I remember that the 1969 season was brewing with optimism coming off a pretty decent showing in 1968. Then to lose to the expansion Expos on opening day at Shea, a lot of folks said "same 'ol Mets..." In particular was the Expos pitcher hitting a 3 run homer (Dan McGinn ?), and the Mets storming back to close the deficit with Duffy Dyer hitting a pinch hit 3 run homer in the bottom of the 9th to make it 11-10. Rod Gaspar followed with a double but was left on 2nd with the potential tying run.

This was the Expos first game ever. I remember the strange sight of their tri-colored caps and the odd-shaped numbers on their backs. They truly looked foreign to me as a kid! Now their long history will be coming to a close pretty soon. As for the Mets, it was a bad day, without a hint of the magic to come that season!

The home run was by McGinn. I was at the game and distinctly recall the home run because I was in the loge level down the right field line and saw the ball hit the top of the right center field fence and bounce over the fence. I think it was the first home run ever hit by a Montreal Expo.

Went to opening game with a buddy of mine. I was leaving for 6 month military service in about a week. After watching Mets lose to expansion Ei said to my buddy "At least I won't be around to see them come in last again." BOY, DID I MISCALCULATE THIS TEAM. And I wasn't even around to see them that year.

Al Jackson did not pitch well in this game. A couple of months later he was sent to Cincy and missed the World Series.

I was 13 years old and on Easter break from school. Attended 2 games that week with school buddies and sat in the upper deck at Shea. Could not believe we lost to the Expos in their first game. Like most fans we were convinced after the first game that this was going to be another lost season.

I remember watching this game on TV and thinking the Expos in one day have accomplished two things the Mets haven't accomplished in seven years: winning on opening day and holding a share of first place.

Allen: It was the first home run ever hit by a Montreal Expo.

I cut Junior HS to see the Mets play the brand new Expos in this game and there weren't many people in the stands. A cold clammy April afternoon game.

Saw Agee hit his monster HR into the upper deck and I can't imagine there were more than 8,000 people there.

Even less if it was late in the game. But the Mets won and it was their first win of 1969.

I saw Agee a few years ago at Shea and told him I was there for his blast. He didn't seem to care or believe me. Who knows?

I've never seen footage of that HR since. Back then not all the games were televised or recorded. No diamond vision to replay it either. And no curtain call or HR apple.

I believe Agee's homer may still be the only homer in Shea history to land in the upper deck - of course there is not much of an upper deck at Shea, just down both lines.

Ed, you're right. Agee's homer was the only homer in Shea history to land in the upper deck- that was a monster home run but people don't seem to remember he had another one that day.

This game also marked the first time the Mets were ever over .500.

My error the Mets were over .500 on 4/17/66. (2-1) than proceeded to lose their next 5 games.

Actually, the first time the Mets went over .500 was after 3 games in 1966, not this game.

In addition to this being the game where Tommie Agee hit the monster home run, it was also the major league debut and first win for Gary Gentry.

Gentry pitched a 1-2-3 first inning and then the Mets got him some immediate breathing room. They put four two-out singles together and took a 2-0 lead after one. Gentry gave one back in the second on a John Bateman homer, but the Mets answered back in their half as Agee hit the first of his two home runs in the game.

Gentry did not allow another run until the ninth when he gave up two singles and a double, putting the tying runs in scoring position. Cal Koonce came in to get pinch-hitter Don Bosch and the Mets were 2-1 after three games.

First Met game ever in Montreal. Koosman strained his shoulder and was relieved by Ryan in the fifth inning. Kranepool hit two homers for the offense.

This was the Mets' first game ever outside the United States. As Ed K states above, Jerry Koosman hurt his shoulder and was removed in the fifth inning. Koosman would not return to mound for nearly a month, but still recorded 17 wins in the Mets' championship season. Nolan Ryan took over for Jerry here and struck out seven batters without a walk for the win.

Kranepool's two homers for the game's only runs were the 52nd and 53rd of his career, giving him the Mets team record that had been held by Frank Thomas. Ed would go on to extend his own mark 65 more times over the next ten years.

Just listened to this game! (12/9/10). Donn Clendenon goes deep on the team he will go deep for 3 times that October!

This was the doubleheader in which Hodges walked out onto the field and removed Cleon from the game for not hustling - one of many "turning points". There was a demonstration between games of a game called "Cast-A-Ball" - or something like that. People were attaching balls to fishing rods and casting them over the right-field fence - it was weird. I was sitting in what I consider the best seats in the house - loge right behind the plate! I had my knishes and hot dogs and Cokes - heaven for a 12-year-old!

Sorry to contradict people, but this WAS NOT the day Hodges yanked Cleon. That happened in a double header vs Houston, when Denis Menke and another Astro both hit grand slams in one game.

Chris -perhaps you were thinking of the 2nd game when Cleon was removed not by Hodges but by the umpire for arguing an out call on an attempted steal. I was there, my first game, and remember the cries of "we want Cleon" from the fans. Don't remember the fishing; see my posting on game 2.

This second game of a doubleheader was a masterpiece of drama that I will always remember. I was there, my first baseball game ever, only age 8.

In the second inning with the Mets already behind, Jones singles and then puts his lithe legs to work, attempting to steal second. There is a close play at second, and Jones is called out. If I did not already love Cleon, at that moment there is no doubt that I adopted him as my own, when I saw him sink to the knees and plaintively and passionately argue his disagreement with the big, burly umpire standing apposite.

Jones pleads and pleads, and the fans are excited, riled up. "We want Cleon" they scream There is an unstated query rumbling through us: will Jones be tossed? The unthinkable happens. The umpire jerks his thumb through the air, much more violently then he did when announcing Jones’ failure to reach the bag ahead of the tag. You’re out, he screamed. Cleon tossed from the game! Impossible.

Jones himself is transfixed for a moment by the cruel piercing of the umpire’s gesture, then degenerates into apoplexy, leaving his knees and going face to face with the umpire, screaming. They are separated by the Mets manager, the former Brooklyn Dodger, Gil Hodges. Jones leaves the field, and the Mets fans scream over the unfair crucifixion of their star player. After all, from any angle in the ballpark the reality could be plainly seen: my father, and 50,000 other fans cried: he was safe!

But although my endless day of summer would soon re-enter the bounds of time, I secured a baseball Neverland that summer and every other summer since by faithfully consuming a daily dose of baseball.

An interesting thing happened in the fifth inning of this game. With the bases loaded, Wayne Garrett singled to drive home Ken Boswell and put the Mets ahead by a run. Cleon Jones also tried to score on the play, but was out on Rusty Staub's throw to catcher Ron Brand. Jones then started a fight with Brand, whose return punch landed right in the face of umpire Bill Williams. Cleon was thrown out of the game, but Brand wasn't and stayed in the rest of the way. I wonder why Brand didn't get the old heave-ho as well. Obviously, he should have been ejected.

My only regret in life is being only 3 yrs old in 1969. I always wished that I was much older to remember the 1969 World Champions. But I have read countless stories on the Miracle Mets (i.e. Seaver's near perfection, Hodges sending a message to Cleon Jones etc, the black cat, beating Leo and the Cubs, then the Braves and then the Orioles). I have read this story and it's AMAZING. After their split with the Expos and the All-Star break beckoned; their plane had mechanical problems at the Montreal airport; while waiting for the plane to be fixed, Gil Hodges and the Amazin's watched another great moment from 1969: Neil Armstrong making history by saying "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Someone once said "Man will land on the moon before the Mets win the World Series". They were right!

Bobby Pfeil won this with an RBI bunt single in the top of the 10th.

It took the Mets 140 games to finally get into 1st place that season. Once they got there, there was no looking back. The game even took an agonizing 12 innings to do it. For a 10 year old kid, it seemed like an eternity for me.

The Expos pitched a kid named Mike Wegener, who caught a line drive off Cleon's bat that to this day I can't understand how it didn't kill him.

Didn't help though. McAndrew went 11 innings and the Mets won in 12.

Ralph's call of the game-winning hit is a classic. He told you the years, months, and days it took for the Mets to finally reach 1st place EVER. The roaring crowd in the back chanting "We're #1" still brings chills to the bone.

I remember watching this on TV. It was a twi- night doubleheader. What a thrill that they finally won it in the 12th and "for the first time in their history" went into first place by percentage points over Leo the Lip's Cubs.

This was a first game of a twilight doubleheader. The end result was the Mets ended the game in first place which they achieved in the 12th inning when Cleon Jones (as usual for 1969) scored the winning run. When the game ended the Mets were in first place for the first time in the history of the team. The crowd went wild later on as the scoreboard showed that the Mets were .001 points ahead of the Cubs, as a result of the Cubs playing two more games than the Mets, and were indeed in first place. As the night progressed, during the second game, the Cubs lost which meant more cheering and a genuine claim on first place by a half game. Of course UltimateMets.com shows that the Mets won the second game as well leaving them one full game up at the end of the night.

I was at both games on Sept 10, 1969.

Sec 4 Row E Seat 18 Mezzanine Reserved for $2.50 face for the doubleheader.

Mets won both and the scoreboard showed the Mets in first place for the first time in their history.

Watched both games on TV. Remember the chants of we're number one and seeing Mrs. Joan Payson flashing the # 1 sign as she walked from her box seat.

This Mets win combined with a 4-3 loss by the Cubs in Philadelphia (the eighth straight loss for the Durochermen) gave the Mets a two-game lead with twenty games remaining.

Gary Gentry pitched a six-hit shutout (all singles), walking two and striking out nine.

Tommie Agee scored the first run on a passed ball by Expos' catcher John Batemen. A Ken Boswell double knocked in Cleon Jones to give the Mets a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning, and the Mets missed an opportunity to blow the game open as they loaded the bases with nobody out but couldn't get anyone else home.

Art Shamsky had an RBI single in the sixth, and Rod Gaspar drove in a run in the eighth with a single.

There is one special memory of this game for me anyway, and I did not realize it until 1998, when my mother was moving from Uniondale to East Meadow. She came across these tickets and it was from Sept. 11th, which is irony in itself, but it was the first game that my father ever took me to, and I was just 4 years old. On the back of the ticket, it said "Ange's ist game with Carmine" [my dad]. It got me choked up. (It is so awesome to see the game summary on this site, to know this game was an indeed a reality. Before Shea goes this year I'm going to sit in those seats, and even though dad is not with us anymore, it'll still be special.

On Victoria Day, a Canadian national holiday, the Expos give their fans all the reason to celebrate by coming back for 5 runs in the 9th inning, highlighted by a walk-off grand slam by Bob Bailey.

The Mets took a 4-1 lead in the 8th when the unlikely trio of Dave Marshall, Joe Foy and Jerry Grote went back-to-back-to-back. It was the second time in Mets history 3 players hit consecutive home runs, following Frank Thomas, Charlie Neal and Gil Hodges during the inaugural 1962 season.

After a rocky start (to which Bob Murphy credited to pants that had been shrunken in the wash), Gary Gentry wound up allowing just 1 run over the first 7 innings. But despite throwing approximately 114 pitches, the Mets chose not to pinch-hit for him in the top of the 8th. Wouldn't you know it, he allowed 3 straight hits and a run in the bottom of the 8th, which finally prompted Gil Hodges to go to his bullpen. Ron Taylor came in and allowed an inherited runner to score, cutting the Mets lead to 4-3.

The Mets went down quietly in the 9th, and Taylor gave up a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Ron Brand before getting relieved by Tug McGraw. The next batter tried to lay down a sac bunt but Grote nailed the leading runner at 2nd. But McGraw couldn't get any other outs, giving up a walk, a check-swing RBI double to Rusty Staub, and a free pass before Cal Koonce came in next. Four pitches later, Bailey was rounding the bases with his first homer of the season, and the Expos' first ever walk-off home run. A month and a half into the season, Bailey hadn't gone yard a single time, but he would somehow end the year with 28 longballs.

With the score tied in the sixth inning, Art Shamsky scored on an apparent sacrifice fly by Joe Foy. Shamsky was ruled out on the play after leaving third base too early for an inning-ending double play. An argument ensued and Gil Hodges was ejected from the game. It was one of only seven ejections that Hodges would receive as a major league manager.

The Mets took the lead in the top of the eighth on Dave Marshall's solo home run. With one out in the bottom half, Rusty Staub hit a two-run homer to put the Expos ahead to stay. The loss for the Mets dropped the team into a tie for first place with the Pirates, who swept a doubleheader over the Cubs in the last two games ever played at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field.

Great summation by NYB Buff. Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy both strongly believed the umps blew the call during the 6th inning, and that run proved to be the difference maker for the Mets in this loss. Despite outhitting the Expos 12-6, the Mets left 11 runners on base to drop the rubber match of the series and negate a pretty good start from Ray Sadecki.

Ah, yes. My second ever Mets game (I was 9), and the first with my family. This was the game Tom Seaver hit his first major league home run.

Also, right before Ron Swoboda's grand slam, my brother wanted to go to the bathroom. The rest of us (me, my father and mother) said to wait a minute -- the bases were loaded!

That grand slam was almost ruined by the fact that because the ball barely made it over the fence (I believe it was right-center field), Don Clendenon was headed back towards first at the moment Swoboda made it to first, and he almost passed him rounding first.

I'll never forget this game.

Jerry Grote set what was then a Met record with his 8th consecutive hit his first time up in this game. He had three hits at the end of the July 7th game, 4 straight hits on July 8th, and a lead-off hit in this game.

Tom Seaver connected for his first major league home run in this game. He hit it on the first anniversary of his famous almost-perfect game against the Cubs. The homer came off the Expos' Rich Nye, who was a Cub the previous year. Also, Ron Swoboda slugged a grand slam and Jerry Grote got a hit in his eighth consecutive at-bat. The Mets won the game as well, which made it all worth while!

Worthwhile!

This was the first game I ever attended in my life. I haven't been able to find it in all these years. Too bad you can't get the boxscore. I remember it was just before I turned 8 years old and it was on a Friday night at home against the Expos. I remember going with my uncle and three of his friends. I remembered the game being something like 10-9 Montreal. Oh well, 9-7. The Mets had men on base in the bottom of the 9th. It was quite exciting. Thanks for your great site!!

Frank, the boxscore and play-by-play are available on retrosheet.org. Please e-mail me if you need more information.

As for the game, Ken Singleton gave the Mets an early lead but Coco Laboy was a one-man show for the Expos. Laboy drove in 4 runs in the first 5 innings with two doubles and a single, and Montreal led 6-1 going to the bottom of the 5th. The teams traded single runs over the next few innings and it was 7-3 Expos going to the bottom of the eighth.

RBI singles by Wayne Garrett and Jerry Grote followed by an infield out by Joe Foy made it a 7- 6 game but Tommie Agee flied out with the tying run at third and two outs in the eighth.

The Expos added two runs in the top of the ninth on a squeeze bunt and a bases loaded walk and they led 9-6 in the bottom of the ninth. But the Mets loaded the bases with no one out in the ninth for Donn Clendenon and it looked like they could do some damage. Unfortunately, Donn grounded into a 6-4-3 DP and then Wayne Garrett was called out on strikes, and the Expos had a 9- 7 win.

It was my 10th birthday and it was the first Met game I ever went to. I took the 7 train to the game with my best friend Jimmy Smith. We sat in the upper deck of the left field corner. I remember a number of home runs getting hit, in particular the two by Rusty Staub. I also remember the Mets struggled offensively in the game. A Met fan who was sitting next to me teased me when he overheard me asking my friend how do they figure out how many people are here. He turned and said to me, "They count the number of ears and divide by two."

I remember it was Old-Timers Night at Shea Stadium.

Attended this game with my father and brothers. We went because it was Old Timers Day (really night), because every year Dad took us to the Old Timers games at both Yankee and Shea Stadium (I guess he dug them). It was also the day before my 9th birthday, and we might have gone because of that.

Anyway, I still have the program and scorecard for the game, and I kept score, and the scorecard is still marked up with my childish scrawl. I actually did a pretty good job keeping score for an about-to-be 9 year old, because, comparing it to the scorecard here, it's 100% accurate. I also noted, on the scorecard, that there was a rain delay in the third inning right after ex-Met Jim Gosger's home run (Gosger & Bobby Wine hitting home runs in the same game. Mets giving up the long ball to a couple of banjo hitters).

As I remember it, the rain didn't last too long. We hung out under the stands, over where the ramps went down, and we took turns, spitting, trying to hit the back of those shingles that used to hang on the cables running down the side of the exterior of the stadium. They ruined the look of Shea when they took those down.

My second game ever and once again Ray Sadecki started. I turned to my brother I guess I missed Tom Seaver again. Then who strolls from bullpen LOL... Back in the day starters pitched in relief before the All-Star break.

My first Mets game! My memories:

I had never seen a game in color before -- only on a B&W television ... the color of the grass and the stadium blew me away when I walked up the ramp.

Tommie Agee hit two home runs ... he was my favorite Met as a kid.

Ahhhh ....

The Mets swept the Expos in this Labor Day doubleheader while the Pirates split their doubleheader with the Cubs. So the Mets closed to within 1.5 games of first place.

In game one, the Mets were behind 4-0 going to the bottom of the seventh. But they scored two in the seventh and three more in the eighth. The winning run came on a Jerry Grote single a few batters after Cleon Jones had tied it with a two- run homer.

In game two, the Mets put up a five-spot in the bottom of the second on a three-run homer by Tommie Agee and a two-RBI double by Donn Clendenon. Jim McAndrew coasted to his ninth win of the year, allowing just six hits in the complete game victory.

Tug McGraw became the first Mets hitter with a 3-RBI single in this game. Alfonso and Lindor have done it since,

The Mets started this game tied for first place, the last day they would be in that position in 1970. I wasn't around to see this one at Parc Jarry, but looking at the play-by-play it seems as painful as the Terry Pendleton game in 1987.

Down 3-2 in the top of the ninth, Dave Marshall pinch hits for Jerry Grote to tie it. Then in the bottom of the ninth, starter Jerry Koosman sets them down in order. In the top of tenth, Tommie Agee hits a homer to put the Mets up 4-3.

Astonishingly, Koosman is sent out to pitch the bottom of the tenth. He allows the tying and winning runs to get on, gets the first out on a groundout, then throws a wild pitch that ties the game. After the second groundout of the inning and the score tied 4-4, Kooz intentionally walks Rusty Staub. Staub takes second base on defensive indifference. Kooz comes out of the game after 9 and 2/3 innings and Ron Herbel (?!?!!!?? where was Tug McGraw????) comes in to give up an intentional walk and a walk-off hit to send the Expos fans happy and knock the Mets out of first place until opening day 1971.

No wonder no one has posted about this one. It's probably too painful a memory for anyone who saw it to write about.

Hot Foot, it was actually logical for Gil Hodges to bring in Ron Herbel and not Tug McGraw in that situation. Koosman was removed in the middle of facing Ron Fairly and the right-handed Herbel completed the intentional walk that was officially charged to Jerry. The next Expo to come up was John Bateman, a right-handed batter who Hodges wanted Herbel to face. Gil was playing the percentages, but Bateman singled to drive home the winning run. It just shows that the sensible move can still backfire in baseball.

My friend Diane and I had mixed emotions about this game, which was called after five because of a SNOWSTORM! It was a cheap win thanks to penny-pincher M. Donald Grant and the Mets brass who didn't want to lose a near-capacity Opening Day crowd. The playing conditions were deplorable but thankfully no one was injured. We were glad for the win — but equally glad to get in from the cold; I don't think we could have lasted 4 more innings.

First time ever that the Mets opened a season with a win at Shea. In 1970, they had won a season opener for the first time but the game was in Pittsburgh.

I had wanted to go to an Opening Day baseball game ever since I had seen the Brady Bunch episode in which Dodgers' First Baseman Wes Parker promised Greg two tickets to the opener if he got an A in his fiancee's class. Good enough for Greg Brady, good enough for me!

I never did get an A but my dream came true anyway in 1971 when my dad scored two tickets for my mom and me. (Dad couldnt get out of work that day and my sister had no interest)

Game day came and the weather was iffy at best. My social studies teacher who had heard my mom was coming to pull me out of school kept egging me on: "The game is rained out!"

But it wasn't. Mom showed up and we made the ride up Northern Blvd until the stadium came into view. By this time, the rain was coming down pretty hard. Not to mention the hail. Not to mention the snow. Did I mention the wind?

I couldn't care less about the weather. Mom of course felt differently. She had on one of those expressions that said, "Get me out of here!"

Dressed in heavy coats and carrying a blanket, we made it to our seats in the mezzanine level behind the left field foul line. Thankfully, we were under cover.

Still, there was that matter of the tarp covering the field. "They're not going to play," my mom said, hoping they'd call the game any minute so we could go home.

Then, a miracle.

"Look mom, they're taking the tarp off!" "Oh my God!" my mom shrieked.

And so they played: monsoon, windstorm, and all. Seaver pitched. I seem to remember Donn Clendenon doubling in the first inning and scoring. Maybe he even knocked in a run. The Mets took a lead and after two innings, the weather got so brutal even I had had enough.

Somehow, we found the car. The weather was horrific but that didn't keep us from stopping at the local Dunkin Donuts on the way home. We heard on the radio that the game went into a rain delay in the bottom of 5th inning with the Mets leading the official game. I think we made it home in time to catch Kiner's Korner on WOR-TV.

