It was a good game and a promising start to what turned out to be a lousy season but, what I remember most of all is watching the game on ESPN and Jeff Brantley and Dave something were the announcers and Jeff Brantley was being very critical of Jay Payton and saying, "You gotta move up on a fly ball. That's fundementals." But then Brantley critizied Armando Rios for backing up on a fly ball.

My college roommate and I, and a couple other of our buddies skipped classes for the day and went to this game. We were in row O of the Upper Deck, and the wind was whipping off of the Long Island Sound on an already frigid day. I had bronchitis for 2 weeks after this game. But it was worth it as Al Leiter got my hopes up for the season and made me forget (albeit for one whole day) last season's disappointment. He pitched a beaut that day, and Weathers did a nice job shutting Pittsburgh down in the relief job. Too bad these whiny, overpaid, underachieving useless bunch of quitters never got anything else good going that season. This 2002 team reminded me exactly of the 1992-93 bunch!! It makes me want to puke just thinking about them!!

Once again Al pitched a great game to start a what could be exciting 2002 season. I was excited watching the game with my grandma. The only down side was Mo Vaughn going 0 for 5. Al always had good opening day. Just a shame; they could have had a good season.

Mo Vaughn hit his 300th homer. But the Mets lose because of fielding blunders.

This was the 3rd game of the season, when we all thought this was a pennant contender. It might have been the game when Mo Vaughn broke his hand and missed 2 weeks (little did we know). After this game they went to Atlanta and I believe won the first two and lost the third game in extra innings.

It was a nice, cool day with a decent crowd. I'll remember it for being the first time I went to a Mets game that I was searched and wanded before entering. It felt weird as it was my first visit to Shea since August 2001 before the terrorist attacks.

My first and still only visit to Turner Field. Pedro Astacio made a strong Mets debut, Burnitz hit a 3-run homer, and we briefly had the Braves on the run that year. It was all over soon enough.

This was the most recent Mets game I've seen in person. After two years, what I remember most was guaranteeing a Mets win since Leiter was starting against some rookie from Australia (a guy who was today reseaded from AAA Durham), making fun of Mackay Christiansen for some reason when he entered the game, and knowing instantly that Giles' hit in extra innings was a definite homer immediately got up and was heading down from nose-bleed land before it cleared the fence. Oh yeah, I remember the sunburn all over my arms as well.

This was the first truly nice day of the year in Chicago -- great game to be in the bleachers at Wrigley, sun shining, temperature must have been about 70 degrees.

Piazza homer into the left field bleachers sealed the deal in the 8th inning. My Piazza shirt didn't go over too well with the locals at the time, though...

This is one of my favorite games.

Estes stunk early. I mean, that's not saying much since he stunk most of his time with the Mets, but he was particularly bad here. He turned a 1 run inning into a 5-run bloodbath in the second by giving up a 2 run single to Furcal and a bomb of a HR to Andro Jones. His line was nothing short of ugly and it looked like a long night.

Except that the Mets came back in the 7th. Down 6-1, Piazza led off with his second HR of the game, followed by doubles from Alfonzo and Burnitz. Ordonez singled home Burnitz to make it 6-4. John Valentin followed by walloping the first pitch from Mike Remlinger off the Retired Numbers to tie the game. The crowd went nuts. It was like the 10-run inning in 2000 on a smaller scale.

The bullpens basically took over after that. Atlanta had one hit after the 6th inning. The Mets left the bases loaded in the 10th (This was Spooneybarger who held them down, I believe. If it wasn't, I just wanted to mention Spooneybarger.).

Finally, in the 12th, Payton led off with a walk, Piazza walked two batters later, and Alfonzo nailed a single to left to bring home Payton with the game winner.

This was a great early season win for the Mets, although a moment that was not repeated very often over the course of the forgettable 2002 season.

I was at this game too. The Met bullpen (Roberts, Kane Davis (!), Weathers, Benitez and Strickland) combined for 9 scoreless innings. The rally in the 7th was keyed by Ordonez' squeeze bunt that went for a single, scoring Burnitz.

