Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, the immortal, hit 3 HRs off Doc in this game. He would then hit 5 the rest of the season. Now, it seems he is on the verge of breaking the Japanese league's single season HR record. Go figure.

Second baseman Jeff Kent and shortstop Jose Vizcaino both homered in this game, marking the first time since 1948 that a double-play combination both hit homers on Opening Day.

What a way to start the season. With a 22 MPH wind blowing out at Wrigley, the Mets and Cubs combine for 20 runs and 30 hits, with the Mets improving to 5-0 vs. Chicago in Opening Day games. Tuffy Rhodes made all the headlines, becoming the first in major league history to start a season belting home runs in each of his first 3 at-bats (all of them virtually to the same exact spot in the left-center field bleachers), and as of this post stands as only 1 of 4 all-time with 3 homers on Opening Day, along with George Bell, Dmitri Young and Matt Davidson. However, this performance was more the exception than the rule for Tuffy, who by 1995 was already gone from the Cubs. By 1996 he was in Japan and, as Mets2Moon mentioned, went on to become one of the best power hitters in Japanese League history. In 2001, he tied their single-season record with 55 homers, although that record has since been topped.

The emphatic victory has to feel good for a Mets team and fanbase coming off such a dreadful 1993 campaign. The offense was the story, with Jeff Kent leading the way by going 4-for-5 and missed hitting for the cycle by a triple. Jose Vizcaino also homered in his Mets debut, just a week after coming over from the Cubs in a late Spring Training trade. Todd Hundley went back-to-back with him in the 3rd, blasting his to almost the same spot in the RF stands as Vizcaino. Even Gooden got in on the act, collecting his last pair of RBI in a Mets uniform. The 12 runs are still the most the Mets have ever scored in an Opening Day game.

Speaking of Gooden, he made his last of 8 Opening Day starts for the Mets, which is second in team history among pitchers to Tom Seaver's 11. The Mets would go 7-1 in his 8 starts. It was also his last start against the Cubs as a Met and, despite allowing 7 runs (5 earned), he picked up his 27th career win vs. Chicago. Gooden is actually one of only 5 pitchers in Mets history to give up 7 runs and still win, and the only one to do it twice. Jon Niese was the last to do it in 2015. It's funny because Cubs announcer Steve Stone commented on how successful the Mets were against Chicago when Gooden was on the mound, saying early on in the game that "he'll beat them 10-8 if he has to." Turns out he wasn't far off!

Stone also made a remark I agreed with wholeheartedly later in the game. Talking about how baseball was losing popularity to other sports like football and basketball, he said that's only happening because those sports have made all kinds of changes (like 2-point conversions in football and the 3-pointer in basketball), while baseball has stayed pure and traditional and shouldn't have to change in order to maintain popularity. But looking at how much baseball has changed in recent years (especially this year with the introduction of a ridiculous pitch clock, among other things), it seems like purists like myself and Steve are a dying breed.

The game was still in question in the bottom of the 6th when the Mets were holding a 10-7 lead. Gooden allowed the first 2 batters to reach on singles but battled back to get Shawon Dunston to fly out and pinch-hitter Glenallen Hill to strikeout after an 8-pitch battle that saw Hill get brushed back twice. But, with Tuffy up next, Dallas Green decided he wouldn't get a chance to hit his 4th homer of the Doc and brought in Eric Hillman instead to get the lefty/lefty matchup. Upset by the decision, Gooden kicked the bat rack on his way to the clubhouse, which broke a toe and served as the catalyst for the demise of his career. Hillman, however, walked Rhodes on 4 pitches, loading the bases for Ryne Sandberg. In a gutsy move, Green stuck with Hillman despite having the righty Dave Telgheder ready in the bullpen, and Hillman rewarded him by getting Sandberg to line out to left for the final out. The Cubs never really threatened after that, albeit they did score one last meaningless run off John Franco in the 9th. The Mets would go on to sweep the Cubs in 3 to open the year. And hat tip to Bob P for the interesting note regarding Kent and Vizcaino.

Sorry for the length of this post but this really was a fun and eventful game to watch, as I could probably go on for another 3 paragraphs. The outcome here at least gave us hope that 1994 would be much different than the doldrums of 1993.

In this game, Jonathan Hurst and John Cangelosi made their Mets' debuts. Both entered in the eighth inning. Hurst pitched two shutout innings to seal the win and Cangelosi went 0-for-1.

The appearances of Hurst and Cangelosi created a unique situation. They became the 500th and 501st major leaguers to play for the Mets. Noticed by Mets Inside Pitch, the magazine decided to declare which of these two players was officially the 500th Met. Hurst was given the 500 spot since, being the pitcher, he touched the ball before Cangelosi did. John had to settle for No. 501.

Not exactly the most important of issues, but Inside Pitch decided to solve it anyway.

One of the coldest games that the Mets ever played. During the game broadcast, they said the wind chill was in the 20's!! Yikes. Snow was actually expected during this 3 game series but never actually happened,but even without it, I can't imagine how the players felt. At one point, Bonilla caught a rocket off the bat at 3rd base and had to jump around for what felt like, 30 seconds, as the combo of the freezing temp and catching a ball hit that hard in those conditions, made it a necessity.

I was at this game. Cyndi Lauper sang the national anthem and some of the '69 Mets threw out the first pitch. Willie Banks from Jersey City pitched for the Cubs; He was a phenom at St. Anthony's High School as a pitcher and he was also a good hoops player off the bench for Bob Hurley's legendary teams. I remember Jeromy Burnitz messing up in the outfield and the fans got on him. I was sitting in the Loge in rightfield that day. Randy Myers came in the 9th to stop a Mets rally and I think he struck out Burnitz. Btw, the game wasn't sold out; there were 10,000 empty seats, a reminder of the horrible '93 season.

