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December 30, 2005
Wayback Machine: October 1-3, 1999
Editor’s Note: This is the first part in a weekly series that will chronicle the 1999 postseason run in detail. On the night of September 19, 1999 nothing could go wrong for the New York Mets. Starter Kenny Rogers gave up six runs in the fifth inning and left the game due to an injured hamstring. Rookie fireballer Octavio Dotel, recently demoted to the bullpen because of the acquisition of Rogers and Rick Reed’s return to the rotation after an extended stint on the disabled list, entered the game making his first relief appearance. He balked in another run, but surrendered just one hit in 1 1/3 innings. The Mets responded almost immediately when John Olerud knocked in a run with a single, as did Robin Ventura, and Mike Piazza scored on an error by Desi Relaford. Earlier, Piazza hit his 36th home run of the season, a 432-foot bomb off of Paul Byrd. The relief trio Cook, Wendell and Benitez shut the door. The Mets were 92-58. The Mets were one game out of first place, behind the incumbent Braves with a three-game series at Turner Field knocking on the door. “Let’s get it on,” said manager Bobby Valentine after win number 92. Ten days later, the Mets got win number 93. After being swept in Atlanta, the Mets lost three games in Veterans Stadium by a combined four runs. On the same night that Paul Byrd dominated the anemic Met offense to secure the sweep, Pokey Reese hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to vault the Reds to a one game lead for the National League Wild Card — a spot that the Mets held by four games on September 19. The Braves, now sitting on top of the NL East with an insurmountable seven game lead, celebrated in Montreal. “You can’t explain baseball sometimes,” said first base coach and postseason hero Mookie Wilson to an Associated Press reporter after the sixth loss in a row. “Things happen. You don’t know why they happen.” The Man of Steal summarized the previous seven days like none other: “Rickey has got nothing to say about this crazy stuff now,” said the always affable Henderson. Bobby Valentine told the media that he should be fired if the Mets didn’t make the playoffs. One year removed from the five game losing streak that ended the 1998 season and cost the Mets the Wild Card spot, it appeared as if deja vu was striking at the most inopportune of times — again. Coming home made nothing better. Orel Hershiser got just one batter out in the first inning and the Mets fell to the division champion Braves 9-3 on the 28th. Dennis Cook went after home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez and was ejected. The Mets now found themselves one-and-a-half games behind the reeling Astros for the Wild Card. During the seven game losing streak, the Mets scored a total of 15 runs. On September 29, they were to face Greg Maddux, perennial Mets killer and in 1999 no deviant from the norm. Maddux was 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA against the Mets going into the game. In the fourth inning, the Mets scored seven runs off of Maddux, capped off by an Olerud grand slam. Finally, the losing streak had ended. The Reds and Astros were tied in the central with 95 wins, two games ahead of the Mets. “There’s no real magic, but we feel we’re due,” manager Bobby Valentine said. “We have at least a week’s worth of good things coming.” The Mets lost the next day in 11 innings when Shawon Dunston lost a flyball in the lights that fell for a triple in the 11th. Two games out with three to play. OCTOBER 1 — PITTSBURGH (78-80) AT NEW YORK (93-66) CINCINNATI 95-64 -- HOUSTON 95-64 -- NEW YORK 93-66 2.0
In his previous two starts, both against Philadelphia, Kenny Rogers pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up ten earned runs, six walks and three home runs. On this day, he tied a career high for strikeouts in a game, ten, in 7 1/3 innings. He gave up just five singles and two runs. Wendell relieved Rogers and struck out Kevin Young, but walked Chad Hermansen. John Franco was brought in to face lefty Warren Morris. Morris hit a grounder right back at Franco, who deflected it towards Alfonzo, but his throw pulled Olerud off of first base. The Pirates scored to tie the game at 2-2. Enter Pat Mahomes. Pat Mahomes was drafted in 1988. Before the 1999 season, he had never complied an ERA under 4.72 or a WHIP under 1.53. In his last season in the majors (1997) his VORP was -3.1. Pat Mahomes was a nobody. He pitched in Japan in 1998 and Bobby Valentine brought him over to the States for a look. Used sparingly in the first two months, Mahomes served as the longman in Valentine’s bullpen. Mahomes finished the 1999 season 8-0 with a 3.68 ERA, 119 ERA+ and 13.0 VORP. The Mets won games when Mahomes was pitching. Players around the club called him the “lucky teammate.” Just yesterday he had wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, but the Mets would lose that game. October 1 was different. He pitched two scoreless innings, striking out two and giving up just a single.
