Schwei's Mets Notebook: Strange Stats To Impress Your Pals On Opening Day
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets begin the 2015 season Monday afternoon as they face the defending NL East champion Washington Nationals on Opening Day.
It will be just the third time the Mets face the Nationals to open the season and the eighth opener overall against the Washington-Montreal franchise dating back to the Expos' debut in 1969.
The Mets have won five of the previous seven opening day matchups with the Nationals-Expos, only one of which (Montreal, 1988) took place on the road:
· 3/31/14 Was 9 at NYM 7 (10)
· 4/3/06 Was 2 at NYM 3
· 4/4/88 NYM 10 at Mtl 6
· 4/7/78 Mtl 1 at NYM 3
· 4/9/76 Mtl 2 at NYM 3
· 4/6/71 Mtl 2 at NYM 4 (5)
· 4/8/69 Mtl 11 at NYM 10
Bartolo Colon will be the Mets' Opening Day starting pitcher. Colon, at 41 years, 317 days, will be the oldest Opening Day starter in franchise history, topping Tom Glavine (41 years, 8 days).
Here are the oldest starting pitchers for the Mets on Opening Day in club history:
· Tom Glavine 4/1/07, 41 years, 8 days
· Tom Glavine 4/3/06, 40 years, 10 days
· Tom Seaver 4/5/83, 4 months, 20 days
· Tom Glavine 4/6/04, 38 years, 3 days
· Mike Torrez 4/2/84, 37 years, 7 months, 6 days
· Tom Glavine 3/31/03, 37 years, 7 days
· Al Leiter 4/1/02, 36 years, 5 months, 10 days
· Al Leiter 4/3/01, 35 years, 5 months, 12 days
· Jerry Koosman 4/7/78, 35 years, 3 months, 16 days
This will be Colon's seventh career Opening Day start, having made three each for the Cleveland Indians (2001, '02 and '03) and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2004, '05 and '06). He's gone 4-1, with one no-decision, one complete game shutout and an earned run average of 2.79 in those starts.
Colon begins 2015 with 204 career regular season wins, the most of any scheduled opening day starter in the majors this season:
· Bartolo Colon NYM 204
· Kyle Lohse Mil 142
· Jered Weaver LAA 131
· Felix Hernandez Sea 125
· Adam Wainwright Stl 120
· Jon Lester Chi 116
· James Shields SD 114
· Cole Hamels Phi 108
· Clayton Kershaw LA 98
· Max Scherzer Was 91
· Yovani Gallardo Tex 89
· David Price Det 86
· Johnny Cueto Cin 85
· Francisco Liriano Pit 76
· Kyle Kendrick Col 74
· Phil Hughes Min 72
· Madison Bumgarner SF 67
· Clay Buchholz Bos 66
· Chris Tillman Bal 45
· Jeff Samardzija Chx 36
· Josh Collmenter Arz 31
· Corey Kluber Clv 31
· Julio Teheran Atl 29
· Henderson Alvarez Mia 27
· Dallas Keuchel Hou 21
· Chris Archer TB 20
· Sonny Gray Oak 19
· Drew Hutchinson Tor 16
· Yordano Ventura KC 14
· Masahiro Tanaka NYY 13
Lucas Duda will be the Mets' first baseman on Opening Day. Duda had made two previous opening day starts; one in right field in 2012 and one in left field in 2013.
Three other players have started at three different positions on Opening Day for the Mets:
· Ron Swoboda LF (1966), 1B (1967) and RF (1968 and 1970)
· Dave Kingman RF (1975, 1976 and 1977), LF (1981) and 1B (1982 and 1983)
· Howard Johnson 3B (1985-1990 and 1993), SS (1991) and LF (1992, 1996 and 1997)
The Mets' most notable offseason addition was Michael Cuddyer, who signed a two-year deal back in November. Cuddyer spent the first 11 seasons of his career with the Minnesota Twins and the last three with the Colorado Rockies.
Only five other players in Mets' history also played for both the Twins and Rockies:
Player, games with Mets/Rockies/Twins:
· Michael Cuddyer -/280/1139
· Butch Huskey 414/45/64
· Alex Ochoa 206/58/94
· Henry Blanco 50/88/114
· LaTroy Hawkins 72/119/366
· Livan Hernandez 23/8/23
The Mets also added veteran outfielder-first baseman John Mayberry Jr. this offseason. Mayberry finished last season with the Toronto Blue Jays after spending the first six years of his major league career with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Only eight other players in Mets history have also played for both the Phillies and Blue Jays:
Player, games with Mets/Phillies/Blue Jays:
· John Mayberry Jr. -/500/15
· Miguel Cairo 100/27/9
· Juan Samuel 86/852/157
· Rod Barajas 74/48/229
· Nino Espinosa 80/59/1
· Cory Lidle 54/62/31
· Robert Person 30/108/61
· Ricardo Jordan 22/26/15
· Mickey Weston 4/1/2