.

After watching this game on television, I started to think that Dave Telgheder was going to provide some hope for the Mets. He pitched fairly well for five innings and got the win in his first major league start. Dave even hit a double in his first time at bat. Telgheder ended up with a record of six wins and two losses in 1993 to become the only Mets pitcher with a winning percentage above the .500 mark that season. Unfortunately, he didn't last much longer with the team.

I really don't have anything to say that's pertinent to this game, though I was at it. I just wanted to sum up the 1993 Mets in one sentence: Worst Team Ever!

I remember I was in fourth grade and skipped school with my best friend to go to this game with my dad. I was trying to get my best friend into baseball, but NO WAY was I able to. He had a perfect school attendance going, only to be ruined by going to this game. The Mets were one pathetic team in 1993, but that did not stop my wanting to watch the games being just 10-years old. We went with my dad and my mom would later meet us there. It was not an awful game, they only lost by a run. I guess that was good by the 1993 Met's standards.

This was the game in which Anthony Young broke the record for most consecutive losses without a win. I sat in section 33 of the Loge, right next to the Mets bullpen.

In addition to Anthony Young's record breaking loss, this was also the "low water" mark for the 1993 Mets in winning percentage. After this game, they were on pace for 116 losses, and having a season not to be dreamt of in anyone's worst nightmare.

After this game, the team would still be terrible, but they did play some resemblence of major league quality every once in a rare while, finishing with "only" 103 losses, and needed to win their last 6 in a row to even do that. Yikes.

This was the game made famous by This Week in Baseball, when the Marlins grounds crew, could not get the tarp on the field as it was down pouring in Florida. Tim McCarver and Ralph Kiner could not stop laughing and making jokes about it for about 10 minutes. By the time they got the field covered, it had stopped raining. Truly one of the highlights of the 1993 season as even the Mets were laughing in the dugout.

This was the first time the Mets won consecutive games in over two months!

To add to what Jon Victor said in May 2003: the Mets won this game 7-1 behind some good performances from Bret Saberhagen, Vince Coleman, Eddie Murray, and Joe Orsulak.

This was the first Mets two-game winning streak since April 16 and 17!

Consider just how bad things had been: even with this two-game winning streak to end the month, the Mets finished June 6-21! During their two homestands in June they were 2-11. The end of one of the worst months in Mets history.

Watched this one recently....The last homer for Gooden was his furthest. He hit an absolute bomb to left field in this one, almost reaching the upper deck in Florida. Despite the loss, a momentary nice highlight in a season with few of them.

Went to this game with my family and our best friends. The fireworks show afterwords was incredible and it was a great come-from-behind win for the Mets. I still remember seeing my sister's name on the scoreboard for her birthday. (She was 9 years old then, shes 27 now.)

HoJo's last Shea homer in the 9th inning was not enough as the Mets lost to San Fran on the 4th of July.

Anthony Young, desperate for a win to stop his consecutive wins streak, retired something like 20 straight batters until Kevin Higgins singled with 2 outs in the 8th, and then Archi Cianfrocco hit a 2-run homer for the only 2 runs of the game.

That summer it was extremely hot and that day the air conditioning wasn't working at the office so we were all sent home rather than stew in our own juices and smell the "aroma" of everyone else "stewing." So I watched this game that afternoon on TV. Like everyone, I was hoping that AY would break the streak, if not, at least not lose.

Well this game, he was Seaver, Clemens, Carlton, Greg Maddux and Nolan Ryan all rolled into one. However so was the pitcher for the Padres that game and the over-achieving AY was being betrayed by his under-achieving offense. The announcers were on the edge of their seats, the fans were on the edge of their seats, I was on the edge of my seat. Then that fateful 8th inning came upon.

When Cianfrocco hit that home run, it was one of the few times I saw Bobby Bonilla put an effort into something by practically scaling the wall to try to catch the ball but no luck and pounded his glove against the wall out of disgust and Dallas Green came out to the mound and was consoling AY like he was a little boy whose dog just died. You could hear a cumultive gasp from the announcers, crowd, and me as well. I give AY all the credit in the world; he acted like a true professional during "the streak."

They even tracked down the great great grand niece of the guy (she was about 8 at the time) and she asked AY to win a game so her great great grand uncle can keep his record. Weird.

Watched this one recently, and Anthony Young truly did pitch a gem. The Padres couldn't touch him all day until the homer in the 8th. Bonilla did all he could to try and climb the wall and you could see the pain he had in his face when he missed it. As embarrassing as the 1993 season was, this game was truly one of the few times where you honestly just felt terribly bad for the guys, especially Young, Bonilla, Dallas Green, etc. He pitched his heart out this afternoon and deserved better.

As you all know, 1993 was a very forgetable season. However this game was one of the few and I do mean FEW good things that happened that year. This was the nightcap of a doubleheader during a really nasty heat wave that hit the mertopolitan area. Game time temperature for the opening game was 98 and by the time the nightcap ended, it had cooled to a breezy 92.

Of course the Mets lost the opener to a Dodger team that featured 2 upcoming players named Pedro Martinez and Mike Piazza. ln the night cap (this game) the Mets took an early 3-0 lead and looked like were going to salvage a split. Of course the Mets blew it and the game went into extra innings. Partially because said Pedro Martinez held the Mets scoreless for the last 2 innings of regulation.

They almost blew it in the l0th but were able to keep Brett Butler stranded at 3rd. Then in the bottom of the l0th, the Mets were threatening when Bobby Bonilla stepped up with 2 on. Everyone was cheering for a hit, because it would bring in the winning run. He got a hit alright, the hit resonated throughout Shea and hit the top of the cup of Budweiser on the sign on the big scoreboard in right-centerfield.

To this day, I can still hear the sound of Bobby Bo hitting the ball. It was one of his few, and I do mean FEW highlights as a Met. Suddenly all of us Met fans who braved the heat through both games went home feeling pretty cool.

Entertaining game I went to with my dad. Lots of offense. We scored 5 in the first inning. My dad and I chanted our famous saying "homeboys don't quit"

A well played game on ESPN Sunday night baseball, which was probably a good thing because it was during a heatwave in NYC and the night at Shea was already hot enough it seemed.

Doc pitched wonderfully, minus a homer to Eric Davis, but the Mets offense couldn't get anything going in front of a decent crowd at Shea.

On a cold and windy night in San Francisco, Gooden tosses his second-to-last complete game as a Met but he has one bad inning where his defense let him down, leading to his 10th loss of the season. In that 2nd inning, Matt Williams -- who was in his second game off the DL -- led off with a double, and was moved to third on a Dave Martinez groundout. Royce Clayton then tapped one to third that Johnson nabbed and quickly tried to tag Williams out before he got back to the bag. It was a bang-bang play but the ump ruled Williams safe. Kurt Manwaring then singled in the Giants' first run, but opposing pitcher Bryan Hickerson struck out trying to bunt next. That could have been the end of the inning if HoJo got the call. Instead, Darren Lewis follows with an RBI single, which Bonilla boots trying to pick up, leading to the runners advancing to second and third. Steve Scarsone, starting at 2B for the injured Robby Thompson, then grounded one to Johnson, who this time threw wide of first, allowing yet another run to score. Will Clark, who'd homer later in the game, flew out next to finally end the inning.