95 degrees F. at game time! Whew! I don't think I have ever been to a game at Shea in hotter weather and I've been around a while and seen many a Met game. I think the 95 degrees was a record for this day -- and in April no less! Anyway, Maddux was good but left the game early because of a blister on his finger so Cox brought in Millwood who was even better. Interesting incident during the game: Met pitcher Jeff D'Amico singled cleanly to right in the 4th inning but for some reason didn't hustle down to 1st base and as a result was thrown out by Julio Franco from RIGHT FIELD! Embarrassing!

What a weird game. 95 degrees in the middle of April, and you could say that they lost because of D'Amico's play in the fourth. There were two out and a runner on third, and Jeff just punched it into right. Everyone was cheering and high- fiving, and suddenly Franco just whirls the ball to first and the umpire, just as surprised as everyone else, throws his arm in the air. Everyone is shocked, and people start yelling at D'Amico. We got a break when Maddux had to leave the game, and we couldn't even capitalize off great pitching and score a couple of runs.

Sloppy and disgusting game. Played in a steady mist all night. There were no more than 1,000 people in the stadium. I was unemployed at the time and one of the Mets suits came around in the 4th or 5th inning and gave everyone in the Upper Deck seats in the Loge under the overhang to get them out of the rain. When he brought us downstairs, he asked if there was anything else he could do for any of us. I asked him if he could offer me a job. He told me to contact the HR department. I never did. Maybe I should have...

Trachsel got lit up early, but the Mets came back against Josh Pearce. Valentin and Vaughn had key hits in a 5-run 5th. Mark Johnson pinch-hit the GW HR in the last of the 8th and Benitez struck out the side, impressively, Rolen, Pujols and Edmonds, to close out an otherwise miserable evening.

One of the most miserable, cold, dreary games I've ever attended, and I was so sick I had missed a day of high school and couldn't taste food, but my dad scored some good front row mezz tickets for free so I felt I had to go. Thick mist over the stadium all night but good news came from it.

John Valentin fouled a sharp ball straight back in the mid-innings (probably fifth or sixth) and my dad's hand suddenly closed, and he had palmed the ball! The entire section gave him a standing ovation and people congratulated him individually when they left the game. Wild, crazy moment... I wonder if it's on tape somewhere.

I didn't get to see this game in person or the first time it was on TV, but the re-broadcast was unique. Most of the time, you get an edited rebroadcast, chopping out innings to fit into a time frame. But the quickness of this game (1:53) made that unnecessary. It was a real joy to watch because the pace was so QUICK. It's been a long time since I've seen a Met pitcher in "the zone" the way Estes was this night. Strike after strike after strike. I don't recall him looking this good since a game at Shea in late 1998, when he came in with the Giants and shut the Mets down.

One of the best pitched games in franchise history. I always enjoy a good old fashioned 1-0 pitcher's duel rather than a 10-9 slugfest. Two young southpaws working quickly, getting it done in under 2 hours. Ex-Met Rusch pitches a gem despite being the hard luck loser, but Estes even though he wasn't successful in Flushing, pitches one of the many 1-hitters in Met history. To this day, still no no-no by a met. Maybe Pedro will do it. We'll see.

Shawn Estes for ex-Met Glendon Rusch. Estes had one of the best pitching performances in Mets history, giving up one hit and the Mets won.

A beautiful, sun-soaked Saturday afternoon. Astacio had his best stuff all day. He had a no-hitter into the 7th, but the Brewers caught up to him in the 8th and scored a run. This wouldn't have been much worry except that the Mets were being shut down by the immortal Nick Neugebauer, who, although he was a great prospect, could never overcome injuries or inconsistency in the majors. He also had one of the best baseball names I've ever heard. But the fact that he was wild, all over the place and the Mets managed only 2 runs off him was an eerie harbinger for what was to come for the Mets offense that was supposedly "re-tooled" in 2002.