Dunston led off the 11th with a single and scored the winning run on Ventura’s bases-loaded single. Ventura had his left knee drained just three days ago. And just like that the Mets were one game out. OCTOBER 2 — PITTSBURGH (78-81) AT NEW YORK (94-66) CINCINNATI 95-65 -- HOUSTON 95-65 -- NEW YORK 94-66 1.0
Rick Reed fired a career-high 12-strikeout, three-hit shutout to put the Mets in a tie with the Reds, who fell to the Brewers again. The 34-year-old former replacement player pitched his best game in his biggest game ever. He even drove two runs in with the bat. Mike Piazza cemented the win with his 40th home run in the eighth inning. With one day left, the Mets controlled their own destiny. OCTOBER 3 — PITTSBURGH (78-82) AT NEW YORK (95-66) HOUSTON 96-65 -- CINCINNATI 95-66 1.0 NEW YORK 95-66 1.0
Kris Benson pitched seven innings and gave up just one unearned run for the Pirates. Orel Hershiser was just as good, in 5 1/3 innings. The quirky and now-maligned Wendell threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief — just one hit. The Mets stranded ten runners on base. They waited until the ninth inning of Game 162. Melvin Mora, who replaced the injured Rickey Henderson in the seventh inning started the rally with a one-out single. Mora was batting .133 coming into the game. Alfonzo followed with a base hit and the Mets had runners on the corners. Olerud was walked intentionally to load the bases for Mike Piazza. Pirates manager Gene Lamont brought Brad Clontz into the game. Brad Clontz was a very servicable reliever for the Braves teams of 1995-97. Control was always an issue for Clontz and it followed him throughout his pitching career. As a reliever, a career 1.75 K/BB ratio is terrible. In 1999, that ratio was even worse: 1.67. Clontz was extremely lucky in 1999 when measured by conventional statistics. His ERA was 2.74, but RA was 3.83. All in all, 1999 was likely Clontz’s best season in the majors (167 ERA+). His first pitch to Piazza, and last pitch of 1999 sailed to the backstop and launched the Mets into postseason play prompting Howie Rose’s famous on-the-air call, “The New York Mets are going to some semblance of postseason play for the first time in 11 years!” But whether the Mets would travel to Cincinnati or Arizona was still to be decided. A heavy rain storm pushed the start of the Reds-Brewers game back by five hours and 47 minutes. As the Mets circled the Cincinnati airport waiting out the storm, they received word that the Reds won, setting up a one-game playoff to decide the Wild Card.
The Mets would play more than 162 games for the first time since 1988. Matt Gelb, a journalism student at Syracuse University, infrequently writes columns for Metsgeek.com. He can be reached by e-mail at magelb@syr.edu. 138 Responses to “Wayback Machine: October 1-3, 1999”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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I hope this $500,000 doesn’t become a sticking point to making this deal. I hope Wilpon doesn’t go cheapo on us and wont let Omar make this trade. Baez setting up Wagner would be great.
Agreed. But I still have to say his best trade was Delgado :)
MetsFanSince71, Totally agreed, had a brainfreeze there and forgot about that trade, since it seems so long ago now. That trade is deff his best, this would come in a good second place. unless this Anderson Hernandez becomes something real special then that becomes his best trade, since all we traded was a backup catcher.