Johnson was painful to watch play at this point. He clearly had nothing left in the tank as far as power, reaction time or fielding prowess were concerned. Dallas Green was hitting him second at the time in an effort to jumpstart him, but he hit .218 over 16 games in the 2-hole, so it definitely didn't work. Truth be told, he only had 6 more games to go before his Mets career was over. It's so hard to believe he went from a legit MVP candidate in 1991, to a complete nothing by 1993.

The aforementioned Darren Lewis set the major league record by playing his 267th consecutive game without an error in this one. His streak lasted all the way until game #392. Though Nick Markakis broke his record, Lewis does still hold the record for consecutive games without an error to start a career.

Also, Eddie Murray collected hit #2,732 -- a first-inning RBI single -- to tie Tony Perez for 39th on the all-time list, according to the Mets broadcast. Bob Carpenter filled in for Tim McCarver in the game, which was a pleasant relief for my ears. He continued some fill-in work for the Mets in 1993 before moving on to the Twins' team in 1994. I wasn't aware until visiting his website, but he designs and sells his own scorebook, which apparently is the most widely used scorebook in the nation. Good for him.

Yeee hah!

Finally found this box score.

I was at this game - Dave Gallagher hit the only Met grand slam I have witnessed (and I've been to 100+ games.)

Thanks Dave!!!

A bright spot in the awful 1990 - 1994 span when the Mets stunk and when I took a lot of verbal abuse from Giants fans at the 'Stick.

I have lived in SF for 14 years and I STILL root hard against the Giants because of the awful, trashy crowds at Candlestick.

HoJo's last homer as a Met. It came in the 9th inning of a loss on the west coast. Probably only a small handful of fans stayed up to watch it. Howard would be injured two days after this and never played for the Mets again. A quiet ending to a fantastic career in NY.

Watched this one recently, a rare good day for the 1993 Mets. Gooden, despite 5 walks, was great for 7 innings on the Wednesday afternoon. And the Mets hit 3 homers, including Eddie Murray, who was red hot at the time.

This game marked the end of an era for the Mets, as HoJo played his last game with the team. Sid and Doc are the only two remaining 86 Mets on the team.

Anthony Young loses in relief to fall to 0-13 on the year. It is Young's record 27th straight loss since starting the 1992 season with a 2-0 record.

If things weren't bad enough, it was after this game that Vince Coleman threw a firecracker from his car, injuring three people. Certainly one of the lowest points of a pretty bad era.

Early in the game, Ryan Thompson made one of the season's best catches, leaping high over the wall to rob a homer. It ended up making the difference in this one, as Jeff Kent's 2nd homer of the night in the 7th won the game for the Mets.

I was at this game when Anthony Young was trying to break his losing streak. He battled hard but a cheap hit in the ninth caused the Mets to fall behind setting up AY for another loss. But the Mets came back and won in the bottom of the ninth to win and end AY's much publicized streak. The crowd went wild for AY when he came out of the dugout and raised his hands in the air to the crowd. The fans appreciated his streak was mostly bad luck and was pumped for him that it was over.

I was at the game, Field level first base line- when I saw AY warming up I knew this was going to be the game he broke the streak. When the Mets won that night and it was over, it felt like we had won the World Series...Definately the highlight of the 93 season.

Another season where I was only able to catch a handful of games at Shea. My friends here in Florida were all trying to force the Marlins on me but I would have none of it. I went to a good number of Marlins games in South Fla this year, inclduing their first ever game (on my 11th birthday), but watching AY break the streak in person was great. I remember sitting third base side, field level with my dad and my uncle and when the Mets won the game, in pretty dramatic fashion, the place went nuts like they had just won the World Series. It was great. Those were dark years but the end of the AY streak is a memory I will always have.

I still have the scorecard from this game stored safely away.

It was myself and my father, and there were 3 men behind us. When AY came into the game in the ninth inning, 2 of the men got up to leave, but the third convinced them to stay. 5 minutes later, AY blows the game yet again and all three men take off.

But even as an 11-year-old kid, I knew... it aint over 'til it's over. I wasn't leaving. My father and I stayed, and watched as (and my memory is fuzzy on this) McKnight led off with a single, Dave Gallagher pushed him to second with a sacrifice, Ryan Thompson tied the game with an RBI single, and after after Orsulak failed to deliver, Eddie Murray hit a SHOT down the right field line that scored Thompson from first.

They carried AY out on their shoulders that day, and I was doing cartwheels for hours.

I got to this game around the 5th inning. AY looked like he would lose another heart-breaker, but the Mets rallied back in the 9th, and the place went nuts. Like the other posts said, it was like they won the World Series. It was a very exciting moment, one of my all-time favorite games to see in person.

This was the night that Anthony Young's record losing streak of 27 games ended. He came in to pitch the top of the ninth inning and surrendered a run that put the Marlins ahead. With Young in danger of losing his 28th straight, Ryan Thompson singled to drive home Jeff McKnight and retie the game. Soon after, Eddie Murray hit a double into the right field corner that scored Thompson for a Mets victory and a long-awaited win for AY. Hot Foot mentioned above that this was the highlight of the Mets' dismal 1993 season. How true that is!

Twelve days later, Young made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. A video clip of Murray's game-winning hit was shown during Anthony's interview with Jay.

The feel good moment of the 1993 season for sure. Young's first win since April 19, 1992, and, as luck would have it, his last as a member of the Mets, as he was traded to the Cubs over the offseason. You really have to examine the top of the 9th inning in this game to get a sense for just how incredibly unlucky AY was. Benito Santiago led off with a single, the only ball hit out of the infield the whole inning. Trying to lay down a sac bunt, Darrell Whitmore instead reached first as Hundley bobbled the ball attempting to pick it up. Walt Weiss also tried to sac bunt next, and AY sprang on it and was going to throw to third, but Bonilla had left the base when he charged the bunt, and AY thankfully held on to the ball instead of throwing it away. So bases loaded, nobody out. AY gets pinch hitter Rich Renteria (not future Marlin Edgar Renteria, but Rich Renteria) to ground into a huge 5-2-3 double play, and now just needs to get former Met Chuck Carr out to wiggle his way out of the inning. But on the first pitch, Carr lays down a gorgeous drag bunt to score Whitmore from third, giving Florida a 4-3 lead. AY strikes out Bret Barberie -- who homered earlier in the game -- to retire the side.