The guy above me pretty much summed up everything nicely about this game. A good Saturday game to go to, in order to get out of studying for Spring finals at college.

The crazy thing to happen at this game was a car caught fire in the parking lot, on the left field side, during the middle of the game. The rest of the time, you could see this towering inferno of thick black smoke. I don't know how the players didn't get distracted by it. I guess that's why they get paid millions!

The day after Estes took a no-hitter into the eighth, Astacio takes a no-hitter into the 7th, before falling apart somewhat, but the Mets won anyway. First time I can remember that there were two games in a row that were pitched this well, at least since the Seaver-Koosman era.

Kane Davis's only win as a Met. He was in to mop up for Jeff D'Amico when the Mets unexpectedly threw up 6 runs against Ben Sheets in the 6th.

I was at this game. A dismal game for my Diamondbacks. Piazza hits two home runs, including a grand slam. Fortunatately the Diamondbacks got revenge against the Mets at Shea Stadium in August, sweeping a four-game series there.

People usually remember 2002 as an awful Mets season. They forget that when they won this game - finishing off one of their best Aprils ever - they were tied for 1st Place. People was remarking what a consistant rotation the team had with Leiter, Astacio, Estes, Trachsel, and D'Amico. Optimism was in the air with wins like this thanks to a couple of Piazza homers. Unfortunately, the bottom fell out as the season progressed and Bobby Valentine got a pink slip at the conclusion.

Bonds goes deep and is ejected after whiffing in the 8th. Mets offense consists of a Vaughn bomb to right and a RBI squeeze bunt by Ordonez. For as bunt-happy as the Mets of recent vintage have been (I'm talking the Randolph and Manuel Eras) they never use the squeeze.

This was the game where they filmed the scene from "2 Weeks Notice" starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant where Piazza played himself and told poor Sandra in his one line, "Next time go to a Yankees game."

It was a rainy day and the game was delayed. We got a towel for Mother's Day. It was a good game but had to leave early in the 10th inning.

Larry Walker, meet Kane Davis. A mismatch of epic proportions. Walker's home run off Davis in the 13th was one of the biggest bombs I've ever seen.

Living in San Diego I only get to watch the Amazins when they're on the West Coast and this is by far the best NYM game I've ever seen in SD.

If I told you the Mets won 13-4 with the Padres committing 5 errors you'd think that would be enough. Not even close, the Mets turned a 5-4-3 triple play with Fonzie making a nice play at the bag and Alomar making an awesome falling catch and throw to first to nail Wiki Gonzalez trotting out of the box (Wiki was benched for this). Then in the 7th with the bases loaded big Mike crushed a ball to CF that still hasn't landed for a grand slam. Imagine a triple play and a Piazza GS in the same game!

Then to top it all off, the next day in the newspaper, the headline in bold letters "THE WORST GAME EVER PLAYED". Of course for us it was one of the best!

I was at this game as well, watching from my favorite seats at Qualcomm, in section 24, behind third base, in the visiting player comp area (always a few empty seats, no hassles from the ushers). In the 5th, with none out, men on first and second, Wiki (I called him "Tweaky") Gonzalez, is up, and I look at Fonzie, he's playing about three feet away from the bag. So I start yelling "Triple Play now, 5-4-3!" ON THE NEXT PITCH, Tweaky hits a sharp grounder down the line, Fonzie gloves it, looks at third, kicks it, throws to Alomar, who double clutches before throwing to Vaughn, and Tweaky just gets called out! All the Padre fans around me admitted that I called it. Of course the Piazza GS was the icing on the cake, but that TP was special.

This was the night when Mike Piazza had his now famous pre-game press conference where he told the world that he's 100% STRAIGHT, END OF STORY!!!!

Mark Johnson hit a pinch hit single in the top of the ninth inning to give the Mets the 1-0 win. Trachsel pitched a gem and couldn't get the win.