Over the next 25 years I would attend countless other opening days at Shea. I was there to witness the ball going through Bill Buckner's legs in Game 6. And I had field level box seats with my wife when Piazza hit the homer against the Braves that brought tears to everyone's eyes on Sept. 21, 2001, the Mets first home game after the WTC attacks.

As monumental as those moments were, there was something even more special about my first ever opening day, even if it was just two innings of some of the coldest, dampest weather I had ever endured at a ball game.

After all, that was the day when I realized I had the greatest mom who ever lived.

I went to this game at age 13 with my friend. We took a charter bus. I remember the awful weather, and the fans huddled in the bathrooms under the ceiling heaters. We were so disappointed that the game had to be called, but it was quite the adventure for a couple of 13-year-olds.

I remember going on a school trip (IS71) to this game which was my first time ever. The weather was cold and overcast and we left early. The Mets would lose this game but as a child I will remember this game forever and Buddy Harrelson hitting a triple.

Hi just wondering if any one from that class trip can reply with their memory ????

Ron Swoboda came up as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning of this game. He grounded out to first base and played left field in the ninth. This was Swoboda's only appearance ever against his former Mets team (not including spring training/exhibition games.)

Tom Seaver steps up with two outs and nobody on in the top of the eighth inning and the score tied, 1-1. Expos' RHP Bill Stoneman had retired eleven in a row, but Seaver hits one over the Parc Jarry fence and then shuts down the Expos for the 2-1 win. It was Seaver's second career home run. Tom struck out nine and didn't walk a batter to improve to 9-3.

This was the first major league baseball game I attended. I was 6 years old at the time. I still remember the sense of excitement, and disappointment among Expos fans, when Seaver hit the home run. My other vivid memory is a fan directly behind me yelling "Marshall, you're a bum!" at reliever Mike Marshall.

Cleon Jones ties an National League record by drawing six walks, helping the Mets to a doubleheader sweep of the Expos, 4–1 and 4–2. Jerry Grote has three doubles in the opener, and Bud Harrelson knocks in three runs in the nite cap. Nolan Ryan (7-4) and Danny Frisella (4–1) are winners.

I was at this double-header and I'm not positive, but I think Nolan Ryan walked in one, if not both, of Montreal's runs. The Mets traded him for Jim Fregosi five months later.

This victory for a doubleheader split was the Mets' only win in July between the start of the month and the All-Star Break. It ended a four-game losing streak and was followed by six consecutive defeats leading up to the Mid-Summer Classic, which was played in Detroit that year. This bad stretch dropped the Mets into third place in the N. L. East Division, ten games behind the Pirates.

Ray Sadecki pitched a very impressive three-hit shutout over the Expos. Sadecki issued no walks and retired the last nineteen Montreal batters. Cleon Jones provided half the scoring with an RBI single and a three-run homer. Also, Duffy Dyer went 3-for-4 and drove in a run.

When I was a kid, my parents thought I still too young to go to a game by myself and I had two tickets to see this one. I just figured out the date was 7/6/71 because I also remember that it was the day Louis Armstrong died.

Anyway, my folks made my older sister take me to Shea, and she wasn't crazy about the idea. We rode the subway from the Bronx to Shea and our seats were high in the upper deck and my sister was frightened about the ridiculously high trek up the steps. Jerry Koosman started and lasted one inning, leaving the game with what was announced as soreness in his rib cage. My sister thought it was funny and joked the rest of the game that Mrs. Koosman must have whacked him in the ribs because she was mad at him. I was so mad at her because she was making fun of one of my favorite Mets, but because she was so afraid of being up so high, I let her talk me into leaving the game early. After that, my younger brother and were allowed to go to games by ourselves.

The best game ever pitched by a Met on Labor Day. Seaver gave up an opening single to Ron Hunt and a 5th inning double to Gary Sutherland and that was it.

Other Labor Day gems include a 4-hit shutout by Seaver in 1975 and a 4-hit shutout by Kenny Rogers in 1999. Also Izzy threw six-innings of two-hit shutout ball in a win in 1993.

A significant thing happened in this game. Tug McGraw connected for the first and only home run of his entire major league career. Tug drove one out of the park off the Expos' Carl Morton to lead off the top of the sixth inning. It's just too bad it came in such a lopsided defeat for the Mets.

A homer coming off the bat of a pitcher is a special moment that can't possibly happen in a game that has that infestation called the Designated Hitter in it.

I remember this quite well. It was my first day ever in Hunter College, the day of the crushing of the Attica uprising too. I listened to this game on transistor radio during a break between classes. It was a rainy miserable day and I was nervous enough in starting college. Anyway the game was shortened to 5 innings. Ray Sadecki won and Ed Kranepool hit a HR.

Ray Sadecki was the winner in this five inning game, and Mike Jorgensen hit a first inning two- run homer off Expos RHP Carl Morton. Ed Kranepool had two singles and scored two runs. After the Mets batted in the fifth the game was delayed for an hour and 22 minutes and finally called.

Francisco Estrada's only MLB game, as the catcher became the first Mexican to ever play for the Mets.

The Mets win their seventh in a row to improve their record to 21-7, and they have a 5.5 game lead over the second place Phillies.

Willie Mays leads off with a walk off Mike Torrez. Teddy Martinez follows with an extra base hit to right field, and on the play at the plate Mays kicks the ball out of catcher John Boccabella's glove and into the dugout, allowing Martinez to come all the way home. The Mets don't score again in the game but Jim McAndrew and Tug McGraw combine on a seven-hitter for the 2-1 win.

I remember Dave Marshall (remember him?) drove in the only runs in this game with two home runs.

The Mes scored three in the top of the ninth to tie this game. A pinch single by Willie Mays brought in the tying run.

Rookie RHP Bob Rauch came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth and faced six batters: walk, sac bunt, intentional walk, walk, strikeout, walk.

Rauch got into just 19 games in his major league career (all with the 1972 Mets) and this was his only decision. He was traded to Cleveland after the season but never pitched in the majors again.

Third Mets game I ever went to. Family Night at Shea. Willie Mays almost tied the game in the ninth with a three-run homer but the ball went foul down by the left field foul pole.

Willie Mays had three hits in this game, the second of which was the 140th and last triple of his career. Mays had led the N. L. in triples three times with the New York Giants in the 1950s and this was his only three-bagger as a Mets player. Also, Montreal's Terry Humphrey slugged his first major league home run in the ninth inning. Humphrey would have only five more homers over a nine-year career.

I was 8 years old when I attended this game.It was one of the few times that my biological father came around to spend time with me. He took my mother, one of his nephews and myself. My Mom still talks about it once in a while recalling the great seats (third base field level) as well as a trip to the Diamond Club.

As for the game, I had always remembered the final score and that Jim McAndrew had started for the Mets. Also that the Expo run had come on a steal of home. But for all these years I had always thought that it was Ron Hunt who had made the steal. Not Clyde Mashore.

I have been visiting some of the other games I attended in my childhood. I find it interesting that Mets "closer" Tug McGraw would pitch 2, 3 or sometimes even 4 innings. How times have changed.

I went to this game with my Aunt Pat and Grandfather and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was nine years old and wore a wool Mets uniform, before wearing team uniforms was a big deal. My Aunt took my Grandfather and I to the game for his birthday. I remember the steal at home but more importantly, I remember the great time I had with my family and miss my grandfather and the memories he provided me to this day.

My dad usually took me to a Met Game every year for my birthday. This year it landed exactly on my 13th birthday. My dad got us Press Box seats from some unknown connection and I was having the time of my life. Unfortunately my Mom was pregnant with my younger sister. We all thought she would give birth later in August but she started experiencing early labor pains that night at home. My Dad called her and felt we needed to leave before the game was over. I would have none of this as the game was tied and I was having a great time. When Duffy Dyer hit the game winning homer in the eighth, I felt justified in staying for the final out. Fortunately my mom held out and gave birth the next day. Boy was happy and damn lucky, no way my dad was staying for extra innings!

As a 9-year old Montrealer, I attended this game with my father and still remember how cold and windy it was. What can I say, I was awed just to see a MLB game, let alone a no-hitter. The Mets weren't a bad team and one of the few bright lights on the Expos was Bill Stoneman. This was only the second game I ever attended in person. The Mets were probably the one team I saw most against my beloved Expos.

I am a long way from Montreal and Jarry Park as I write this. Jarry Park was small, windy and not very major league. However, the Expos made a big mistake moving to the Olympic Stadium, which contributed greatly to their demise. Just about every seat in Jarry Park was close to the field and it was a wonderful place to watch a game. It is missed.

I remember this as being the 1st game I ever watched. I was 6 years old and when the game was over I tried to find out when the next game was only to learn it was the last game of the season.

The only specific memory I have of the game is Jon Matlack striking out the side in one of the innings.

Paul, I went on retrosheet.org to try to help you figure out the details of Matlack's strikeouts, but unfortunately it told me that Jon did not strike out the side in any of the innings.

Matlack finished the game with 9 strikeouts. He did strike out two in the second, and two in the fifth, but never three in one inning.

Other facts about this game that may jar your memory:

The Expos took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when former Yankee Ron Woods grounded into a DP with first and third and none out.

The Mets scored all their runs in the 6th. Jim Fregosi was safe at second on an error by Tim Foli. Tommie Agee grounded out, moving Fregosi to third, and Fregosi scored on a wild pitch by Expos starter Balor Moore. Cleon followed with a walk, and then Jim Beauchamp hit a two run homer to give the Mets a 3-1 lead.

The Expos threatened in the bottom of the ninth. With one out Woods and Coco Laboy singled, but Tug McGraw struck out pinch hitter Ken Singleton and got John Boccabella to pop out. Wow, I mentioned two classic original Expos in one paragraph!

It's easy to see why you have no other memories of this game--not a whole lot happened!

The Mets finished the season that started with the death of Gil Hodges and a strike/lockout as a third place team with an 83-73 record, 13.5 games behind the Pirates. It was the third straight year since their 1969 championship that they finished with 83 wins.

This was Tommie Agee's last game as a Met. I did not know at the time he would be traded for a bum like Rich Chiles. The Mets won the pennant in 1973 and I always had wished Agee was on that team, maybe they would have beat the A's in the WS instead of an aging Willie Mays falling down in center field in Game 4.

Who would've thought...

No regular player amassed 100 hits for the season but the Mets still finished 10 games over .500

Karmine, one reason why no Mets player reached 100 hits is that the first week of the '72 season was cancelled by a players strike. The Mets record for the season was 83-73, which is only 156 games. Another reason is that the team had a lot of key players (Agee, Staub, Milner) injured during the season. With the solid pitching the Mets had, I like to think they would have won the pennant that year had they stayed healthy. But we'll never know that!

Interesting note from this game: Jim Beauchamp hit his fifth home run of the year, which was a career high for him. Beauchamp was forced to switch from uniform #24 to #5 when Willie Mays arrived a month into the season. His new number equaled that of the homers he would hit wearing it. It was also Jim's last home run of his career.

This game was helmet day. The first game I ever attended. I was 8 years old and it was with my cub scout troop. It was a weekend day game. I believe Matlack started and Milner hit a home run. I was happy to say that I did get to see Willie Mays play. He flied out to right- center field to Mike Jorgensen who made a great play on the ball and was also injured in some manner.

There is an audio copy of this game available and if you want to listen to the LOW point of 1973, this may have been it. McAndrew was awful, but Tug may have set a record in this one: three pitches, six runs. That's a grand slam, double and two-run homer on CONSECUTIVE pitches! It was the career night of Bob Bailey. I would love to hear ANY memories of fans who either watched this game on TV or listened to it live. It is incredible to think that a little over three months later, after this complete SHELLACKING, that the Mets were NL Champs.

I am 99% sure that I watched this game on TV. I remember this game because of the rout, and the only detail that I can recall is that Duffy Dyer hit a late inning home run into the left field stands to bring the Mets total to 8.

This memory is for Barry F. I'll tell you how I remember this game. 1973 was my third year as a baseball fan, and a Mets fan. I was 10 years old and living in Riverhead, N.Y. in this tiny one-bedroom apartment. I was in bed at night listening to the game on the radio (I don't think the game was on T.V., but I could be wrong). Bob Bailey became an enemy for life for what he did to the Mets that night, but I also feared him as a kid for the same reason. Anyway, just a small memory prompt from long ago. Funny...the things you remember.

I believe at the time this was a record for most runs scored against the Mets in a game. It was eventually surpassed by the infamous 26 run game in Philly in 1985. I agree it was the low point of the 1973 season.

I was at this game!!! My family went to Canada on vacation this year and the highlight for me was a real major league game! Jarry Park was awesome, barely a double A park in today's standards, but not a bad seat in the house. Although the Mets got shellacked, it was still unforgettable for that 10 year old boy, me.

The Mets took a beating in this game and it was Bob Bailey who led the way. He started with a two-run double that put the Expos ahead in the bottom of the fifth. An inning later, Bailey slugged a grand slam to begin a Montreal home run cycle. John Boccabella connected for a two-run homer later in the sixth and Ken Singleton provided a three-run shot in the seventh. Bailey himself then added a solo homer to complete the cycle. This was the first time that the Expos ever had all four kinds of home runs in one game. The Mets would not accomplish their first such feat for another twelve years (7/20/1985 vs. Braves.)

I remember watching this game. I was so upset when the Mets lost after they were winning 5-0. The Expos scored seven runs in the bottom of the eighth.

I saw this game on TV and it gave me a headache. Tom Seaver was on the mound with a 5-0 Mets lead in the bottom of the eighth, but then struggled badly and got knocked out. The killer came when Ron Woods, an ex-Yankee, hit a three-run homer off a reliever put the Expos ahead. I couldn’t help but think that the Yankees had just done something (traded Woods to Montreal) to beat the Mets.

I was at this game, sitting in the mezzanine between home plate and first base. It was the first game of a twi-night doubleheader that was on the original schedule. It wasn't any means of making up a rainout, which is what all doubleheaders have since become.

The game was a pitcher's duel between two good young hurlers. Jon Matlack pitched for the Mets, allowing only a Pepe Frias single over the first eight innings. Meanwhile, Montreal's Steve Rogers (just starting his career) held down the Mets, pitching shutout ball himself. Neither team was able to generate any offense.

In the ninth, the Expos broke through. Ron Hunt got on base and eventually came around to score the game's only run. They almost scored again that inning, but Rusty Staub prevented that. He made a perfect throw to Ron Hodges, nailing the runner trying to score from second on a single. Rusty's throw went right to Hodges on the fly - no bounces. A better one couldn't be made.

Rogers then got the Mets out in order to end the game. It was a hard luck loss, especially for Matlack. As for myself, this was the first Met game I attended that they did not win. Sadly, it wouldn't be the last.

This was the second game of a doubleheader I attended. It was also the first time I was at Shea for a game played at night. Looking at the field lit up amid the dark sky from the stands rather than on TV was quite a sight!

Tug McGraw, normally a reliever, was the starting pitcher for the Mets for this game. He did pretty well, lasting into the sixth inning and allowing only one run before being taken out.

The Mets took the lead in the fifth. Bud Harrelson led off with a triple to the right-center field wall. He later scored when he slid under the tag on a play at the plate. Gene Mauch argued with the umpire over it, but Buddy was safe.

The lead didn't hold up, though. The Expos tied it and, in the tenth, won it. With the bases loaded, John Boccabella hit a fly ball down the left field line that just eluded Cleon Jones. It went for a double as all three Expo runners scored, finishing off a sweep of the doubleheader for Montreal.

The Mets won this 1-0 game on a leadoff home run by Wayne Garrett. The only other time the Mets won a game in this fashion was in 2004 on Kaz Matsui's leadoff home run off Randy Johnson.

One the greatest and less remembered clutch relief efforts by a Mets pitcher - Tug McGraw. The Mets swept the Expos in a doubleheader in old Jarry Park in their miracle drive to win the division. McGraw came in to get the last out and save the opening game. He then pitched 5.1 scoreless innings to win the 15-inning nightcap.

As Ed K states, Tug McGraw provided more than five innings of relief for the win in this game that finished off a doubleheader sweep during the Mets' eventual drive to the pennant. McGraw also collected two singles of his own, the second of which drove home the Mets' last two runs in the top of the 15th inning. Kudos also to Ray Sadecki, who retired the last two Expos batters with the bases loaded in the bottom half for a clutch save.

The two victories brought the Mets to five games below the .500 mark for the season, but only four games behind the first-place Cardinals in the N. L. East Division.

What I remember about this game was when Willie Mays was trying to field a pop fly in foul territory. His chance was unsuccessful. Worse than that, he banged his chest into the the hard "Parc Jarry" dugout railing. Joe Deer the trainer taped him up underneath his uniform top, so he could finish the game. I seem to remember broken ribs. More likely bruised. Anyway, 11 days later he would announce his retirement. I guess he said enough is enough. One month later he would play in the World Series. I'm sure he was still hurting then.

An interesting point on Mays' injury in Joseph's comment is that this turned out to be the final regular season game in which Willie would ever appear. It happened to come at Montreal's Jarry Park, the same place in which he played his last game as a Giant the previous year.

As for the game itself, it was a sign that destiny was on the Mets' side on their way to the title. They came up with a shutout win even though their pitching allowed thirteen hits!

First game I ever went to in person. Two brothers and I spent all spring saving Dairylea milk carton coupons (4 gallon container coupons equaled a free upper deck ticket) and picked a game in September.

Well, it turned out to be Willie Mays Night - 55,000+ to watch Willie say farewell and the Mets - in first place! Win a close game and retain first place! Chanting "We're number one!" leaving a sold out Shea for the IRT 7 - it's never been better!

Of course, next season the promotion was only valid for games thru July - not that the team contended seriously for another decade.

Check the box score - Bud Harrelson was intentionally walked!

As JohnM says above, Bud Harrelson was intentionally walked, mainly because he was batting eighth. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Jerry Grote doubled. Harrelson was walked to get to Jerry Koosman, who popped to short to end the inning. Harrelson finished his career with 31 intentional walks, or about as many as Barry Bonds gets in a week!

Back to this game, the Mets scored first on a sac fly by Felix Millan in the fifth inning. The Expos tied it on an unearned run in the top of the sixth but Cleon Jones quickly untied it with a one-out homer in the bottom of the sixth.

The win, combined with a 2-1 win by the Phillies in Pittsburgh, moved the Mets a game and a half ahead of the Pirates with five games remaining.

My memories of this game aren't as vivid as the September 20 game against the Pirates (the "Ball on the Wall" game), but I do remember being there. My father and I had no idea it was Willie Mays night, and my most vivid memory was after the Mets had won, the big scoreboard in right field lit up with "Look Who's in First", and listed the National League East standings after the game with the Mets in first place.

I was in attendance for Willie Mays night on September 25, 1973. It was one of my most memorable nights ever at Shea. My mother's friend took me and my brother. I was in 6th grade at the time and it is interesting to note my mother's friend coincidentally happened to be my Spanish teacher's mother!

We got there very early and I saw Channel 2's Andy Fisher file a report outside Gate C. (First time I ever saw a live TV report.)

We were in the first base mezzanine with a bunch of Giants fans and during the pre-game ceremonies I never heard anybody get booed more lustily than Horace Stoneham did. Willie's final words, "Willie, say goodbye to America" were amazin'.

The night was bittersweet. I heard the game on the radio, because my older sister wouldn't let me watch the TV. She was watching a Rolling Stones documentary- "Gimme Shelter" I was 10 years old. Could care less about music. All I cared about was sports, the Mets, and Willie Mays. I had to hear his retirement speech on the radio as well as the game. I was very emotional from the combination of the speech and, but mostly, from not being able to watch it live. At least I did get to see the highlights on the news. However I did get my revenge in the post season!

A friend of our family got the tickets from the milk carton coupons. They did not want to go so they asked my father and he took me instead and both of us had a great time. What made it special was the Mets win and it was Willie Mays Night and the Mets were in the middle of a pennant race.

A few memories about this game that no one has mentioned. Yes, it was Willie Mays night and it was another crucial victory in the pennant drive. But I remember, first, that it was the final win in that famous 7-game wining streak that the Mets put together in September. With the score tied 1-1, Cleon hit a monstrous home run to give the Mets the lead off Steve Rogers, who was the Expos' best pitcher. And I remember Pearl Bailey, a big Met fan, was at the game, and as Cleon was rounding the bases after his home run they showed Pearl cheering. In a later inning, with the one-run lead, Cleon made one of his patented circus catches, back-handed, in left-center, preserving the lead and the game. What great cherished memories!

My mom worked at Manufacturers Hanover Trust offices and her boss gave her firm tix to this game. Since my dad was a NY Giants fan in the 50s we took the Q44 from Parkchester Bronx to Main Street Flushing and then walked across Roosevelt Ave instead of taking the 7 one stop. Lucky for us the pregame ceremony started at 8 so we didn't miss anything. Great game for Cleon offensive and defensive..

First game I attended that the Mets won. Two of those were by 1-0 scores and the other 6-2. So it was a thrill when the Mets put up a 4-spot in the first. It was batting glove day.

Yes, batting glove day. Packed house. My friend's uncle took us, and we went right after a little league game that morning. I was 12 and heard the uncle talking to some other fans about Matlack complaining about run support. That if he couldn't coast today, he never would. He pitched a gem though...