Bryan Harvey, one of the best relievers of 1993, entered the game for the Fish looking to close it out. But the Mets had hung a blown save on him a month earlier, so they had some history of success against the closer. And as described by previous commenters, McKnight leads off with a pinch-hit single, comes home on a bloop single by Thompson, and then Thompson scores the winning run on Murray's walk-off double. Murray went 4-for-5 in the game and thankfully made up for getting picked off first to end a rally in the 7th inning.

The Mets really needed this feel-good story as the dark clouds of the Coleman firecracker incident and the Saberhagen bleach incident were very heavy at this time. The Sportschannel broadcast booth had assistant GM Gerry Hunsicker on air and he made it sound like the Mets were really going to start cracking down on the pranks and the players who had adversarial relationships with the media. But that message felt hollow considering Saberhagen, who had just squirted bleach on reporters the previous night, was still allowed to start this game. However, he only started one more time in 1993 before he either got suspended or injured again.

Speaking of the broadcast booth, Ralph Kiner made a serious blunder when he confused AY sitting on the bench for Coleman (who wasn't even with the team at the time and was being investigated for criminal charges) during the 9th inning comeback. But thankfully the audio feed wasn't working properly so perhaps many folks watching at home didn't hear it. Luckily, it was fixed in time for Kiner to jubilantly call the final play of the game. And I did get a chuckle in the top of the 7th when Greg Briley was taking forever to get to the plate as a pinch hitter for the Marlins. Kiner took serious umbrage with Briley's slow pace, prompting Rusty Staub to ask, "Doesn't he get a chance to warm up?" To which Kiner replied, "No, I'm not waiting around for a .231 hitter."

The Mets hit 2 home runs in the game (Orsulak off Whitmore's glove and Thompson's first of the season), which ran their streak to 10 straight games with a dinger. That actually tied the franchise record at the time, previously set in 1970 and again in 1975. The Mets ran the streak to 12, which held as the record until 1996 when they compiled a 21-game streak. That still stands as the team record.

As Scoey mentioned, AY appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on August 9 and endeared himself nicely to the national TV audience. I'm glad he got his 15 minutes of fame, even if it took 27 straight losses to achieve it. Very sad Young died from a brain tumor in 2017 though. We'll always remember the good times, AY!

I went to this game with my uncle. We sat in the upper deck on the third base side. I remember it being really hot and bright. I also felt the game was a letdown after the previous night's game, when AY broke the streak. I also remember it being notable for the age of its starting pitchers. Charlie Hough (45 years old) started against Frank Tanana (39).

That was close to the record, but not quite. On September 26, 1965, a 59 year old Satchel Paige started against a guy named Bill Monbouquette (29), for a combined age of 88 years. Paige pitched 3 shutout innings in his only game of the season.

Though Tanana lost this matchup of aged starters, he did go 2 for 2 at the plate. Both pitched well. Hough went 7 and 1/3 innings and gave up a run, while Tanana pitched 8 innings and gave up 2.

My uncle Dale took me to this game, a blistering hot day game at Shea. The game was notable because of the age of the starting pitchers- I remember it was a big deal in the papers how 45-year old Charlie Hough was taking on 40-year old Frank Tanana. I thought the Mets would get to Hough. I was wrong. The Mets lost. It was a big letdown from the amazing win the night before.

Vince Coleman made his first appearance since the firecracker incident in this game As a pinch runner late in the game. Later he went to bat in what was supposed to be a bunting situation and the third base coach went over to Vince to discuss the strategy and in the background someone yelled out, "THROW A FIRECRACKER AT HIM!" Why the Mets didn't dump his butt after that incident is beyond me.

The infamous firecracker incident happened after this game.

Well, Jon's comment has survived for nearly 17 years without getting corrected, but the streak ends here. Based on Coleman's baseball reference game log, it may appear as though the firecracker incident happened after this game -- as this was indeed Coleman's last in a Mets uniform. However, that infamous event actually happened on July 24 after a Dodgers game in Los Angeles, and Coleman was allowed to play in three more games with the Mets before the team told him to get lost.

Coleman didn't start in this game but did pinch hit in the 8th inning, reaching on a single and scoring on an Eddie Murray groundout. Staying in the game for defense, he also reached on a wild pitch while striking out in the 9th, prolonging a Mets rally that got the team to within a run. But Ryan Thompson popped out to the catcher a batter later to end the game. With that, Coleman's career in New York was over. Thank goodness.

Dallas Green probably left starter Eric Hillman in the game one batter too long, as the lefty was holding his own until a 2-out rally in the 7th when Bernard Gilkey and Ozzie Smith hit back-to-back singles. Met-killer Brian Jordan was up next, and Jeff Innis was ready in the bullpen for the righty-on-righty matchup. But Green stuck with Hillman, and Jordan lined a single to right to put St. Louis up 4-1. Innis then came on to get Todd Zeile to pop out to end the frame. More poor bullpen management by Dallas, which I'm noticing is becoming a trend.

Speaking of poor, Bobby Bo fanned three times in the game, twice looking. The final time ended the top half of the 8th and occurred on a pitch that was a good 6 inches off the plate outside. Bobby had enough and went after home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, leading to his ejection. Bonilla did get a favorable call earlier in the game, however, when he completely missed tagging Jordan on a steal attempt of third in the 5th, but he got the call due to how far in advance O'Brien's throw made it to the base.

I've also started noticing how adept the Mets were at pinch hitting in 1993. Sure enough, they hit .277 pinch hitting during the year, which led the NL. Jeff McKnight, who had a PH single in this game, collected 19 pinch hits to lead the team. The Mets record, however, is 24 set by Rusty Staub in 1983.

Both Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver were away from the team at the time, so Bob Carpenter and Bob Murphy filled in on the WWOR telecast. What a welcome change that was! The game was delayed at the start for over 2 hours due to rain, as this was during the time of "The Great Flood of 1993" that affected the areas around the Mississippi River. The guys talked about how bad all the flooding was and how the rain just would not let up. I was only 12 at the time but I remember this being a big story on the news and how costly the weather event was, both in terms of money and lives.

Watched this one recently. Probably Ryan Thompson's best day as a Met. 4 hits, a homer and 2 fantastic catches in center field. One of which left him with rug burns on a truly hot day on the astroturf. He probably needed a lot of ice after the game.

Thompson also had a key OF assist when he nailed Ray Lankford trying to go 1st to 3rd on a bloop single by Todd Zeile in the 6th. The 4 hits tied his career high.

Kevin Baez also had a career day, tying his career high with 3 hits and collecting a career-best 3 RBI. If this game existed in a vacuum, you'd never know the Mets were 32 games below .500 at the time with the way they knocked around Cardinal pitching.

In reality, this was just the Mets' 36th win of the season, and somehow Dwight Gooden had 11 of them. This was actually his last career start at St. Louis.

On the flip side, Joe Magrane was brought in by the Cardinals for mop-up duty in the 9th, his first relief appearance since 1989. He was pummeled for 3 runs on 4 hits in his one inning of work and would make one more appearance for the Redbirds before getting released. He had spent his entire career with the organization since getting selected in the 1st round in the 1985 draft.