Worst game of 2002 in my opinion. We were trucking along ok in the season, but this is when the 2002 Mets became a joke. A 7th inning where the wheels came off...Alfonzo, Alomar and Vaughn each made awful defensive plays, and in the 9th Alomar and Vaughn both had a chance to be heroes and had awful at-bats. Vaughn's batting avg dipped down to .229 that game (60 pounds less than his weight that same day!) and it was the second most embarassed in over 100 trips to Shea (Mel Rojas vs. Paul O'Neill 6/98 is the only one worse!)

Rey's first home run of the season (his last as a Met) gives the Mets the win in this wild game.

Well, the great Jeromy Burnitz has done it again. Burnitz came to bat with 2 on and 2 out down by 2 in the 9th inning, and just as I suspected Jeromy proceeded to corkscrew himself into the ground as he blasted a shallow fly ball to center to promptly end the game and it was the beginning of a 5 game losing streak. It did get fun in the 7th inning after Piazza struck out, he came to the plate to catch the inning and after 2 pitches got ejected from the game by an incompetant umpire, then Valentine got hot and got himself thrown out. Was great to see 33,000 fans in Miami for the game. I forgot what it was like to see that place almost halfway full. I'm used to seeing a measly 3,000 fans come to ProPlayer to support their team. A good game, though.

Before this game started I was starting to get a little ticked off at the Mets, all this money they are spending and they are playing like a Little League team. So after the night before when Burnitz failed to come through in the 9th with 2 out, Mo Vaughn came to the plate with 2 out in the 9th and as I suspected and even placed a bet with the guy sitting next to me that he would and he did, the mighty Vaughn had struck out. I drove 4 hours down to Miami for these last 2 games and they play PATHETIC! Mets lose 7-3 in this one, what else is new?

Fifth consecutive loss in a row, it would have been six if the game two days prior hadn't been rained out. 5 IN A ROW!, 7 losses in last 9 games! I remember this game. the game Valentine finally decided to bench Vaughn and Burnitz, and they actually ALMOST won the game. I think Burnitz and Vaughn should be worried about their starting jobs.

Alfonso, Alomar, and Piazza hit three home runs in a row in this game? Stunning.

All I remember was an excess of seagulls on the field, to an absurd extent, filling in the outfield.

I was at this game on a hot humid summer night in Comiskey. Robbie Alomar was batting in the first inning when the power briefly went out at the stadium. When they turned the lights back on, he hit a home run. Excellent game by Pedro Astacio when he was still good.

Chiefly notable as Robin Ventura's return to Shea Stadium, with a go-ahead, eventual game-winning 2-run HR in the 10th inning to give the Yankees a 4-2 win in 10 innings.

Once again Benitez blew a game against the Yankees. Alfonzo made a error at 2nd to keep the 9th going. WHY CAN'T THEY BEAT THE YANKEES? Then to top it all off the former Met Ventura wins the game for those dreadful Yankees.

This was a great game. Even though Shawn Estes didn't actually hit Clemens with a pitch, he hit him harder with the home run he hit off him. Then even Mike Piazza got in on the fun and hit one off Clemens.

Boy this was a great game. Finally the little guys from Queens beat the Bronx Booers. Estes shows Clemens that this is payback time while Piazza also kills a pitch, and it was a day when Mets fans and players could have sang the Twisted Sister song "We're Not Gonna Take It!"

This was the afternoon of revenge. Roger Clemens was coming back to Shea and Estes hit a homer off him and, of course, so did Piazza and the Mets won 8-0.

In my entry last summer I neglected to mention many important things about this game. First of all, it was the craziest crowd I've ever been with (and I've been to an Eagles game) and everyone was talking about one thing: retaliation. Did Estes have the guts to throw at Clemens?

In the third inning, our question was answered as Estes threw behind the back of Clemens. The response to it was a chorus of boos from both Mets and Yankees fans and the fans got so insane that things started to happen.

After Estes hit the homer off Clemens and we all laughed at him, a fan holding a Bud fell out of the Loge level and landed on the screen. He then proceeded to stand on it and wave to the fans before climbing back up into his seats. Then Piazza hit a bomb off Clemens, as we all knew he would and we knew the Mets were gonna win this game.