This game was my second time at Shea. I was so eager to get to the stadium in time to see batting practice, my dad and I took an earlier train from Princeton and wound up at Shea 2 hours before it opened. While we were waiting outside the stadium, after about an hour we were approached by a guy who asked to see our tickets. At 11 years old I was less trusting and more "City Savvy" that my dad and immediately thought "scam." My "Spidey Sense" grew stronger when the guy pulled out of his wallet two thin pieces of paper. By then my dad also had his tickets out and the guy asked us if we knew where we were sitting. We thought we were close to the field but the guy said no, our tix were for seats way down the right-field line in the mezzanine, and he offered us the little paper slips in exchange for our tickets. He told us he couldn't sell his but he could sell ours. It turned out the slips of paper were season tickets for a Field Box just beyond the third base dugout and the guy was an usher.

To this day the only autographs I ever got at a baseball game were from the Montreal Expos in my Mets program, and I still have it to this day.

During the game the usher came down to check on us and see how we were enjoying the game. My Dad tried offered him $10 to thank him for the tickets and he refused to take it. I learned something important about New York City that day.

Anyhow, just to add to an already fantastic day, John Milner hit a blast to center for a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 8th, driving in Bud Harrelson from first, who was in the game as a pinch-runner for Jerry Grote, who led the inning off with a single (Grote was batting 2nd that day!), and the Mets wound up beating the Expos 4-3, my first Mets Shea Stadium win.

This game served as the debut of a young Expo named Gary Carter and a former first-round draft choice pitching for the Mets named Randy Sterling. Sterling got the better of the game (his only MLB win) and got Carter out twice as Gary went 0 for 4, but their careers diverged after that. Carter grounded out to 3B (Garrett to Milner) in his first at-bat. He did throw out Mike Jorgensen trying to steal.

My bad on the last post. Mike Jorgensen was, of course, already an Expo by this game.

Making his major league debut for the Expos as a late season callup in front of 9000+ diehards at Parc Jarry? Gary Edmund Carter. He went 0 for 4, not a way to start a great HOF career but then again Willie Mays went 0 for 24 before getting his 1st hit. As they say "You Never Know". R.I.P. Kid 1954-2012

Ed K, Carter could not have thrown out Mike Jorgensen stealing in this game. Both of them were playing for the Expos. Jorgensen was thrown out by Mets catcher Ron Hodges in the first inning.

Holy sheesh! You have the boxscores!! I remember this game, I was there! We were sitting in the Dairylea grandstand seats and there was a huge fire off in the distance somewhere in Flushing just as the game started. I can remember being distracted by that for a while and I guess the Mets were too.

I definately remember Stearns getting the only hit and being very disgusted about the Mets losing to the lowly 'Spos.

Not only did Stearns get the only hit, he also made one of the all time defensive plays in Met history. I'm not sure who was hitting (I think it was Fryman) or what inning it was, but an Expo attempting to bunt fouled and an outstretched Stearns made a lunging bare handed catch and doubled off the runner on first. I still remember Fryman discussing this on Kiner's Korner simply by saying, "He was in my hair all day."

I was 11 and on this day and my grandfather had taken me to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. We stayed overnight and after dinner we were listening to this game in our hotel room. Now I have to tell you that for some reason my grandfather was a fan of young Met pitcher Randy Tate. He believed that he was going to develop into a fine pitcher.

On this night at least, my grandfather appeared to be right. As we listened to the signal as it faded in and out on a transistor radio, Randy Tate was pitching the game of his life. Over the first 7 innings Tate had struck out 11 Expos while walking 4 with his customary wildness. He had not only held the Expos scoreless, but hitless as well. The Mets led 3-0. The radio signal was getting weaker as Tate fanned pinch hitter Jose Morales to begin the 8th. After fading for a few moments, the signal returned and we heard that ex-Yank Jim Lyttle had broken up the no-hit bid. After that the signal was gone for good and we went to sleep, tired from the long day.

The next morning after breakfast, we walked past the Hall of Fame and saw the final on the museum's scoreboard. The Mets and Tate had lost the game 4-3. A walk, a Gary Carter single and Mike Jorgensen's 3 run HR, all off of Tate had ruined his fine outing.

Tate finished with 13 strikeouts. Ex-Met Chuck Taylor got the save for the Expos. Another nail in Yogi Berra's coffin as he would be fired as manager later that week.

I remember watching this game at my neighbor's house (he was a big Mets fan) and how pissed off he got when Randy Tate lost the no-hitter. He threw a beer bottle through the glass coffee table in his den.

This game was the first of a twi-light doubleheader. I attended this game with my Dad and siblings. We were sitting in the upper deck somewhere near the right field wall. All I remember was that the Mets were getting blown out in this game. We left in the middle of the second game as it was getting late and the Mets were getting blown out again.

Later that evening, we found out on the News that Yogi Berra had been fired as the manager of the Mets.

This was Skippy Lockwood’s first game as a Met and he recounts the experience in detail in his autobiography “Insight Pitch” from arriving at Shea Stadium from the airport after the game had already started to being brought into the game almost immediately and dealing with foggy glasses! Great Stuff.

Yogi's last game as Met manager. Back-to-back shutout (7-0) losses to lowly Montreal was the last straw. But his recent ultimatum for the Mets to release Cleon Jones for insubordination was also probably a major factor.

It was Banner Day. Between games of the double header, fans paraded on the field with their Mets banners, from center field to the infield, then along right foul line and out through Mets' bullpen. I remember seeing Mets game two starter, Tom Hall, smiling at our banners as we walked past him in the bullpen on the way out. And Yogi's last day in a Mets uniform.

A very rainy night at Shea for McMillian's first game as the Mets skipper. I had collected enough Dairylea milk coupons to take my father and brother. Not many people left in the stadium when we left.

A very memorable day for myself and my family. We got our cat Pepper that day and later that day a neighbor gave us box seats and we braved a very chilly rainy night.

This was the rainy night that I saw the Mets score seven runs in the sixth inning. I continued to watch on TV until the eighth before going to sleep, thinking the win was in the bag. On the radio the next morning, I heard the expected news of the Mets victory, but also that the Expos had the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the ninth when the rain washed out the rest of the game. Realizing the fate that had gone our way, I was then thanking the baseball gods above!

This is the only time I ever saw Tom Seaver win a Mets game in person, and it was via an emergency situation.

If memory serves correct, Jon Matlack was to originally start this game. Unfortunately, Jon was involved in a slight automobile accident and was scratched. Here comes Seaver like the 7th Cavalry to shut the Expos out. He was very much in control of the entire game. (Ironically, I never saw Matlack pitch in person; this was as close as I would come.)

The other highlight that stands out is that Dave Kingman laid down a surprise bunt single. I want to say that it was with two out and two strikes on him, but that may be a little much. I will say that no one expected it.

I went with my fellow Little Leaguers to this afternoon affair. What fun!

I was 10 years old, sitting on the Expos side, nice box seats, enjoying a hot dog. Bob Bailey led off the game with a home run to left.

I saw this game on TV. Matlack was lights out; he didn't allow a baserunner past second!

The inning I remember I believe to be the 4th. One of the Expo batters (possibly Gary Carter???) hit a lead-off double. (It doesn't show up in the box score posted on this site for some reason.) With a runner on second and no one out, Jon proceeds to jam the next two batters forcing them to pop up. I think he even broke their bats in the process. Needless to say he got out of the inning unscathed.

This was the first Met Game I ever attended.

I was 13 years old and at this game. It was overcast and it was the Met debut for the very overweight Mickey Lolich.

All I rememeber was that Lolich lasted only 2 innings and the Mets lost. Dave Kingman hit a HR that day.

Also in batting practice someone hit a screaming foul line drive down the 3rd base side and it nailed some guy next to me in the arm while he was reading his program. I picked up the still-spinning ball and brought home a souvenir!

I watched this game on TV. I remember this game because the Mets spoiled the single-handed heroics of one Andre Thornton, who had just been acquired from the Cubs.

In the first inning, with Pepe Mangual on first running on the pitch, Andre hits a two-run home run exuding cheers from the fans at Jarry Park! In the seventh inning, Wayne Garrett ties the game with a two-run homer of his own. However, Andre comes through with a clutch RBI single in the bottom of the inning to put Montreal ahead again. Then, in the top of the ninth just as things were looking bleak, Wayne comes through with a clutch two-run double putting the Mets up for good!

I don't remember the bottom of the ninth, but it appears that Andre had one last chance at heroics with two outs, but didn't come through.

This was the 1000th regular season win in the history of the Mets.

First game since Mets traded Wayne Garrett and Del Unser to Expos for Pepe Mangual and Jim Dwyer. Typical Met luck, Unser hits GW HR in bottom of 11th. Unfortunately, this was par for the course for the rest of the decade.

Del Unser gave the Mets an immediate payback in this game. Just two days after being traded to the Expos, Unser hit a home run in the 11th inning for a Montreal victory over his former team. It was one of only 55 Expos wins all year.

I didn't watch this game and never learned about Unser's homer until I discovered this website. My mind was focused more on something else going on in Montreal at the time, which was the Summer Olympics. With the Expos having a rough season and the city hosting the world's biggest sporting event, the only people in Montreal who knew about Del's walk-off blast might have been the ones inside Jarry Park that night. I doubt that it got as much attention as American swimmer John Naber's four gold medals or Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci's seven perfect 10s.

I was up in Montreal with some friends during the Olympics this week, and attended this game. I don't recall too much about the game, except for the exciting atmosphere in Jarry Park: the music, food and crowd interactions were really a lot of fun. The park was small, but the fans loved the Expos, and it was a shame they moved into giant cold Olympic Stadium the following year.

I believe Andre Thornton hit a sacrifice fly to score Ellis Valentine from third in the bottom the ninth to win it for the Expos.

I think this was the game where Jerry Koosman in the middle of the game stood motionless in his windup position on the rubber for about a good 30 seconds. The umpire was forced to call ball on him. He then stood another 20 seconds before finally winding to make the next pitch. I'm guessing but it seems that he and his catcher were not on the same page? It was just weird.

If memory serves right, this is the first game my dad took me to and the Met's first Jacket Day. When you are 8, the mighty high upper decks at Shea make the field seem much further away than it already is! Got there to catch both teams take batting practice. Couldn't figure out why you didn't hear the voices of Kiner, Murphy and Nelson coming over the PA. Reckoned if you could hear them on TV, you should be able to hear them at the ballpark. Seaver vs. Woody Fryman. Mets lost of course. Somehow they became my team and I almost got heat stroke from standing in my front yard the next day, in NYC August heat...proudly wearing my vinyl Mets jacket.

Makes me all misty-eyed for the blue and orange shingles that used to grace Shea.

I, too, remember that as being the first jacket day at Shea. It was actually a night game, and those jackets they gave away were the hottest pieces of vinyl I ever put on! They didn't breathe! I went to the game with families from the Little League, and remember Torre having a good game and my father saying that Torre finally woke up! Anyway, those jackets were all white with the Mets lettering across the front; I can still feel the sweat!

Jacket Night, and a Tom Seaver start at Shea, drew a tremendous crowd. I was 10, and this was maybe my fourth game ever.

Went with my dad, one of my dad's friends from work, and his son -- and we sat in the most hellacious traffic jam. Didn't arrive until after four innings. Parked who knows where.

I guess I still got a jacket. Remember it being white. And I was so pumped to see my first Seaver start in person, so disappointed I missed four innings, but thought I was going to see the Mets win.

Said to dad that it looked like we could pull this one out, and I recall the dread of Morales' big pinch hit. Didn't remember it was off Lockwood. I just knew Seaver was robbed, and so was I. Still remember how empty that felt.

My first ever game. My dad took me, just me and him. I was 6. Can remember sitting way in the upper deck and getting the white raincoat which sat in my closet for at least a dozen years after. My only memory of the game is Roy Staiger hitting a home run. That fact, and also remembering the game was against the Expos, and approximately the year gave me enough info to find the actual date of my first ever game using the net to research. Pretty cool discovery! I also remember staying up to see the lights on the Verrazano bridge coming home. Still watching the Mets, and coming to games with my dad since!

I was at this game, too. I remember going with my entire family. The white unstylish vinyl jacket they gave away. I was a kid and was excited I'd be getting a free Mets jacket. I remember being disappointed that we didn't get the royal blue Mets jackets walking in. Can someone confirm, I think I remember from this same game, Mets manager Joe Frazier going ballistic and getting ejected for throwing bats onto the field or was that a different game?

I too was at this game. I remember all the hype for the promo give-away "Jacket Day - now you can wear an authentic NY Mets jacket, just like the players wear!" My father picked my brothers and me up and we sat in a traffic jam, people actually parked their cars in travel lanes on the elevated highway and walked to the game. We parked by the junk yards and missed a few innings. We got our white vinyl jackets and being only twelve stated, "These are not just like the players wear!". I remember Seaver pitching and stating to my dad that Seaver threw fast! It wasn't my first Met game, but one I remember well. A few weeks later a hurricane blew into the region and I remember wearing my white raincoat outside to escape the rain.

My first Mets game. My mom drove to the park and ride in Secaucus, then a bus to the Port Authority and the #7 train to Shea. Final was 5-4 Expos I believe. I remember telling my mom that it was a good game and that's all that mattered.

The jacket was a bit of a disappointment. It was white with "Mets" in script across the front. The M and the ets on mine weren't even close to lining up.

The #7 was packed and extremely hot going back to NYC. Best night ever at that age. Sat way in the upper deck on the 3rd base side. You could see the ball being hit before you heard the crack of the bat.

This was my first Mets game ever. My dad took me. I was 9 years old. I'll never forget the 2-run homer that Kranepool hit in the bottom of the 8th that put the Mets on top for good. I was a Mets fan before, but this cemented the deal and I've been a die-hard Mets fan ever since. My favorite player in those days was Dave Kingman.

As Steve Flohr mentions above, Ed Kranepool slugged a two-run homer to put the Mets ahead to stay in this game. It came in the bottom of the eighth inning and wiped out an Expos rally. The home run was extra special for Ed. It was the 100th of his career.

First Mets (or any baseball) game I ever went to. Never even thought to look up the box score until just now.

I was a nine year old kid, my mom surprised me by picking me up from a day camp I was at, and told me the local recreation department was having a trip to the game. Put me on the old beater school bus with a friend of mine, and off we went. What memories!

I'll always remember sitting up in the nosebleed upper deck seats when Jerry Grote hit a triple into the rightfield corner that completely disappeared from my view. My first taste of Shea Stadium!

I was taken to this midweek day game by my grandfather. A superb performance by Koosman, but what I remember from this game is Ed Kranepool dropping a perfect bunt down the third base line in the 3rd inning and reaching first without a throw.

This was my first Game. Now I am a Yankee Fan. Go figure.

Remember this game as it was one of the only games I went to as a child. Kranepool was hitting rockets all game, and drove a few out to the wall. Then in the bottom of the ninth he won it with a HR. Great game, great memory.

Wayne Garrett, who had played solely with the Mets over eight seasons until the previous July, hit his first career grand slam in this game - and it came off Tom Seaver!

This was Game 2 of the Memorial Day Doubleheader. It was also Helmet Day. Mets got swept by the Expos. When I got home from the DH, I heard on the news that the Mets fired manager Joe Frazier, and hired Joe Torre as player-manager.

I believe this was Torre's first game. He should have quit after the win. I remember Marv Albert reporting on Joe Frazier's KO as Met manager while watching "the likes of Warren Cromartie, Andre Dawson and Gary Carter taking batting practice." I remember the snotty tone in his voice, like who are these guys, they are not worth my time even looking at. Funny, one is in the Hall of Fame, one will probably follow and the third (Cromartie) became a notable character on two continents. You never know...

Mook, this was indeed Torre's first game as manager. The Mets had been swept by the Expos the previous day to fall to 15-30. They responded well to Torre by winning their first three games under him. In fact they were 10-5 under Torre when the stuff hit the fan on June 15 and the team was decimated by the trades.

John Milner had two singles and drove in three runs for the Mets. A crowd of 6,505 can say they were there when Torre started the managerial career that not too many of us thought would wind up like this!

John Stearns hit his first career grand slam. I remember watching this game and I can distinctly remember Bob Murphy's play-by-play exact call, here it is: "And a long fly ball to deep left it's probably playable, Cromartie going back to the wall!, jumps!, and he cannot get it!, it is a grand slam home run! John Stearns connecting for a grand slam, the first of his major league career!!"

I went to this game, but don't remember it. I know I went because going through some old books, I found the ticket stub to this game stuck in one as a place marker. Looking over the box score and play-by-play, it looks like just a typical game with nothing special. Maybe a little bit of excitement in the 9th inning: Mets losing 5-2 with two outs in the 9th, Doug Flynn gets a single and Bruce Boisclair hits a 2 run pinch hit HR to make it 5-4. Then two walks and John Stearns comes up with the game on the line and flies out to LF. But I don't remember any of it.

A couple of other things to note: this was just a couple of weeks after the Seaver trade, so Flynn and Steve Henderson were brand new to the team. Meanwhile, Bud Harrelson only gets into the game as a pinch runner. His Mets days were winding down. And Bobby Valentine playing shortstop?

For some reason, I actually sat through this entire game of two awful team. As the innings started mounting and the crowd started dwindling, I had much time to think about better days for the Mets, particularly 1969 and 1973.

My friends and I went to this game as part of a "Youth on Wheels" bus trip from our home town on Long Island. We were still too young to drive, so the chance to get to Shea on our own was pretty exciting. The game went in to extra innings, and we desperately wanted to stick around to see the outcome, but the chaperones, I guess, had the responsibility of getting us home by dinner time, and were conscious of the bus driver. So much to our dismay, they herded us out of there around the 14th inning. When we got home, we found out that Lenny Randle had won the game for the Mets with a three-run homer in the 17th inning. It was one of very few exciting moments for the Mets in 1977, and we missed it.

I can't forget this game. I made my mother sit for 17 innings. Lenny Rangle won the game with a 2-run homer in the 17th. Lenny was a bright spot in '77.

My parents took me and two friends to this game to celebrate my tenth birthday. Typically when my dad took me to games (about ten total) he'd usually start to get antsy to leave around the sixth inning. He always wanted to beat the traffic from 12,000 or so fans attending Shea. On this occasion (probably because the game was my birthday gift) he let us stay despite the fact he clearly wanted to leave and was becoming more and more agonized with each passing inning. He made it clear at the top of the 17th that this was the last inning we were going to stay for. Thank goodness the Mets won it, and we got to see the whole game (the longest game I ever attended). On the way home one of my friends got sick in the back seat of his VW Beetle. My other friend and I spent the rest of the car ride home standing on the back seat to avoid the mess.

After almost thirty years my memory has played some tricks on me. Before looking this game up, I recalled that Steve Henderson hit the game winning HR (wrong) and I thought the game was 18 innings (wrong).

As memory serves the game winning shot was to left center, but based on my faulty recollections I am not so sure now.

This was a very exciting Mets win over the Expos. After the team fell behind by a run in the top of the eleventh inning, Steve Henderson slugged a leadoff home run against Montreal's Joe Kerrigan in the bottom half to retie the game immediately. Six innings later, Lenny Randle connected for a two-run homer off Will McEnaney to end it. The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Mets.

On Randle's homer, the runner on base who came home ahead of him was relief pitcher Paul Siebert. This was the only run that Siebert ever scored in his major league career. It was also the first of two wins he would record as a Met.

I was there opening day 1978 as part of the Armed Forces Police color guard. We changed into civilian clothes after presenting the colors and had pretty good (and free) tickets about 15 rows back of the third base dugout. Our NCOIC somehow had a WPIX press pass and handed it to Fred Merritt and me. We took our (not) professional cameras and went for it; the security guy waived us in. The only empty box was next to the TV booth with Ralph Kiner doing the play-by-play so we watched the game from there.

While I remember the Mets won, 3 to 1, Gary Carter hit a solo shot, and Andrew Carson played a nice centerfield, my greatest memory will forever be of who joined us. About the second inning, a graying-haired guy opened the door and was pushing another 50-something guy in a wheelchair. The former asked if there was room for them and I responded "Sure. We probably aren't supposed to be sitting here ourselves."

They entered and we all introduced ourselves; they were Duke Snider and Roy Campanella and Fred and I were just a couple of 24-year old Army GIs. The Duke and Roy laughed when we told them, bought the beer and hot dogs, and we all enjoyed the game. Ralph Kiner came over and chatted somewhere around the 4th inning.

What a day that was. Those three were all great for more than their on-field heroics: they were nice guys who never lost the common touch. And they went out of their way to thank us for serving our Nation.

This was the first Mets season opener in 11 years for which Tom Seaver was not the starting pitcher. With Seaver somewhere in Ohio, Jerry Koosman had the honor of being the Opening Day starter. Jerry pitched well, going all the way for the win and carrying on a Met tradition of season opening victories initiated by Tom.

In reading the entry above, I was wondering something. Tim, are you sure that your press pass was that of WPIX? Mets' games were televised by WOR (Channel 9) back then, while it was the Yankees that were on WPIX (Channel 11). Also, did you mean Andre Dawson when you wrote the name of Andrew Carson?

I believe this was a game where the great Eddie Kranepool hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth off Rudy May (I believe) to win the game for the Mets. Brutally cold as the game went to late innings. Was a kid back then and recall looking for hot chocolate at the concession stands.