At the Vet, Kim Batiste hits a walk-off grand slam off Anthony Young to win this exercise in humiliatiation.

Let's see... 15 years old... I was in Center City Philadelphia that night with a group of kids at an Easter trip reunion. Game was on at this restaurant where we ate. Kept looking backwards from my seat to see Phils winning, then losing, thinking the Mets had it sown up in the 8th, when we all left to cruise around to kill time. Knew the game was over soon after, but couldn't find a store window with a TV tuned to ESPN to get final score. Finally got home around midnight and caught the late Sportscenter with highlights of the Mets' and Anthony Young's meltdown...then heard Harry Kalas' emotional call on Batiste's grand slam, and went to bed laughing and smiling. That was the game I finally knew the Phils had the "team of destiny" tag, and that Dallas Green was no antidote for a truly awful Mets squad.

I was 10 years old and my family had scored free tickets to this game because my sister's gymnastics team participated in this little event between a few innings. The seats sucked, way upper deck, first base side, and I was the only Mets fan surrounded by a bunch of rabid Phillies fan hell bent on a championship caliber year. Bobby Bonilla's two HRs that day was pretty much all the offense the Mets could muster in the game. Gooden started the game. He had okay stuff, kept the game tied at 5. In the 9th, still tied at 5, Anthony Young was brought in from the pen. Kim Batiste drills an opposite field walk off Grand Slam HR. It was the most devastating Mets loss I remember, even though the team lost 103 games that year. To lose it in a style like that, it was heartbreaking. Those were the truly dark days of Mets baseball.

Somehow I keep watching these games in reverse chronological order. Even though I knew what the outcome of this game would be, I still found it fascinating to see how it got there.

First, I hate to constantly be that guy, but not all of what Jared wrote is accurate. Tanana started this game, not Gooden. He pitched fairly well, only giving up a 3-run homer to Wes Chamberlain in the 2nd inning. The game wasn't actually tied until the 9th when Kevin Baez had the final out in his glove but threw wildly to Dave Gallagher at first (maybe a player more suited to the position makes the play?) for an error that scored Kruk. And Batiste's homer actually wasn't to the opposite field but a line drive no-doubter to left.

A heartbreaking loss to be sure. It seemed like some good fortune was finally headed our way in the top of the 8th when the Mets put together a 2-out rally. Murray singled and was pinch-run for by Ced Landrum, and Bonilla followed with a walk on a borderline ball call, bringing up Gallagher. The Phils could have brought in the newly acquired Bobby Thigpen here to face the righty, but they knew the Mets would have countered with Orsulak, and Gallagher had gone 0-3 vs. Mulholland in the game, so they stuck with their starter. However, Gallagher came through, roping a single to right. Landrum scored easily and Jim Eisenreich's throw was cut off by Kruk, who threw to third to try and nail Bonilla. But the throw was up the line, allowing both Bobby Bo and Gallagher to score. So a bleak 3-2 deficit turned into a 5-3 lead just like that.

Mike Maddux, who had pitched the bottom of the 7th, stayed in for the 8th. Kevin Stocker led off with a double and consecutive groundouts scored him to cut the lead to 5-4. The Mets went down 1-2-3 in the 9th, setting the stage for the Phillies' comeback. With John Franco hurt and Kruk, the pitcher's spot and Daulton due up, the Mets brought in Pete Schourek to take advantage of the lefty-on-lefty matchups. It was so odd the Phillies chose to put Thigpen 4th in the lineup when they brought him in for the top of the 9th, knowing he'd have to bat. But, living up to their "team of destiny" nickname, the move still worked out. Schourek didn't do himself any favors by walking Kruk, but pinch-hitter Mickey Morandini failed in bunting him over and instead flew out to right, and then Daulton struck out looking. One out away from victory, Dallas Green took out Schourek and went to Anthony Young in a move that I agreed with, as Pete Incaviglia was up next and he loved hitting off lefties. But, like Schourek ahead of him, Young lost Incaviglia to a walk on 8 pitches, now putting a runner in scoring position for Eisenreich. He hit a grounder far to Baez's right but the shortstop gloved it. Unfortunately, he rushed the throw to first and bounced it in the dirt, which Gallagher got leather on but it skipped past him anyway. Kruk scored, and the runners moved up to 2nd and 3rd. With the switch-hitting Stocker due up and Batiste on deck, the Mets chose to intentionally load the bases to get the righty-vs.-righty matchup. Whereas any normal manager would have had Batiste hitting 4th in the lineup instead of 9th, it all worked out in the end for Philly as Batiste smacks Young's second offering over the wall for a walkoff grand slam. Young drops to 1-14 and the Phillies score 5 runs in the inning despite getting just 1 hit. The turn of events sums up the Mets/Phillies rivalry in 1993 perfectly.

This was Thigpen's Phillies debut and he walked away with the win. He was 3 years removed from setting the single-season save record of 57 at the time but had lost his closing job to Roberto Hernandez with the White Sox. He looked good in this game but continued to struggle with Philly for the rest of 1993. Meanwhile, Young's struggles continued as well. In retrospect, the Mets should have gone with anyone but AY vs. the Phillies in 1993. During the year, he went 0-3 with 2 blown saves and a 6.23 ERA vs. Philly. And then there was Batiste, who turned into Sammy Sosa against the Mets. He hit .476 vs. NY with 2 homers and 11 RBI in just 21 at-bats.

In parting, here are some quotes I found from after this game. Batiste: "That's the first grand slam I've ever hit, anywhere. I didn't even have one when I was five in pee wee ball. Man!" Dallas Green: "The Phillies never quit. I hope some of our people can learn from a game like that."

In this game Tim Bogar hit two homers, one over the fence and one inside the park. It was the only two-homer game of Tim's Met career, and the only four-hit game of his Met career. He also had two doubles in the game and wound up driving in four runs and scoring four.

The starter and winner in the game was Bobby Jones, who was making his major league debut. Jones allowed 5 runs and 7 hits in six innings, but just one of the runs was earned.

(Note: sarcasm ahead) The victory improved the Mets record to 40-76 and brought them within 33.5 games of the first place (and eventual World Series losing) Phils.

Bob is right on the money on his accounts of this game. This was my first away Mets game. lt felt weird rooting for the Mets in someone else's house, especially in '93 when the Mets REALLY REALLY sucked. 0ne of the few bright spots for that game was seeing Bobby Jones' major league debut and seeing Tim Bogar hit an inside the parker. He broke his hand sliding in to home on that play and ended his impressive rookie season. Literally another bad break in that horrendous season.

According to the game log, this is the last game that Tim played in 1993 for the Mets but he was back on the team in 1994. Did he get hurt or something else happen?