At least you got good weather for the game, Joe. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else to celebrate in the 1994 home opener. Indeed, Burnitz did commit an error during the Cubs' 6-run 3rd inning, though his blunder didn't really do any damage as all the runners that moved up a base on the play would have scored on Steve Buechele's home run later in the inning anyway. Burnitz was actually double-switched out of the game by the top of the 4th when the Mets brought in Jonathan Hurst, showing just how much confidence Dallas Green had in the outfielder. David Segui was the one who struck out with the bases loaded to end the game, spoiling an otherwise nice afternoon for the first baseman which saw him go 3-for-5.

It was a weird outing for Bobby Jones, who looked in control by retiring the first 5 he faced before walking Rick Wilkins. That's when the wheels completely fell off, and I wondered if he might have been hurt (in hindsight, he wasn't -- he just had an off day for whatever reason). After the walk, 6 of the next 8 batters reached base, including Sammy Sosa on an RBI single in the 3rd that finally did Jones in. At 2.1 innings, this marked Bobby's shortest outing of the 1994 season. Unfortunately, Dave Telgheder wasn't any better, as he walked his first batter and then allowed a mammoth 3-run homer to Buechele. That put the Mets down 8-1, a deficit that proved too great to overcome.

Aside from the poor pitching, the defense wasn't much better. Along with Burnitz, Telgheder and Vina also committed errors -- Vina twice, although his miscues can be somewhat forgiven as he was playing in only his second game at third base as a pro. Both of his errors were on poor throws to first, though none of the 4 the Mets had on the day led to any unearned runs. Vina was playing 3B because Bonilla had separated his shoulder for the second time in 8 months the previous day in Houston. Thankfully, Bobby only missed a week of action but it does help explain why he struggled so much at the dish in April.

Local hero Willie Banks picked up his first win as a Cub in the game, as well as his first career hit with a double in the 6th. Meanwhile, I found it odd that fellow local boy John Franco came into this game in the 8th inning with the Mets trailing by 4. He wound up pitching two innings, despite the fact he had just pitched the previous day. Was Dallas already using Franco in a mop-up role? I mean, with the way Franco pitched in 1993 -- and judging by how much he struggled to navigate his two innings here -- I can't say I'd disagree with the treatment.

No one knew it at at time, but this turned out to be Gooden's last win as a Met at Shea. He pitched great on this overcast afternoon in front of a very small crowd. Doc would be the last member of the 1986 champs to leave the team.

Forgotten now, but after Jeff Kent's game tying homer in the 8th in this game, he had 8 homers in the season's first 12 games. One of the best starts to a year that any Met ever had.

I was shocked to see the Mets had a winning record after this game, as the team looked just as bad -- if not worse -- than it did during its 103-loss 1993 season. Not only was this Gooden's last career start against the Dodgers, it was also his last start until June as he was shut down with a toe injury he incurred after kicking the bat rack during a poor performance in Chicago on Opening Day. The story goes he began using cocaine again during this rehab stint, and would be suspended shortly after returning from his injury. He then failed another drug test and was suspended for all of 1995, thus putting a sad end to his 11-year tenure with the Mets.

I was also quite surprised that the Dodgers were under .500 at the time, as their lineup looked quite formidable. They broke out of whatever slump they were in here, as they scored the most runs against the Mets since a 14-1 win back on May 10, 1979. Brett Butler walked all four times he was up, the first player with 4 BBs vs. the Mets since Lenny Dykstra in 1991. After getting no-hit through the first three innings, LA scored in every inning from there on out -- 3 times each in the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th. Meanwhile, the Mets could have staged some type of rally but grounded into a double play four innings in a row from the 6th-9th, with the guilty parties being Jeff Kent, Jose Vizcaino, Joe Orsulak and Todd Hundley.

Hampered by his injury, Gooden certainly took it on the chin, but reliever Jonathan Hurst was no better. He allowed the final 6 runs and was demoted to AAA Norfolk following the game, never to be summoned back to the bigs again and ending his Mets tenure with a cool 12.60 ERA over 7 appearances.

In an act that would make Philadelphians proud, fans started collectively throwing souvenir baseballs onto the field during the bottom of the fourth inning, prompting the umpires to call the Mets players off the field. The Dodgers had already scored 2 runs in the inning and were up 2-1 at the time, and nothing controversial had happened during the frame, so I have no idea what caused the fans to react in such a way. But when play resumed, Doc gave up an RBI single to Eric Karros on the first pitch he threw, so the delay certainly didn't help matters.

The one silver lining is that Gary Thorne joined Tim McCarver in the booth for the game. The 1994 season was his first calling games on WWOR, and I much preferred his delivery and usually upbeat attitude over McCarver's ego and Kiner's gaffes.

This game was tough to swallow. The Mets built 5- 0 and 10-5 leads, but in the 8th inning, Josias Manzanillo gave up 3 home runs. The first was a 2-run homer to Chris Gwynn. The second was a 3- run homer to Mike Piazza, and then Tim Wallach hit a solo homer to win it.

Stephen, you're right. The most amazing thing was that there were two outs when all those homers were hit. Gwynn's was a pinch home run, the next two batters (Butler and Webster) got on base before Piazza hit one, then Wallach followed.

Piazza had 92 RBI in just 107 games that season!

Bobby Bonilla was 4-for-4 with three singles and a homer.