This was one of the first games I ever attended alone. I bought a loge reserve on the third base side. There was a bench clearing brawl started when John (The Dude) Stearns gave a forearm shiver to Expos catcher Gary (The Kid) Carter. Willie Montanez got right in the middle of things wildly throwing punches (Just missing his teammates) I got so excited I ran to a pay phone to call my friend and interrupted his Passover seder! Seven years later The Kid's April heroics would be in Mets uniform.

I was six and my dad took me to the game. I remember coming down the ramp after Kranepool won it with a pinch-hit home run in the ninth and the whole stadium was chanting "ED-DIE! ED- DIE!" I went to a game later in the year with Dad and Kranepool pinch hit in the ninth again. I remember thinking the game was in the bag, because Kranepool would surely hit another homer. He didn't, and I learned how special that first homer against the 'Spos was. Will never forget it!

I enjoyed listening to this game on Classic Baseball on the Radio (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL3EoRkW8dw) yesterday.

It was the first game of a doubleheader, and the Mets were 2-0 heading into this game. Pat Zachry pitched well; his changeup was really working and he pitched a full seven innings, only giving up one run, and striking out six.

In the bottom of the 6th, Joe Torre looked like a future Hall of Fame manager when he sent Steve Henderson to pinch hit for Ron Hodges against Darrold Knowles, and Henderson hit a grand slam to make it 6-1.

Then suddenly (so suddenly I had to "rewind" two or three times) things imploded for the Mets in the 9th. Skip Lockwood started his second inning of relief by walking Gary Carter. Two outs later, Lockwood looked like he might be able to get the last out, but he gave up three singles in a row to make the score 6-4.

Ultimate Mets Database fan favorite Mardie Cornejo came in to pitch. He gave up a single to Ellis Valentine, which made the score 6-5, but then he got Dave Cash to fly out and seal the win for the first place, still undefeated Mets.

After this game, Mardie Cornejo was 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a save. I'm surprised the Mets didn't send him down to the minors that very day.

The 1978 Mets lost their undefeated status later on this day, dropping their record to 3-1. Amazingly, they still held a share of first place until April 22, when they were 9-6, a half game ahead of the Expos.

I was at this game and had front-row box seats down the left field line. I got Bill Atkinson's autograph before the game, but I just missed getting Andre Dawson's. He stopped signing after he reached the section next to mine.

I was 7 years old in the summer of '78, and my mom took me up to Canada for a vacation that August. The Mets happened to be in Montreal at the same time we were, so it was an opportunity to see our team on the road.

My memories of this game are very hazy. It was a night game, and we sat on the third base side, maybe midway up the stadium. I remember the Mets scoring a lot of runs and winning easily; for all these years I misremembered their run total as 11 instead of 10! The only incident I remember during the game is that someone from the Mets got caught in a run down (I think it was between first and second, but I'm not even sure of that), and the Expos had some sort of amusing animation that played on the outfield scoreboard for such an occasion.

I must have worn a Mets cap and/or shirt to the game, because walking back to the car a boy of about 10 came running up to me, gushing about how great the Mets are. I was confused by this, because he was wearing Expos paraphenalia, but his mother explained that the Mets were his second favorite team.

I'm sure I've been to well over 100 games at Shea in the years between, but that's still the only time I've seen the Mets play in another stadium.

Anyway, that's my complete recollection of Mets game 2721. A fondly-remembered little snippet from my childhood. Pretty vauge stuff, but hey - I was only 7 and this was a quarter of a century ago! I may be the only person who remembers anything about this game at all!

Opening day. Skipped JHS classes to go see opening day. Cold day, not much of a crowd and definitely not much hope in the air; we always knew the Mets would be in the chase for the first couple days of the season at best, so we needed to feel excitement before reality set in.

Snuck down to the fourth row on the Mets side between home and dugout. Watched in horror as the next "great" prospect, Kelvin Chapman missed the suicide squeeze and Bruce Bosclair, with his eye shade under his eyes running down the 3rd base line caught like a deer in the headlights. He was quickly tagged out and on we drudged on until the 14th and lost.

Ah yes, typical Mets at the time, but for a few seconds we had hope. No less, caught a cold walking back to Main Street to catch the buses back home. It was cold!

Surprised out of all the memories here, no one remembers this one. This was "Midget Met Day", not sure if they ever tried this again. I believe the entire upper deck was filled with schoolkids. I myself was a fourth grader. They gave out those miniature bats at the gate, and kids were beating each other senseless with them in the bathrooms. To make things even more kid friendly, John Stearns and Gary Carter had a collision at home plate (both being catchers I can't remember who which was running), they got into an all out brawl, setting a great example for the kids in attendance. This one I will always remember.

Obviously I must have a serious personality flaw.

Not only did I go to a September twi-night double header that was not even remotely meaningful, but stayed for both games in their entirety.

Not suprisingly, the crowd was small enough to personally know everyone on a first name basis.

I was amply rewarded for my efforts, however. Caught a foul ball (Houseman pitching to Rudy May (or was it the other way around?) sitting in the orange seats (lodge? loge?) behind home plate.

Great web site!

Actually, the games were quite meaningful to the Expos who with Andre Dawson, Tony Perez, and a young Gary Carter were in a close race with the Pirates for the NL East title. They swept the Mets in two straight doubleheaders but ultimately fell two games short of the Pirates. Two years later, they would clinch a play-off spot at Shea near the end of the 1981 strike- season.

Went to this game with my 8th grade class from Clinton Twp school district in NJ. I think we were the only ones there. At the time the crowd which numbered only a bit over 2,000 was the smallest crowd in Shea Stadium's history. At least the Mets won! I remember it was a sunny but chilly day for us all up in the upper deck. We did have a lot of fun though.

First game of a DH. I think the Mets were only about 5 games behind the Expos at this point so it was a big DH. It was a giveaway game, advertised as receiving "a Cream Filled Cake" as only Murph could say. Turned out to be a Twinkee! Twinkee Twi-nighter! The left field field level and Loge had a huge twinkee fight mid game. Oh, thr game...Mets score late and often, I think a Joel Youngblood 3-run job capped a big late inning, to win, close the gap to 4 and set the stage for a memorable game two.

My memory of this game was the Twinkee give away day. They were giving away a case of Twinkees to whoever was sitting in a randomly picked seat. The person that won was sitting above me on the third base side of the field. Sitting below me was a Expos fan with his nice white Expos jersey. You know how New York fans are; don't come to our home and be wearing the opposing teams jersey. Shortly after the case of Twinkees were delivered to the gentlemen that won them, there were Twinkees flying past my head right for the guy in the Expos jersey. A major Twinkee fight was going on and I don't think the Mets ever had another Twinkee give away day to my knowledge.

After a thrilling first game (see previous post) game two started with the Expos grabbing a two run lead in the first....Joel Youngblood hit his second homer of the DH in the bottom of the first to give the Mets the lead. Next pitch was right at Mike Jorgensens head. Remember, Mike was beaned and severly hurt earlier in his carreer while with St. Loius. With that, John Streans come flying out of the doughout and bowls over the pitcher and starts a wild brawl! Several fights, several ejections. Mets lose by a run as Mazzilli lines out with the bases loaded....This DH is still memorable 20 years later!

I was 12 years old when my dad and I attended this game. We had field level box seats, third base side. I'll always remember this one because it was the first time I ever saw a brawl in person at a game. I remember the Mets had taken the first two games of this series and had scored four runs off Bill Gullickson. I remember Jorgensen walking out toward Gullickson, with his bat pointed at him, then Stearns charging out of the dugout at Gullickson. The fans were going NUTS and started the "Let's Go, Mets!" chant during the fight. Most of all, I remember a fan coming out of the stands and kicking Expos' outfielder Ellis Valentine squarely in the behind, then running away. My dad, who didn't like my cursing at anything, probably was either too caught up in the excitement, or sympathized with my anger when, as Gullickson walked off the mound after that and I yelled at the top of my 12-year-old lungs, "YOU SON OF A @!%@#!"

The game after the big brawl the night before. I'll never forget this: John Stearns's first at- bat, Scott Sanderson knocked him down with a fastball right at his dome, ordered by Montreal manager Dick Williams in retaliation for Stearns's charging the mound the day before. All the Mets were standing on the top step, as if awaiting Stearns's orders to go brawl again. Stearns didn't retaliate, but the Mets won the game anyway.

I went to this game,

5 runs by MTL in top of 10th, ugly alot of errors

The Expos won this game despite three triples by Doug Flynn, who tied a modern major league record.

The win was number 1,000 for Expos manager Dick Williams. The Expos fired him a little more than a year later.

I actually don't remember this game, but when I looked up Jerry Manuel, I saw he hit three home runs in his career. I thought that he probably got one against the Mets and yes this is the one he got against the Mets.

Expos won division this day at Shea

This was also fan apreciation day and old timers day. Because of the strike, old timers day was postponed until this day. I was there and got to see some great old timers like Willie Mays. I may have witnessed the only clinching in Montreal history!

I went to this game. It was a blustery, cold day but I recall the sun coming out. As a nice gesture for fan appreciation day after the baseball strike, the Mets said that anyone who went to the game could exchange the raincheck for a free ticket the following year. Mike Cubbage hit what I think was his last MLB home run for the Mets. But the Expos clinched the second half season to get in the playoffs their only time and I recall their players celebrating on the field after they had won.

I went to this game. I recall Reardon, who the Mets had traded for Ellis Valentine earlier in the season, saving the half-division-clinching game for Montreal. What an awful trade, huh? I used my free ticket to go to the 5/29/82 game, the one where the fans tossed their seat cushions onto the field. Pretty good use of a Mets promotion, huh?

nice day! glenn, troy, ralph and i. boxes third base side. torre's last game. hostetler homered in ninth to blow shut out. expos went on to playoffs we went home. season's over. strike killed our summer.

I twas a weird season because the strike killed the middle two months. So MLB took the winning teams from the first half of the season and had them play off in each division against the winners of the second half. With only about a 50 game second half, the Mets stayed in contention for a while under Torre before playing down to their potential and getting eliminated with maybe a week or ten days to go. I remember after this final game of the year, GM Frank Cashen came on Kiner's Korner to announce that Torre would not be coming back in 1982 because the Mets wanted to go in a different direction. George Bamberger wasn't the answer either, but Davy Johnson proved to be.

Last game of the year. Torre is let go. Ballpark is empty. Another grey day at Shea. I was 15 and all excited to see Carter play. No such luck. Montreal had clinched the day before. Falcone pitches extremely well. Hostetler hits bomb in the ninth for the Expos which clears the left field bullpen.

This was Joe Torre's last game with the Mets. I had tickets behind third base in the Field Level. During this game I observed Joe Torre sitting in the dugout like a bump on a log while an animated John Stearns relayed signals, yakked it up and appeared to be managing the game. Fast forward 32 years... My buddy Greg went to Mr. Torre's golf outing this week in Westchester and asked him if my John Stearns suspicions were true. After commenting how nobody was in the ballpark so how would anyone know, Joe Torre confirmed the suspicions. John Stearns DID INDEED manage this game. Joe Torre's last in a Mets uniform.

As a 7th birthday present, my dad treated me and my family to the Mez and freezing cold Shea. Young as I was, my favorite Met was obviously the team's big HR hitter. In this one, my favorite player hit me 2 HR's. Thank you, Dave Kingman.

One of the most memorable pitching performances I've ever witnessed in person. Mets starter Randy Jones walked the bases loaded, then walked in a run. I don't know if any other Mets pitcher in the team's history has ever started a game this way, walking the first four hitters. This game was the lowest point in Jones's demise, which actually began after he got off to a brilliant 6-2 start. After that, if you check the box scores, this game was the third in four consecutive starts that he didn't get out of the FIRST inning! Maybe here in San Diego, at Petco Park at his barbecue stand, I can ask him and unravel the mystery. Was he pitching hurt?

I was at this game! Oddly I don't remember those walks or Randy Jones pitching. It's funny on how the years will let you selectively forget bad memories like that. At the time, as a 15 year old kid trying to find baseball heroes to emulate, I was in awe of the Expos and their hitters (Cromartie, Oliver, Carter). Sadly the Mets were so disappointing compared to teams like the Expos. I remember #0 Al Oliver's HR, man he was such a great hitter.

I stayed for the whole thing. Dave Kingman finally saved us all in the 17th inning by hitting a ball to Connecticut. My favorite frisbee-playing pitcher Rick Ownbey got the win, and then we traded him to St. Louis a few days later in the Hernandez trade.

I recently found video of Kingman's homer on an old VHS tape I have that contained horse races. I must have recorded while setting the tape for the next day's Belmont Stakes. It is striking how dead Shea looked in contrast to how alive it would soon become.

This game ties for the longest extra inning game with a Met walk-off homer. Lenny Randle also hit one in the 17th inning in 1977.

We bought general admission tickets and when Kingman hit the home run into the Expos bullpen we were sitting 5 rows off the 3rd baseline in box seats. The good old days of Shea.

I remember a fresh-out-of-the-box rookie named Strawberry hit a lazy, high popup to shallow center. Andre Dawson camps under it and "Plop!" -- the ball hits off the heel his glove. Straw gets only one base and blasted in the papers by no-nonsense manager Frank Howard for not reaching second.

This was Keith Hernandez's first game with the Mets. My dad and I had planned a trip to Montreal to see the Mets and Keith's first game was an added bonus.

The Mets and Tom Seaver were beaten pretty easily, but on the way up to Montreal we stopped by the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. All around it was a pretty good day and with Keith on the Mets there were some pretty good days ahead.

Remember the second game of the doubleheader three days earlier when Mookie scored from second on a groundout in the bottom of the 12th to win the game? Well, he did it again two games later, this time in the bottom of the ninth!

Amazingly, the sequence was the same in both games. Mookie led off with a single, Hubie Brooks bunted him to second, Keith Hernandez was intentionally walked, and George Foster hit a grounder resulting in Hernandez being forced out at second (on July 31 it was second to short, today it was short to second). Mookie kept going around third and scored the winning run!

One of the first specific games I remember going to ... Sat behind home plate I remember my father saying it was such a perfect Mets game ... Seaver started, Orosco relieved and Mookie scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth ...

Does anyone know why Seaver only lasted 1 inning?

From the New York Times:

"Tom Seaver pitched yesterday for the 34th and last time in his comeback season with the Mets, said that he had exceeded the expectations of 'the skeptics' and predicted that he would pitch for perhaps several more years. Seaver pitched only one inning against the Montreal Expos in Shea Stadium, then was forced to leave when he strained his lower back running on the wet turf. But the Mets scored four runs off Bill Gullickson in the home half of the inning and went on to win by 5-4. The game was supposed to be the first half of a doubleheader. But, after a delay of nearly two hours, the second game was rained out and will be played this afternoon as part of a doubleheader that will end the season."

Remember this game like it was yesterday. Doubleheader to end the season and it's on channel 9. Unbelievable finish to the second game, could not believe my eyes when Mookie Wilson scored from second base on a ground ball. Just knew next year was going to be different and it was; we were a contender now and it felt so good. Finally had something to get me through high school at La Salle!

John, I'm not trying to be the fact police...but Mookie scoring from second on a groundball did not happen in this game. Mookie actaully did it twice in less than a week earlier in 1983: in the bottom of the twelfth against the Pirates on July 31, and in the bottom of the ninth against the Expos on August 3. You can check the posts under either of those games for more details.

So many good things happened in this game. The Tim Leary era finally began, as he got his first career win--only 6 months after his first career start! And, Rusty came down to the last game with 23 PHs and 23 PH RBIs with the record for each being 25. So he couldn't get the record for pinch hits, but sure enough he came thru with a 2 RBI ph to at least tie the PH RBI record.

I remember watching this game on TV and seeing the Mets winning the final game of the 1983 season on Rusty Staub's pinch hit. Manager Frank Howard had a big smile on his face (as if to say, "What a swell way to end the season!") as the Metsies celebrated at home plate.

This is the ONLY Mets home opener I ever went to, and what a rotten day it was! I sat in the upper deck and it was cold and windy and I had a headache. Oh, and the Expos kicked the daylights out of the Mets, 10-0. The only thing I remember about the game was that Gary Carter -- not yet a Met -- hit a grand slam HR for the Expos. It was that kind of a day.

It was a cold windy day at Shea. I was excited about the new era in Flushing. (This was the first home game that Davey Johnson would manage.) Long story short...we got our butts kicked by the Expos and Gary Carter hit a grand slam for the Expos and I kept saying out loud to my friends, "They should try to make a trade for him." Two years later, they did and the rest is history.

Some friends from high school and I attended this game. It was the day after the Mets opening day disasterous 10-0 loss and the game before Dwight Gooden's Shea debut. Backman won it, hitting right-handed, his much weaker side, with a double into the leftfield corner off Gary Lucas who in '86 hit Rich Gedman with a pitch before Donnie Moore gave up the homer to Dave Henderson. The win ended a four-game losing streak and thoughts of "here the Mets go again" as '84 turned into a 90 win season.

Backman, batting right handed, pulled a double into the corner. This was the game that always made me feel that the 84 Mets would be different, that the franchise was finally back.

Wally Backman, batting right-handed, hit the game winning double down the left field line in the 9th to win it in the afternoon game.

Noteworthy because Wally, for as valuable as he was batting from the left side, was one of the worst right-handed hitters of all time (as Ole Casey would say, you can look it up). It's still a wonder why he never gave up switch hitting. But he came through on this day and continued the Mets hot start and ascension into contention after so many down seasons.

It was "Strawberry Sunday" at Shea (sponsored by Carvel) in honor of Darryl's 1983 Rookie of the Year award.

Remember they always said that there was a guy in the minors with him named Ronald McDonald? We could have had Big Mac day too.

I don't remember the game (I was working for Kinney in the parking lot) but I ended up with a TON of half- melted ice cream.

I think Strawberry Sunday came 10 days later on April 29th since this game was played on a Thursday. It was the first game Doc Gooden pitched at Shea and he took a 5-0 lead into his 5th (and last) inning before giving up 4 unearned runs. Craig Swan could not hold the lead for Doc but the Mets rallied and Jesse Orosco won it in relief.

Truly an AMAZIN' night at Shea despite a Mets loss. The large walk-up crowd that night was fired-up because of Gooden and his team's new found prowess. 7 of us were heading for the Jersey shore that night after the game, but all were willing to take a 100 mile circle trip before time to catch this exciting Mets energy. The crowd was caught up that night with the onslaught of summer as well as the 11 K.O.s from Dwight. People were sliding down face first on the bannister in the upper deck as if the rails were greased. This may also have been the first night the "Wave" was preformed at Shea. I know it is now long ago passe, but then it was new, lively and the first time I had ever seen it! Man, did we have a blast with it that night!

Andre Dawson, hit an up and away fastball (out of the strike zone) over the right field fence with Rose on first as the game winner. Dawson thrived on those up and away pitches better than anyone I've ever seen.

Despite the loss, that night was pure neon at Shea and one of my best baseball mems ever.

This game was preceded by the USA Olympic team exhibition game, which I believe Mark McGwire and Will Clark were members of.

The game also was the first time the "wave" caught on. I'm not a fan of the wave, but at the time, it was awesome!! Being 18 at the time and a long suffering fan at games where there were only a couple of thousand die-hard fans, this was unbelievable to have 40 thousand plus going nuts throughout the game.

I remember Pete Rose hitting into a double play, believe it or not, Sisk was the pitcher. Rose argued at the end of the play and the fans let him have it. It was a great day, great atmosphere and a great game!!

This was special for me because it was the first Mets game at Shea I ever went to by myself. I rode the train from White Plains to Grand Central and then the 7 to Shea. It was Cap Day along with it being an Olympic team exhibition.

And yes, like the other poster said, the wave going through the stands was electrifying. The Mets won, too!

This was my first Met game ever, and all I could remember was they beat the Expos 4-2. If I could find the box score or any thing else from that game it would be awesome.

My friend Darren and I attended this game. I remember that we shouted at an Expo player and he responded. (Don't remember who.) A funny thing was this fan who kept on cheering for Gary Carter, a few months earlier than most of us would. "C'mon Gary you can do it" as he would accidentally keep spitting on the back of the person's shirt in front of him. (Nothing happened.)

Gooden's last start in his rookie season and he went out on a high note. Dominating the Expos with 8 innings of 1 run ball.

Also the last game that Gary Carter would play at Shea before joining the Mets in the offseason.

I remember this game as John Stearns' last game as a Met. One of the heart and soul players in the "Bad Era". Always came to play. Will make a GREAT manager some day.

Although the Mets lost the last game of the season, it was certainly a great year with the 90 wins and the great rookie run of Gooden. We all knew we had exciting times ahead for this team on the heels of back to back NL rookie of the year players of Strawberry and Gooden.

Also if there were wild cards in 1984 the Mets would have easily been in. NLDS would have been Mets vs Padres and Cubs vs Cardinals. The way Gooden was pitching and dominating that year, the Mets very well could have won the NL pennant and played the Tigers in the World Series.

I was 10 at the time. Gary Carter was coming back at the Big O after being traded to the Mets to my great despair. My father had season tickets behind the 1st base.

Carter had a fantastic game going 3-for-3, 2 walks and a stolen base.

At first he was generally cheered by the crowd, but once the game was on the line we began booing him!

The Expos came from behind in the 9th to snatch the win, so we all left the Olympic Stadium very happy.

