Schwei By The Numbers: Mets On The Road Again
The Mets begin a 10-game road trip this week with stops in Atlanta and Chicago.
The Mets lost two of three at Turner Field earlier this month but their lone win in that series was a rare late-inning comeback victory on the road against the Braves.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 3-2 Mets win on August 3rd was just their fourth in the 74 (now 75) occasions when they trailed the Braves in the 7th inning or later at Turner Field. Here are the details of those four late-inning come-from-behind victories for the Mets at Turner Field:
• July 10th, 1997. The Mets first game against the Braves in their new home sees the Mets erase a 5-3 Atlanta lead in the 8th and go on to a 10-7 win thanks to a 8th inning home run and 9th inning triple from Manny Alexander.
• July 11th, 1997. The Mets make it two straight comeback wins at Turner Field, rallying from a 6-5, 8th inning deficit with a four-run outburst and hold on for a 9-7 win.
• April 10th, 2005. Eight years and many heartbreaks after those first two come-from-behind wins at Turner Field, the Mets overcome a 15-strikeout performance by John Smoltz getting a Carlos Beltran homer in a 5-run 8th inning in a 6-1 victory. The win is the club's first of the '05 season after five losses and the first for both Pedro Martinez as a Met and for Willie Randolph as Manager.
• August 3rd, 2010. Trailing 2-1 in the 7th, the Mets tie the game on Chris Carter's pinch hit RBI single and Jeff Francoeur's solo shot off Billy Wagner in the 9th gives them a 3-2 win.
Billy Wagner recorded his 1170th career strikeout this past Friday to become the majors all-time leader in strikeouts by a lefthanded relief pitcher. Three of the top four relievers on that list are one time New York Mets:
• Billy Wagner 1170 (through 8/29)
• Jesse Orosco 1169
• Dan Plesac 990
• John Franco 975
Overall, the Mets have gone 6 and 5 against the Braves so far in 2010 with Atlanta taking two of the five games played at Turner Field. The Mets won three of four against the Cubs back in April at Citi Field. The Cubs took two of three the last time the two clubs met at Wrigley Field in late August a year ago. This will also be the first time the Mets will face the Cubs since Lou Piniella's retirement. The Mets went 31 and 28 against Piniella's teams during his stints as manager of the Reds and Cubs.
Luis Castillo delivered his 3rd walk-off hit as a Met this past week in New York's 6-5 win over the Marlins. Thanks to the Ultimate Mets Database for its help with this list of the most career regular season walk-offs in club history (note: these totals include plate appearances in which the batter might not have been credited with a run batted in):
• Ed Kranepool 8
• Kevin McReynolds 8
• Cleon Jones 7
• Rusty Staub 7
• David Wright 7
• Carlos Beltran 6
• George Foster 6
• Jerry Grote 6
• Mike Piazza 6
Here are the walkoff totals of other current New York Mets while with the club, including players on the disabled list and the minors:
• Jose Reyes 1
• Angel Pagan 1
• Fernando Tatis 1
• Daniel Murphy 1
• Henry Blanco 1
• Ike Davis 1
• Omir Santos 1
Todd Zeile had 176 RBI's in his two stints with the Mets but was never at the plate for a Mets walk-off win, the most runs batted in by any Mets player without such a moment. Zeile did however have two walk-off hits against the Mets; one with the Cardinals in 1992 and another with the Marlins in 1998.
Angel Pagan and Jose Reyes have 32 and 28 stolen bases respectively so far in 2010. It's the 13th time in club history that at least two Mets have swiped at least 25 in the same season. Here is a list of seasons in which the Mets have had two or more players steal 25 or more bases:
• 1971 Harrelson 28 Agee 28
• 1979 Taveras 42 Mazzilli 34
• 1980 Mazzilli 41 Taveras 32
• 1984 Wilson 46 Backman 32 Strawberry 27
• 1986 Dykstra 31 Strawberry 28 Wilson 25
• 1987 Strawberry 36 Johnson 32 Dykstra 27
• 1988 Dykstra 30 Strawberry 29
• 1989 Johnson 41 Strawberry 31
• 1991 Coleman 37 Johnson 30 Jefferies 26
• 1999 Cedeno 66 Henderson 37
• 2007 Reyes 78 Wright 34
• 2008 Reyes 56 Beltran 25
• 2010 Pagan 32 Reyes 28 (through August 29th)
Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:
Runs: .500. The Mets have not been more than two games above or below the 500 mark since July 31st when they were 53 and 51.
Hits: The Bullpen. Mets relievers are 3 and 0 with three saves since Francisco Rodriguez went on the disabled list.
Errors: Bases Full. R.A. Dickey delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded in Sunday's win over Houston but Mets are still just 21-for-107 with no homers in bases full at bats in 2010.