In the eighth, however, a fan ran onto the field and ran all the way to Bernie Williams in center before he was tackled by security. If I could go to the game one more time I'd do it.

Awesome game. This was my friend Jay's first Mets game, and this turned him into a Mets fan to this day. I love getting a random ticket and it turning out to be a great game. You had Clemens, Yankees, and all of the hoopla. Estes didn't REALLY hit him, but he did hit a homer, and magically Clemens came out with a leg injury... cough cough. Great game all the way!

Best Mets-Yankees game I have seen to date. I was watching the game on Fox on my new tv. Piazza hit a home run and Estes hit one off the evil Clemens. 8-0. Too bad all Mets-Yankees games can't be like that.

Besides the Estes home run what sticks out in my mind was Frank Sinatra Jr. singing the national anthem.

This game started out as the Mets' chance for revenge of Roger Clemens after his broken bat toss at Mike Piazza in the World Series two years earlier. Without the DH in effect, the plan was to throw a pitch at Clemens' head when he came up to bat. Shawn Estes didn't quite do that, but he provided a better payback with eleven strikeouts and a home run of his own against Clemens. Piazza also homered off old Roger to help the Mets' cause even more in their blowout victory. Mission accomplished.

Even with so much focus on getting even with Clemens, the real hero of the day was Rey Ordonez. On Estes's sacrifice bunt, Ordonez moved from second to third base and then scored on the play when he saw nobody covering home. Rey also hit a bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the eighth inning to drive home the Mets' last three runs. It was the first of two triples he would have during the year.

I was at this game. It was myself, my older sister, her friend and my major pain-in-the- butt Yankee fan cousin Chris. It was a pitcher's duel between Pedro Astacio and David Wells. Until the bottom of the eighth inning, it looked like it was all Yankees. The Mets offense looked sooo lethargic. My cousin was getting ready to really bust my chops. But, all of a sudden, the Mets got something going in the bottom of the eighth. They were helped by an error. Well, it was runners on first and second with none out. Up came Mo Vaughn along with his mere four home runs at that point. In the back of my mind, somehow I knew he was going to hit a home run. I grabbed my Rosary beads. Then, low and behold, BANG! The Mets had a 3-2 lead. This time, Armando Benitez did his job. It was a 3-2 Mets win and a 2-1 Shea Subway Series win. My sister and I went home smiling and my cousin went home repeating a certain four-letter word. So awesome!

This was a nice game, not only due to the fact that the Mets won, but because three generations of males in my family were there together at Shea, watching it together on Father's Day. A truly great memory. My father and I, long suffering Mets fans, and my grandfather, an old time Yankees fan. On this night, The Fat Fraud (aka Mo Vaughn) did the only positive thing he ever did in a Mets uniform, hitting the game winning homer in the 8th off of the equally fat, obnoxious David Wells. Armando Benitez actually did his job and closed out the game, ensuring the series win for the Mets.

My life as a Met fan in a nutshell. I turn on the game the other night just as a hitter grounds out. The announcers tell me that Steve is flirting with a perfect game through 7 1/3 innings. I am absolutely juiced. I am hoping to at least watch the 1st no- hitter in Mets's history (a fact that is hard to believe). The next batter gets in and I believe on the very first pitch hits a clean single to leftfield. Dream over!

The thing I most remember about this game is Piazza's home run. Torii Hunter leaped at the wall and almost made a fantastic catch. He also lost his glove to the other side of the wall in the process.

Astacio was still upset about his good buddy Darryl Kile, and he pitched like it. Long moment of silence before the game.

This was a lovely game. Versus Albie Lopez, The Mets came all out. Trachsel also hit his first career triple off of Lopez. Then Trachsel developed the blister and the Braves began to come back but were stopped short.

Another of the disappointing games from 2002 when the Mets simply couldn't pull it out when it mattered. In June, the Mets simply couldn't put wins together -- Burnitz completly fell apart offensively.