Amazing as it may seem, the calls for Davey Johnson to lose his job after this game were pretty loud at the time. The team was going through a bad month, dropped to 3rd place and Davey put Doug Sisk in the 9th to attempt to save the game for Gooden. Naturally, as often happened in 1985 for Doug, he blew the game, as he was having the worst season of his career.

My first game ever. How fast time goes. I was in first grade and it was the last day of school. Then that night I went to Shea for the first time ever. Time goes so fast it's scary.

My first Mets game in person. Roger McDowell autographed my baseball glove before the game. I recall a female singer performed the Canadian and U.S. anthems in that order, just her and an acoustic guitar.

This was an exciting game. It was nostalgia night, fans had a choice of picking either a Brooklyn Dodgers or a NY Giants hat. Mets trailed 2-0 and Rusty Staub hit a pinch-hit 3-run home run off Jeff Reardon in the 7th inning. Mets would later lose in 10, 5-4, but very exciting game.

I remember this game for a few reasons. Prior to the game, Daryl Strawberry was throwing balls to the fans in left field and my friend caught one. Later when Willie Mays was introduced for Nostalgia Night the fans went wild with cheers. We were struck on the head by a pretzel from the upper deck. Also at that same time, a gold bracelet fell from the upper deck and landed at my dad's feet. He still wears it to this day.

I was at that game. Ironically, my little league team was the Expos that year (how many other little leagues can say that now!). The best moment was definitely the Staub homer and it was the 292nd and last homer of his career.

Rusty's homer in this game was the last of his major league career.

I was at this game with my family for my 7th birthday. I got a NY Giants hat and watched Rusty Staub hit his last home run of his career.

If I remember correctly, he hit one foul first and then I figured there is no way he'll hit TWO home runs in one AB... but he did. A great moment somewhat tainted by the loss a few innings later.

What a shame the owners colluded to keep the roster to 24 (or 25) in 1986, since no one chose the 25 option, costing Rusty his rightful spot on the '86 team.

One of the last games I ever attended with my Dad. He was a NY Giants fan, so he took the Giants cap in the giveaway, and I took the Dodgers cap. Rusty is my all-time favorite athlete, and I remember his home run so vividly, but I never realized until today that it was his last home run ever. Rusty came up with a chance to tie the game, to the usual chants of "Rusty, Rusty" from the crowd. He had no homers on the year, and the fans were just hoping for a single or double. One or two pitches before the home run he put one over the fence in right field that was JUST foul, and the fans went crazy, thinking how incredible it would have been to take the lead with a Rusty home run. And then BOOM-- magic struck! THANKS, RUSTY!

Great game. Yes the posters are correct, I remember it like it was yesterday. Rusty slams a pitch from Reardon about a foot foul. Reardon tries to sneak the same pitch by him again and he didn't miss that one. Shame they lost it but the stadium shook when Rusty went deep.

I remember this game very well. It was Nostalgia Night and fans had a choice of a Brooklyn Dodgers or NY Giants cap. Rusty Staub came off the bench and hit a three run home run in the bottom of the 7th to give the Mets the lead, after missing a home run by about two feet on the previous pitch. We were sitting in the first five rows of the upper deck and it felt like Shea was going to fall down when Staub's home run cleared the fence.

Dwight at his most dominating best! As I recall, in the 6th inning, Gullickson threw at Carter's head, sorta like payback for leaving the Expos. In the bottom of the 6th, Gullickson leads off, Gooden throws the 1st pitch dead on at Gullickson's head, sending him to the dirt. The ump issues warnings to both benches, then what does Doc do? K's Gullickson on the next three pitches, and then proceeds to K Raines and Law with the next 6 pitches. the most awsome inning of pitching I had ever witnessed! Ten pitches, and he strikes out the side! We will never see an arm like that in its prime ever again.

My first trip to a live baseball game was this game. (At the time I had recently turned eight years old.) Sat in the upper deck, nevertheless, I was happier than a pig in, uh, excrement. Doc was my favorite player and I was actually happy to see the ex-Met Hubie Brooks. At the start of the game I tried to boo the Canadian national anthem, but my dad quickly told me I shouldn't ever do that. I really had nothing against Canada at the time, I was just a pretty obnoxious fan for my age. One by one Doc struck out ten Expos, about 41,000 people there were nuts just about the whole night.

Oddly enough this was also the night I first tasted a beer. Some fat old guy sitting in the row above me accidentally spilled a tray of several beers right on top of me, enough so that I got a pretty decent sized gulp of the liquid. At first I thought it was some type of rotten ginger ale (remember I was only 8.)

A took a whole decade after that before I finally starting enjoying "rotten ginger ale" for real.

Further to an earlier post on this game:

Doc struck out ten. He struck out the side in the top of the first (Raines, Law, Dawson), and in the top of the fifth (Winningham, Fitzgerald, Gullickson).

Gullickson had two at bats in the game and made the last out of the inning both times.

Both Mets runs were driven in by George Foster with two-out singles in the sixth and the eighth.

The Mets "reopened" the year again in Montreal after a 2 day players strike. Keith had 5 hits (the first of 3 such games he had in 1985) and the team had one of their best offensive days of the season.

Some friends and I were at Shea that day -- Fan Appreciation Day, I believe. With the Mets trailing 4-1 late in the game, the scoreboard posted the Cardinals victory, which gave them the pennant regardless of what the Mets did. The whole crowd got on their feet and began CHEERING the Mets long and loudly in acknowledgement of a great effort and a great season, knowing in our hearts this was a team on the rise. Many fans drove home while cheering wildly with their heads out the windows and giving each other the "thumbs up." That seems like another era. Today, if a team doesn't win it ALL, so-called "fans" want to run them out of town and fire everyone from the GM to the groundskeepers.

After the Cardinals victory was posted and in what was now a meaningless game, Gary Carter hits an infield grounder and then runs with absolutely everything he has to try to beat it out. The guy just never quit.

Bill Latham had the dubious distinction of taking both the Mets first and last losses of the '85 season. Not only was this game his final one with the Mets (he and Beane were dealt for Teufel that winter) it was the last major league game for both Rusty Staub and Larry Bowa as well as Ron Gardenhire and Tom Paciorek's Met farewells. Hubie Brooks got a nice ovation after driving in his 100th run and coming out for a pinch-runner.

I remember going to this game despite the Mets' elimination the day before - the stadium was about half full, with fans spaced out in every section across the whole stadium. It was a very sad atmosphere as I recall, given that the team got so close to winning the division.

At the end of the game all of the Mets came out of the dugout to salute the fans, and threw their hats into the crowd...

If, as many Mets fans I know have said, there is some romance to playing a whole season, coming right down to the wire, only to find that your most bitter rival and fiercest competitor has put up just a little bit more than you were able to muster, then 1985 has to be considered the most beautiful season in Mets history, even moreso than 1986.

1985 was, indeed, one of those seasons where you were eminently left wanting more. Anyone who doubts that has never bothered to read Keith Hernandez's book chronicling this season on a game-by-game basis. It is, perhaps, the finest Baseball book ever written.

My only regret about the 1985 Mets has to be that I was only 6 at the time, and not having discovered Baseball or the Mets in my young age, I was not around to watch the team or appreciate them. Not that I was old enough to fully appreciate it anyway. Only the 1999 Mets can come close, in my eyes, to comparing to the Mets of 1985.

Apologies to Ron Gardenhire for making him the verbal target of my frustration at this last game of a season that had one heckuva pennant race, even if the Mets came up short. I believe I screamed that he should find another line of work. On the bright side, that night I went to Giants Stadium and saw the Giants beat the Cowboys.

Rusty Staub's last game in the majors, and he also made the last out of the season. It would have been a nice swansong for him to get a hit, but after fouling off a bunch of tough pitches, he finally grounded out to 2nd base, ending the season.

Also a nice job by the Mets fans in attendance as they gave Hubie Brooks a nice cheer when he got his 100th RBI for the Expos on this day.

At the time, this was a fairly important game to the Mets. The Expos were red hot, and though no one really thought the Mets would come back down to earth, if they lost this game, their lead would only be down to 7 games. As they had hit a minor blip in their season, losing 5 of their last 7.

With that said, after falling behind early, the Mets scored 4 times in the 4th. George Foster would hit his last Shea homer in this one and the Mets would start an 8 game win streak and "officially" put the division away.

I watched this game on WWOR, and even though it was a Friday night Dwight Gooden start (5 innings/7 Ks), the thing I remember is when Mike Fitzgerald broke his finger. I remember the camera was on him right after it happened, and it looked like he touched it or did something to it, and when he did that, I remember him making a sudden, almost violent movement backwards, like a backwards somersault. It was so quick and I've never seen a replay, but to me it looked like he did a backwards somersault from the pain. It was quite shocking to me as a kid, whatever happened after he broke his finger.

Ojeda had a no-hitter going this game. Luis Rivera broke it up in the 7th, then the Expos tied to make it go into extra innings. Ray Knight drove in the game winning RBI to win the game and was mobbed by his teammates at first base. Another 1986 Mets classic.

To elaborate on "Hot Foot's" memory posted in May of 2002, I remember this game very well because I had free tickets behind the visitors' dugout but couldn't go because I had to leave that evening on a business trip---to Rochester, NY, of all places!!

Of course, as I was home packing and getting ready to leave, I had the game on TV, and I thought that I was going to be able to say that I had tickets to the first no-hitter in Mets history but I didn't go!!

The Mets took an early lead on a Rafael Santana RBI single in the second inning. Meawhile, Bob Ojeda took a no-hitter into the seventh, just around the time I had to leave for the airport. Not only did he have a no-hitter, but he had pitched to just 18 batters through six innings...no, not a perfect game, but he had allowed two walks, and one batter had reached on an error. Of those three baserunners, one was erased on a DP, and the other two were caught stealing.

With one out in the seventh, I was just getting ready to leave the house when Luis Rivera singled. Two batters later he scored to tie the game. I was able to listen to most of the rest of the game on the way to the airport and at the airport.

The Mets went back in front in the bottom of the eighth when Ray Knight doubled in two runs. Ojeda got the leadoff man in the ninth but then gave up three straight singles. Roger McDowell came in and blew the save by giving up a hit to Andre Dawson.

Ray Knight came through again, singling in the winning run with two outs in the tenth off Tim Burke, and I happily caught my flight.

My second Mets game. We sat in the field level past first base, almost in the outfield but still very good seats. Even though I was 8 I was fully cognizant that the Mets had never had a no hitter and that I might be witness to the first one. I didn't say anything to anyone and I just sat and hoped and for a while it looked like it might happen. But when Luis Rivera came up I had a bad feeling and he got the hit.

Still it was an amazing game and I remember that that highlight of Knight getting the walk-off hit and then being mobbed by his teammates at first base is on the 1986 Mets highlights video.

We were in Lake Placid on our honeymoon, and my well-chosen wife suggested that we drive up to Montreal for the ballgame.

We were concerned about driving back through the Adirondacks late at night, so we agreed that if there was a five- run difference after seven innings, we'd leave. Sure enough, the Expos led 7-2 after seven, but we'd never left a game early before, and decided not to start now.

The Mets rewarded us by coming back to tie, but then the Expos went ahead again. Carter and Mookie had big hits in the ninth as the Mets came back in consecutive innings! 10-8 Mets.

The Mets fans made much more noise than the home fans did in this morgue. The win left us 18 ahead of the Expos, who were in second at the time. On the way out, a spontaneous celebration got going: someone started chanting "18 games", and the rest of us were all too happy to join in. A phenomenal occurrence in the opposition's ballpark.

Needless to say, we were elated that we stayed. That drive back wasn't so bad after all...

Jim, that's a great story about you and your wife deciding to stay to the end. In addition to being rewarded with a Mets comeback win, there's something else you saw of which you may not have been aware. When Jesse Orosco pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth for the victory, he got his 86th save as a Mets reliever to break Tug McGraw's team record.

The first Mets game I ever went to — not the most memorable of debuts. Montreal's Bob Sebra pitched a shutout until the 9th, when Straw hit one out. The game was already long over by then.

When I heard the news of Bob Sebra's death, this game was the thing I thought of first. The Expos' pitcher was on the verge of a complete game shutout when Darryl Strawberry homered for the Mets' only run with two outs in the ninth inning. Sebra then retired the next batter for the win, but still showed some disappointment in not coming away with his first shutout as a major leaguer. Twenty-two days later, he would pitch a two-hitter for a 1-0 shutout victory over the Mets at Olympic Stadium.

RIP, Bob.

Sat directly behind home plate at the screen for this one -- only the ump was closer. Yeomans vs. Gooden was a true pitching clinic that night. Doc had a tremendous fastball and uncle Charlie was devastating. Yeomans was amazing until the 7th. Carter homered in 4th(?) for Mets and the 8 or 9000 Expos fans at the game gave him a standing ovation. We paid $15 total for the two tix at the screen to a desperate scalper.

The big story in the early part of the 1987 season was the lively ball. This game was a perfect example of it. Light hitting Dave Magadan hit a routine fly ball that incredibly, carried over the fence. Watching this one on the old tape recently, even he was shocked rounding the bases.

Keith also hit a homer for the 3rd straight game as the Mets offense carried them to an 11-3 win.

This one was one of the two walk off homers that Teufel hit as a Met, and it ended a see-saw game. Darling got rocked pretty good but as was per usual in 1987: the Mets offense bailed out the pitching staff.

This Saturday afternoon at Shea saw one of the worst performances by the Mets bullpen in 1987.

The Mets fell behind early in this game, 3-0, but came back to take a 4-3 lead after four innings. Montreal tied it in the sixth, but the Mets regained the lead 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth on a sac fly by Dave Magadan and an RBI pinch- single by Lee Mazzilli. Gene Walter pitched well in the seventh and eighth to hold the 6-4 lead but he left the game after giving up a leadoff single to Tim Raines in the ninth. In came Doug Sisk, but he allowed another single, then an infield out to make it 6-5, and then the game- tying hit by Vance Law.

But the fun was just starting...Jesse Orosco came in to get the last out, then after the Mets threatened but didn't score in the bottom of the ninth, Jesse came back out to start the tenth. His first four batters in the ninth went single, single, single, grand slam (by Tim Raines). Jesse gave up two more hits before Randy Myers came in and the Expos got another run on a Keith Hernandez error.

The bullpen pitched five innings that day and allowed eight runs and twelve hits.

The infamous Tim Raines game. I recall this being a big deal because Tim Raines had a contract dispute and was playing in his first game of the season. He was pissed off and ready to play, and hit a back breaking grand slam to win the game.

Tim Raines followed up his game winning homer from the day earlier with another homer in this one to continue the beginning of his season. Bobby Ojeda pitched well in one of his last starts of the season before he got hurt. But it was a rare off day for the 1987 Mets offense.

When on a road trip to Montreal to see this game (and to take advantage of the Canadian drinking age.) I remember how taken aback I was with how ugly Olympic Stadium was. Looks like a big warehouse. I can't believe it still stands.

I just found a ticket stub from this game... Mezz Sec 9 Row C Seat 1 $8.50

Watched this one recently on the old tape, truly one of Gooden's more dominant performances. His curve was unhittable on this night and the Mets offense was in total control. Maybe the most complete win of the 1987 season.

The first of 2 wins by John Candelaria in a Mets uniform after getting destroyed in his first start a few days before this. Candelaria got the win as a replacement for Ron Darling, who broke his thumb in the Terry Pendleton game.

Was at my grandparent's in Florida at the time, the only way I could keep up with the game was by listening on the radio. I remember the Mets hit a club- record 6HR in this game, apparently they had the air conditioning in Olympic staduim jacked up (Taking a lead from the previous year's World Champion Twins, perhaps?). Unfortunately, it backfired on them. Strawberry hit a bomb in the 6th that still hasn't come down yet.

This was one of the more (if not the most) productive Opening Day games in Mets history. The team had six home runs, including two each by Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds. Strawberry's second one hit the just-completed roof of Olympic Stadium. It was quite a blast!

The fact that the roof at the "Big O" was finally done after more than a decade under construction could have made it possible for this game to be played there. The Expos were beginning their 20th season and it was the first time they got to start off with a home game. The Montreal team's previous nineteen season openers were all played on the road.

Gary Carter's last multi-homer game as a Met, getting him off to a hot start in 1988 for the month of April. He'd cool off considerably after that, but it certainly helped the Mets get off to one of their best starts in team history.

The home opener and the first glance at the new look Shea, with a new scoreboard and a new look left field bleachers. Strawberry homered and the Mets had a tidy 3-0 win on a sunny day.

Bobby O pitched a shutout, one of his best games as a Met. He also saved the game with a fantastic play in the late innings, picking up a grounder and throwing the ball off of his wrong foot to home plate to get the runner,keeping his shutout.

Dykstra hit a homer for the only run of the 1-0 victory.

What a frustrating weekend this turned out to be. My cousins and I drove up to Montreal to see all three games of this series (plus the NHL Entry Draft which was held at the Forum). The Mets lost the first two games of the series without much of a fight, but led the final game with Sid Fernandez on the mound. Sid had 10 K's and allowed only one hit through 8 innings with the Mets leading 3-0. We thought we were going to salvage one game and go home with our heads up. Instead Davey Johnson brought in Randy Myers to start the 9th. Myers did not record an out, but did allow 2 hits including a 3-run HR to Andres Gallaraga to tie the game. Hubie Brooks' single won it for the Expos in the 11th. What was Davey thinking?

My first-ever major-league game. I was 15, and a big Mets fan, and my uncles took me to Montreal for the game. Sid Fernandez pitched so well, and I couldn't figure out why Davey Johnson pulled him. Randy Myers gave up a three-run homer to Andres Galarraga (who at the time was leading the league in all three Triple Crown categories, by the way) in the bottom of the ninth, which broke my heart. I've hated Randy Myers' guts ever since that day. Great game, anyhow, especially for the home crowd. And there really was a crowd back then -- maybe 15,000 people, as opposed to the 3,000 or 4,000 who attend games there now.

Me, my brother and my cousin were at this game. It was very hot, around 95 degrees. Bobby O didn't have his stuff and for the rest of the game we were checking out this gorgeous blonde in a turqouise tank top and shorts. After the game, we saw the same blonde and she was looking for Kevin McReynolds.

This was the first Mets game I ever attended. I was 11. It was a scheduled double-header with activities between the two games. We watched the beginning of the game at home on TV and then listened to it on the radio as we drove to Shea. It was the ninth inning by the time we could see the field. As we walked to our seats, the Mets proceeded to load the bases. It was a Sunday game and the Mets were in first in mid August and it was a beautiful day. So Shea was packed. We had just made it to our seats when Tim Teufel hit a sacrifice fly to left field. It was a close play at the plate, but when the umpire called Hojo 'safe', Shea erupted. It's quite a wonderful first memory of Shea.

While the Pirates were the Mets main competition in 1988, it's generally forgotten that the Expos made a move in the summer as well. Going into this doubleheader, Montreal was only 4.5 games back.

Thankfully, the Mets won both games with some great pitching. Roger McDowell got a win and a save on the long day and the Mets ended the day 6.5 games ahead and effectively put the Expos away to stay.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This would be when the roof caved in.

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

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

He fared no better.

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

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

And missed it.

Nixon and Raines scored. 6-5 Expos.

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

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

Mets get a win in their first road game of the season, thanks to some excellent pitching and timely hitting from two unlikely sources. Though Cone ended April with a 6.65 ERA, he was fantastic here, only getting denied the win because Kevin Gross was equally as good. Because of the abbreviated spring training, Davey pulled Cone after just 88 pitches. Otherwise, I don't doubt Cone could have gone all 10 innings. Mets pitchers actually didn't allow a hit in between Tim Wallach's leadoff single in the 4th and Wallace Johnson's 2-out single in the 10th. With two outs and Hojo stuck on second after a leadoff double in the 10th, Mike Marshall delivered an RBI single, and then the light-hitting Barry Lyons followed with a 2-run homer to give Franco more than enough cushion to nail down his second save as a Met.

What I remember most about games at Olympic Stadium was that annoying air horn that sounded like a baby cow. Someone played around with that thing every single game the Mets played there it seemed. Even Ralph Kiner and Rusty Staub talked about all the random sound effects that were present inside the stadium. Speaking of the announcers, Fran Healy (as usual) had some hot takes during the game. First, he and Kiner were talking about how leaders should be quiet and lead exclusively by example, with Kiner saying, "Guys look at you like you're crazy if you jump up and down." This thought on leadership seems to be completely the opposite these days. Imagine if guys like Alonso or Scherzer showed no emotion, even after a big home run or strikeout. They'd be accused of lacking passion or being unmotivated. Later on, Healy was talking about the trade the Expos executed the previous year where they sent Randy Johnson (yes, that Randy Johnson) and two others to Seattle to rent Mark Langston for a couple months. While Langston was terrific for Montreal, he left for the Angels in 1990, while Johnson went on to be a Hall of Famer. Healy defended the trade, however, saying how Johnson is bound to struggle because of his height. Oops, Fran.

A historical game in some way: THE FIRST ESPN SUNDAY NIGHT GAME EVER PLAYED!

This game had an Alfred Hitchcock type of ending. The Mets were ahead, 5-1, with two outs and no one on base in the ninth inning and Frank Viola coasting. It looked like an easy victory.

But then, something strange happened. It began to look like some kind of payback for Game 6 of the 1986 World Series! Frank suddenly gave up a home run, a double, a walk and his chance for a complete game. John Franco was brought in and he added to the suspense! He committed a balk to advance the runners and then allowed a two-run double to Spike Owen, the '86 Red Sox' shortstop. It was a one-run game with the tying run at second.

