Welcoming a few new subscribers to the newsletter for Mets fans who get a particular kick whenever they hear the number 41 referenced …
The gist: The Mets just had their 11-game winning streak snapped the day before by the Braves, but they'd start a new one with this game on May 2. They scored 3 runs in the top of the first inning and 2 more in the third inning and led 8-2 going to the bottom of the eighth.
But this one wouldn't come easily. Roger McDowell was charged with 5 runs (4 of which scored on his watch) and the Reds got to within 8-7 in the eighth inning. But Jesse Orosco got a couple of big outs, striking out Dave Parker and getting a popout from Nick Essasky to preserve the lead and eventually the game.
Let’s get to the observations:
Poor Doggie … There were no commercials from 1986 on the YouTube broadcast. But there was this picture of Reds owner Marge Schott’s dog, Schottzie (caption is mine).
Mismatch - A contrast of the two teams:
Seven of the Mets eight starting position players entered the day hitting .300 or better (Gary Carter being the exception).
Seven of the Reds starting position players were hitting under .200.
Hence why the Mets entered the day 13-4 and the Reds, under player-manager Pete Rose, entered it 5-12 (they'd recover from a 6-19 start to finish 86-76).
Gullickson and Carter Had Some History - The Reds starting pitcher on this day was Bill Gullickson, who entered the game with 3 strikeouts and 9 walks for the season. This is the same Bill Gullickson who once struck out 18 in a game. He too would have better days this season but they wouldn't come in this game (6 innings, 5 runs).
The broadcast alluded to some considerable tension between Gullickson and Gary Carter, who didn't get along as Expos teammates (so Gullickson said). Mets broadcasters Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver couldn't understand that, with Kiner noting that maybe Carter was "just too nice."
An article in 2011 indicates that Gullickson and Carter made amends.
Young guy throws out the old guy- The score was 3-2 after one inning with Len Dykstra keeping the Mets ahead by throwing soon-to-be-44-year-old Tony Pérez out at the plate. That was a tough send, especially given that Pérez was limping to home plate with a pulled groin.
Pérez was the Reds version of Rusty Staub: a legend and fan favorite who was used in a pinch-hitting and part-time role. He retired at the end of the season but closed strong, hitting .339 in his last 18 games, including a home run in his next-to-last game. He hit 30 home runs against the Mets, including 2 walk-offs.
Fun fact: The pitcher Pérez struck out most against was Tom Seaver- 41 times vs No. 41. Pérez is also the batter Seaver struck out the most.
Pitch tipping? - Sid Fernandez allowed only 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings but threw 114 pitches to get those 16 outs. He struck out 6 and walked 6. Kiner pointed out that Fernandez maneuvered the ball behind him in the stretch in such a way that a third base coach could see if a fastball or curveball was coming.
A baseball rarity - My favorite play of this game is a two-run single by McDowell that extended the lead to 8-2 in the 8th inning. McDowell never stopped running and when the throw home got away from the catcher (and wasn't backed up by Reds reliever John Franco), McDowell ended up on third base.
Mets Relief Pitchers With Multi-RBI Hit
Relief Pitcher | Year |
Nelson Figueroa | 2009 |
Darren Oliver | 2006 |
Terry Leach | 1988 |
Roger McDowell | 1986 and 1988 |
Skip Lockwood | 1976 |
Tug McGraw | 1970, 1973, 1974 |
McDowell was a good hitter for a pitcher. He hit .246 in 61 career at-bats with the Mets.
Do you have a favorite Mets pitcher that you liked to watch hit?
- besides Bartolo Colon?
Email me and tell me who and why - [email protected]
Obligatory umpire note - It seems like all of the games I've watched so far have had at least one called strike that got a hitter riled up.
Orosco's strikeout of Parker in the eighth inning came on a close 3-2 breaking ball. Parker argued hard that it was inside but umpire Lee Weyer stood by the call. Marge Schott was mad. Woof.
A Pete Rose sighting - Pete Rose was on deck and was going to insert himself as a pinch-hitter had Ron Oester gotten on base. But Oester's groundout ended the game. Rose did play in two games against the Mets a week later. On Mother's Day (May 11), his three-run single drove in all the Reds runs in a 3-2 win against the Mets and Dwight Gooden.
Rose didn't have much time left in his playing career. He'd play his last game in the majors on August 17.
Jesse - Jesse Orosco had a great start to the 1986 season going unscored upon in his first 12 appearances, recording a save in 6 of them.
That’s a headline that could have been used a few times in October too.
PS: My favorite Jesse Orosco stat is that he primarily wore #47 for the Mets, a team for whom his win-loss record was 47-47.
We got mail
Kevin Babitz sent me a note to say that he too had a Hebrew School/Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS conflict story (my favorite kind of conflict story). Unlike me, Kevin got to see the 9th inning of the game.
“I was in ninth grade and got home “regular school” (Midwood HS in Brooklyn) when the game was in the bottom of the 8th and Keith Jackson was commenting that Aguilera had a ‘live arm’. So I got to see the Mets tie it up in the epic 9th and its excruciatingly long Carter, Straw, and Knight at-bats.
Right when the Mets took the lead in the top of the 14th, it was time to leave for Hebrew school. I haven’t really thought about whether I asked my parents if I could just skip it, or why I didn’t ask them. They didn’t really care about Hebrew school, but they also didn’t understand or support my Mets obsession. (I didn’t realize until later how atypical it was that my father, a blue-collar type who grew up in Brooklyn in the 50s, had a really negative attitude toward watching sports.)
Anyway, we picked up a friend on the way to temple and when his mom answered the door, instead of greeting me, she just said “Tie game. Houston hit a homer.” We and a few others in the class got there before the rabbi arrived and just turned on a TV in one of the rec rooms.
The rabbi wasn’t a big sports fan, but he let us continue watching until the end of the game. I don’t remember if we had to convince him to allow it. Maybe we told him that it was the most important event of all time, or maybe he was just nice about it because he just saw how excited we all were.”
You can contact me on Bluesky or via e-mail ([email protected]). You can find my other newsletter, which summarizes interviews I do with journalists, here.