Has anyone seen Baez pitch? Can anyone tell me his stuff is unhittable, and he just needs to be refined a little? I’m asking, because here are the numbers:
Over the last 3 years Baez has averaged .237 / .317 / .367 in 72 innings, with a declining K rate of 7.9, 6.9, and 6.4.
The guy’s clearly not worthless, but he doesn’t look like anything special, and looks like a bad use of any valuable trading chips we have (e.g. Seo)…
He also averaged 32 saves and 7 blown, not an impressive %.
You have to remember what teams he was closing for. A bad Cleveland Indians team and The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, bad teams, so blown saves are going to be misleading. He would come in for more than an inning also cause DRays bullpen was horrible. I only saw him pitch against the Yankees,and he converted all saves against them last season. In those games he looked pretty good had sink on his pitches and struck guys out, but that is only a small little of samples of games I saw. Trading for a guy who has been a closer to set up by just giving up Jae Seo who had about a half of a good season is a good trade.
And I thought I read somewhere that Baez is 7 for 7 in save chances against the Skankees :)
It’s only a good trade in my book if Matsui is included. Remember, guys, Baez can walk after 2006.
But keep in mind, argon, that we’ll probably have mostly 7-inning pitchers in the rotation (Pedro, Glavine, Benson in particular), so we’ll need as many experienced arms in the pen as we can get (another reason why I also like the Bradford signing). Plus, Baez could step in to save here and there if Wagner has pitched too many days in a row.
Just noticed that Baez’s ‘03-’05 numbers actually look kinda similar to many stretches in John Franco’s career…
Hey, I’m always happy to hear good things about players we might get!
The fact that he’s been a closer means that:
1) he’s proven he’s not allergic to the 9th like LaTroy Hawkins
2) he’ll cost more than he would otherwise
As for point 1:
It’s nice to know Baez isn’t a total choker, but here’s how I look at it: guys like Hawkins are relatively rare. Take most reasonably effective short relievers and give them 39 save opps, they’ll save 32 games. The save rule is pretty generous. Pitching one inning without giving up the lead is no amazing feat, and doing it five times out of every six tries isn’t that amazing either. What’s hard to come by are relievers who maintain their effectiveness year after year. Baez has three solid years under his belt; maybe that makes him something special, but I kinda doubt it.
As for point 2:
The D’Rays have been driving a hard bargain thus far, asking for way more than Baez is worth IMO. If it’s actually just KazMat and Seo, that’d be a big step down for them, and even then:
I agree with you that Seo wouldn’t be a horrible loss. I’m just wondering if we couldn’t get more for a guy who’s cheap and coming off a great performance. It seems like a lot of teams might like to have Seo, and maybe we could get back someone less expendable than a slightly-above-average reliever like Baez.
To clarify: I emphasized “effectiveness” to contrast with any idea of “clutch”. I think reliable closers are hard to find because reliable relievers are hard to find and NOT because relievers who can maintain their normal level of effectiveness in save situations are hard to find.
Hurry up w trading Seo before Scott Erickson and Jose Lima get taken off the market.
Suddenly Jorge Julio looks really good, or MacDougal. A rotation w Seo and Heilman steadying the back end is way more enticing than one w Benson and VZ. Furthering the justification one of the worst trades in baseball history is only dismantling this club more if this happens. Baez may be good, but how many games will he setup when the pen is shot out from VZ getting pulled after yet another 100pitch, 3.2ip game? How many starters have come into Shea who seemed like they’d be successful and actually were? Finally Seo and Heilman have pulled it together to pitch well in the rotation; maybe it takes time to be Major lg ready or NY ready. But they’ve come through and are playing well and the line most of y’all will use is that some other guy will come in and pitch reasonably similar and off we go. I can’t stomach it to show all the prior failings and such, but just look at what they thought of our current rotation. VZ, Benson, and Glavine are all relative busts, anyone in the farm will (may) need time to be cool, and if you think trading a good starter is smart, trading a bad starter wood be brilliant. Try it, trade VZ and Benson away, stick AH and JS in there, and that is a damn solid rotation. Those two guys will bring back pen help. I think Omar’s being blinded by the prospect of having a taker on KMat.