In disgust, I shut off my TV. This was getting too eerie. It just seemed to have "Revenge of '86" written into it. It wasn't until I heard the highlights on the radio post-game show that I found out they actually won.

The losing pitcher, who would have been knocked off the hook had the Expos tied the game, was also with the '86 Red Sox - Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd.

The Mets first ever appearance on the CBS Game of the Week. Strawberry hit an absolute moonshot in the 4th inning in this one. Kevin Elster also homered to try and break out of his brutal early season slump and the Mets held on despite a late Expos rally.

Watching this game back, I distinctly remember the challenge that Jack Buck laid out, where he would give $1,000 to any camera operator who caught the usually stoic Kevin McReynolds smiling on camera. Sure enough, a woman working one of the cameras got the shot, and Buck wrote out a check to her mid-game and said if she could find him at the airport, he'd give it to her. Weird that I remember that all these years later.

I forgot how good Frank Viola was, though. Boy could he pitch. Glad he wound up with the win in this one cause he sure deserved it, especially considering the tough Montreal lineup he had to face that featured two future Hall of Famers in Tim Raines and Larry Walker.

This was a game of "firsts and onlys" for the Mets: Sid's first and only shutout of 1990, Miller's first and only home run of 1990, Strawberry's first and only triple of 1990. Sid was masterful after two rocky starts to begin the year, allowing just 2 hits and 4 baserunners. It marked the Mets' second shutout victory of the year; they would wind up leading the NL with 14. Sid had walked a ton of batters early in the season and had walked two more over the first two innings in this game, but for some reason instead of working counts, the Expos got ultra aggressive and put the first pitch of their at-bats in play five times over the course of six batters between the fourth and fifth innings. That helped Sid get into a groove and he just let the Expos get themselves out over the rest of the game.

Apparently Rex Hudler's pinch-hit strikeout in the 6th was so egregious that Montreal traded him the next day to St. Louis. This was also New York native Rich Thompson's only major league appearance of 1990, as well as the last of his career. He had a solid year out of the pen for the Expos in 1989 and had a funky, submarining delivery that appeared to make him effective vs. right-hand hitting, but Montreal evidently thought otherwise and he'd bounce around the minors for a few more years before calling it quits.

This was the game that really started the Mets on their amazing streak. As little used and little known Tom O'Malley hit the game winning homer in extra innings to beat the Expos. The Mets would go on to play some of the best baseball in team history over the next 5 weeks.

I would love to see this game again.

I watched it on TV in my room in Woodbridge, NJ, on a 8" Zenith TV, sorting baseball cards. I'll always remember how excited I got when Tom O'Malley hit his walk-off home run. I started jumping around the room like a little kid (I was 12). It was the last time I would ever do that, at least until the Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS.

In my memory, this game was the last hurrah of the "magic" of the 1984-1990 Mets. There may have been other thrillers later in 1990, but I don't remember them.

One of the rare Mets games at Olympic Stadium post 1986 that was played under the sun and it looked fantastic on tv. The Mets would have a neat and tidy win to remain in 1st place at the time, with a monster homer from Strawberry over the center field fence.

The Mets season ended this night! If they won it they would have been tied for first, but Johnny Franco blew it!

Strawberry's last homer at Shea (at least as a member of the Mets). A 3-run shot in the 8th inning to tie the game at 3, a game the Mets needed to win in the worst way. Truly one of Straw's finest moments. Sadly it's completely forgotten now, as John Franco came on in the 9th and gave it right back as the Mets watched the Pirates pull further and further away with the division. One of the most frustrating games in team history.

I was at this dreadful double-header. In this game, it felt like the Mets were down 12-0, even though it was only 2-0. Chris Nabholz dominated with a 1-hitter.

The Mets could do nothing against left-handers at this point, and that is why they didn't win the division this year.

Not realized at the time, but this was the last home game for Strawberry as a Met. He missed the remaining home games.

I just found a reference to this game in my old second grade journal, which I largely used to chronicle how the Mets had done the night before. At the age of 7, I wrote that David Cone (13-10) had gotten the win, and Dennis "Marteenis" (10-11) had taken the loss. A good memory from my first full season following the team.

As it turned out, this game would be Straw's last appearance as a Met, as he did not play in any of the 6 remaining games against the Cubs or Pirates.

Wally Whitehurst pitched seven innings and got his first win of the season as the Mets defeated the Expos. A special game for Whitehurst with it being played on his 27th birthday.

Gooden went the distance in this early April game on a cold Saturday afternoon, striking out 14......This was one of those decisions that even back then, before pitch and inning counts were much of a thought, writers were questioning on this day as to why Doc was out there for that long.

Mets wrap up their season-opening 7-game homestand 5-2 thanks to yet another fantastic start by Viola. After getting 1-hit by Chris Nabholz near the end of 1990, the Mets get some revenge against the lefty, scoring four times in the first inning and then chasing him in the seventh after a Keith Miller double put runners on second and third with nobody out. Reliever Bill Long then walked all three batters he faced, forcing in two more runs. It would be his last of 159 big-league appearances.

During the game, Kiner and McCarver talked about how Expos infielder Junior Noboa wanted to become a lawyer after baseball. I looked to see if those desires became reality but he instead became a talent scout and is now an executive in the Diamondbacks organization. I also saw he played for the Mets in 1992, something I have zero memory of (probably for good reason).

Kevin Elster received his first start of the season here and responded by going 3-for-4 with a homer. He also had a fun at-bat in the sixth when he fouled the first pitch down the right field line that just missed being a double, then fouled one down the left field line that also just missed landing fair. On the third pitch, he belted one into the gap in left-center to finally claim his two-base hit.

Finally, watching Kiner's Korner following the game, Ralph chatted with Viola and talked about the pitcher rejecting a 3-year extension the Mets offered him because he wanted more money. In retrospect, the Mets should have been happy he did that. Viola fell apart during the season's second half, then signed with the Red Sox and became the second highest-paid pitcher in baseball behind Gooden. However, he was never the same guy he showed he could be in 1990 and the Mets were lucky they didn't overpay for someone clearly in the twilight of his career. Instead, ironically, they chose to overpay for a bum like Bobby Bonilla, who had the highest salary in baseball from 1992-94. Sad face.

Off to another hot start to his season, Viola spins eight strong innings to help the Mets snap an early season three-game losing streak. Viola also doubled for his first career extra-base hit. Mets pitching collected 12 doubles in 1991, which ranks second in team history. They hit 17 in 1988.

All nine hits Viola allowed were singles, including opposing pitcher Chris Nabholz's first career hit. Viola and Nabholz squared off against each other just six days earlier at Shea, with the Mets winning that game too, 7-1. Nikco Riesgo, making his major league debut, also collected his first career hit. Riesgo spent 1990 in the Mets system at Class A St. Lucie, hitting .298 with 14 HRs, 94 RBI and 46 SBs! But he was traded to Philadelphia in the Tom Herr deal (yuck) and then wound up in Montreal as a Rule 5 draft pick.

Meanwhile, this was another game in which Mets batters did not strike out. Want to know when the last time they recorded a game with no strikeouts? May 25, 2010 in an 8-0 win over the Phillies! Goes to show how rare these types of games really are.

The 5th and most recent (as of July 2010) walk-off grand slam by a Met as Kevin McReynolds did it to turn defeat into victory with 2 outs in the 9th inning.

A weird game as there was scoring in only 3 innings: the Mets grabbed the early lead with 4 runs in the first, then the Expos scored 5 runs off Doc in the 5th, and then the grand slam in the 9th.

I was at this game as a 12-year-old following my last year of elementary school. I don't remember anything else other than how it ended and the fact this was the only time I sat in the Diamond Club suites.

I suppose when Ed K wrote his post in 2010 he was technically correct about this being the last game in which the Mets hit a walk-off grand slam. Robin Ventura also famously hit one in the NLCS in 1999, but was mobbed running the bases before he could even reach second base. Since 2010 (and as of this post), there have been three others -- Jordanny Valdespin in 2013, Ike Davis in 2014, and Jose Bautista in 2018. A real ragtag group who have joined the club!

This really was an epic win that left Kiner and McCarver speechless. It was McReynolds' last of four career walk-off homers, as well as his last of six career grand slams. He was a torrid hitter at the time, having batted .335 since May 1. It was kind of surprising Montreal left in the southpaw Scott Ruskin to face him with the bases loaded and two out. Earlier in the inning, Harrelson tried to run the Mets out of the rally by executing a double steal with one out and a 3-1 count on Magadan. Dave swung and missed and the ball beat Keith Miller to third but hit him to prevent Wallach from catching it. Some might call the play gutsy, but I thought it was unnecessarily risky.

This was the third time Gooden and Dennis Martinez faced each other in 1991, each winning one of the prior games. Martinez (who I always remember for his signature windup style and his massive wad of chewing tobacco) was on the ropes early as the Mets snapped his 23 consecutive scoreless inning streak with four in the first, be he didn't allow a run the rest of the game. Then it was the Expos turn to bat around in the fifth, scoring five to take the lead. Other than that inning, Gooden went seven scoreless, allowing just three hits. Even though the Mets didn't commit any errors in the game, their poor defense still didn't help in the fifth, particular when Magadan dove and had a Dave Martinez grounder carom off his glove that no one decided to chase after, giving him an RBI and a double. Also, Sasser had Grissom out on a caught stealing but Templeton dropped the throw, and the catcher also couldn't handle a wild pitch by Gooden in the inning that scored another run. It was all pretty ugly. Thankfully, McReynolds sent everyone home happy and started a stretch in which the Mets would win 14 of their next 16 games (but somehow only gained three games on the first-place Pirates).

This was the only Met one-hitter ever thrown against the Montreal Expos and a bright moment in a disappointing season. Mets had been 2.5 games out of first at all-star break and gone 19- 38 since then to fall 17 games behind when Shourek threw this gem which was his only complete game shutout of his MLB career. Kenny Williams got a single to left in the fifth to ruin the no-hit bid. This was also the first of three one-hitters in eleven days thrown by the Mets. Cone started and lost a one-hitter on September 14th, and then Cone won a one-hitter on Sptember 20th.

Quite possibly the most forgotten one hitter in Mets history (at least modern Mets history). Pete Schourek throws a gem, with the only hit a harmless single by Ken Williams in the 5th inning. The attendance for this game was almost non-existent, about 9K, not helped by the fact that it was a mid-week afternoon game and school had already started by this point. I've never even seen any highlight from this afternoon even after all these years. Maybe we should ask Pete if his parents taped it to make sure it happened.

This series was supposed to be played at Olympic Stadium but due to structual damage at that ballpark, the Expos were forced to play the rest of the 1991 season on the road and only 4,000 diehards were witness at Shea to this unusual doubleheader between two teams going nowhere.

Watched this one recently. A game that was supposed to be played up in Montreal but moved to NY due to Olympic Stadium issues. That meant that almost no one was at this game. Announced attendance was around 4,000. And despite the lack of people, the fans who were there were actually quite rowdy for such a small crowd, surprisingly. Especially considering how meaningless the game was at the time. HoJo got a few "MVP" chants during the game. And it was clear that anytime he got on base, he was going to run to try and get closer to 30 steals. He did eventually get there later in the season.

Keith Miller hit a rare homer that went just over the left field wall, and when Expos LF Ken Williams jumped for it, he lost his glove over the fence. The Montreal pen had to retrive it.

This was the first home game of the Torborg era or error. Current manager Willie Randolph batted 2nd; Ken Hill of the Expos shut us out with a complete game and Doc took the lost. Plus, this is the only Mets game I ever went where I did NOT have a hot dog because the game took place on Friday during Lent (Good Friday was the next week) and as a Catholic, you cannot eat meat on Friday during Lent. I had cheese pizza instead. From then on, I always make sure NOT to go to Shea on a Friday during Lent.

Joe, you stayed loyal to the faith better than I did that day. I was at this game and was lucky enough to be offered free food since my cousin's girlfriend, who not Catholic, was working at the concession stand. I felt the need to take advantage of the opportunity and, ignoring that it was a Lenten Friday, gave in to temptation by consuming a hot dog. I should have taken the pizza like you did.

The game wasn’t worth remembering. The Mets hitters were just lifeless and got shut out by Ken Hill.

This turned out to be Kevin Elster's last game as a Met. He would get shoulder surgery and miss the reminder of the year. Before this game, the Mets traded for Dick Schofield, preparing for the inevitable,as Elster simply couldn't throw the ball with any velocity anymore.

It can be argued that Elster's bum shoulder might have even cost the Mets this game. In the 5th inning, the Expos had a runner on first with 1 out and the pitcher up looking to sacrifice. The bunt went right back to Saberhagen, who threw to 2nd to start a double play. But Elster's throw to first base had absolutely nothing on it, allowing the pitcher to beat it out. Montreal then staged a 2-out rally, capitalizing on 3 singles, a double, 2 walks, and a throwing error by center fielder Howard Johnson to score 5 times and take a 7-1 lead. If that isn't the 1992 season in a nutshell right there.

The loss completed a 3-game sweep and left the Mets 2-5 to open the season, not exactly what everyone envisioned after becoming the team with the highest payroll.

Good defense aside, Saberhagen didn't help himself at all in his first start at Shea. He allowed 4 walks and 7 runs, both tied for the most he'd give up as a Met. After 2 starts, his ERA stood at 18.00.

The only bright spot of the day was Willie Randolph, who hit his first HR as a Met. He looked good... the rest of the team, not so much.

April 19, Anthony Young is 2-0. Little did anyone know it would be the following summer before he would win again.

Anthony Young could quite possibly be the unluckiest pitcher in baseball history. He improved to 2-0 here, as flushing flash wrote back in 2002, then lost his next 14 decisions in 1992, and went 1-16 in 1993. And it's not like he was God awful, as he held a combined 3.98 ERA during that span. He also recorded 12 straight saves without blowing a game later in the year, so it's crazy how unlucky he was when it came to wins and losses.

There were 7 walks in this game before anyone got a hit, that being a single by Howard Johnson to lead of the 4th inning (though it easily could have been charge an error to Montreal 3B Archie Cianfrocco for bobbling the ball). Defense was atrocious on this Easter Sunday, with the teams combining for 5 miscues ... though there easily could have been 7 or 8. Montreal LF Ivan Calderon made the biggest blunder, letting a HoJo double go through his legs in the 7th for a bases-clearing, 4-run, error-assisted inside the park home run. Johnson finished the game with a career-high tying 5 RBI.

Mets did some heavy damage against southpaws Jeff Fassero and Doug Simons, who gave up 4 runs each. Simons pitched for the Mets in 1991 and had just been traded to Montreal 17 days earlier for minor leaguer Rob Katzaroff (who never panned out to anything useful). Todd Hundley, who missed the Mets' previous 4 games with the flu, greeted Simons with a bomb of a home run to lead off the 8th, which was the second longball of Hundley's career.

The Mets went with a 3-man booth for some WWOR games in 1992, adding Bob Carpenter to the tandem of Kiner and McCarver. I don't remember him calling games for the Mets at all, but apparently was nominated for an Emmy for his work. Pretty sure he only spent one season in New York before moving on to Minnesota, Texas, and now Washington, where he's been since 2006. He still sounds exactly the same as he did in '92.

Montreal's Ken Hill threw a one-hitter at the Mets this night at Olympic Stadium, and the only Mets hit was by pitcher Anthony Young. It was an infield single with two outs in the 5th inning.

I attended this game at Olympic Stadium; my first game at an indoor venue...Everything seemed smaller, like I was watching a game in my living room!

I remember lots of baseball terms in French, such as "lanceur" (pitcher) and "receiveur" (catcher).

Unfortunately, the Mets played one of the worst games I ever witnessed, lowlighted by six errors!

Did you ever catch a ball in the stands? Years of going to games had the same result of one of my other lifelong Mets goals... seeing a no-hitter. Many close calls but no cigar. 9/18/92 was a nice night, the Mets out of it, me in my usual seat. Gooden pitching, Cordero at bat.

Those of you who sit in the same place all the time know that a ball that looks like its coming toward you will fall short and any ball that will came near you initially looks like it will go over your head. Cordero lifts a foul up towards the Mezz. I realized that it was going to come down right on top of us. Everyone stood. We were in a C box on line between the dugout and home. No one was in the B box that late season night. The ball went just behind us and hit the aisle between the boxes and reserves, then took a slow arch back towards us, just out of reach of what seemed like hundreds of hands. It came back over our heads and spent its energy as it settled like a feather as I closed my outstreached hands over it. The noisy excitement of the moment dropped to dead silence as everyone, reaching out towards my position froze as though time itself had stopped. A gift for a faithful and deserving fan.

I was 10 when I went to this game. I remember my dad seemingly being excited about seeing Bret Saberhagen pitch. This may have been the game where I brought a friend and him and I started spitting down at people from the upper deck rail.

Gary Carter's last game at Shea.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

After a great rookie campaign in 1994, Jason Jacome looks like a complete bust and is undone by a 6-run 3rd inning as the Expos win their home opener. Jacome looked fine in the 1st but squirmed out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 2nd, thanks to a strikeout, a nice play by Todd Hundley saving a wild throw by Edgardo Alfonzo to get the lead runner out at home, and then a force out at second base. But his luck ran out in the 3rd, as he surrendered 6 hits and 2 walks before getting relieved by Dave Mlicki after 10 batters came to the plate. Though the Mets fought back, they never got closer than 2 runs behind. The downward spiral would unfortunately continue for Jacome, as he'd pitch himself back to the minors after 3 more starts, and then eventually get traded to Kansas City in July.

The weirdest thing that happened in the game happened in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Expos were penalized for batting out of order. In the top of the inning Montreal had brought in Luis Aquino as their new pitcher and also brought in Cliff Floyd to take over at 1B for Shane Andrews. Andrews was batting 5th and the Expos were going to start their half of the 6th with the #3 hitter up first, so it made no sense to perform a double switch. And apparently they didn't, but the replacement umps (who were thankfully in their last game before the real umps were back) mistakenly recorded it as a double switch. So when Floyd came up to bat, the umps told the Expos he was not the correct batter, and manager Felipe Alou completely lost it and was ejected. Despite knowing he was out of order, Floyd batted anyway (perhaps because he had to since the umps shouldn't be allowed to tip off a team to batting out of order). But oddly, after he was called out, the pitcher Aquino had to bat next, which means when a team bats out of order, it doesn't automatically go to the next hitter, it goes to the hitter who that spot in the order actually belongs to. I'm not sure if that's the right call or if the replacement umps blew that too. Whichever the case, Aquino ironically got a single -- the last of 4 hits he had in his career. It was an odd inning to say the least.

Speaking of odd, Dallas Green started Bobby Bonilla at 1B -- his first start at the position since May of 1993. My only guess for why is because he wanted all righties facing the left-handed Jeff Fassero, and so regular starters like Rico Brogna and Brett Butler got the day off. That also meant Ricky Otero received his first ML start, and Alfonzo started in lieu of Bonilla at 3B. Alfonzo cranked an RBI double in the 4th for the first hit of his career. However, he was later pinch-hit for with Bill Spiers in the 8th, something that seems completely unfathomable knowing the type of hitter Alfonzo would end up being in time.

Dave VW, you overlooked a significant fact about Edgardo Alfonzo in this game. He became the 100th third baseman in Mets history. Third base was a problem position with the Mets for over forty years before a guy named David Wright came along.

The Mets win this one in ten innings on a pinch-hit grand slam by Todd Hundley in the top of the tenth off LHP Bryan Eversgerd. Hundley is only the eleventh player in history to hit an extra-inning pinch-slam.

Jason Jacome and Jeff Fassero match up against each other for the second time in 10 days and this game ends the exact same way as the first -- with the Expos winning, 9-6. Jacome was holding his own through 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on just 3 hits, but Montreal was hitting the ball hard against him and it felt like just a matter of time before the wheels fell off. Sure enough, Jacome got rocked in the 6th, allowing doubles to Sean Berry, Wil Cordero and Moises Alou before Mark Lansing hit a 3-run homer to finally chase Jacome and give Montreal a 7-3 lead. Jacome had Lansing 0-2 but threw a meatball on pitch #3 that Lansing creamed over the left field wall. Ultra scrub Kevin Lomon gave up a run each in the 7th and 8th -- a shame because the Mets wound up plating 3 more runs, so the score would have been much closer if Lomon had held Montreal scoreless.

The Expos tied a season high with 8 extra-base hits as manager Felipe Alou celebrated his 60th birthday. They also had 8 in their previous game, a 13-1 win at Philadelphia. Safe to say, they were hitting the ball pretty well around this time of the season.

For the Mets, Bobby Bo had his second to last 2-homer game as a member of the team. Oddly enough, the Mets went 4-6 in the 10 games Bonilla hit 2 homers in a game for them. The Mets had a ton of other chances to score but stranded runners on base all game long, including in the 7th when Jose Vizcaino led off by reaching on an error and Jeff Kent singled, but then Jeff Shaw relieved Fassero and went on to strike out Bonilla, Rico Brogna (pinch-hitting for Edgardo Alfonzo) and David Segui to end the threat. The Mets also hit 3 straight singles to begin the 8th, but then Tim Scott came in for Montreal and got Ricky Otero, Vizcaino and Kent all to ground out to limit the damage. Otero's groundout scored a run, accounting for the only RBI he ever collected in 35 games as a Met. Kent's out left him 0-for-20 with runners in scoring position to start the season, and he slammed his helmet to the ground after getting called out in obvious disgust with himself. Also, Brook Fordyce hit a double in his last at-bat for the Mets; he'd be waived when rosters were cut down a few days later and would get claimed by the Indians.

