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Schwei: MLB Draft, 11th-Selection Stats And More Mets Notes

By John Schweibacher
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The Mets will have the 11th pick Thursday in the first round of MLB's first-year player draft. The choice will come one spot earlier than last year, when they took high-school shortstop Gavin Cecchini at No. 12 overall.

Some of the more recent 11th overall selections who have reached the majors include Max Scherzer (Arizona 2006), Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh 2005) and Neil Walker (Pittsburgh 2004).

Historically, Greg Luzinski (Philadelphia 1968) appeared in the most games (1,821) and hit the most home runs (307) of any player chosen with the 11th pick. Only three other players taken at that spot in the draft have appeared in over 1,000 major league games: Jim Spencer (California 1965), Walt Weiss (Oakland 1985) and Thomas Howard (San Diego 1986).

This is the first time the Amazin's will have the 11th pick in the draft, but five one-time Mets were selected at No. 11 by other clubs:

· Tom Veryzer (Detroit 1971)
· Jack Heidemann (Cleveland 1967)
· Shawn Estes (Seattle 1991)
· Don Schulze (Chicago-NL 1980)
· Derek Wallace (Chicago-NL 1992)

David Wright, who the team selected with a supplemental first-round pick in 2001, has appeared in the second-most career games of any active player originally drafted by the Mets.

Here is a list of those players (courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com) through games played on May 31:

Mets Pick Draft Year (Round) Career Games
Ty Wigginton 1998 (17) 1,342
David Wright 2001 (1s) 1,314
David DeJesus* 1998 (43) 1,205
Angel Pagan 1999 (4) 741
Brandon Lyon* 1997 (37) 558
Daniel Murphy 2006 (13) 521
Joe Smith 2006 (3) 389
Ike Davis 2008 (1) 388
Matt Lindstrom 2002 (10) 384
A.J. Burnett 1995 (8) 358
*-did not sign with Mets

The Mets swept the Subway Series after entering it with an 18-29 record while the Yankees were 30-19. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time the Yanks ever lost four consecutive games against one opponent when they began that four-game set with a season's record at least 10 games over .500 while their opponent stood at least 10 games under .500.

The Mets now have three such sweeps in their history. They also did it against the Reds in August 1992 and the Cardinals in September 1979.

The August 1992 sweep of the Reds at Shea Stadium began with a doubleheader sweep and ended with a come-from-behind win on Bobby Bonilla's three-run homer in the bottom of the 9th against Rob Dibble.

The 1979 four-game sweep took place in St. Louis in the final series of the regular season and also began with a sweep of a doubleheader as the Mets avoided a 100-loss season.

Dillon Gee struck out 12 and did not allow a walk in his win against the Yankees last Thursday. Gee became the third Mets pitcher this season with at least a dozen strikeouts and no walks in a game. Matt Harvey did it against the White Sox on May 7 and Shaun Marcum against the Braves on May 26.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Mets are only the third team since 1900 to have three different pitchers have a game with at least 12 strikeouts and no walks in the same season. The 1968 Indians did it with Stan Williams, Luis Tiant and Sam McDowell and the 1998 Braves with John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Kevin Millwood.

According to the Ultimate Mets Database, last Tuesday night's comeback victory for the Mets over the Yankees at Citi Field was their sixth walk-off win against the Yankees.

Here is the list of those six last at bat victories:

· 6/28/98 2-1 Luis Lopez sacfly vs. Ramiro Mendoza in 9th

· 7/10/99 9-8 Matt Franco 2 rbi single vs. Mariano Rivera in 9th

· 7/3/04 10-9 Shane Spencer fc grounder vs. Tanyon Sturtze in 9th

· 5/19/06 7-6 David Wright rbi single vs. Mariano Rivera in 9th

· 7/3/2011 3-2 Jason Bay rbi single vs. Hector Noesi in 10th

· 5/28/13 3-2 Lucas Duda rbi single vs. Mariano Rivera in 9th

Jose Fernandez pitched seven scoreless innings, and "helped his own cause" by going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in the Marlins' 8-1 win over the Mets Saturday in Miami. According to Elias, the last rookie pitcher to go seven innings without allowing a run, and have two hits and an RBI at the plate was Jason Jennings on August 23, 2001. Jennings, in his major-league debut, pitched a five-hit shutout while going 3-for-5 with a home run as a batter in the Rockies' 10-0 win over the Mets at Shea Stadium.

Happy Recap: Subway Sweep. Mets win all four games against cross-town rival Yankees. The Mets had never won four in a row at any point vs. Yanks in interleague play.

Nine Miles of Rough Road: Rotten Fish. The Mets were swept by the Marlins, dropping to 3-6 against Miami in 2013. The Marlins are 10-38 against all other opponents.

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