Mets build a big early lead on homers by Bonilla and Kent. If I recall correctly Bonilla even made a good stop at third. It all falls apart late. Manzanillo gives up three homers none of them cheap. Dodgers score 6 in the 8th and another in the 9 for good meaure. Another grey day at Shea.

I must of been about 8 years old when I went to this game. I remember they went around to the crowd and asked them who the best baseball player of all time was. Me being 8 and knowing nothing, I proudly said Jeremy Burnitz, who hit a home run the very next inning.

This game was definitely a heartbreaker for the Mets. The Giants had a 4-0 lead but then in the 7th inning, Joe Orsulak hit a pinch-hit grand slam. The Mets kept that lead until the 9th, when Dusty Baker unconventionally sent up 2 left- handed hitters against John Franco. The strategy worked as both got singles, and then an error by Jeromy Burnitz allowed them to move up to 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Barry Bonds drove in the winning run with a long sacrifice fly.

Mel Rojas threw an Immaculate Inning in the 9th to close the game.

This game is imortalized in the 5/23/1994 cover of Sports Illustrated. John Cangelosi gets hit by John Smoltz twice and obviously charged the mound.

Cangelosi "backs" into the cover shot to attack an unseen Smoltz with ex-Met Charlie O'Brien pouncing upon him and Terry Pendelton joining the fray.

I was at this game. Anytime anyone brings up what a nice, sweet guy John Smoltz is, I bring up this game. Great brawl. I had field level seats along left field and was shouting at Steve Bedrosian as he was "running" from the bullpen, then gasping back. He pointed back at me...I was praying that he'd come towards me.

That's the only brawlgame I've ever been to.

I was at this game. I believe Cangelosi was hit right after the grand slam by Ryan Thompson. I was waiting on line at the concession stand behind home plate so I got a nice birds eye view.

If ever there was a player the Mets could have called a "sparkplug," it would be John Cangelosi. Hit on the foot by a curveball in an obvious accident his previous at-bat, Cangelosi is then plunked by just as obvious of a purpose pitch following Ryan Thompson's grand slam in the 5th inning. But little Johnny wasn't about to just take one between the numbers and claim his base, as he instead charged the mound and sparked a brawl that was mainly just shirt clutching and shouting after Smoltz and O'Brien got their licks in on Cangelosi. The pitcher and batter were the only 2 players ejected, and no one else was even close to getting plunked the rest of the game. You really have to figure, down 7-0 at the time, that Smoltz, who was set to lead off in the top of the 6th, knew he was going to be pinch-hit for and decided to let some frustration out before he hit the showers. If there's one thing I can say on his behalf, at least he didn't go head-hunting, instead hitting Cangelosi square in the back. As Met fans, it wouldn't be fair to get on Smoltz for doing the exact same thing Gooden did plenty of times during his career as well.

Thompson's grand slam was the only one of his career, as well as the only one the Mets would ever hit against Smoltz. It was quite unexpected considering Ryan had struck out on 3 pitches in each of his first 2 at-bats, and got down 0-2 in his grand slam at-bat. He somehow stayed alive by nicking a foul tip on pitch 3 and took a ball up and in on pitch 4 before socking a curveball to the back of the LF bullpen. Oddly enough, Thompson finished his career 2-for-11 vs. Smoltz, with both hits being home runs.

Speaking of odd, Ryan Klesko had quite the adventurous day. With two outs and a runner on 3rd in the 3rd inning, Todd Hundley lifted a weak fly to LF that should have ended the inning. Instead, for some reason Klesko decided to flip his sunglasses from down to up, then proceeded to lose the ball in the sun and drop it for a run-scoring error. On the very next pitch, Joe Orsulak hit a single to left that Klesko then airmailed to the backstop even though he had no chance of getting Hundley at the plate for his second error of the inning. Then Bonilla lifted another flyball to LF that Klesko again lost in the sun, then slipped and fell as the ball landed in the grass for an RBI double. I wonder if Smoltz would have rather thrown at Klesko instead of Cangelosi if he had the chance. Klesko somewhat made up for his miscues by slugging a no-doubter of a home run (his first of 16 career HRs vs. the Mets) in the 8th off the very ineffective Doug Linton. That made the score 8-4, and Fred McGriff and David Justice each reached base after that as the Braves looked poised for a rally. But Roger Mason came on and did yeoman's work, getting Mark Lemke to flyout to the warning track, O'Brien to strikeout and pinch-hitter Javy Lopez to groundout to end the threat. For O'Brien, it was his first ever game facing his former team. The Braves also featured fellow former Mets Bill Pecota and Dave Gallagher ... why they wanted so many players from the lowly 1992-93 Mets era is beyond me.

This was also my first extended look at Mauro Gozzo, and I liked what I saw. He worked fast, threw strikes and seemed to have good stuff. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last, as he'd hold a 6.20 ERA over his next 5 starts (the Mets losing each of those games) and he'd be permanently moved to the bullpen after that.

1:42 start got to Shea at 10:50 A.m. 11:20 bp 12:45 bp ends at 1:20 1:42 action! 2:51 homer 4:33 end of game And so its Alanta 5:33 home we lost next game few weeks

Mauro Gozzo loses for the first time in his Major League career as a starter (dating back to 1989) and had his shortest outing as a starter as a Met, lasting just 4.1 innings as the Mets get downed by the Phillies to commence a 3-game sweep in Philadelphia. He was mostly doomed by a 4-run 4th inning during which the Phils hit 3 doubles -- the biggest one by opposing pitcher Mike Williams, which was the first extra-base hit of his career and drove in 2 runs. Meanwhile, Mets hitters did next to nothing, getting just 5 hits -- all singles except for Ryan Thompson's bloop RBI double to RF in the 7th. His hit closed the gap to 4-3, but Joe Orsulak grounded out to end the inning, and the Mets didn't get a hit the rest of the way.