I know it seems like I complain a lot about McCarver and Kiner, but in retrospect I can't help but notice how annoying they were when calling a game. When the broadcast posed that night's trivia question (Who is the only player to have played for the Mets, Astros, Angels and Rangers?), McCarver selfishly blurted out the answer in 20 seconds, as if the question was only for him and not the audience. Hey jerk, give the people at home a chance to think about it before giving out the answer! If you didn't know, the answer is Nolan Ryan. Kiner than asked "Do you think he has a chance of making the Hall of Fame?" I was like, are you serious? But then again, Kiner may have been kidding. Sometimes you weren't sure where his ignorance ended and his joking began.

The Mets thought they had this game won when Brogna hit the go ahead homer in the 8th. But Montreal tied it in the 9th and then ended up winning it in 13.

A stark reminder of the strike that has just ended recently, this game was played on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball and the stands were almost empty for this one. Looked like there were 10k in attendance, and that's an optimistic guess.

Despite John Franco justifiably being remembered fondly by the majority of fans, the first half of his tenure with the Mets was just not very good. Far too often he was either unreliable or injured, and it seemed like even when he earned a save he had to make things interesting. When he was a free agent after the 1994 season, I would have had no problem with the Mets finding themselves a new closer, despite him leading the league in saves and providing veteran leadership and charitable contributions off the the field.

This game perfectly summed up a typical Franco outing during this era. Silenced over the first 7 innings, the Mets come back in dramatic fashion with a 2-run Rico Brogna homer in the 8th. Summoned to close out the 2-1 win, Franco gets Roberto Kelly to ground out to SS on a real close play leading off the inning -- a big call considering the way the rest of the inning played out. Next up, Moises Alou also hit a grounder to SS, but this time Jose Vizcaino can't immediately get a grip on the ball in his glove and Alou beats the throw. It's ruled a hit but it should have been an error. Rondell White pinch hits for Darrin Fletcher next, and he also grounds one to the SS hole. Vizcaino fields it but has no play at either base. So Franco gets 3 ground balls, but only 1 out to show for it. Mike Lansing follows with a solid single, scoring pinch-runner Lou Frazier to tie the game. Franco gets out of the jam with no more runs scoring, but the damage is done. It's already his 2nd blown save in 7 appearances in 1995. Whether it's a case of bad luck or a case of a guy who just doesn't have the "stuff" to be a consistent closer, Franco seemed to be plagued by these type of innings all the time.

The Mets had all kinds of chances to score beyond the Brogna homer but kept coming up short. They loaded the bases with 1 out in the 7th, nothing. They put the leadoff man on in the 10th, 11th, and 13th, zilch. They put runners in motion trying to manufacture runs, both were caught stealing. Vizcaino bid for his second triple of the game with a deep drive to CF with 2 out in the 12th, but Roberto Kelly made a great running catch for the out. Too bad, cause Brogna led off the next inning with a single. That could have been the walk-off hit if not for Kelly's catch. Then there's David Segui, who, despite not entering the game until he pinch-hit for Ricky Otero in the 7th, still found a way to strand 6 runners on base, popping out with the bases loaded in the 7th, striking out with a runner on in the 9th, and grounding out to the pitcher with 2 on to end the 11th. He was one of those classic players who was excellent with everyone else, but turned into a bum when he played for the Mets.

Ugueth Urbina, in just his second big-league appearance, pitched a 1-2-3 12th inning to earn his first career win. Meanwhile, Jerry DiPoto picked up his first loss as a Met. He also had a tough-luck outing, as he gave up a leadoff single to Lansing in the 13th and saw him score after a wild pitch (though I thought Hundley should have handled the pitch), a sac bunt, and an RBI groundout to first. But baseball is one of those sports where you gotta make your own luck, and during this era all the Mets were making were bad memories.

Although not a Met at the time yet, Cliff Floyd shattered his wrist trying to catch a throw at 1st base while Todd Hundley crashed into him. Watching on tv, I remember the scream of pure agony from Cliff as he walked off the field. A sad moment for a really good guy.

Attended this game with my parents and a friend. They dedicated the night to Elvis Presley and they put my mom on the Diamond Vision screen being asked by one of the stadium employees what song by Elvis is her favorite. Mr. Met also was dressed up like Elvis. Most important was one of Bill Pulsipher's few dominating performances in a nice 1-0 win during a horrible period in Mets history.

In a battle of two of the top rookie pitchers in 1995, Jason Isringhausen bests Carlos Perez as the Mets win in Montreal for the third straight day. As he was apt to doing during his rookie year, Izzy allowed a pair of 1st-inning runs as Montreal tallied 4 singles in the opening frame. But he buckled down and kept getting stronger as the game went on, finishing his outing with 6 shutout innings, no walks and 6 strikeouts to win his 4th straight start -- a streak that would eventually reach 7. As a matter of fact, Izzy held a 6.43 ERA during the 1st inning as a rookie; it was 2.16 from innings 2 through 8 (he didn't pitch into the 9th inning at all as a rookie). That's really something, considering how he'd develop into a stud closer who would pretty much exclusively need to excel in his first inning of work in order to get his job done.

This was my first time seeing Perez in a while. What a character this guy was, with his huge wad of chewing tobacco protruding from his cheek and his over-the-top histrionics when on the mound -- especially his little jig he'd do after recording a strikeout, most notably when he caught a batter looking. Amazing he never got beaned over the course of his career. You'd think there would have been at least one pitcher who took umbrage with his antics and tried to let his feelings be known by throwing one a little too high and tight.

The Mets scored all their runs with 2 outs, with the big barrage occurring in the 3rd. With 2 down and Kelly Stinnett on 2nd after a double, Damon Buford and Jose Vizcaino hit back-to-back singles, and then Carl Everett and Jeff Kent hit back-to-back homers. Everett actually had a chance to hit for the cycle, needing a triple when he batted in the 9th, but he instead struck out. The Mets did little else on offense in the game, but on a day when Izzy was in control and Jerry DiPoto and Blas Minor each worked scoreless innings, that was all that was necessary.

Just watched this one recently on the old tape. Pulsipher got roughed up badly, and though no one knew it at the time, this would be his last major league game for almost 3 seasons. Due to an obscene amount of arm injuries, he would not throw another major league pitch until 1998.

He's remembered as a bust, but people forget that Pulsipher did show some serious flashes of excellence. He had 6 starts in 1995 where he gave up 2 or less runs. He may or may not have kept developing, but we will never know as he just couldnt stay healthy.

This game was a baseball history maker! John Franco, with a scoreless ninth inning, became the first left-hander to record 300 saves in his career. A few years later, he became the first lefty to get 400 saves.

I remember being on the beach at the Jersey Shore listening to this game on the radio and hearing the call from Gary on Lance Johnson's bases-loaded 3-run triple. Don't know why I remember that.

Love me some Jersey Shore, DaKid! Johnson's big triple was his 13th in the first half, a total that has been topped only twice since 1996: by Curtis Granderson in 2007, and Jose Reyes in 2011 (both had 15). It also happened to be Johnson's 33rd birthday on this date!

The Mets were starting to play some very good baseball at this point, despite missing Rico Brogna and Bernard Gilkey from the lineup. In fact, this win was their fourth in a row, tying their season high thus far. Alex Ochoa had recently been called up to take over RF and he hit a 3-run homer. Todd Hundley also homered, which was his 22nd of the season. That was the most by a Met before the All-Star break since Howard Johnson also had 22 in 1989. Hundley would hit another longball the next day, and his 23 HRs were (at the time) the 2nd most during the 1st half by a Met, after Dave Kingman's 30 in 1976. Bobby Jones was solid, and Dave Mlicki get a great job in relief, stranding runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the 7th inning. It was his 8th straight appearance without allowing a run.

All in all, things were really starting to look up in Mets land.

Though far from overpowering, Pedro Martinez nonetheless improves his career record against the Mets to 9-0 by tossing a complete game in the Expos 7-3 victory, snapping the Mets' 4-game win streak.

Pete Harnisch started on just 3 days rest, thanks to the Mets playing a doubleheader a few days back. He was chosen over other capable candidates such as Robert Person, Paul Byrd or Dave Mlicki, all of whom were in the bullpen at this point in time. It looked like Harnisch was in for a short night, too, as he gave up a 3-run bomb to Henry Rodriguez in the 1st inning, pretty much giving Pedro all the run support he'd need. But Harnisch put up all zeroes after that, bending but not breaking in a very gritty performance. He wasn't helped out by his outfield defense, as both Bernard Gilkey and Alex Ochoa dropped flyballs for errors, and Ochoa and Lance Johnson both lost a ball in the lights on the same play that allowed Shane Andrews (who had the only 4-hit game of his career) to get a cheap double. But thankfully none of those errors came back to bite Harnisch.

Todd Hundley (who later stole his only base of the season) responded in the bottom of the 1st with a 2-run dinger, but that would be all the Mets would muster until Johnson scored on a groundout after he tripled in the 8th. By then the combination of Byrd and Doug Henry had allowed Montreal to score 3 more times, all but putting the game out of reach. It sure didn't help that the Mets went 1-for-10 with runners on base.

Pedro also set a personal record by laying down 3 sacrifice bunts. He actually led the league with 16 sacrifices in 1996.

A frustrating game to sit through on a muggy Friday night (I think it was Latino Appreciation night, as well). At the time I couldn't believe the Mets lost to a bunch of no-names from Montreal. Looking at that lineup today, the Expos they had a solid group of players (who contributed elsewhere, of course).

Paul Wilson had one of his best starts as a Met on this night. Sadly, no one knew at the time that this would be his second to last win ever as a Met. He was in complete control all game during this one, throwing first pitch strikes to almost all hitters. Paul did show the ace like potential at various points during this 1996 season, but it was always followed up by a complete disaster of a start the very next game. And then of course the career altering injuries started in 1997. Todd Hundley hit another homer on this night, continuing a month and stretch of baseball for him that was just out of this world. He was one of the hottest hitters in the league at this point.

Totally forgotten today but the Mets went into this 4 game series against the Expos only 4 games behind in the wild card race, with the Expos ahead of them. Montreal would proceed to take 3 of 4 from the Mets, including this day's game, as Mark Clark just didnt have it and gave up 2 homers (one to future Met Cliff Floyd). The Mets would lose the next 5 games after this one and any tiny thought the of 1996 Mets making a wild card run were forgotten pretty quickly.

A great game I remember going to. Bobby Jones duels Pedro Martinez. 7 shut out innings each and Matt Franco helps Jones get the win with a pinch hit HR. I emember seeing Pedro slamming his glove on his way to the clubhouse after giving up those 2 runs in 8th. Seeing that game gave some of us a feeling that this team could really be getting somewhere finally.

I remember two things distinctly about this game.

First, Baerga, in his usual habit of getting red-hot in May and June, then folding his tent, hit a huge RBI double in the last of the 8th, driving home the winning run, and then Hundley tried to score a third run, but got gunned down at home, despite the fact that he basically body-slammed Expos Catcher Darrin Fletcher at the plate. The OF who gunned him down, from RF, on the fly? Vladimir Guerrero.

The second thing I remember is the great Pedro Martinez, in his usual fashion, sitting by himself in the Expos dugout no less than half an hour after the game, alone, in the dark, arms folded and pouting.

Pedro, Pedro, Pedro...What are we gonna do with ye?

A great game. Pedro v. Bobby Jones in a classical pitchers duel. Vladimir throws out Hundley at the plate from the warning track in right. The best throw I have ever seen. Matt Franco homers to the right field bullpen to win it over an awesome Pedro.

Another early classic from the Bobby V era! All the previous commenters touched on the major points: the fantastic pitchers' duel, the heroic Matt Franco home run (his first of 5 career PH HRs), the clutch go-ahead RBI double by Baerga, the throw by Vladdy to nail Hundley at the plate, and Pedro sitting alone in the dugout and leaving only when they literally turned the lights off inside the dugout. He really took the loss personally, completely beside himself that he choked up the lead. I admire the passion, but Pedro my dude, it's not like you lost Game 7 of the World Series. It'll be ok.

If you can believe it, Franco's blast was actually the last pinch-hit home run Pedro allowed FOR THE REMAINDER OF HIS CAREER. He also retired 14 in a row between the 2nd and 7th innings, and recorded 9 outs in a row via strikeout between the 5th and 8th innings. His 12 strikeouts were also the most he'd ever record in a game vs. the Mets out of 20 career appearances. If he did have one weakness, for some reason it was facing Baerga, as the second baseman improved his career matchup log vs. Pedro to 7-for-10 with his 3-for-4 performance in this game.

Not to be forgotten, Bobby Jones has come out of nowhere to be one of the league's top pitchers. His 8 innings of 1-run ball helped give him his 7th win in a row and made him the NL's first 10-game winner of 1997. He also dropped his season ERA to 2.22.

John Olerud hit for the cycle in this game, going 4-for-5, and driving in five of the nine runs the Mets put up off six Montreal pitchers. Three of the RBIs came on a stand-up triple, Olerud's first triple in three years.

Edgardo Alfonso had three-quarters of a cycle as well with a single, double, and home run. Fonzie drove in three and scored three times.

John Olerud hit for the cycle in this one as the Mets were trying to stay in the wild card race. Though his triple probably should have been ruled an error. Vladimir Guerrero, playing CF, had a bad leg and on the triple, he got to the ball (barely) and dropped the ball right before the wall. Generous scoring on the play for the triple, but still was a fantastic night for a fantastic player. Also the start of one of the more memorable 4-game series in Mets history, as both weekend wins in the coming days were truly noteworthy for their own reasons.

Wow!!!. This game has got to be one of the greatest games in Mets history. At the time the Mets were still mathematically alive in the wild card race that they had so valiantly crept back into. I remember being at this game and wanting a win so badly to keep pace with florida. However, at the start of the sixth the Mets were not only trailing 6-0, they were being no-hit by Dustin Hermanson. They ended hermanson's no-hit bi din the sixth, but did not strike until the 9th. With the bases loaded and the score 6-2, Carl Everett came up as the tying run. Everyone was thinking Grand Slam, and then it happened, Everett corked one 400 plus feetd down the line...FOUL!! Noone could believe it, it was that close, and everyone pretty much figured that was it. But not Everett, who took another mighty swing and launched one 400 plus again, only this time it was a GRAND SLAM, and the Mets tied the game. They went on to win on home-run in extra innings, SIMPLY AMAZING!!!

This truly was an amazing game for me, not only for the late-inning heroics, but just the fact that it was the second Mets game I had ever been to, turning me into a Mets fan for life. The stadium had cleared by the bottom of the 9th, so my friends and I easily found field level seats to watch the 9th. I am fairly certain they didn't score their runs until they had already made two outs in the inning. But what a shot by Carl Everett! As he ran around the bases after unloading the game-tying grand slam on a 3-2 count, the scoreboard flashed "KING CARL" which was pretty accurate for that game. Bernard Gilkey hit a three-run shot in the 11th inning to win the game, an amazing end to a wonderful game! This is still the greatest game I've ever been to, by far.

I have to admit that I was one of those fans that left the game after the 8th inning. As I was driving home, I almost drove off of the Major Deegan Expressway when Carl Everett hit that home run.

I have never left a baseball game before it ended after that.

This was just the second game I had ever attended, and at the age of nine, I was upset at my parents for taking me to a Mets game instead of the Yankees, but it was an experience I would never forget. At the time, I didn't understand the game of baseball all that well, but when Carl Everett hit that grand slam, it stuck in my mind for eternity, as it made me the proud Mets fan that I am today.

I was also one of those fans who left the game early. My friend and I were driving through the Bronx, I think (heading back to CT), when Everett hit the HR. I couldn't believe I missed it! We ended up going to Bobby Valentine's in Stamford to watch the end of the game.

My friend and I decided to stay despite the 6-0 score. When Carl Everett batted with the bases loaded, two outs, and launched a long drive just foul I was crestfallen. I told my friend I had never seen someone just miss like that then hit one out. Well this was the first time, as we stood in disbelief and watched the ball disappear, and the game tied. Bernard Gilkey's smash in the 11th only justified our staying. Now whenever I'm at a losing game and someone wants to leave, I bring this game up.

This game was similar to June 14, 1980...look it up all you ultimateMets.com fans

I was at this game, had front row upper deck right behind home, great seats. I remember the Mets had no hit= s until the 6th and that one could have been scored an error I was thinking to myself when the bottom of the 9th started, "Please all I want is one legitimate hit." Then they get a bunch of hits, score 2 runs and have bases loaded for Everett. He hits slam and Gilkey wins it in the 11th. A great night.

ok so you all wont believe this but it is the honest truth. I was there seated low in the right field seats and saw the grand slam home run when it happened I was going crazy along with everyone else but in the moment all I could think of was getting that ball. Well the ball hit the scoreboard. Anyone at the game knows that I went to the fence at the side of the small field that houses the scoreboard and the security dude threw me the ball. Yes he really did. So at the end of the game I went down to the exit to the locker room and was yelling, "I have the ball! I have the ball!" Well, Carl Everett's wife came up to me and asked to see it. Of course at the time I did not know who she was but she had access to the locker room so I figured ok, I'll show it. She looked it over and said, "Wow, this is the ball. It still has some of the green paint on it from hitting the scoreboard". So she said "If I get you a signed ball from my husband can I keep this ball?" I said "sure why not?" She really seemed to want it so I gave it to her and 20 mins later she came out with Carl and he shook my hand said, thanks for the ball and signed one for me and added "grand slam hr. Mets 9 - expos 6 sept 13, 1987" and on the opposite side of the ball he wrote "off Ugueth Urbina 3-2 change up." It was awesome and made the game even more memorable. I also got to meet many more of the Mets at the same time. Believe it or not I still have the ball and the ticket stub in a plastic ball box.

My girlfriend and I were back in high school and had been dating for only a few weeks when we went to this game together. She wasn't a baseball fan at all and this was her first baseball game ever. I wasn't leaving until the end and she was too polite to ask to go, so she suffered through what had been a horrible effort by the Mets until the 9th. I remember gathering our things as the Mets were down to their last out (so we could avoid the rush of all the 35 people left at Shea) when Husky got that single in the 9th. So we sit down and just a few batters later the game was tied and they had "King Carl" up on diamond vision as they followed him around the bases after his grand slam. I looked over at my girlfriend, who was near asleep 20 minutes prior, and she was up and jumping with her arms in the air like the biggest fan in the stadium. Unbelievable! So here we are, 15 years later and still together, married and bringing our 1 year old son to his first Mets game in a few weeks.

One of the greatest comebacks ever. The Mets did absolutely nothing for 8 innings and were down 6-0. They mount the comeback in the bottom of the 9th, with Everett tying it with a dramatic grand slam. No way they could lose after that and Gilkey won it in extra innings. Amazin!

Carl Everett slugged a grand slam to cap an incredible game-tying comeback for the Mets in the bottom of the ninth inning. They had only one hit from the first to the eighth, and that hit was really an error. Expos' left fielder Brad Fullmer misplayed a ball hit by Carlos Mendoza in the sixth that the official scorer ruled as a single. The fact that it was Mendoza's first major league hit could have been why it was scored that way! Fullmer was replaced in the field an inning later.

When Butch Huskey singled in the ninth, Fullmer was slapping hands with his teammates on the bench. They were celebrating his being off the hook in costing pitcher Dustin Hermanson a no-hitter. But after four more Met singles, two pitching changes and Everett's enormous clout, the Expos weren't exactly high-fiving each other anymore.

It was only fitting that the current #17 Luis Lopez drove in the only run of the game with a home run on Keith Hernandez Day. This was the day the Mets inducted Mex into the Mets HOF and presented his bust which is displayed in the Diamond Club.

Mlicki tried to nab his second career shutout in this game (after getting the Yankees a few months earlier), but ran out of gas in the 9th and put runners on, so McMichael had to come in and get them out for him.

Biggest highlight of this game was the finish. After little Louie Lopez hits a rare dinger for the only run of the game, it was Gilkey to Ordonez to Pratt to nail down a runner at the plate in the 9th to preserve the victory. Big cheer from the crowd brought back glory day memories. Good fun!

I remember this game for many reasons. First, it was the game after the UNBELIEVEABLE finish the night before with Everett's and Gilkey's homers.

And second, this was the only game I've ever gotten to sit in the Diamond Club at Shea. It was a great experience. I remember the play at home plate pretty well and to this day I think the Expos runner was safe. Great game!

Benny Agbayani made his Major League debut in this game. He struck out vs. Ugeth Urbina in the 9th.

There were two sad seasons that I can remember vividly where the Mets couldn't make the playoffs because of blown saves by one guy in the bullpen: in 2001, of course, there was Armando Benitez who ruined their almost-perfect September, and, in 1998, there was John Franco. I don't remember this night too well except I remember that I was there and John Franco lost his third consecutive game for the Mets and this was against the Expos; he had a 6-5 lead going into the ninth, and he lost it.

As out of place as Todd Hundley looked in LF that night, it was just great to see him back in the lineup.

