Schwei's Mets Notes: First Place, 1500 Hits, Brilliant Harvey And More
By John Schweibacher
» More Columns
After building a 4 1/2-game lead in the National League East with a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, the New York Mets failed to widen the gap between themselves and the Washington Nationals by being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates this past weekend.
Aramis Ramirez, 37, went 4-for-5 with three RBIs in the Pirates' 8-1 win over the Mets Sunday. Ramirez's first career hit came as a 19-year-old against the Mets back on June 3, 1998, a two-run seventh-inning double off of Greg McMichael in a 3-0 Pittsburgh win at Three Rivers Stadium.
The Pirates beat the Mets, 5-3, in 14 innings Saturday night at Citi Field. It was the eighth time in Mets history they played a home game that went at least 14 innings against Pittsburgh:
· 4/28/85: Mets 5 Pirates 4 (18), Hurdle RBI on Thompson error
· 5/21/68: Mets 4 Pirates 3 (17), Boswell RBI single
· 8/10/92: Pirates 4 Mets 2 (16), King RBI single in 3-run 16th
· 9/25/71: Mets 2 Pirates 1 (15), Aspromonte RBI single
· 9/8/79: Mets 3 Pirates 2 (15), Stearns RBI single
· 9/26/91: Pirates 4 Mets 3 (15), Slaught RBI double
· 9/7/79: Pirates 6 Mets 4 (14), Parker RBI single in 2-run 14th
· 8/15/15: Pirates 5 Mets 3 (14), Stewart RBI single in 2-run 14th
Pittsburgh took the opener of the three-game series Friday night at Citi Field, beating the Mets, 3-2, in 10 innings. The Mets had won nine straight extra-inning home games against Pittsburgh dating back to August 12, 1992 -- a 7-6, 10-inning Pirates win at Shea Stadium. Jay Bell's triple off of John Franco drove home Lloyd McClendon with the go-ahead run in the tenth.
The Mets completed a four-game sweep of Colorado with a 12-3 win over the Rockies Thursday afternoon. It was the Mets' tenth straight win against Colorado at Citi Field dating back to 2013, after the Rockies won eight consecutive road games against the Mets in 2011 and 2012.
Juan Uribe and Michael Cuddyer each registered their 1,500th career hit in the Mets' 3-0 win over the Rockies last Wednesday night.
Fifteen other players collected their 1,500th major league hit while playing for the New York Mets:
· Juan Uribe: 8/12/15 vs. Col
· Michael Cuddyer: 8/12/15 vs. Col
· David Wright: 6/18/13 at Atl
· Carlos Beltran: 6/15/08 vs. Tex
· Mo Vaughn: 8/11/02 vs. Col
· Mike Piazza: 9/29/01 at Atl
· Robin Ventura: 8/10/00 at Mtl
· Todd Zeile: 6/16/00 at Mil
· Tony Fernandez: 6/6/93 at Hou
· Gary Carter: 9/13/85 at Mtl
· Keith Hernandez: 4/21/85 at Phi
· George Foster: 6/12/83 vs. Mtl
· Felix Millan: 8/22/76 at SD
· Rusty Staub: 9/1/73 at Stl
· Jim Fregosi: 6/15/73 at Cin
· Roy McMillan: 5/28/65 vs. Pit
· Frank Thomas: 7/24/63 at SF
*Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for pinpointing the dates of these players' 1,500 hits
Matt Harvey threw eight shutout innings and did not walk a batter in the Mets' 4-0 win over the Rockies last Tuesday night. Harvey became the third different Mets pitcher this season to have a game in which he threw at least eight innings without allowing a run or a walk, joining Jacob deGrom (three times) and Noah Syndergaard.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Mets had three different pitchers have games like that in the same season was in 1994, when Bret Saberhagen, Jason Jacome and Bobby Jones all did it. In 1976, five Mets pitchers had at least one such game: Jerry Koosman (twice), Jon Matlack, Tom Seaver, Craig Swan and Mickey Lolich.
Daniel Murphy's two-out, two-run single gave the Mets a 4-2 lead in their win over Colorado last Monday. Murphy is just 6-for-41 (.176) with two outs and RISP this season. Elias notes that from 2009 to 2014, Murphy hit .339 with two out and men in scoring position, the second-highest mark in the major leagues (minimum: 100 plate appearances) behind Miguel Cabrera (.352).
Nine Miles of Rough Road: The Mets are 9-20 against the NL Central this season.
Happy Recap: The Mets are 54-35 overall against the NL East, NL West and AL clubs in 2015.