As a fan, I never leave Mets games early -- I never want to miss anything, nor do I feel it's fair to the players to be denied the support of the fans, even in a bad loss (although if Ordonez is going to call me "stupid"...)

That being said, I got up and left when Strickland gave up the grand slam to Sheffield in the top of the 8th. The homer was basically inevitable -- you just knew something bad was coming.

What was missed, of course, was one of the biggest (in terms of distance) home runs in Mets history. I heard Gary Cohen call the Mo Vaughn homer while driving on the Whitestone Expressway. Vaughn hit a monster shot off the Budweiser advertisement in the middle of the scoreboard, at the level of the top of the teams' lineups that are on either side of the advertisement.

This was Mo's first big offensive game for the Mets -- 2 HR and a double. That his numbers for 2002 actually appear (somewhat) decent is largely due to a late-season offensive surge, which really started with this game.

I was at this one too (Glenn's comments about the inevitability of a collapse that night are dead- on) but I'm glad I stuck around.

My initial reaction to Mo's home run wasn't an exclamation like "Yeah!" but rather a question like: "WHAT THE F---?!?"

There was no one on base and most of the fans had left. It was a humid night and very still. You could have heard a pin drop. Then, a crack on the bat and a ball that seemed to be traveling way too high in the air for a line drive. People saw where it landed and turned to one another and said, "Did I just see that?"

My scorecard says Vaughn's HR went 505 feet, and I believe it.

Any time the Mets put a whuppin' on the Yanks is always memorable. And it was at Yankee Stadium nonetheless. That was icing on the cake. 0h, and Mo going yard in the upper deck. SWEET!!!

Wow, my friend (avid Yankee fan) called me up at 11 am with an extra ticket. We hit trafic on the Deegan and we rolled into the stadium in the 2nd inning, just in time to see Mo Vaughn launch a home run that hits a hot dog vendor in the upper deck. Piazza and Wilson also homered and Cedeno stole home. My friend was pissed. Great game.

Fireworks Night. Scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th, but left the tying and winning runs on base when Cedeno grounded into a force play to end it.

Our wedding day! We got married earlier in the day at a different location because of a judges convention in NYC, we couldn't find someone to officiate. Held the reception in the left field terrace of Shea Stadium! Mr. Met and 50,000 plus were at our wedding! It was "Mike Piazza Replica Jersey Day", and yes, we still have our shirts. The Mets were terrific hosts, just wish they had won. Always treasure the "The NY Mets congratulate Jon and Noreen and thier families on thier wedding day". The spelling error was the way it was worded. Totally classic. Anyway, gorgeous sunny, hot day. Best wedding ever. Glad we didn't opt for a traditional wedding.

Mike Bascik looked great this game. He threw a complete game, 7-hit shutout. This was probably one of his highlights in his rookie year. Good job Bascik! He gave the Mets a desperate start and went the distance. He gave the bullpen rest. Also, the Mets were wearing the uniforms from 1986.

Last ever Mets vs Reds game at Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field where a lot of great and very infamous moments were made including: The 1986 Knight-Davis brawl, Pete Rose's shoving Dave Pallone in 1988 and the 1999 Wild Card playoff where Al Leiter delivered an all time classic.

Welcome to the big leagues, Marco Scutaro! His 7th inning pinch-hit triple knocks in 2 to break a 2-all tie. Hey, Marco Scutaro! This Bud\'s for you!

This game sort of solidified Javier Vazquez as one of the top starters in the National League. The Mets were completely unhittable against him, then again they were basically made a lot of pitchers look unhittable that season. One special moment is I met Tony Tarrasco before the game, I asked him if the Jeffrey Maier thing still bothers him. Hey said, "Every day." Thanks to that little bastard (Maier that is) the Yankees were able to pull off all those World Series wins (including 2000). Maybe that's what caused Tony to be a pot head.