One other thing I came across during my research into this game: while the Mets led the NL with a .277 pinch-hitting batting average in 1993, in 1994 that mark plummeted to .212, which was second-worst in the NL to Montreal's .209. Go figure.

After the first inning and a half of this game, with the Mets jumping out to a 4-0 lead and Saberhagen on the mound, I thought there was no way they were possibly losing. But with baseball, you just never know. Alas, the Phillies would hang up a 6-spot in the 2nd inning, highlighted by a 3-run opposite-field blast my the light-hitting Milt Thompson, a double off the top of the wall by opposing pitcher Shawn Boskie, and a throwing error by Bobby Bonilla, along with RBI hits by Lenny Dykstra and Dave Hollins. Saberhagen allowed another run in the 4th before getting pinch-hit for during a Mets rally in the 5th, ending what was arguably his worst start of an otherwise terrific 1994 season.

In that 5th inning the Mets did manage to tie the game at 7-7, with Todd Hundley getting the big 2-run double to knot things up. But the Phils came right back with two runs off Doug Linton and never lost the lead again. From what I've seen so far from Linton, it boggles my mind how he stayed on the team for the entire season (outside of a brief demotion to AAA in July). He was awful, and it's painful knowing the Mets likely chose to keep him over Pete Schourek when spring training ended, which led to Schourek getting waived and signing with Cincinnati, where he had two really good years.

Down by 2, the Mets made things interesting in the 7th, as Bonilla led off with a double off southpaw reliever Andy Carter. After an out and a walk, Hundley was due up. Though the catcher was notoriously bad vs. LHP, the Phillies still countered by bringing in RHP Larry Andersen, a move the Mets must have welcomed. Hundley drilled the 7th pitch of the at-bat over the RF wall -- but foul by about 10 feet, just missing a 3-run homer. On the next pitch he popped out to second. David Segui followed with an RBI single off first baseman Ricky Jordan's mitt, but then John Cangelosi struck out looking on 3 pitches as a pinch hitter to end the inning. That was pretty much that.

Bob Wells picked up his first win in just his third big-league appearance by getting 2 outs in relief in the 5th inning, and Carter notched his first and only hold of his career. For the Mets, Josias Manzanillo looked incredible, getting 4 of his 6 outs via strikeout -- including fanning the side during the 8th inning. Josias did, however, comically walk Andersen in his final career plate appearance, even though Andersen was standing at the very edge of the batter's box with no intent to swing at all. On offense, Ryan Thompson was the only starter on either side not to get a hit. After he began May with a .279 batting average, his average stood at .219 following this loss -- and would bottom out at .211 after going 0-for-4 the next day. Meanwhile, Jim Lindeman received his first start for the Mets and responded by going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles. He and Jeromy Burnitz probably would have made for a nice OF platoon in 1994 but the Mets evidently had other plans.

I made the 100-mile trip from my home in northern New Jersey to Philadelphia to see this game. I sat in the upper deck along the first base line behind the Phillies' dugout at the now (thankfully) defunct Veterans Stadium. The game was a hitting battle over the first five innings in which both the Mets and Phils fell behind and then caught up to tie or go ahead. Solid relief pitching then took over on both sides and it ended when Todd Hundley struck out after not quite checking his swing in time.

On Milt Thompson's home run during the Phillies' six-run second inning, the ball seemed to have a mind of its own and wanted to get over the fence. It looked like it was going to be a shallow fly ball that left fielder Jim Lindeman would catch easily. However, it kept rising until it somehow found its way into the Mets bullpen. I had never seen a baseball travel like that before.

I also remember the double hit by Phils' pitcher Shawn Boskie in the bottom of the fifth. It was a high drive that caromed off the top of the center field wall. There was a dispute between Phillies' manager Jim Fregosi and the umpires about whether the ball hit the wall itself or the backdrop behind it and, therefore, should've been ruled a home run. Boskie wound up with a two-base hit after things were settled. This was the closest that a pitcher would come to hitting a homer in any major league game I ever attended.

After arriving back home very late that night, I watched a few innings of the game's rebroadcast on the SportsChannel cable station. I stayed up just long enough to see Hundley's two-run double in the top of the fifth for the second time. Knowing how the game turned out after that point, I then shut off the TV and went to sleep.

Pete Smith gives up a season-high 4 home runs as the Mets get swept by the Phillies. It's the most given up by any Mets pitcher in 1994, as well as the most the Phillies would hit in a game all year. Smith wound up allowing 25 gopherballs in 1994 to lead the NL. The Phillies actually got a hit in every inning but one and had a hit or walk to lead off an inning 7 of 8 times -- including 3 leadoff dingers.

Interestingly, Smith and Phillies starter Tommy Greene were teammates for the Braves in 1989 and 1990. Greene made it into the 6th inning but had to be removed after walking back-to-back batters. Turns out, his arm was hurt and he'd consequently miss over a year of action before finally returning to the mound, although he was never the same. Dave Hollins also got hurt in this game while sliding head first into first base as Smith accidentally stepped on his hand. See kids, this is why you don't slide head first into first! Hollins missed 2 months, came back for 1 game, and was then shutdown for the remainder of the season as well.

For the Mets, Luis Rivera homered in his first start of the season. The Phillies broadcast said it was the first HR given up by a Philly starter in 81 innings. I also researched to find that Lenny Dykstra was in the midst of a 15-game streak with a walk, which is the longest in Phillies history.

