Schwei: Mets Return Home This Week To Face Chipper Jones One Last Time
By John Schweibacher
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After the Mets complete their road trip in St. Louis, they return home to host the Atlanta Braves this weekend in what will be the final visit to Flushing for future Hall-of-Famer Chipper Jones.
Jones has not fared as well against the Mets at Citi Field as he did at Shea Stadium. Chipper hit his first major league home run at Shea back on May 9th, 1995, a 9th-inning solo shot against Josias Manzanillo that gave the Braves a 3-2 win. In 88 career games at Shea, Jones hit .313 (101-for-323) with 19 homers and 55 runs batted in with an OPS of .964.
In his 22 games so far against the Mets at Citi, Jones has hit just .208 (16-for-77) with three home runs and 14 RBI's and an OPS of .684.
Here are some of Chipper Jones' best and worst numbers vs. past and present Mets pitchers:
Best Career Batting Averages vs. Mets pitchers (minimum 10 at bats):
- Glendon Rusch .600 (6/10)
- Mark Clark .500 (7/14)
- Aaron Heilman .500 (6/12)
- Dave Mlicki .467 (7/15)
- John Franco .462 (6/13)
- John Maine .462 (6/13)
Worst Career Batting Averages vs. Mets pitchers (minimum 10 at bats):
- Tom Glavine .188 (6/32)
- Johan Santana .250 (7/28)
- Steve Trachsel .255 (12/47)
- Jae Seo .267 (4/15)
- Kevin Appier .273 (3/11)
- Pedro Martinez .278 (5/18)
- Most HR's vs. Mets pitchers: 4 (vs. both Steve Trachsel and Bobby Jones).
- Most at bats vs. Mets pitcher without a home run: 26 (vs. Oliver Perez).
- Most hits vs. a Mets pitcher: 17 (vs. Al Leiter).
- Most at bats vs. Mets pitcher without a hit: 7 (vs. David Weathers).
Chipper Jones will always be remembered for his success against the Mets, but his game-winning home run in the bottom of the 9th inning against the Phillies this past Sunday gave him 49 career homers vs. Philadelphia, equaling his lifetime total against New York for his most
career HR's vs. any opponent.
The Phillies and the rest of the current NL East shouldn't be any less sorry than the Mets to see Chipper go:
Chipper - Games -HR - RBI - AVG
vs. Mets - 239 - 49 - 158 - .314
vs. Phillies - 243 - 49 - 151 - .332
vs. Marlins - 242 - 40 - 165 - .299
vs. Nationals* 262 - 41 - 160 - .299
(*-includes career vs. Expos).
A pair of struggling New York Mets hitters came through this past weekend in Miami.
Josh Thole snapped his 0-for-30 hitless streak with an 8th inning single against the Marlins in last Saturday night's 5-3 win. It was the longest hitless streak by a Mets position player since Jason Phillips went 0-for-29 back in 2004. Thole came up seven at bats shy of the worst 0-fer by an everyday player in club history; Rey Ordonez' 0-for-37 in 1997.
Here are the longest 0-fers by Mets position players:
- 0-for-37 Rey Ordonez 1997
- 0-for-34 Don Zimmer 1962
- 0-for-34 Tommie Agee 1968
- 0-for-33 Joe McEwing 2002
- 0-for-31 Jose Oquendo 1984
- 0-for-30 Josh Thole 2012
Jason Bay had his best game of 2012 Sunday afternoon in Miami, going 2-for-4 with a grand slam in the 5-1 victory. The slam was Bay's seventh home run of the year, but the Mets outfielder has just two doubles in his 162 at bats this season. Only five other players in Mets' history have had three or fewer doubles in as many at bats in a season:
- 2012 Jason Bay 2 (163 at bats*)
- 2003 Rey Sanchez 3 (174 at bats)
- 1994 Joe Orsulak 3 (192 at bats)
- 1993 Jeff McKnight 3 (164 at bats)
- 1971 Wayne Garrett 2 (202 at bats)
- 1963 Choo Choo Coleman 0 (247 at bats)
(*-through 9/3)
Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:
Runs: Bullpen. Mets relievers have allowed just two runs in 26 & 1/3 innings over their last nine games through the Labor Day afternoon loss in St. Louis.
Hits: Kelly Shoppach. New Mets catcher is hitting .303 (10-for-33) with three home runs and nine runs batted in over his 11 games played since being acquired from the Red Sox.
Errors: RISP. Mets hit just .169 (32-for-189) with runners in scoring position in the month of August.
Are you glad to see Chipper Jones retire? Lets us know below.