Tim Bogar plays the game of his life, helping Bobby Jones win his Major League debut. As alluded to by previous commenters, Bogar swats two home runs in the game, in the process becoming (what I believe to be) the only player in Mets history with an inside-the-park HR and regular HR in the same game. He also doubles twice (both times off the wall, so he came mere inches away from a 4-homer game in theory), giving him 12 total bases for the contest. At the time, that was one off the Mets record, but it did set the record by a second baseman (Edgardo Alfonzo beat it when he set the team record with 16 in a game at Houston in 1999). He also became the third of four (as of 2023) in Mets history with two doubles and 2 homers in a game, joining Tim Teufel (1987), Gregg Jefferies (1989) and Rickey Henderson (1999). But to answer Ed, and to reiterate what Phil wrote, Bogar hurt his hand sliding into home on the inside-the-parker during his final at-bat, causing him to miss the remainder of the season.

What makes Bogar's performance even more remarkable is the fact that he wasn't even in the original starting lineup. He was only inserted when Jeff Kent was scratched prior to game start with sore ribs. Speaking of injuries, Bonilla was playing with a sore thumb that bothered him most batting right-handed -- though you never would have known it as he hit two homers from that side of the plate the previous game. But on a swing and miss in the first inning, Bonilla really seemed to aggravate it and decided to bat lefty vs. the southpaw Danny Jackson. That went as well as you could have expected, as he struck out swinging a few pitches later. But I give kudos to Bobby for staying in the game and gutting it out. With the season all but over, he easily could have decided to call it a day (and a year), but at the time he was one of (I believe) only 4 to have played in every game in 1993, along with Dykstra, Jeff Bagwell and Jeff Conine. However, that thumb probably didn't help him in the field, as he committed a couple of errors. In fact, the Mets had 4 errors in the game, making Jones' job even tougher in his debut.

Jones certainly wasn't overpowering, but got strikeouts when he needed it most. He made Mariano Duncan his first ever strikeout victim on one of his patented 12-to-6 curveballs to end the 3rd, and, in the 5th, a Bonilla error and a Kevin Stocker single put runners on first and second with no one out, but Jones came back to get pinch-hitter Ricky Jordan looking and then Dysktra swinging on three pitches. Unfortunately, another Bonilla error and a John Kruk double followed, cutting the Mets lead to 5-4. As the previous game told us, no lead was safe, so it was nice to see Bogar get those three runs back with a bomb of a home run in the top of the 6th. The Phils tacked on another run in the bottom of the 6th on yet another RBI hit from Kim Batiste, but the combination of Dave Telgheder, Pete Schourek and Jeff Innis shut the Phillies out over the final 3 innings to give Jones a win in his debut.

Meanwhile, Phillies' starter Jackson was renowned for his success against the Mets, but was battling sore ribs himself and wound up giving up 5 runs, the most he gave up in 18 career starts vs. the Mets. Some of that damage he only had himself to blame for, as in the 3rd inning he had a chance to escape a jam but dropped a throw from Kruk while covering 1st base on a Bonilla grounder. That allowed Bogar to score, and then he walked Gallagher and gave up a 2-run double to O'Brien, who was consequently thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple. That gave the Mets a 4-0 lead they'd never relinquish. And though the Mets made their fair share of miscues in the game as well, they also flashed some nice leather. Kevin Baez, who committed the tide-turning error the previous night, made some really nice plays at shortstop to make up for it, and Bogar made a tough catch in foul ground on a Dykstra popup in the 3rd where he came real close to an ugly collision with Burnitz.

Though these were dark days, it was at least nice to see the young guys making an impact and showing maybe there was a shimmer of hope for better days ahead.

I was at this game in Philly. Anthony Young had just snapped his historic losing streak, but pitching in relief, gave up a 9th-inning HR (3-run or grand slam?) to Kim Freakin' Batiste as those fightin' Phils won another thriller en route to the World Series.

I swear I'm not doing this on purpose, but I feel obliged to clean up another comment by Jon. Though Young did blow this game for the Mets, he didn't give up a home run, Kim Batiste did not homer in this game, and the Phils' rally did not occur in the 9th inning. Maybe getting another game confused with this one?

Anyway, here's how things really happened. The Mets jumped out to a surprising 4-0 lead in the first off Curt Schilling, who had tallied four straight complete game wins against the Mets dating back to 1992. Eric Hillman then dominated the Phillies over 7 innings, allowing just one run on a Mariano Duncan 2-out single in the 3rd. But, eclipsing 100 pitches in the 8th, Hillman walked Dykstra to lead off the inning and then struck out Duncan. John Kruk was next up, and he swung at the first pitch and hit a bomb out to left-center field, the only HR Hillman would surrender to a left-hand batter all season. Dallas Green then brought in Anthony Young with the score 4-3. AY got Pete Incaviglia to ground out, but then Darren Daulton doubled, Wes Chamberlain singled home Daulton and reached second on the throw home by Orsulak, and Met-killer Kim Batiste hit a bloop single that scored Chamberlain, giving Philly a 5-4 lead. Young just couldn't get that elusive final out before giving up the lead, and sure wasn't helped by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. The rookie ump had an inconsistent strike zone all day, and when Young appeared to throw a pitch right over the heart of the plate against Daulton but had it called a ball, Green erupted in the dugout, prompting Cuzzi to yell back at him to cut it out. But Green persisted, and he got tossed. The skipper got his money's worth, though, throwing his cap a couple times and getting right up in Cuzzi's face. But I felt for Dallas -- it was easy enough for teams to beat the Mets in 1993; they certainly didn't need any additional help from the boys in blue.

The Mets attempted another rally off Philly closer Mitch Williams in the 9th, as Chico Walker reached on an error (which I though should have been a hit as Batiste had dove for the ball and made a great play but threw wildly to first) with 1 out, and Kevin Baez (who was only allowed to hit in such a big spot due to a rash of injuries to Kent, Bogar and Darrin Jackson at the time) walked with 2 out, but Charlie O'Brien flew out pinch-hitting to end the game. And thus, not only did AY blow his second save of the year, he also dropped his record to 1-15.

The Mets first inning was so promising, as Thompson scored on a wild pitch, Bonilla knocked in Hundley with a single, and Burnitz blooped a double down the LF line that wound up squirting away from Incaviglia, leading to an error-assisted inside-the-park home run. More than likely, if Incaviglia had just let the ball go, it would have settled in the stands for a ground-rule double, perhaps putting runners on 2nd and 3rd instead of 2 runs scoring. The crowd booed loudly during the inning, which I thought was pretty uncalled for considering the type of season the Phillies were having. Typical Philadelphia for you.

But after that 1st inning, the Mets managed just 3 more hits, sleepwalking their way through Hillman's performance. The left-hander even struck out a career-high 6 in the game. It was all for naught, though, as the Mets dropped another 1-run game. For the year, they finished 19-35 in 1-run contests. Only the Padres at 18-34 were worse by fractions of a percentage.