The return of Howard Johnson to Shea, as a member of the Rockies on this holiday afternoon. HoJo had a nice game and I would assume had a great ovation from the crowd. As for the game, Eric Hillman helped put this game out of reach on this day, as after showing some real potential a year earlier on the mound, his Mets career was circling the drain as we got further into 94.

In my view, easily the most frustrating loss of the 1994 season. The Mets led 6-4 in the 9th with 2 outs and the bases empty. Franco gave up a couple of hits and then future Met Lenny Harris hit a grounder to SS that he beat out, and Deion Sanders rounded 3rd with the tying run....David Segui made a perfect throw home (on the replay they even show Sanders stopped between 3rd and home because the throw beat him by so much)....And Hundley drops the ball, letting Deion run by him and score.

In the 10th, Jerome Walton hit the game winning 3-run homer to win it....but this loss was all on Todd Hundley.

They say if the strike never happened in 1994, the Expos had as good a chance as anyone of winning it all. And it's easy to see why. Ken Hill, despite working a season-low 78 pitches, was fantastic, at one point retiring 18 in a row. Mel Rojas and John Wetteland were a stellar 1-2 punch in the late innings. And the offense was so dynamic, with guys like Marquis Grissom, Moises Alou, and Larry Walker all about to hit their prime, along with a young Cliff Floyd manning first base. Alou seemed impossible to get out at the time, collecting an RBI single in the first, a 2-run homer in the second, and walks in the fifth and ninth. Even his one out of the game was a laserbeam lineout to left field.

The biggest play of the game came in the bottom of the 7th. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 out, Ryan Thompson hit a hard grounder that looked targeted for the outfield. But 3B Sean Berry -- only playing because Mike Lansing had been lifted from the game after getting plunked on the hand by Bobby Jones -- dove, gloved the ball and fired to first for the out, where Thompson idiotically dove headfirst into first. That probably saved 2 runs from scoring, which would have tied the game at 4-4. Instead, the Expos tacked on 2 more runs in the top of the 8th, negating a 2-run Mets rally in the bottom of the 8th. Kelly Stinnett, Thompson and John Cangelosi then all struck out in the 9th against Wetteland to end the game.

The contest also featured 2 Mets ejections: Todd Hundley for arguing with home plate ump Jeff Kellogg in the top of the 7th, and batting coach Tom McCraw for yelling from the dugout in protest of a bad check-swing call against Joe Orsulak in the bottom of the 8th. In addition, Jose Vizcaino had a 16-game hit streak snapped in the game, which is tied for the longest of his career and was the longest by a Met since Darryl Strawberry had a streak of 18 games in 1990.

The first Mets game I ever went to, it was the day before my 8th birthday. I remember going to Whitehall Street station to meet my dad, who got out of work early that day and he surprised me with a Mets cap, which was the clue that we were going to Shea! We sat in the upper level box seats on the rightfield side, but well enough to see the scoreboard. There was a DynaMets Dash this day and I got to participate in that, but while the result wasn't memorable, this day was one of the best I had as a kid. Three days later, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, and I remember hearing chants of "Let's Go Rangers" break out from time to time.

The last hurrah for Kevin McReynolds in his 2nd stint with the Mets. He drove in 4 of the 5 runs, including 2 homers, his last for his career.

I remember going to this game with my dad, cousin Dan and my Uncle Dave. I was in fifth grade and my cousin was in fourth. It was a good game during the horrible pre-Valentine 90's. Bret Saberhagen pitched a good game in his only solid season as a Met. John Franco looked like he was going to blow it in the ninth. With runners on and two outs, a flyball was hit to center. It looked like it was going to fall in, but Ryan Thompson made a diving catch to put the finishing touches on a 4-3 Mets win. My cousin and I shouted with joy. Awesome memory.

Cool story, Anthony. Glad you were able to get such an awesome memory with your family. I, too, thought Franco was bound to blow this one. He got the first 2 batters out, then gave up 3 straight singles to Pete Incaviglia, Lenny Dykstra and Mariano Duncan, even though he was a strike away from ending the game with all of them. As you mentioned, Ricky Jordan then plunked a soft flyball to CF that Thompson dove for and caught for the last out. Thompson also drove in what was ultimately the deciding run with a 2-out single in the 8th.

The Mets managed just one extra-base hit in the game, that a David Segui double in the 8th. Half their runs were scored thanks to Philly errors: one on a throwing error by Kim Batiste in the 5th, and one when Jeff Kent reached on another error by Batiste in the 7th and then scored when Joe Orsulak grounded into a double play.

As Anthony mentioned, Saberhagen was really sharp but labored through his final 2 innings. He would load the bases in the 7th on his first walk in 47.2 innings, but get pinch-hitter Tony Longmire to ground out to end the threat. The Phillies loaded the bases again in the 8th but failed to score against Josias Manzanillo, who otherwise struck out the side and continued his fantastic season as the new Mets setup man.

Kevin McReynolds left the game after straining his groin running out a groundball in the 1st and would miss close to a month of action. In reality, he only had 10 games left in his major league career before he'd retire. Also of note, this was the day Ryne Sandberg abruptly announced his retirement. He did so knowingly giving up $16 million in salary, which was quite the sum back in the day.

Ahh the night the Rangers won the Stanley Cup!! Remember reading in the paper the next morning that Gooden had lost. The stadium was probably dead that night because everyone was partying on 34th street.

I was 14 years old and a lifetime Mets fan. Since I lived in south Florida, I was ecstatic over the chance to see the Mets play the Marlins! I went to the first 3 games of the 4 game series. They lost the first and second game but I had fun anyway....even though they lost I was still excited that I had gotten former Met outfielder and (at that time) current Marlin outfielder Chuck Carr's autograph!...

