Schwei: Walk-Off Wins, Lots Of Losses, Leadoff Homers At Citi And More Mets Notes
By John Schweibacher
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The Mets have dropped to a season-low six games under .500 after going 2-4 on their six-game homestand.
The Mets' 1-0, 10-inning win last Tuesday night against the White Sox was the second extra-inning, one-hitter in Mets history.
The other was back on October 1, 1982, when Terry Leach went the distance in a 10-inning one-hitter against the Phillies at Veterans Stadium. Leach allowed just a fifth-inning triple to future Mets coach Luis Aguayo, and the Mets scored the game's only run on a Hubie Brooks sacrifice fly in the 10th that scored Rusty Tillman.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Mets are also just the third team in the modern era (since 1900) to allow only one baserunner via a walk, hit or hit by pitch in an extra-inning game.
The others were the 1908 Giants (an extra-inning no-hitter by Hooks Wiltse) and the 1995 Expos (a game in which Pedro Martinez was perfect for the first nine innings against the Padres before allowing a hit in the 10th).
Mike Baxter came through in the clutch with walk-off RBI singles in both Mets wins on the homestand. The last time a player had two game-ending hits on the same homestand was back on June 18 and 19, 2004, when Mike Cameron delivered the game-winners in back-to-back contests against the Detroit Tigers at Shea Stadium.
The first Mets player to have two walk-off runs batted in on the same homestand was Hobie Landrith at the Polo Grounds in 1962. Landrith hit a game-ending home run against the Milwaukee Braves on May 12 and drew a bases-loaded walk that brought home the winning run vs. the Chicago Cubs three days later.
According to the Ultimate Mets Database, Baxter's game-winner against the Pirates was the 42nd walk-off victory in Mets history vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Prior to last week, the last time that the Mets defeated the Pirates in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth inning was back on October 3rd, 1999, at Shea Stadium, when they beat Pittsburgh, 2-1. It came on Brad Clontz's wild pitch in the victory that clinched a tie in the National League Wild Card race.
Alejandro De Aza led off with a home run for the White Sox against the Mets in Chicago's 6-3 win last Wednesday night. It was the fifth leadoff homer at Citi Field by an opposing player dating back to Jody Gerut's leadoff homer for San Diego in the first game at the Mets' new ballpark back in 2009.
Here are the five leadoff home runs against the Mets at Citi Field:
•5/8/2013: Alejandro De Aza, Chi(AL) vs. Jeremy Hefner
•9/19/2012: Jimmy Rollins, Phi vs. Matt Harvey
•7/6/2012: Reed Johnson, Chi(NL) vs. Johan Santana
•6/25/2010: Denard Span, Min vs. Mike Pelfrey
•4/13/2009: Jody Gerut, SD vs. Mike Pelfrey
The Pirates defeated the Mets on Sunday to win the four-game series, taking three of four at Citi Field.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in 14 tries that Pittsburgh won a series of four or more games in Queens. The Pirates last win in a road series of four or more games against the Mets was in July of 1983, when Pittsburgh took the first three games of a five-game set at Shea Stadium. The last time the Pirates swept a four-game series vs. the Mets in New York was back in May of 1965.
The Mets will play four games against the Cardinals in St. Louis and three vs. the Cubs in Chicago on their seven-game road trip this week.
The last time that the Mets swept a four-game series against the Cardinals in St. Louis was back in 1986 at the previous Busch Stadium. The four wins, from April 24 through the 27, were part of an 18-1 stretch for the Mets that built a nine 9 1/2 game lead over the defending NL champion Cardinals in the NL East.
The Mets have not swept a three-game set from the Cubs at Wrigley Field since 1994, when they opened the season by winning three in a row in Chicago.
Over the last five seasons, the Mets have gone 4-10 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and 3-9 vs. the Cardinals over the past four years at Busch Stadium.
Happy Recap: Catching Fire -- Anthony Recker hit his first home run as a Met in Friday night's loss to the Pirates. Recker and John Buck have now combined for 11 homers, equalling the combined home-run total of all the Mets' catchers in 2011 and 2012.
Nine Miles of Rough Road: Shaun Marcum -- The starter allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings pitched in Friday night's loss to the Pirates to become the first pitcher in Mets history to last fewer than five innings in each of his first three starts with the club.
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