I can't speak to any other games in his career, but Doc Gooden batted left-handed in this game. He was always a natural lefty at the plate, but was never allowed to do it because it would expose his right arm. But I guess he convinced Dallas Green. Definitely weird to see.

Recently watched this one on one of my old tapes. One of El Sid's last starts with the Mets. He didn't pitch badly at all (especially for Mile High) but gave up 3 homers in the loss on the Sunday afternoon. Earlier indicators that playing in Colorado would be such a joke for the rest of the 90's and 2000's. As the game featured 5 homers, and watching them and how they were hit, i'd say that maybe 2 of them would have been homers in other parks (Galarraga's and Burnitz's looked legitimate off the bat). The Mets lost 4-3 in one of their few trips to Mile High Stadium, before the Rockies moved into Coors.

Todd Hundley's first major-league grand-slam brightened up this game in a largely dreadful season for the Mets.

To add on to Ed's comment, it was Hundley's first of 7 career grand slams, 4 of which he hit with the Mets (the other 3 with the Dodgers). He also set a career high with 5 RBI, which he'd break with 7 in a game a few years later. During the telecast, Cub announcers Harry Caray and Steve Stone lamented about how well Todd, whose dad played for the Cubs, hit against Chicago. In 1993, Todd batted .391 (18-for-46) with 4 of his 11 home runs against the Cubs.

Bonilla also continued his power surge, connecting for his 32nd dinger of the year with a bomb to left-center. For the Cubs, Slammin' Sammy Sosa hit #30 of the season (the first Josias Manzanillo gave up as a member of the Mets) and was on his way to becoming the first player in Cubs history to have a 30/30 year. Yet, for some reason, he hit 7th in the batting order.

After a mediocre major league debut at Philadelphia and two clunkers against the Rockies, it was good to see Bobby Jones put together his first strong start in a Mets uniform. He went on to hold a 2.40 ERA in 6 starts in September to solidify his place in the rotation for 1994. Meanwhile, former Met Randy Myers, who hadn't seen action in 8 days, gave up a triple to Orsulak and an RBI single to Hundley the first two pitches he threw. Still, hard to believe the Mets wouldn't have done anything to take back the Franco-for-Myers trade four years prior at this point in time.

The Cubs did have one feel-good story in this game. Shawon Dunston, who had undergone back surgery and hadn't appeared in a game since May 4 of the previous season, pinch hit in the 6th inning. He grounded out but would reclaim the Cubs starting SS position in 1994 and would eventually find his way onto the Mets in 1999.

This game showed what Darryl Kile was about.

They just showed this game on ESPN Classic last night because it was Darryl Kile's no-hitter. I had forgotten how horrible the Mets were back then. Joe Orsulak batting cleanup? Are you kidding me?

The Mets run should not have counted. It came with Jeff McKnight on first with a walk and Orsulak up. Kile threw a sharp breaking ball that hit Orsulak in the foot and bounded away toward the Astros dugout (Orsulak even hopped and limped around for a few seconds). But for some reason plate umpire Ed Montague missed it and said it was in play. Scott Servais didn't chase the ball and McKnight kept running around second, to third, when Jeff Bagwell ran the ball down and threw wildly to third, allowing McKnight to come all the way around.

I was in my college dorm room studying and had the ESPN weeknight game on. I think the game was Braves vs Giants in the NL West race. The game was not on Channel 9 that night, was on Sports Channel which I did not get in college. Just as ESPN always does when a no-hitter is happening in the 9th if they are not televising the game, they took the audience to the game and showed the inning and the no-hitter take place. Great pitching by Darryl Kile as the Mets line-up was not something in 1993 to write home about. Not when Joe Orsulak is batting clean up.

A lot of dubious feats happened in 1993. This was the first time since 1975 the Mets were no-hit against as well as their first last-place finish since 1983 and first 100-loss season since 1967. Only fitting they get no-hit in this real disastrous season of 1993.

Darryl Kile throws a no-hitter against the Mets in their most agonizing year ever. The team was on its way to 103 losses for the season, during which a few of their players got into acts that hurt the club's reputation off the field. The constant losing and bad moral character made the Mets the butt of many one-liners by Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. When mentioning this game in one of his opening monologues, Leno cracked a joke that Kile's no-hitter shouldn't really count because he was pitching against a team so terrible. Such was life for the Mets in 1993.

I enjoyed reading these comments, especially considering some were written over 20 years ago! Meanwhile, the 30-year anniversary of this legendary band of losers will be this year. To be fair, Orsulak was only hitting cleanup because guys like Howard Johnson and Bobby Bonilla were hurt... Bonilla was actually injured just the game prior to this one, separating his shoulder. He had played every game of the season up until this night. His injury led to Butch Huskey's first big league callup. Debuting in this game, he went 0-for-3 with 3 strikeouts and committed an error at 3B. "Never forget it," he said after the game. I bet. His poor dad drove 9 hours from his home in Oklahoma to be in attendance to watch this debacle. It's also noted on baseball-reference that Huskey became just the third player in history to make his debut on the losing end of a no-hitter.

I agree with Bob that the Mets' run was bogus. Orsulak definitely got hit on the foot and so the wild pitch should not have counted. Still, give credit to McKnight for taking advantage of the call. Don't see many runners score from first on a wild pitch. Orsulak was later ejected from the game during a wild 7th inning. The Mets really didn't come close to getting a hit (save for a Hundley flyball that was caught at the warning track in the 6th) until the 7th, when Murray drilled a 1-out liner to Caminiti at third. Though Murray was called out on the fly, replays should the ball was actually trapped. Caminiti, not taking any chances, threw to first anyway and got Murray by a hair. Orsulak followed and, on the very next pitch, hit one between SS and 3B. Andujar Cedeno, who I remember as quite the Met-killer and had doubled and homered earlier in the game, flagged down the grounder and got off a desperation heave to 1B. Bagwell picked the ball out of the dirt to just barely get Orsulak out -- and replays showed the call was correct. Orsulak argued anyway and was tossed. After the game, Orsulak said, "I was safe, and you know what the umpire told me? That the play wasn't even close and how can I argue. Then he gave me a smirk. [...] I hope he didn't call me out just because he was throwing a no-hitter. That, to me, is an insult." Orsulak was definitely wrong thinking he was safe, but he has a point with the rest of what he had to say.

The Mets announcers tried to jinx the no-hitter as they were already talking about it by the third inning. But Kile was just too good. He dispatched the Mets on 85 pitches (though B-R says 83, they're definitely wrong) and would have had a perfect game if not for the walk to McKnight. His dad had died during spring training in 1993 so it was a great story for Darryl to have thrown a no-hitter during the season. As sportsfan8690 mentioned, it was the first time the Mets were no-hit since 1975 when Ed Halicki of the Giants did it during the second game of a doubleheader. It was also the final of three no-hitters thrown in 1993, and came just 4 days after Jim Abbott threw one for the Yankees vs. Cleveland.