Due to the impending strike later in the year, this was the Mets only visit to Florida in 1994. This was also the first time that Fernando Vina played LF, as the team was trying to keep his bat in the lineup.

As for the game, this very well could be the least watched broadcast in modern Mets history. This was the same night as the OJ car chase, the Knicks playing in the NBA finals and the Rangers parade during the day. All of that during a pretty mundane month for the Mets in which the team was playing poorly. I wish there was a way to find out the ratings for this kind of stuff.

This was Dwight Gooden's final win as a New York Met. He pitched eight innings, allowing one run and three hits. He made one more start for the Mets before his suspension, became a free agent after the season, did not play in the majors in 1995, and then signed with the Yankees (where--- of course---he pitched his only no-hitter) in 1996.

Gooden got shellacked in this game. Apparently, before pitching this game he was already aware of the fact that he was about to be suspended for substance abuse policy violation. This had to be the low point of his career.

Bad game for Gooden. I had a new camera which I brought to the game and one of the pictures that I took was a good action shot of Doc throwing a pitch to Gary Varsho. It turned out to be the final pitch that Doc ever threw as a Met. I don't remember what Varsho did but Doc was lifted after that pitch.

It was Fire Works night in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the 69 Mets Championship.

The game was over so quickly that the folks at Shea had to wait an hour after the game was over to launch the fireworks because the sky was not dark enough yet.

Franco blew another one. This time, Gregg Jefferies came up as a pinch hitter and tied the game with a double. The Cardinals scored again in the 9th to go up by a run. The game ended on a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play.

An eighth inning double by Rico Brogna was the only Mets hit off Padres RHP Andy Benes.

Benes, who led the league in strikeouts in 1994, struck out thirteen in this game and had a three-run double in the fifth inning. He picked up his sixth win, which turned out to be his final win of the strike-shortened season.

Jim Lindeman's homer in the top of the 10th won this one for the Mets.

My son threw a complete game shutout. He's awesome.

The Mets closed out the first half of the season in Dodger Stadium on a very sunny afternoon. Bret Saberhagen continued his all star season, winning his 10th game. If the year had been completed, he had a real shot at 20. Truly one of the forgotten great seasons in Mets history.

The Mets closed out the 1st half in last place, but compared to the previous season, it wasn't nearly as bad.

Terrific outing for Bret Saberhagen, who started game two of this twi-night doubleheader. Saberhagen pitched ten innings and allowed just five hits, no runs, and no walks! Unfortunately the Mets couldn't score in those ten innings because Andy Benes may have had a better outing than Saberhagen: he pitched eight innings and allowed just two hits while striking out fourteen.

John Franco and Roger Mason kept the Padres off the board for three more innings, then Mike Maddux came in to pitch the fourteenth. After retiring Scott Livingstone, Maddux allowed back- to-back home runs by Tony Gwynn and Phil Plantier, giving the Padres a 2-0 lead. The Mets got an unearned run off Jeff Tabaka in the bottom of the inning but Tim Mauser came on to get the last two outs for the first save of his career.

I had hated the way the Mets came apart and jerryrigged themselves throughout the early 1990s -- this whole era is very blurry for me and an extremely dark period in team history.

So, I don't even know what I was doing at Shea this night, other than spending time with my Dad. Nice game for Jacome though you could tell the Mets weren't going anywhere and even if they did there was a strike on the horizon. It was palpable. Just an awful feeling. Sure enough the strike hit a few weeks later, and I wouldn't be back at Shea again for another three years.

I went to this game with my brother -- I believe it was a Saturday night; we sat in box seats in right field. The stadium was far from full as I recall moving around to a better section later in the game. The crowd was on their feet cheering for John Franco at the end of the game -- I recall that this was some sort of a milestone save for him. After the game we went down to where the players parked, hoping to get an autograph. We failed, but we did see a bunch of the Padres driving off.

This was a low point of the history of the New York Mets as they looked like a bunch of bush-leaguers on a cloudy Sunday afternoon at Shea. Before the game, they had probably the last Mets Old Timers Day ever featuring the '69 Mets. In the 60's and 70's this would be a hot ticket and would sell out but only 24,855 showed up and they even brought back Jane Jarvis for this occasion but you couldn't even hear her playing the organ for crying out loud.

The only thing I remember was that Tony Gwynn (he truly would have hit .400 if not for the strike) went 3-4 and this was my last visit to Shea until June 17, 2005 due to the strike. The final score was Padres 10 Mets 1 and yes, they could have used some of the players from '69 because the '94 Mets were nothing to write home about!

Just watched the Old Timer's game from this date on one of my old tapes. There are MAYBE 1,500 people there to watch the 69 Mets play. A sad sight.

No wonder the Mets got rid of Old Timer's Day. But to be honest, if they brought it back now (with the 80's and 90's guys available now) I think the popularity would come back.

Tim Wallach hit both a 3-run homer and a 3-run double to give the Dodgers a 6-3 lead entering the 9th inning, but the Mets managed to tie the game against Todd Worrell. The announcers for this TV game (on the Baseball Network) said during the inning that Worrell just didn't look confident in that inning. He was confident enough, however, to strike out Fernando Vina with the bases loaded to end the inning. Naturally, the very next inning, the Dodgers won the game on a 2-out hit by Eric Karros to drive in DeLino DeShields. Another tough one.

The second to last Sunday home game of the season due to the impending strike, played on a gorgeous afternoon. This was a back and forth contest all day, as Hundley hit a pinch hit homer to get the Mets back in the game in the 7th. But the Giants came right back and put the game away to stay with 3 in the 8th off the usually reliable (in 1994 anyway), Josias Manzanillo.