At this game, Mezzanine to the right of homeplate. Hundley back in the lineup, so it was a glorious (and fleeting) day for us Hundley fans. Everytime he caught a fly ball he got a huge ovation, and you could see him smiling on the Diamond Vision.

First ever Met game as an 8 year old, and I distinctly remember it was gym bag night because I toted that damn thing around for the rest of grammar school.

Olerud goes deep twice as the Mets take it to young Carl Pavano in Hundley's first game back.

A weird game for sure. Todd Hundley made his season debut in LF, a position he would try to play for a while the rest of the season, unsuccessfully. Still, at the time it was just great seeing him back in the lineup. As Mets fans, we knew that Piazza was better and when push came to shove, he was the much better option for 1998 and beyond. But Todd was ours, being there in the down years.

This was my first baseball game as a 10 year old. I was sitting with my parents in the left field mezzanine. I remember it was incredibly hot that day, and the sun was scorching. We had bought some ice cream and it was all melted in just a few minutes.

I remember my father telling me about how they had just acquired Mike Piazza, and how he was a big star in Los Angeles. Anyway, I don't remember too much about the game, but I'll never forget the moment Brian McRae hit a monster home run over the center field wall. I just watched the ball sail across the stadium. It was an incredible moment, and I'll always remember seeing the apple come out of the top hat.

Watched this game on TV. The Mets had a slim lead in the wild card race. Willie Blair was tremendous for the Mets. Expos' pitcher was equally tough. Mets took a one-zip lead in the 8th. Game ends as Brian McRae playing CF throws a bullet to Hundley, who tags out the potential tying run in a bang-bang play the the plate. Mets win 1-0. Maybe the last high point of Hundley's Mets' career.

Although we blew it against the Braves the last series of the season, I really feel it was the two games at home against the Expos that ruined the season. I still remember Todd Pratt striking out to end the game...

This was a historical game in Mets history. After 37 seasons on WOR/WWOR-TV Channel 9; this was the 1st Mets produced broadcast on WPIX-TV Channel 11. This was a shock to me and millions of Mets fans because Ch. 11 had been the home of the Bronx Evil Empire forever.

I went to Montreal for this game (I was living in Watertown at the time). Montreal is a great place to go see the Mutts on the road because you can get killer seats for $30 CANADIAN (about 21 bucks American dough). Won in extra innings on hits by Todd Pratt and Matt Franco, very exciting.

In Montreal they serve mixed drinks, I was loaded on Amaretto and Coke (they were out of rum).

The city of New York was buzzing on this day because Roger Clemens was making his Yankee Stadium debut after the offseason trade that sent David Wells to the Blue Jays and him to the Yanks. Me, I could care less. It was April and I wanted to see if the Mets could actually play now. The game was played in Montreal and it was tied going into the eleventh, Matt Franco got the hit that won it (something I would see many times in 1999) and the other Franco, John, actually didn't blow the save and got the win, something he couldn't do all of last year. This game gave me a ray of hope that, finally, the Mets had beaten the problems they had encountered last year and had finally become contenders in the National League.

Went to this game against the Expos for my brothers b-day and had to sit through the Canadian anthem. I don't know why I just don't like it. John Franco (coming off his 400th save a few days earlier) got his 4th save of the season in the Mets 3-2 win and, suddenly, all those horrible memories of him in 1998 had been erased.

My cousin had the Sunday plan so he had an extra ticket making it a Mets weekend. (I had went to the game the previous day with my pal Kathy.) Also, my cousin had wished that he had brought his portable TV because over at MSG it would be #99 Wayne Gretzky's farewell game.

Summer of 1999 just might be my favorite summer. Definitely my favorite summer in terms of Mets baseball. I was going into junior year of high school. I was at this game. I remember we had our usual four tickets for the box seats, and we were having trouble finding a fourth person to go with us. I worked at this mini waterpark called Splash Down during the summers from 1998 through 2001, and was starting to become good friends with this kid Jim from work. He is also a crazy, big Mets fan like me. I remember it was a hot and very humid day, and we both had worked for over six hours. Remember, a waterpark job is very much an outdoor job. I figured it would be good to help build the friendship, so I suggested to my folks that I ask Jim. I did, and the four of us went. That night was also hot and very humid, but it was still awesome. Rick Reed started for the Mets, and pitched seven innings of one run ball. It was tied 1-1 in the eighth, and the Mets got the winning run when Melvin Mora scored on a ground out. He had pinch ran for John Olerud. I remember on WFAN they were questioning why the Expos did not try to nail Melvin Mora at home. Too bad Rick Reed did not get the win, but oh well. Armando Benitez closed it out for a nice 2-1 win on this hot and very humid night. Jim was glad I invited him.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that before the game I got Vladmir Guerrero to sign the baseball I had brought. I had to reach through people to get it. That ball is now in a hard plastic cube.

Man, I remember going to this game. It was a blazing hot day and the temp was near 100 at the start of game time. Well-played game. Mets came back to win 2-1 when Brian McRae grounded out to score Melvin Mora with the bases loaded.

Izzy's first major league save.

The Expos had some crazy weird pregame ceremony for their home opener where players were lifted around like it was a rock concert.

It was early, but this series ended up concerning me when it was all said and done. First sign the magic of 1999-2000 wasn't quite coming through anymore.

Somewhere in Montreal that ovation for Tim Raines' return to the Expos is still going on.

Everyone here knows who Troy Mattes is, right?

Well, in this game, his Major League debut, he threw a perfect game into the 5th inning, and shut the Mets out through 7. He came out with a 1-0 lead.

The Expos bullpen would promptly blow the lead and the game in the 8th inning. 3 errors, including an absolutely airmailed throw by Vlad Guerrero from RF practically into the Loge section behind 3B contributed to the undoing.

Well, there was one positive that did come out of this game and that is the Mets did get their 5th straight winning season and 19th one in history to go along with their 21 losing seasons. and they keep 1996 as their last losing season heading into 2002 and with them finishing over 500 in 2001 hopefully it will do carrying over into 2002. I think that them ending up over 500 is a good way to finish up what was a up and down year for them. Since for quite a while they were in danger of making 2001 be their first losing season since 1996.

Next to last game of the season, the only thing I really remember about this game is that Lenny Harris broke the major league record for career pinch hits.

Not an incredibly exciting game until Lenny Harris got his 151st career pinch hit to set the record. The crowd was cheering but seemed sort of tired after a season with such great expectations.

Today was by far the best game that ive was ever at. We arrived at the frozen stadium at 10:00am. My dad works for port authority and so the Mets invited us along with all the other rescue workers for a special day at the ballpark. We stood outside for about 10 minutes before we were brought through the Mets clubhouse and on to the field. Once we were on the field we stood and waited for about an hour. I was so excited. I thought I was going to see one or two players and leave.

At about 11:00 am up came Jason Phillips and Mark Corey. Ok, I was still hoping. Then came Riggan and Roberts and Vance Wilson. These guys were the coolest guys around. We stood and talked to them and then they let us take pictures with them. That was enough for I was ready to go. It already was the best day of my young life. But the Mets weren’t done. Up came Zeile, Ventura and Agbayani followed by Appier, White, and Floyd, then there was Mookie and Randy Niemann, and Steve Trachsel, Super Joe, John Franco, Mark Johnson, John Stearns and then came the two people I was dying to meet: Al Leiter and Bobby V.

Al and Bobby are the nicest guys on the team. Bobby was giving out pins and taking pictures. But there was no need for pictures. This was a day that none of us will forget. Bobby then led us onto the centerfield grass and made a great speech to all the kids with motto "we got to stick together."

Well, my memory of this one is markedly different from Mr. Kehoe's. I arrived at the frozen ballpark 20 minutes before game time, and froze my tail off in the upper deck for what was fortunately a quick game. Neither team looked like they wanted to play, just get up, take their hacks and go home. Really, the game was a pretty sad end to a sorry season. In the past, players would stick around on the field after the last game, watch the season highlight video, and toss their caps into the stands. They didn't do that this year. Not the finish we would have hoped for, but as any Brooklyn Dodger fan would say, "Wait til next year!!!"

I remember watching part of this game visiting family in Worcester, Mass. on a cold Columbus Day weekend. The game was on MLB Extra Innings via digital cable but I wasn't totally into the game since the Mets were long eliminated as I watched the Dolphins-Patriots game on the CBS Boston station & the news that the USA had just started bombing Afghanistan & the Taliban.

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.

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.

Welcome back to New York David Cone! 5 innings and 2 hits along with 5 k's. A game I'll never forget while I'm a Mets fan. I'm getting my cone heads out right now. Good luck in NY Cone!

I drove 3 hours home from SUNY Binghamton to Staten Island and picked up my girlfriend and drove another hour to Shea to see Coney's comeback game. We nearly froze to death since the temperature lingered in the low 30's for most of the game with wind chills in the 20's and teens. The stadium seemed nearly empty, but there were plenty of Coneheads around.

Cone retired the 1st 8 guys in a row, including getting Vlad to whiff. I kept thinking to myself that he was going to pitch a no-no in his 1st game back. Then Tomo Ohka managed to get a hit through the middle off of him. Still, Coney gave it all, and as we found out later in the season, that was probably all that he had left.

I went to this game. If I did not know better, I would have thought it was an October game. It was majorly cold. It was me, Dennis (my brother-in-law), Rich (my roommate from school), and my dad. I did not expect the game to go the way it did considering the Expos came in with a 3-0 record, and the Mets were starting a 40-year old David Cone. My dad, Rich, and I waited in the cold before the game with other people outside the Diamond Club. I am studying criminal law in school, and even ran into a guy who happened to be a criminal prosecuter. My dad expected me to play "20 Questions" with him, knowing how I am with that topic. We ate at the Diamond Club, and met Dennis for the game. It was awesome! After Mo Vaughn made that error to load the bases for Vladmir Guerrero, Dennis yelled "eat a salad" at Mo Vaughn. The best was when David Cone blew away Vladmir Guerrero on what I believe was a 2-2 pitch. After he blew him away, the song from the end of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" played loudly from the stadium speakers. The crowd was awesome. The Mets went on to win behind five innings of two-hit ball from David Cone, and some good offense. An awesome highlight in what I did expect to be such a miserable season.

This was a marvelous game - what was really Cone's final signature appearance. He had three more starts (all losses) after this and went on the DL in late April. In May, he came back for one relief appearance before calling it quits. But this game was his final win and done in horrible conditions: snow flurries and drizzle. It really was a shame he did not try to play at all in 2002 (apparently waiting for a call from the Yankees that never came) because he probably would have gotten his 200th win if he had.

I live in California and while I was listening to the Angels' game on the radio, I heard the update: Mets 1, Expos 0 in the bottom of the ninth. I got a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew it was time for the inevitable Armando Meltdown. I wouldn't trust this guy to lock my front door, or pet-sit my cat, let alone close a Major League Baseball game. Even Mel Rojas, Rich Rodriguez and Donne Wall are laughing at this guy. The back of Armando's jersey needs to have "Benitez" replaced with the word that best describes his performance: "Flammable."

I believe this was the infamous Rey Sanchez haircut game, where he got a trim in the clubhouse during game play.

Working for an airline helps when traveling to Mets road games! I flew to San Juan for the game. I was surprised there was not an official scorecard; however Banco Popular had their own, featuring all of the Puerto Rican players from the visiting teams. Although, he was not good with the Mets, Sandy Alomar was still the featured visiting player for the local fans. I was almost squashed against the infield fence trying to obtain an autograph. I managed to have Sandy sign his pic on the program and that was the highlight of the day! The Mets lost 2-1. I also recall the intense heat of the afternoon sun! The following day, before leaving the Island, I persuaded a local liquor store employee to give me the Expo banner with all of the team logos; including the Mets! It's amazing what a $20 bill will buy!

I took my son to see this game and Tony Clark was really bad.

A whole section of Korean Jae Seo fans wore matching orange shirts in Section 12 of the Mezzanine only to see their hero take a beating when the Expos knocked him out of the box with a 5-run 4th. Pedro Felicino, then a mop-up man wearing No. 55, then allowed six straight guys to reach base and five more to score in the 5th. Go 2003 Mets!

Pretty sure I was at this game. Tony Clark threw a ball to the crowd during warm ups and I caught it.

Surprised no one has commented on this one. MSG used the old time graphics and camera angles throughout the game, which was pretty awesome. And best of all, Murphy and Kiner were reunited to broadcast this. As Murph would put it, it was "simply marvelous."

Nice win by the team in spite of Howe he made some nonsensical moves. Howe could have had Yates come out in the 7th, and warm up Stanton then he took Stanton out too late. Also he pulled our two best offensive weapons Piazza okay because Wilson did a great job in calming down Moreno in the 11th, but Floyd? It luckily wasn't costly move. The bullpen is totally taxed, Matsui had a nice game today two hits two walks he has six walks already. Yates was dominant spotting his 95 fastball also had a good changup Stanton spit the bit, and cost the kid the win.

To my knowledge, I never scored a game on my birthday (41 and proud of it). For me, one of the busiest birthdays ever in terms of things to do was capped by this great victory.

Zeile's RBI double (BTW, when he swung he looked like he was swinging with a cricket bat instead of a Louisville Slugger) was a nice shot. I remember screaming "Run your ass" to Ty Wigginton on TV while the Expos were chasing the ball around.

Also being superstitious, I was walking over to my parents' cat George and scratching him on the head between extra innings. Sleepy kitty brought the Mets luck.

Additionally, the run the Mets scored was their first tally in extra frames since May, 2003 when Piazza hit a two-run homer to beat San Diego. I also scored that one too at Shea (for veteran Met posters/lookers, that was the game where I had to take a wicked whizz and came back in time to see that great ending).

What a great birthday present. Thank you, Mets!

Glavine pitched a masterpiece today as he looked as good as he ever has as a Met. This was a nice win, but a very costly one as the often injured Floyd sprained his quad . The bullpen did the job Stanton cleaned up Weathers' mess, and Looper was dominant in the ninth. Eric Valent had a big homer, but you can't expect much from a guy who hit 218 in the minors last year. Stanton needed just one pitch in the eight. Glavine only struck out one, but was dominant working the corners like the old days with Atlanta.

David Wright made his debut that game, and in his first at bat, he popped out to the catcher who caught the ball half way in the dugout.

The very 1st game David Wright and Jose Reyes played together :)

David Wright's first MLB hit was a double inb the 5th inning off Zach Day.

David Wright's first major league homer was in this game. Anybody recall which Expo pitcher it came off?

I was at that game. Uggh. I can't remember who Wright hit that home run off, but I remember thinking as he was circling the bases that it was the first of many we'd enjoy.

The only pitcher I remember clearly is Todd Zeile, who pitched late in the game. A disgrace.

Ed K--Expo hurler John Patterson was the one who served up Wright's first dinger.

I can't believe no one has commented on this game. This is the one where Eric Valent hit for the cycle and where that guy at Olympic Stadium was made the bet with Mike Cameron that he would leave his seat if he hit a home run. He had been riding Mike since the game started, and while he never left his seat, he finally stopped talking after Mike hit his second homer of the game.

I shlepped up to Montreal for my 2nd annual final trip to Montreal (and unfortunately my last). Other than Piazza hitting a moon shot over the centerfield wall, nothing exciting about this game.

Steve Trachsel scored from first on a triple by Gerald Williams. I met Steve the following day and told him how I was impressed with his base running skills. He said he was still huffing and puffing when he took the mound the following inning. After he got that single he held up the game for a couple of minutes so he could get his jacket. Which is silly, because the game was indoors. The Expos fans booed him for the rest of the game.

The afternoon before this game, Major League Baseball had a big meeting in Montreal to determine if the Expos would stay in Montreal for another season. Jean-Luc, my "French Connection" up there said he saw this big newspaper reporter who only covers the Expos when something REALLY big is going down. The next day it was announced that this would be the last season for the Expos and that they were moving to Washington DC in 2O05.

Which was even more weird 'coz the NHL lockout began a couple of days before so Montreal must have been this big ghost town that winter. Which sucks 'coz Montreal is a great baseball town (obviously taking a big back seat to hockey).

Anyway Glavine pitched a gem and I felt a bit sad afterwards thinking that this would be it for Les Expos.

0ddly enough I ran into Jean-Luc at Shea for the final game of the year vs. Les Expos. He and 2 buses of "Habitants" came down to bid adieu to Les Expos. He told me that a few days after the Mets game up there when the Expos played their last game, Stade Olympic became the biggest funeral home in Canada with just about everyone, including him, crying their eyes out after the game.

Yes, I was one of the few that even bothered to go to this game. They went through the motions, pretty much as they did the entire second half. The highlight of the evening was the $2.00 Ball Park hot dogs. Great job, Fred!

This would be the last year that the Mets had Ballpark as their official hot dogs when in 2005 they wisely replaced BP with the wonderful Nathan's Famous which is still with the Mets!!

Attended this game, primarily for the esoteric value of seeing the last game in the history of Les Expos. Additionally, there was all sorts of hoopla surrounding the retirement of Todd Zeile, which was nice, Zeile was certainly a consummate professional and a great team guy, but odd considering he spent a small percentage of his career as a Met. The team played well, mostly spurred by David Wright. Zeile went out in style, smashing a 3-run HR in his last AB. Many Expos fans were present, which is sad, because there were probably more of them in attendance at Shea this day than at any game in Montreal in the last 10 years. It's disheartening to think about what the franchise could have been, and how they never recovered at all from the strike in 94. It was over once they were bought out by MLB, who did nothing whatsoever to try to save Baseball in Montreal, and never gave them a chance to be fully competitive over a full season (low budget, inability to call up minor-leaguers in September, etc.) Baseball in Montreal will be missed, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Washington franchise (Senators? Congressmen? Lobbyists? Patriots? Flash? Obscurity?) can turn the corner of what was once a successful franchise that never put it together.

Overall, a nice game, good sendoffs for Zeile and probably Franco as well, and a victory to send Howe off into the sunset.

So the Expos lose to the Mets in their last game in history.

Well, the Expos won their first game in history when they beat the Mets on Opening Day 1969. I've been waiting for this one ever since!

The Mets bid farewell on (another) disappointing season and they bid farewell to fan favorite Todd Zeile. Now that Todd is part of the Hollywood community, in his farewell speech he started off by plugging his upcoming movie that he's producing and co-starring. And in "Hollywood" fashion, he hit a home run in his final at bat. How ironic that he ended his career with 2,004 hits.

The Mets possibly bid farewell to (Brooklyn's own) John Franco. Again the irony was he retired his final batter by having him pop out to catcher Todd Zeile.

And finally, the Mets bid adieu to the Montreal Expos, as they played their final game as the Montreal Expos. A great deal of Habitants came down from Quebec to say au revior to Les Expos. Some were glad to be part of history, some were irate, yet all were sad to see their Expos go, some even broke down. Even I, a staunch Mets fans who never liked the Expos felt a lump in my throat.

It's a shame that a nice city like Montreal is losing their baseball team. I went a couple of times to Montreal and had a blast at Stade Olympique (Olympic Stadium), except when the Mets lost. Nevertheless it was a thrill to see baseball history, a dark chapter, but still baseball history.

Game 162 of 2004. This looked like THE SEASON for the Mets- the season that would change it all. The Mets were going to be World Champs for a third time. The Mets had swept the Yankees and had gone on a streak and, now, it was all over.

This game was also special for three other reasons:

• I went to this game and it was the 5 year anniversary of the Mets win over the Pirates to bring them to game 163 against the Reds that would catapult them to the playoffs in 1999.
• It was the Expos' last game as the Montreal Expos. (They're going to be the Washington Nationals.)
• It was Todd Zeile's last game.

With all that in mind, I went to the game and watched the Mets destroy the Expos, including Todd Zeile hitting a HR in the last at bat of his career.

I felt a little bad for the Expos because I looked around the stadium and I realized the Expos had never had that many fans and maybe they would've if there was no strike in '94 and they had actually gone to the series. Oh well, the whole Washington thing won't work out and they'll end up going to Las Vegas.

If this was any other game on the last day of the season, and the Expos, Todd Zeile, and John Franco weren't playing thier last games, I probably would have declined to go and watched football that Sunday instead. But since I had waited about 3 years for Franco and the inexplicable control that he had on the front office when they made decisions to pack up and leave, I wanted desperately to go.

The Mets downed the Expos, and Todd Zeile had a homer in his last at-bat. Zeile isn't exactly my favorite Met of all time, but I always appreciated him since he was the only guy that stepped it up in that 2000 Subway Series. It was sad to see him go. He was a good clubhouse guy, unlike Franco. Don't let the door hit you in the rear on the way out Johnny! You did some great things for this team, but you more than wore out your welcome! See ya!

Zeile was not the first player to hit a homer for the Mets in his final MLB at-bat. Mike Cubbage did it at the end of the 1981 season, and Chris Jelic did it in his brief MLB career in 1990. I don't know about Cubbage, but in Jelic's case, he probably did not know it was his final MLB game.

Went to this game because I went to the first Expo game in 1969. Still have the tickets for both games. Left the first game when the Mets fell behind 11-6 and missed Duffy Dyer's pinch hit blast. Stayed for the entire last game and saw Zeile go out in style. Felt bad for the truly loyal Expo fans who travelled far to see the finale.

Can the SNY people find a copy of this historic game and show it as a METS CLASSIC as they have in recent weeks re-aired the 1988 NL East clincher, Piazza's Mets debut, and the '05 walk off win vs the Angels etc.....