We were standing in a long line in the hot afternoon sun waiting to get into Shea when a fan with a radio stated that he just heard that Jay Payton was traded to the Rockies. Quite a few fans standing on line were happy with the trade, commenting rather harshly on his recent blunders in the field and on the bases. I was kinda sad. I hoped that the Mets would cheer me up and win big. Boy, did I get more than I bargained for! On this one night the forlorn 2002 NY Mets looked like a team bound for the post-season. Estes pitched one of his finest games as a Met, solid thru 7 innings giving up 3 walks but only 2 hits. Jeromy Burnitz was patient at the plate and had 2 or 3 excellent at- bats, homering to deep center once. Rey had two doubles and was flawless in the field Even Roger Cedeno had a couple hits and didn't make any errors! I remember leaving the stadium elated in the belief that the Mets had really turned things around. How mistaken I was! The Mets were about to embark on one of their worst losing streaks of their history, losing 15 out of their next 18 games. When I look back on the humiliating 2002 season, I'm glad I was at Shea for one of the few happy moments. I believe that this was Estes's last game as a Met.

Not that there was a lot of mystery heading into this game, but this was the one that pounded the nail into the misguided notion that the 2002 Mets would contend for a playoff spot. There are a handful of times in your life that you absolutely know something, and Craig Counsell's shot down the right field line in the ninth off Armando spelled out for me and any thinking Mets fan on hand very clearly that this team was fork-sticking done. They played like it in the tenth and they played like it in the second game of this day's doubleheader, the game that proved, ultimately, that Keith Hernandez's "quit" assessment was righter than right.

To paraphrase Danny Kaye, the team with no heart, no heart and all thumbs, they're my 2002, your 2002--do you really think we'll get out of last place this year?--our 2002 Mets!

This debacle really finished the Mets as contenders until 2005 or '06 really. I left disgustedly in the middle of game 2 after seeing the pointless debut of John Thomson.

Ty Wigginton's first major league home run. And he was really enthuisiastic when he answered his curtain call. Who knew that it was a hint of things to come. Unfortunately Byung-Hyung Kim saved it for the D-backs. The one time l want him to blow a save in New York City and he doesn't. Sure he screws up royally against the Yanks, but not the Mets.

I caught Piazza's homer. It tied Johnny Bench and I traded it to Mike for an autographed bat. Shoulda held out for more.

A friend and I went to this Wednesday night game only because someone gave us free tickets. There was a pre-game Pakistani Night concert. The sparse crowd very rudely booed the musicians. Having to work the next day, I departed sometime in the sixth or seventh with the Padres leading the Mets 5-2. My friend, who remained to the end, called me the next day to say that he went down from the upper level to the loge unchallenged, and then caught a foul ball pitched by reliever Mike Holtz that went off the bat of Timo Perez. The ball had a large black scuff mark from the bat's impact. The following May, we came to Shea two hours before gametime to try to get Timo- or any Met- to autograph the ball. Unlike in past years, we were not allowed down to field level before the game as we did not have field level tickets. Seems like only the RICH can try for autographs. We still have the ball- maybe eBay might be interested?

It was amazing how I was at this game considering 2 days earlier I've been injured in a nasty fall that almost broke my nose and my right leg was in pain. I sat in the upper deck on the left field side and it rained prior to the game and they were honoring the 40th anniversary team and the fans kept chanting GO ON STRIKE when the Mets started to give up runs to the Dodgers. They lost 10-4 and the strike didn't happen as they struck an agreement just in time.

I went to this game with my father, brother and sister. Astacio got rocked early. If I remember correctly the Dodger pitcher Perez had a perfect game going until the 5th or 6th inning, with the Shea faithful cheering him on until he gave up a hit.

So I go to this game not expecting too much out of the Mets. The sun is blazing, I think it might have been about 95 degrees out there and I say to my friend, this game is gonna be brutal, Trachsel pitches absurdly slow. By the 3rd inning Trachsel would take about a minute or a minute and a half between pitches. It made us all sick. I started shouting THROW THE BALL and cursing him, suddenly the whole stadium started chanting throw--the--ball, throw--the--ball. And we were all laughing. Later that night I saw on sportscenter they put a clock counting off the seconds on how long it took Trachsel to get the ball and pitch it. I really believe I started that and that is my legacy at Shea Stadium.