1994 was such a crazy season all around the league. The Mets came into this day with San Fran with essentially the same record, yet the Mets were 15 games out of 1st place, and the Giants were only 1 game behind LA in the west. Go figure.

One of the ABC "Baseball Night in America" broadcasts from that season, as Gary Thorne was paired with Cards announcer Al Hrobasky. A pretty ho hum game, as Saberhagen was in total control all night, as he often was that season. Rico Brogna had 5 hits, as he was red hot at the time and was putting himself firmly in the Mets future plans, which unfortunately didn't bode well for David Segui as it ended up.

John Franco almost blew another game but he hung on. Rico Brogna's 2-run homer in the top of the 11th inning off Gary Buckels won the game.

The Mets had a tangible feel of a team headed in the right direction at this time, and that feeling certainly helped produce this 10-9 win. Indeed, the Mets finished July with a .615 winning percentage, which was their highest in a month since June of 1990, when they went 21-7 (.750). Juan Castillo made his major league debut in this game (and 1 of only 2 ML appearances his entire career), holding his own for the most part until Todd Zeile zapped a 3-run homer off him in the fifth. Still, he left the game with a 6-5 lead and in line for a win. The lead even grew to 8-5 before the Cardinals rallied to tie the game against the Mets bullpen.

Mike Remlinger, making his only relief appearance in 1994, gave up a run on a pinch-hit single by ex-Met Gregg Jefferies in the 7th. Roger Mason took over after that and got out of the inning, and Josias Manzanillo came on in the 8th. But he only lasted one batter, as he gave up a triple to Geronimo Pena and came out due to injury. The diagnosis wound up being a bone spur in his right shoulder that cost him the rest of the season, and cost the Mets arguably their best reliever of 1994. Mauro Gozzo came in next and allowed an RBI sac fly and a pinch-hit home run to Luis Alicea that knotted the score at 8-8.

After a scoreless 9th and 10th, Jeff Kent hit a 1-out double in the 11th, and was followed by Brogna crushing a home run to dead center off Buckels, who was pitching for the fourth straight day. Franco was summoned in the bottom of the inning but, as Stephen alluded to, almost blew another one. After getting the first two outs, John gave up singles to Zeile, Mark Whiten and Pena, allowing St. Louis to get within a run. But he struck out Tom Pagnozzi to secure the save.

Future Mets Zeile and Bernard Gilkey both had really good games, combining to go 5-for-9 and score 6 of the Cardinals' 9 runs. Zeile also just missed a walk-off homer in the 9th, as he blasted a 3-0 get-me-over pitch by Eric Gunderson high off the wall for a double, but he'd be stranded on base to force extra innings. Both teams would leave 11 runners on base.

One last thing to mention: In the 11th inning, after Brogna's home run, Ryan Thompson walked and stole second base. On his steal, as almost every runner has been apt to do in recent baseball history, he slid head-first into second base. For some reason, Tim McCarver decided to rip into Thompson for the slide, and argued the Mets and the players union should fine Thompson to encourage him and others from ceasing the head-first slide. Yet, earlier in the game, Gilkey also stole second base and also slid head first, and McCarver said absolutely nothing. I understand the head-first slide carries a higher potential for injury than a feet-first slide, but the head-first slide also allows a runner more options for getting to the base safely, like swimming around a tag or grabbing onto the base to prevent an overslide. The fact McCarver took a jubilant inning and decided that was the time to get on a soapbox really irked me -- not to mention he sounded completely out-of-touch with the game's evolution. His rant gets added to the growing litany of things he did over the course of his broadcasting career that really made me wish he'd just shut up and go away.

The Mets had the look of a good team in 1994, but the June Swoon and the strike ended it all. Oh well!

The Mets were behind 4-2 entering the 8th inning, but Tim Bogar and Bobby Bonilla hit 2-run homers to win the game.

A game played in and out of rain all night, including a delay.The Mets won their 4th in a row. The broadcast had former Met Ed Lynch in the booth all night, as he was in the front office at the time, so his insight into the roster was interesting to listen to during the game.

A well played game on both sides as Saberhagen went a full 9 innings. Of note on this broadcast, Keith Hernandez was the color man for this game. I can't think of a broadcast earlier than this that Keith was in the booth for, so this well could be his Mets booth debut as a real broadcaster.

One of the Mets more exciting victories of the year, in the season's final homestand as it turned out. Jose Vizcaino won this game with a pinch hit single into right center field, as the Mets scored 2 in the 9th. They beat up future Met Greg McMichael badly.

The Mets lost a tough fought game on this night, which was the last Shea night game of the 1994 season. This game was never seen in New York because of the Baseball Night in America broadcast rights stating that only one game could be seen in each market, and that night MLB chose to air the Yankee game in NY (The Baseball Night in America rules were very weird at the time and didn't make any sense). So the only way to see this broadcast with Bob Murphy and Gary Thorne was to live in Florida or possibly have a satellite that gave you out of town games. I must say, it was incredibly sad to see promos for games for the next weekend (Saturday August 13th), knowing those games never happened.

The crowd was incredibly lively all game long, even Murphy and Thorne commented on it multiple times, weird for a Mets team that surprised with their decent play that year, but still not going anywhere. Possibly they knew it was the last series they'd see their Mets at Shea that season, who knows. But it was a raucous feeling for sure.

A well fought game, but the Mets could never get the tying run across in the late innings, despite multiple chances.