The only other Mets batter who came close to getting a hit was Kent, who scalded a liner to third in the 8th that Caminiti caught about a foot off the ground. If he was a step to his left or right the ball was getting by him. Meanwhile, Josias Manzanillo was in the midst of a very nice outing until the Mets defense fell apart in the 8th, allowing 3 unearned runs to score. Then, on a single by Luis Gonzalez, Manzanillo said he felt a pop in his knee and had to be helped off the field. Like countless Mets players before him in 1993, he was done for the year. This also marked the last time during the season the two teams played each other. The Mets had to be happy the series was over -- they went 1-11 vs. Houston in 1993. That's the worst record they ever had against the Astros while the teams were both a part of the NL.

The Mets may have been terrible back then, but they played like champions today. This was my first major league baseball game back when I was eight years old, but I was hooked soon after. I remember most of it, and I remember Jeromy Burnitz (the rookie) catching the fly ball that ended it. Day one of my rabid following of the Metropolitans.

This was the first Mets home win on a Sunday ALL season, and it came in basically the last 2-3 weeks of the season. Sounds about right for the 93 Mets.

I was in fifth grade and went to this game with my folks and my best friend who now absolutely hates baseball. I got Curt Schilling's autograph at this game. That was pretty much the only highlight being how sorry the Mets were in 1993.

Tanana tied his season high with 8 strikeouts and wins his final start as a Met. The left-hander would be traded to the Yankees 3 days later for minor league pitcher Kenny Greer. He also allowed a 2-run homer to Ricky Jordan, the 26th longball he allowed during the season. That was the most by a Mets pitcher since Jack Fisher gave up 26 gopherballs in 1966.

The big hit in the game came courtesy of Jeff Kent. With the Phillies up 2-1 in the 6th, the Mets staged a 2-out rally, starting with Eddie Murray reaching safely on an error by shortstop Kevin Stocker. Dave Gallagher followed with a single and Chico Walker walked, bringing up Kent. Though you would think a right-hand hitter like Kent would have feasted off left-hand pitching (Danny Jackson, a lefty, was on the mound), in 1993 it was quite the contrary: Jeff hit just .230 vs. southpaws and did not collect any of his 21 home runs that season vs. LHP. First-pitch swinging, he dunks a single just in front of Dykstra, who then lets the in-between hop skip past him for a bases-clearing error. The Mets never lost the lead after that.

Giving credit where credit is due, I thought Dallas Green managed his bullpen well in this game. He took Tanana out after he had eclipsed 100 pitches and gave up back-to-back singles to start the 7th. Dallas brought in Mike Maddux despite Philly countering with John Kruk as a pinch-hitter, and though Kruk hit an RBI sac fly, Maddux didn't allow another run. In the 8th, he walked Dave Hollins with 1 out and Green turned to John Franco for a 5-out save. Though Darren Daulton greeted him with a ringing double down the RF line (his only hit in 14 career ABs vs. Franco), Franco induced an RBI groundout out of Milt Thompson and a popout from Wes Chamberlain to end the inning. John then worked a 1-2-3 9th (highlighted by Philly manager Jim Fregosi getting thrown out for yelling at home plate umpire Harry Wendelstedt over a called strike) for his final save of 1993. He'd finish the year with a whopping 10 saves to his credit.

Eric Hillman arguably outpitches Curt Schilling but Pete Schourek continues his horrible season by giving up 3 runs in the 8th inning as the Phillies win their final game against the Mets in 1993.

Staked to a 2-1 lead in the 7th, Hillman gives up RBI hits to Mariano Duncan (who extended his career-long 18 game hitting streak to 15) and John Kruk, but the Mets battle right back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a 2-out RBI single by the red-hot Todd Hundley. However, Hillman was pinch-hit for during the rally, so Dallas Green turned to Schourek to keep things tied in the 8th. After allowing a 1-out single to Wes Chamberlain, a 35-minute rain delay ensued. In a logical move, Dallas decided to stick with Pete, though that decision ended up haunting him in hindsight. Once play resumed, Milt Thompson hit a seeing-eye single and Kevin Stocker bounced a grounder that Kent made a nice play on, diving for the ball to keep it on the infield to prevent a run from scoring. But now the bases are loaded with 1 out for pinch-hitter Ricky Jordan, who on the first pitch delivers a sac fly to put Philly up 4-3. Dykstra follows by winning an 8-pitch battle against Schourek and collects 2 more RBI on a single, though the second run was more on Kent than anyone as he lollygagged the throw back into the infield after getting it from Jeromy Burnitz. That was it for Schourek, as Jeff Innis came in to strike out Duncan for the last out. The damage done, the Mets go down easy against David West in the 8th and Mitch Williams in the 9th, securing their 97th loss of the season.

Not much else to say about this one. Eddie Murray did finally collect his first hit in 23 career at-bats against Schilling with a first-inning single. But the feeling was pretty palpable that people just wanted 1993 to be over with already.

The Mets last ever appearance on the CBS game of the week (they'd lose baseball for good after 1993) and they beat the Braves in extras during the middle of a heated pennant race between Atlanta and San Francisco. Tito Navarro, who only played a month for the Mets in his career, got his only hit for the team in the 10th inning, a go ahead single to put the Mets ahead for the 3-2 win.

I imagine if the Braves had ended up behind the Giants at season's end, they would have looked at this game as one of those that cost them the most. Losing to the worst team in the league and a player that only his family could pick out of a lineup. But they finished a game ahead of San Fran, and Tito is merely a forgettable footnote in a forgettable season.

Looking back at how this game transpired, it truly might be the most unlikely win in modern Mets history (atleast since 1980). The Braves were up 2-0 with 2 outs and no basesrunners on, in the 9th inning, with Greg Maddux on the mound....against the 1993 Mets, by far the worst team in the league, At Atlanta, with the Braves needing the game to help their playoff hopes. Considering all of those factors, the Mets still made a 9th inning comeback to tie the game, and then Tito Navarro gets his first major league hit to put the Mets ahead in the 10th. A forgotten game by all, but I cannot think of a more unlikely win by any Mets team considering the circumstances

I concur with Michael. Certainly this was an unbelievable, against-all-odds type of win. Even baseball-reference's win probability chart for this game had the Braves at a 99% likelihood of winning when there were 2 outs in the 9th inning. Watching a bunch of the 1993 games back, the only game I can recall that rivals this one was when the Mets scored 4 in the 9th to beat the Phillies at the Vet on May 26, but at least that comeback win featured Bonilla, Tony Fernandez and Vince Coleman. The heroes in this game were Jeff McKnight, Ced Landrum and Tito Navarro. It doesn't get much more unlikely than that.