Well I must say I am very pissed off. I went to this game and Giants fans were booing me and on top of that the Mets played like a bunch of sissys. We need help badly!

Randy Wolf pitches a four-hit shutout and Jimmy Rollins drives in the only run of the game in the eighth inning off Steve Trachsel as the Mets lose their thirteen consecutive home game. The Mets also become the first team in National League history to go through an entire calendar month without winning a home game.

This is probably the only time I have said I am sorry that I attended a game. It was a rainy day and it was a college-related trip going to this game. Hardly anyone went and the ones who did were hardly baseball fans. My roommate and I decided to go. It was rainy and cold and we sat in the upper deck. It had to be one of the worst outing I have seen my favorite player, Al Leiter, have. It was a meaningless game and it seemed he or any of the players just did not want to be there. I ran into some older guy outside the concession stands named Don and we talked baseball. I asked if he was married and he said, "I am married to baseball." I have had a lot of bad luck with girls so I thought I had seen a future version of myself. Other than that, this game sucked. They even played "Who Let the Dogs Out?" when Armando Benitez came in for mop-up work.

Now Armando can't even save a meaningless game. I was in my car last night listening to the Mets Marlins game and the Mets were up 2-1 in the 8th. They mention Benitez is warming up for the 9th and then give the list of the Marlins due up. Preston Wilson, Dereck Lee and Juan Encarcion, all home run hitters. So I immediately think the Mets better score at least one run in the 8th (which they don't do) since you know Benitiez can't face three power hitters in a row without giving up a bomb. He may be able to out duel one power hitter, maybe two, but no way can he face three in a row and not groove a fast ball that someone can deposit in the stands. Sure enough Armando gives up a dinger to Wilson, the first batter. That fast ball doesn't always move and good hitters can catch up to it and turn it around. Thanks Armando for prolonging the home losing streak to 16 games. Loser!

This was Pedro Feliciano's debut in the majors as he pitched the last two innings in the Mets victory.

This was Tyler Walker's first win as a major league pitcher. Walker left after five innings with the Phillies leading, 3-2, thanks to a two-run homer by Jimmy Rollins. In the top of the sixth, Roger Cedeno put the Mets in front with a two-run shot of his own to give Walker his winning chance.

With the Mets ahead by two in the ninth, Armando Benitez issued four walks around a sacrifice bunt and the lead was down to one with the bases loaded. Benitez then struck out Travis Lee and got Mike Lieberthal on a grounder back to the mound to end the game. Walker had come away with his first big league win, but it didn't come easy for him.

Why do the Mets always play their best when they are totally out of it? Ty Wigginton and Vance Wilson each hit home runs and Roger Cedeno was 3- 4 with a stolen base. Everything went right for the Mets in this game. If only they could have played like this in August.

I was at this game with my son and my uncle. Just before Burnitz homered to win it...I joked " Jeremy is going to send us home happy, right here." We laughed, then we cheered.

Esix Snead night at Shea! His first major league hit was followed by his first major league home run to win the game in the 11th inning and break the Expos seven game winning streak. So what if he's only had five HR's in his whole minor league career? He's a major league hero tonight! Enjoy it, buddy!

I was also at this game with the micro-muscled Esix Snead putting on a power display. The Mets may have been completely out of the race, but as meaningless as it seemed, it brought the place to as jubilant level as the similar Steve Henderson home run. Definitely a great time.

I attended this game and remember Mike Piazza flying out late in the game, but it sure looked good off the bat. I'll always remember the name ESIX SNEAD.

Went to this game with my dad, older sister, and roommate. Second straight time I got to see Al Leiter pitch and second straight time he got shelled. Is it me or were the 2002-2004 Mets a lot like the 1991-1993 Mets? Anyway, only highlight of the game was when I let this guy's son have the tee-shirt that I caught during when they shot them in the stands and the guy preceded to buy me a beer.