It was a lovely Sunday afternoon. The excitement of the 80's had waned. We had suffered through Bobby Bo and Anthony Young's streak. I had been attending up to 100 games annually (including road games). With a couple of notable exceptions, this was the last game that I attended until a trip to Japan in '03. A companion at the game with me asked if I thought that they would really strike the next week. I didn't see how they could be that stupid. Decorum prevents what I have to say to the players and owners in this regard...

This was the home finale for the Mets in the strike-shortened '94 season. It was also the last game I ever attended at Shea Stadium. The only things I remember from it are Greg Colbrunn's homer in the ninth inning and Ryan Bowen shutting down the Mets' not-so-great offensive attack. A rather dull game, but my final visit ever to Shea.

With the strike looming, the Mets looked like a team with no interest in the season any more, going through the motions in losing 5-1. They put 8 first-pitch swings in play, including Bonilla and Kent in the 9th. Can't say I blame them for the mentality, but it sucks watching a team you have a rooting interest in just not care at all.

Curt Schilling had a stinker of a year but ended it on a high note by recording a complete game -- his 5th in his first 7 career starts against the Mets. The Mets just couldn't solve him in the early 1990s, and they actually wouldn't get their first win against Schilling until 1996. He only allowed 5 singles and 1 walk, and even snapped Rico Brogna's 15-game hitting streak, which wound up being the longest of his career.

On the other hand, Mike Remlinger was terrible and probably cost himself a shot at being considered for a spot in the starting rotation in 1995 with this performance. He gave up 11 hits, which tied a career high. I believe this was also the last WWOR telecast of the year.

The final win for the 1994 Mets, and Bret Saberhagen. It was a typical outing for him that season, as he only allowed 1 run and 1 walk. Amazingly, he had more wins (14) than walks that year (13). If it wasn't a for guy named Maddux, Bret would have gotten some serious consideration for the Cy Young.

Listening to this game on the radio, knowing that the strike was on as soon as the game ended, was one of the most interminable experiences ever. And the game simply wouldn't end. I don't even remember how it ended, only that when it did, I glumly tossed my walkman aside and went to sleep.

I went down to Philly that night thinking that it would be the last game of the year. By the 12th inning everyone in the stadium, both Mets and Phils fans were saying that if the negotiators tried this hard to save the season the strike would've been averted. We were also hoping that if this game went long enough it would be the last game of the year. Turns out a game in Seattle ended about 45 minutes after this one did. This was also the last time I saw Fernando Valenzuela pitch.

One more bit of trivia about this game...it was the final major league game for Kevin McReynolds, Jeff McKnight, Jim Lindeman, Mauro Gozzo, and Roger Mason. All of those players got into tonight's game for the Mets.

Also, former Mets Daryl Boston (Yanks), Bill Pecota (Braves), and Randy Milligan (Expos) played their final games on this date.

After the game, this is where Bobby Bum told Ch. 7's Art McFarland (I always felt sorry for Art) to "Make His Move". Yet another "feel good" moment in Mets Misery er I mean History.

This game was the last game before the players turned their backs on the fans and went on strike and wiped out the rest of the season as well as all of the postseason. It was on my 23rd birthday as well. Nice birthday present to go on strike. Since I now live in South Florida, I did go to the Marlins-Cardinals game that night knowing it might be the last of baseball for 1994 and it was.

Also the Mets did finish at 55-58 which to me was not too bad of a record considering how disastrous it was the last year in 1993.

The Mets go out with a whimper, able to scratch out just one run against the Phillies in a 15-inning loss. I love reading these comments, everyone had such great anecdotes. I didn't even realize so many Mets were playing in their last games, thanks for sharing Bob. And who can forget Bonilla's epic rant. Couldn't blame Bonilla for being grumpy -- after all, he just played 14 innings in a stinker of a loss (he was lifted in the 15th for Luis Rivera), had a bum shoulder he needed to get surgery on, and Art certainly hit a nerve with the question. But he should have just walked away or kept quiet. That just wasn't the Bobby Bo way.

This was the first time the Mets faced Valenzuela since 1990, and their unfamiliarity sure showed, as he tallied his highest strikeout total (7) in a game since also 1990. Lindeman touched him for his only run, a solo homer in the 4th. The Mets had a couple other chances, like in the 7th when Kent's double put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but Segui popped out and then Ryan Thompson was intentionally walked to bring up Brogna for the lefty/lefty matchup, and he flew out to left to end the inning. They also put 2 runners on base in the 9th and 11th but couldn't get the big hit.

Getting the start in RF, Lindeman helped cut down a runner at the plate in the 2nd, but his misjudge of a line drive in the 5th allowed the Phillies to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out. Jason Jacome, who continued his great pitching since getting called up, induced Billy Hatcher to ground out to 2nd, but that allowed Randy Ready to score for the Phils' only run until the 15th. That's when the Mets intentionally walked the bases loaded, not wanting Mauro Gozzo to face either John Kruk or Lenny Dykstra and instead go after Kim Batiste and Ricky Jordan. Batiste, who developed a bit of a reputation as a Met killer and just missed a game-winning hit that went foul in the 13th, struck out, but Jordan came through with a first-pitch single to end the game and the season for both teams.

Former Met Tom Edens got the win and Gozzo wound up taking the loss in his last ever ML game. I was surprised in such a long game Dallas Green never turned to Jose Vizcaino, Fernando Vina or Jeromy Burnitz, who all stayed on the bench until the very end. Finally, there's Tim Bogar, who ended his awful season going 0-for-7. I looked up to see who the last Met was to go hitless in at least 7 ABs in a game: Todd Frazier, 0-for-7 with 4 strikeouts in a 16-inning loss at San Francisco in 2019.