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Schwei: Former Mets Fare Well Against Former Team

By John Schweibacher
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The Mets return to Citi Field this week to begin their next-to-last homestand of 2013 after completing their next-to-last road trip of the season with a 4 and 5 record.

Scott Kazmir struck out 12 over six shutout innings to get the win for the Indians last Friday night in his first career start against the Mets.

Kazmir technically is not a "former" Met, but no ex-Mets pitcher has ever had more than 12 strikeouts against the Mets in the regular season.

Nolan Ryan had a pair of 12 strikeout games against the Mets; on May 2nd and July 8th, 1983 both at Shea Stadium. Ryan also fanned 12 Mets in Game Five of the 1986 NLCS. Mike Scott struck out 14 Mets in Game One of that same Championship Series, the most-ever in any game against the Mets by a pitcher who had previously pitched for the Mets.

Three pitchers; Ray Sadecki (1968), Dock Ellis (1970) and Hideo Nomo (1995), struck out 13 Mets in a game and would go on to pitch for the Mets later in their careers.

Oddly enough, Kazmir's performance was not the best one by a one-time Mets pitching prospect that night.

Yusmeiro Petit, who began his professional career in the Mets' organization in 2001 before being dealt to the Marlins in the Carlos Delgado trade in 2005, retired the first 26 batters he faced before settling for a one-hit shutout for the Giants against Arizona.

Neither Kazmir nor Petit ever pitched in the majors for the Mets. Here is the list of pitchers who began their minor league careers with the Mets (but never appeared in a game with them) who have won at least 10 major league games:

  • A.J. Burnett - 144
  • Steve Renko - 134
  • Jim Bibby - 111
  • Scott Kazmir - 74
  • Jay Tibbs - 39
  • Jesus Sanchez - 23
  • Matt Lindstrom - 15
  • Yusmeiro Petit - 13
  • Billy Traber - 12
  • Joe Klink - 10

(Active pitchers totals through September 8th, 2013)

Matt den Dekker hit his first major league home run last Sunday night in Washington. The rookie outfielder was the 12th player to homer for both the Mets and their AAA affiliate Las Vegas this season. Here are the 12 players to hit home runs for both the Mets and the 51's in 2013:

Player - LV 51's HR's/NY Mets HR's

  • Wilmer Flores - 15/1
  • Kirk Nieuwenhuis - 14/3
  • Josh Satin - 9/2
  • Andrew Brown - 7/6
  • Ike Davis - 7/9
  • Matt den Dekker - 6/1
  • Colin Cowgill - 5/2
  • Juan Lagares - 3/4
  • Jordany Valdespin - 3/4
  • Travis d'Arnaud - 2/1
  • Omar Quintanilla - 2/2
  • Anthony Recker - 1/6

(HR totals through 9/8)

The Braves' Freddie Freeman finished the season with 17 runs batted in against the Mets, one shy of the 18 the Atlanta first baseman drove in against the Mets a year ago.

Freeman is the 11th different player (12th overall) to knock in a combined total of 35 or more runs against the Mets in consecutive seasons and just the 7th to do so since 1962 and 1963, the first two seasons of the Mets as an expansion team:

  • Hank Aaron - 43 - (1962 & 63)
  • Willie Mays - 42 - (1962 & 63)
  • Dick Allen - 40 - (1967 & 68)
  • Willie Stargell - 39 - (1965 & 66)
  • Willie Stargell - 39 - (1966 & 67)
  • Dave Kingman - 39 - (1979 & 80)
  • Ken Boyer - 38 - (1962 & 63)
  • Pat Burrell - 38 - (2001 & 02)
  • Rico Carty - 37 - (1964 & 65)
  • Bill White - 36 - (1962 & 63)
  • Vada Pinson - 35 - (1962 & 63)
  • Freddie Freeman - 35 - (2012 & 13)

The Mets will play four-game series against the Nationals and Marlins this week. New York has gone 7 and 8 vs. Washington and 5 and 10 vs. Miami so far in 2013.

Happy Recap: Juan Lagares. His 12-game hitting streak ended Sunday, but it was still the longest by a Mets rookie since 2003 when Jose Reyes hit in 17 straight and Jason Philips had a hit in 14 in a row.

Nine Miles of Rough Road: Interleague Woes. Mets went 2 and 7 in their final nine games against AL teams after going 9 and 2 in first 11 against Junior Circuit.

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