This game was also one of the last real good appearances by Isringhausen, despite 6 walks. He went 6 scoreless innings, having recently made his season debut after missing the first 5 months.

I thought Isringhausen was pretty lucky to wiggle his way through 6+ scoreless innings, as he tied his career high with 6 walks -- the same amount he tallied in his first start back from the DL a few days earlier. In the 6th, 2 walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with just 1 out for Toronto, but Ed Sprague gifted Isringhausen with a grounder right to Rey Ordonez, who turned the 6-4-3 double play to end the jam. Izzy, now up to 111 pitches, was for some reason left in to start the 7th and promptly allowed a single and another walk to lead off the inning, which finally earned him the hook. Greg McMichael came in and put out the fire, striking out Jacob Brumfield and getting Carlos Garcia to ground into a double play. McMichael somehow lost 10 games in 1997 but he was such an asset in the bullpen, and a clear improvement over the dark days of Mike Maddux, Jerry DiPoto and Doug Henry. Not to mention he was awesome at Shea, holding a 1.41 ERA at home in 1997.

Mel Rojas and John Franco combined to record the next 6 outs to secure the win, as the Mets suddenly looked like they had one of the strongest pens in the league. Franco earned his 34th save of the season, which broke his previous team record he set back in 1990. The 2 hits allowed by Mets pitching was also the fewest of the 1997 season.

After Brian McRae started the 1st inning by hitting a double that was too hot for Carlos Delgado to handle at 1B, Clemens then struck out the side. But his luck ran out quick, as the Mets manufactured a pair of runs in the 2nd when Ed Sprague threw too high coming home trying to get Bernard Gilkey out at the plate, and then Ordonez reached on a safety squeeze to score Carlos Baerga. The Mets plated 4 more in the 3rd, as Gilkey rocked a 2-run double, Baerga drove him in with another double, and Ordonez dropped down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze to get Baerga in. Roger then allowed another run on an RBI single by McRae in the 6th. The 7 runs allowed were his most in 1997, and the 10 hits tied his season high. All told, in non-playoff starts against the Mets, Clemens would go 3-6, while his teams would only win 3 of his 11 starts.

On the other side, Juan Acevedo started for the first time as a Met. He was wild but got big outs when he needed them. Despite earning the win and only allowing 1 earned run, he was sent back to the bullpen and only started one more time for the team before he was traded during spring training in 1998. Turk Wendell worked the final 4 innings and gave up a pair of home runs to Jose Cruz Jr. but still earned the save.

Of course, the other big news from this game was Ordonez's home run. He hit it off Kelvim Escobar, who was a rookie at the time and this was actually the first homer he allowed in the majors. It was also the first of only two HRs Rey would hit at Shea. Chris is right, the ball just got over the wall in the LF corner beyond Cruz's leaping attempt. The reaction of the Mets in the dugout was hilarious and it was a great cherry on top of another feel-good win in 1997.

During batting practice I caught a Rey Ordonez 'homer', a pretty awesome catch too! I just stuck my glove out in between two big guys and I felt a smack in the glove, got a nice round of applause from the SkyDome faithful.

Hideo left this game early due to some sort of injury, I can't recall what it was.

A Canada Day Classic! Fireworks after the game, 25 runs, and my first MLB Baseball!!

This was the beginning of the end for the brief and pathetic Mets careers of Hideo Nomo and Mel Rojas. Nomo got shelled in his brief outing. The Mets managed to get back in the game to take the lead. However Mel Rojas came in relief and stunk up the joint. He was so bad, after he hit a batter, me and a bunch of other Mets fans yelled at the umpire for not ejecting him for intentionally hitting him.

This game was one of the longest 9 inning games in MLB history, lasting almost 4 and a half hours, thus leaving me to bake in the Canadian sun for 4 l/2 hours. After the game was over, they closed the roof for a fireworks display. Then they re-opened the roof and you had the sun shining on the smoke left by the fireworks, so you felt like you were in a war zone, not a friendly baseball game.

When I left the Sky Dome, I noticed that I was bright pink from all that sun. When I got back home, everyone was wondering where I got so much sun. Miami? The Caribbean? Hawaii? No, Toronto, Canada. So Hideo Nomo, Mel Rojas and I got royally burnt that day.

The extra bonus as a Toronto person was seeing Dave Stieb make his first appearance in Toronto during his 1998 comeback.

He worked in and out of trouble all game, walking 5 but never breaking. The offense was fantastic as Roger Cedeno hit a rare homer and they scored 11 runs in all.

In the third inning, Mets 3B coach Cookie Rojas strenuously objected to Hernandez failing to call a balk on Blue Jays pitcher Pat Hentgen.

A rhubarb ensued and Hernandez ejected Rojas from the game. Bobby Valentine came out to continue the dispute to no avail, and he finished the inning in the coach’s box - the only time in my life I’ve seen a manager on the coaching lines.

Bench coach Bruce Benedict finished the game coaching third in place of Rojas.

I was at this game, which Wells started, and Ordonez ended, and among the more notable happenings this night was this was the infamous Bobby Valentine "Moustache" ballgame, where he was ejected, although for the life of me I can't remember when or why he was tossed, I want to say it was in the 10th inning, and of course I didn't know it at the time, since I was in the upper deck and couldn't see into the dugout, that Valentine had indeed donned a fake moustache, Groucho Marx glasses and eyebrows and snuck back into the dugout to see the finish, around the 12th or 13th inning. I only saw a clip of this on Sportscenter or the game replay, so I don't know if he was around for the finish in the 14th.

Also, as I mentioned, the Knicks were cheered loudly around the end of the 13th inning, as this was, I believe, the night they beat the Pacers in Indiana in game 5 of that series, which they won two nights later. Don't recall the score, but fans were a good minute ahead of the Shea announcement.

This game was featured on an ESPN 25th Anniversary "Top 25" show, although I forget what it was the Top 25 of. But it was about Bobby Valentine in the Moustache, and they happened to show him getting ejected from the game, and jogged my memory, so I checked my scorecard from the game, and sure enough, there it was.

Top of the 12th. 1 out. Mahomes was pitching, Shannon Stewart had singled and was on 1st when he attempted to steal second with Craig Grebeck at bat. Piazza threw Stewart out (!), but the home plate ump, Randy Marsh, ruled that Grebeck had hit Piazza's glove with his swing, which is Catcher's interference. Grebeck was awarded first and Stewart was awarded second.

Bobby V came out to argue the call and ended up going fairly ballistic on Marsh. He was thrown out of the game. Mahomes went on to get Willie Greene to pop out and he struck out Delgado. Shortly thereafter, Bobby would re-emerge in the Mets dugout in Groucho glasses and Moustache, and the legend was born.

I miss those days...

Blue Jays LF Shannon Stewart hit four doubles in the game to tie a major league record. The Jays had thirteen hits in the game, and only two of them were singles! Bobby Jones went six innings, allowing five runs and ten hits. Of the ten hits, seven were doubles and two were homers.

David Lamb, who singled to begin in the top of the sixth, rounded first base too much and was caught by shortstop Craig Grebeck's relay throw to first baseman Carlos Delgado for an out. Two innings later, he drew a walk and then came home on a double by Harris. These would be Lamb's only hit and run scored as a Met.

This was not a particularly fascinating game by any stretch, however, this was the 164th Mets game I had attended (not counting Postseason), and the 100th of those games that they won.

Stro was dealing and was totally dialed in. Very few antics, barely looked up from the field when walking out or in. The crusher was Dom's Grand Slam. Another great day at a beautiful ballpark in a great city.