Nothing was going the Mets way early on, however, as they stranded the bases loaded without scoring in the 1st, then put the first two on base in the 3rd but stranded them too. Murray was called out on a check swing during the inning and was ejected by the home plate umpire from his position at first base in between innings as he continued chirping at the ump, I think upset that he didn't receive help on the call from the third base ump. In the bottom of the inning, after Bobby Jones got the first two batters out, Blauser socked a home run and Gant followed with a single. With McGriff at the plate, Gant tried to steal second and was initially called out even though the ball was knocked loose from McKnight's glove. As everyone was headed off the field, the third base ump overruled the call and, of course, McGriff then blooped a single into left to score Gant. That accounted for all the scoring until the 9th.

Maddux gave up 10 hits, but all but one were singles and he looked like he had a shutout in the bag after striking out Kent and Burnitz to start the 9th. But then McKnight and Landrum singled and Thompson walked, prompting Bobby Cox to take out Maddux and bring in Greg McMichael, who had just blown a save against the Mets the previous night. He quickly got ahead 0-2 on Hundley but Todd battled back and hit a grounder up the middle. Braves 2B Mark Lemke made a nice play getting to the ball and looked like all he had to do was shovel the ball to the SS covering the bag to get the force out and end the game, but he booted the ball and everyone was safe (and the friendly home-field game scorers decided not to charge him with an error). That gave Hundley his 4th hit of the game, and he reached base safely in all five of his plate appearances. Dave Gallagher, playing in place of the ejected Murray, then grounded one to SS that Blauser dove for and kept in the infield, but his throw to second was late, allowing the Mets to tie it up. Orsulak then hit a liner right back at McMichael that he knocked down and threw to first for the last out.

Innis made short work of the Braves in the bottom of the 9th, and Mike Stanton got 2 easy outs to start the 10th. But it was rally time again, as Darrin Jackson got a single pinch-hitting for Burnitz, McKnight also singled, and then Tito Navarro played the hero by greeting new pitcher Steve Bedrosian with a first-pitch single, scoring Jackson with the go-ahead run -- Navarro's only hit and RBI of his ML career. After Thompson struck out, Dallas Green turned to Mauro Gozzo for the save, as Franco was used in the 8th inning and Mike Maddux had pitched 2.1 innings in a losing effort the previous night. Gozzo proceeded to get the Braves out 1-2-3 for his only career save, and was helped out by a spectacular defensive play by Kent, who caught a Ron Gant popup in short RF while diving towards the outfield wall for the first out. Tim McCarver called it the best play he's seen Kent make to this point in his career, and he probably wasn't wrong.

It's almost like the NL West Champion Braves were beat by the Mets AAA team on this day, considering the players. Like Michael alluded to, the Giants were hot on the Braves' heels for the NL West pennant and, though the Braves won it by a game, it's a shame both teams couldn't make the playoffs, as they both won over 100 games. That was all about to change with realignment in 1994, however, which would move the Braves into the NL East with the Mets and start a rivalry that still burns hot today.

The Mets lose their 100th game. The Mets first 100-loss season since 1967. First last place finish since 1983. This summed up the way they played that year on and off the field from Bonilla, Coleman, team management, etc. as if the Mets were the expansion team that year, not the Marlins or the Rockies who were the true expansion teams. Final record 59-103, worst in all of MLB, enough said.

Cliff Floyd's first career home run and Jeff Kent's first career grand slam. And I was at this game.

Kenny Greer's only Met appearance and he was the winning pitcher!

Ed, not only was it Greer's only Met appearance, but it was his major league debut. He pitched the top of the seventeenth and got the win as the Mets scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Jeff Kent.

Greer had been acquired by the Mets from the Yankees a year earlier in exchange for Frank Tanana.

This 17-inning game--in the last week of the season between two teams going nowhere--was finished in four hours and 21 minutes. The two teams combined for twelve hits.

This stood as the most innings in a Met game from the period 9-29-93 until 7-7-07 when they beat the Astros in 17 innings as well.

Greer won the only game he ever pitched in for the Mets in this looooong game.

I'd LOVE to see this game on tape if anyone has it...maybe SNY has a copy in their vault, but sadly I sincerely doubt it.

Of COURSE I'm the first to post "memories" of this game. ("Nightmares" is a better term to describe any remembrance of the 1993 season.) I was the only person there!!!

Cold as hell night at Shea. About 5 people in the stands. Actually, about 2,300, but what's the difference?

Mets management would not let us move down to the box seats. Imagine that - 45 degrees out, last game of the year, team lost 103 games, and we couldn't catch a couple innings in better seats.

Anyway, Eddie Murray hit a nice bomb to dead center, the beer lines couldn't have been shorter, and getting out of the parking lot was easy.

See, and you thought the 1993 Mets were all bad news!

LenDog, according to retrosheet.org; the "announced" attendance for this game was 17,567. Btw, 1993 was a real low point for this franchise, more so than the late 1970's.

An update on the 20th anniversary of this night....

Yes, retrosheet cites 17k in attendance.

I should have specified that there were approx 2,500 people left in the 8th inning.

Also, I don't remember if MLB used turnstile data (actual attendees) or tickets sold in 1993. I doubt that 17k sat in seats at any time that night.

Anyway, it was dead at the old Shea but I can still see Eddie Murray's impressive HR going out in dead center.

This game was so unmemorable that nobody remembers it was never actually finished! It was called in the bottom of the 9th with none out after Destrade singled. The final score should actually be 3-2, and such hits as Gooden's PH 3B and a HR by Chico Walker, who was given his release before the game, didn't actually count. But this was such an unmemorable game that nobody bothered to erase the Mets 6-run 9th.

Chico Walker's ninth inning solo home run came in the final at bat of his major league career.

The Mets finished the year with a 6 game winning streak and lose 103 games! Don't know much about this game, but Chico Walker was a character on those putrid teams. His facial expressions showed the look of a depressed loser. But I love Chico anyway. I wonder what the look on his face after he hit the home run?

Wish it were easier to access tape of any game, instead of the limited amounts they overprice at MLB.com. Should I call the stations if I wanted this? Eh.. they probably burned it.

Since I was attending college in Miami at the time I was able to go to this game. The Mets played well as they would sweep the series and win six straight to end the season. One of the real few bright spots for the Mets in 1993. Although they swept the first-year Marlins to end the season it was not enough to escape last place.

I had a great time at the game like I always do until the bottom of the 9th with one out the heavy rains suddenly came. I waited around for about an hour hoping to see the finish but the rain never let up and I needed to get back to school to work on some term papers and projects. After another two hours the game was finally called and 1993 was over.

The last game as a Met for guys like Eddie Murray and Pete Schourek. Both were here during terrible seasons, but at least experienced some decent success in NY. The Mets unbelievably finished 1993 on a 6-game winning streak (eerily similar to the terrible 1979 team) and beat the Marlins. Gooden had a rare pinch-hit triple (I'm sure he loved that as he loved to hit). As someone above me said, it would be fantastic to see a tape of this game (I taped a lot back then but missed a good deal as well), just for the novelty of seeing the conclusion of probably the worst season in team history. But we all know that those 1993 tapes were burned quickly.