The Tampa Tides may be more interesting to watch, though, maybe when the ‘08 Mets are 40-120 it’ll be fun to watch the 2 FLA teams to see what the Mets “should” have been.
I saw Baez at times look totally killer; other times I thought it was a different guy completely. Talk about meltdown and grooved shit over B’way. Probably a slight upgrade over Looper, but not drastically.
Are they shortening the season by two games in 2008? :)
Actually, I have agree with you - well, half way. Heilman, yes, I would certainly keep him because he can start or relieve.
Trade deadwood? Certainly, Benson and VZ departing would be addition by subtraction.
But as for Seo, he’s suddenly “solid” after a half season?? Geez, it seems like forever that we’ve been waiting for this guy to blossom, and based on his track record, he’s been mostly a bust - except for half a season. He’s had so many chances, captialized on one and suddenly he’s a future ace? I’m just not buying it.
I’d rather see Seo pitch than VZ anytime. He was the only guy worth a damn for a while and was the #2 the 2nd half of the year, almost as a stopper. Stoppers are invaluable, and his contributions would be better reinvested INTO the Mets than for a reliever who walks in a yr [that one year may suck as he may not be so: (from the list of typical NY excuses) used to the NL, ok about Shea/NY/being away from the FLA Cuban community, like the NY fans or media, trying to maintain a long distance relationship w his dental hygenist in SoFla]. I know RPetedoesn’t like Seo; but he didn’t like Kazmir either. Maybe its good to have guys that coaches don’t like, per se, it keeps them on edge and doesn’t allow them to get too comfortable. After all, if he likes VZ and Benson so fu’in much, why can’t they pitch like men well loved by RPete? F it. And yes 71, the ‘08 season will be shortened bc of the terrible rains the baseball powers will curse the mets with for their greed and shortsightedness.
And it’s a just about a given that at least one Florida team won’t even be in existence in ‘08 - at which point we can start taking back some players as free agents.
Too much doom and gloom creates bad karma. The Mets will be just fine next year and in 2008 as well.
Too much blind faith makes you dumb, and too much sticking your head in the sand makes you dead.
You know that team actually is crosstown, right?
Geez, FW, give Omar SOME credit. It looks to me like the Mets “has-been days” are well over now.
I don’t think he’s a future ace either, but be fair to Jae, he also had 2003. He proved that year that his change-up is a quality major league pitch, and that his control is solid too. That’s a good foundation, and it’s not hard to imagine that command of a few more pitches would turn him into a solid major-leaguer. Well, in 2005, he seemed to have command of a few more pitches — so I wouldn’t be too confident in writing off his success as an aberration.
I never said I agreed with EVERY move Omar has made, so there’s no blind faith on my part. But c’mon, these are NOT the Al Harazin days revisited. I think Omar is smarter than that. You only seem to see the bad moves and never mention the great or good moves: Delgado, Wagner and Bradford (who I feel will be the sleeper of 2006).
Do I think Omar would’ve traded Kazmir away? No, I do not. That was a panic move by a GM wanting to extend his career in NY when he was blinded by false contention. But that GM is also gone now.
I don’t think Omar would trade Kazmir now… but would he have if he’d been in charge on deadline day in 2004? I certainly think it’s possible…
And let’s not call Delgado a great move until we see how Petit develops…
Was that said in jest? Valentin hit what last year? And he can rebound at this age bc why? Franco is a “has been” if there ever was one, and to get locked in for 2 years w the guy is a f’in joke. I take it you predict wonderful things for Bradford too this year? But when he fails you’ll blame Willie for his misuse, correct?
