Schwei: Buck's RBIs, Harvey's Brilliance, Tejada's 200th And More Mets Notes
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets began their nine-game homestand by winning two out of three in their series against the Washington Nationals over the weekend.
John Buck's solo homer put the Mets ahead to stay in their 2-0 victory against the Nationals on Sunday. Buck has hit seven home runs and has driven in 22 runs in the 15 games that he has started behind the plate for the Mets.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since the major leagues began tracking RBIs in 1920, no other player has accumulated as many as seven homers and 22 RBIs in his first 15 games started as a catcher.
Buck's 22 runs batted in are four shy of Jeff Kent for the most-ever in club history by the end of April. Overall, 13 Mets have finished the month with 20 or more RBIs:
•Jeff Kent: 26, 1994
•Bernard Gilkey: 23, 1996
•Carlos Beltran: 23, 2007
•David Wright: 23, 2008
•John Buck: 22, 2013
•Todd Hundley: 21, 1996
•Cliff Floyd: 21, 2005
•Dave Kingman: 20, 1976
•Todd Hundley: 20, 1997
•Robin Ventura: 20, 1999
•Robin Ventura: 20, 2000
•Carlos Delgado: 20, 2006
•Ike Davis: 20, 2011
Matt Harvey pitched another gem for the Mets in their victory over Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals last Friday night. Harvey is now 4-0 and has allowed only 10 hits in his four starts this season.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Harvey is the first pitcher in baseball's modern era (since 1900) to win his first four starts while allowing no more than 10 hits in those four starts combined.
Ike Davis and Lucas Duda both homered twice for the Mets in last Friday night's victory, each going deep in the sixth inning and again in the eighth inning. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the second time in Mets history that two players homered twice in the same game and both hit the homers in the same inning.
The other occurrence was on June 20, 1964, when Joe Christopher and Hawk Taylor did it in the third and seventh innings in a 7-4 Mets win over the Phillies at Shea Stadium. This was one day before Jim Bunning threw a perfect game against the Mets.
Overall, Davis and Duda are the 11th pair of Mets to have multiple homers in the same game (regardless of inning):
•8/2/62 vs. PHI: Marv Throneberry/Frank Thomas
•6/20/64 vs. PHI: Joe Christopher/Hawk Taylor
•4/4/88 at MTL: Darryl Strawberry/Kevin McReynolds
•9/4/93 at CHI: Ryan Thompson/Bobby Bonilla
•9/15/97 at PHI: Butch Huskey/Bernard Gilkey
•4/19/05 at PHI: Jose Reyes/Victor Diaz
•8/24/05 at ARZ: David Wright/Mike Jacobs
•6/9/06 at ARZ: Carlos Beltran/Carlos Delgado
•4/9/10 vs. Was: Jeff Francoeur/Rod Barajas
•5/7/10 vs. SF: Ike Davis/Rod Barajas
•4/19/13 vs. Was: Ike Davis/Lucas Duda
Ruben Tejada is on track to play his 200th career game at shortstop for the Mets this week. Only 10 players have appeared in that many games at short in club history:
•Bud Harrelson: 1,280
•Jose Reyes: 999
•Rey Ordonez: 907
•Kevin Elster: 524
•Rafael Santana: 478
•Frank Taveras: 371
•Roy McMillan: 335
•Howard Johnson: 263
•Jose Vizcaino: 236
•Ron Gardenhire: 230
•Ruben Tejada: 197
The Mets' homestand continues this week with three-game series against the Dodgers and Phillies. Los Angeles swept the three-game series against the Mets last July. The only other season that the Mets failed to win a home game vs. the Dodgers was 2002, when LA also swept its one series visit at Shea. The Phillies took six of the nine games against the Mets at Citi Field in 2012.
Happy Recap: Mets beat Nats -- The Mets took 2-of-3 from the Nationals over the weekend. Washington came into the series having won 12 of their last 13 games vs. the Mets at Citi Field.
Nine Miles of Rough Road: Mets Bullpen -- Mets relievers did nail down the 2-0 win on Sunday with 3 1/3 shutout innings, but they began the day with an MLB-worst 5.47 ERA.
Gotta love the references to former Mets greats Bernard Gilkey, Butch Huskey and Todd Hundley, right? Leave your thoughts and comments below...