What then, if not Lima, Astacio (the only 2 FA DR SPs out there) who? A 4 yr deal for Weaver? Who’s to say anyone you get to replace a guy you know CAN do it here will also be able to do so in NYC? Try hard or you die hard; no one gives a damn; when you’re down anad out in NYC.
Not only would Omar have traded Kazmir, he’d have traded Wright for Castilla or Batista in a pinch when Wiggy wasn’t all that.
Eh, whatever. For the money we’re paying those guys, they could be the biggest “has-been” poster boys ever and it wouldn’t matter. It’s when you overpay has-beens and expect them to anchor your team that you get in trouble. I don’t think we’re doing that this year… although Pedro, Delgado, and Wagner all could reach has-been status before their contracts end…
Oh pleeeease. Comparing these guys to the likes of Erickson is a joke. Erickson was brought here (misguidedly) as a KEY to the rotation. Valentin and Franco are BENCH guys - that’s a huge difference. By your definition, then I suppose Rusty Staub was a has-been when he led the league in pinch hits in the twilight of his career? Or what about the year we got from that old has-been RoHernandez?
Dude, now you’re REALLY reaching!
I just think its a careless way to age your team so dramatically. That point though, Argon, was more an indication that Omar isn’t turning a blind eye to the potential of Lima/Erickson/Astacio if a SP is needed at some point. 71 said that Omar wouldn’t get a “has been”, whereas I think that these guys are indeed “has beens”. Franco isn’t going to get any better than he’s been, his numbers will be terrible here. I think there must be some kind of folklore status for him in DR that Omar bought bc face value the move sucks.
Not true, he was given a minor deal, which would not indicate anything KEY about it.
And Berto got a minor deal as well, I’m all for minor deals that yield production. I’m NOT for giving 50 yr old dudes 2 f’in yrs! Valentin isn’t even doing well physically, he just must have some old photos of Omar. You see the difference now, don’t you?
Where in the world is that coming from?? If anything, Minaya was chasing Zito - and may still do so if a starter is needed. FW, I generally respect your opinions, but you’re really reaching right now with your hatred of the FO.
No, I don’t agree. Ok, I’m not sold on Valentin, but Franco still produces. Period.
You can disagree while being able to differentiate the minor v major deals done.
I am. I really think Franco doesn’t hurt this team because the Mets had no depth at 1B/PH anyway, so I’m fine with it. The guy is still serviceable, just ask Bobby Cox who I’m sure was sorry to lose him.
As for Valentin….ok, OM blew it and should’ve have just re-signed Marlon or gone after Wiggy. I’ll give you that.
And I wasn’t thrilled by the Doluca trade only because we needed to give up Petit for Delgado - which was necessary. Signing Ramon Hernandez probably would’ve been smarter.
I meant to say I didn’t want to see any more prospects go for Doluca after Petit went in the Delgado trade. It’s late….LOL
OR when Delgado has a few MVP-type seasons. There are two sides to every coin.
[...] Editor’s Note: This is the second part in a weekly series that will chronicle the 1999 postseason run in detail. Part one can be found here. As Hurricane Floyd raged through eastern states last month, Jack McKeon sat in the comfort of his office at Cinergy Field in Cincinnati and made a bold prediction. [...]
[...] In better news,MetsGeek.com wrote a nice retrospective from the tail end of the 1999 season, where the Mets made the playoffs for the first time since 1988. I had forgotten just how close the Mets came to blowing it that year, when they went on that losing streak at just the wrong time that put them two games out of the Wild Card with three games to go. Luckily, the Reds were nice enough to choke themselves at the end, and the Mets were fortunate enough to play the Pirates in the last series of the year. Thus, the Mets wound up playing the Reds in a one game playoff, which they would win to advance to the NLDS. But take a look at that retrospective, it goes into great detail about that last weekend of the season. Good read by the always-reliable MetsGeek.com crew. [...]