Schwei: The Wright Numbers
By John Schweibacher
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David Wright's impressive start this season not only has the Mets third basman atop the majors in batting average but climbing nearer to the top of the club's all-time leaderboards.
Wright, who earlier this year passed Darryl Strawberry for the Mets' career RBI lead, doubled in the first inning of Friday night's loss to the Blue Jays for his 1,300th career hit, tying him with Jose Reyes for second place on the team's all-time hit list. Wright then moved past his former teammate Sunday with two more.
Here are the Mets all-time leaders in base hits:
· Ed Kranepool 1,418
· David Wright 1,302
· Jose Reyes 1,300
· Cleon Jones 1,188
· Edgardo Alfonzo 1,136
Wright, who currently leads the National League in batting average at .412 and Daniel Murphy, who begins the week 13th at .319, are also near the top of the Mets all-time list in that category.
Mets all-time Batting Average Leaders (minimum 1,000 at bats).
· John Olerud .315
· David Wright .303
· Keith Hernandez .297
· Daniel Murphy .296
· Mike Piazza .296
· Jose Reyes .292
· Edgardo Alfonzo .292
· Dave Magadan .292
· Steve Henderson .287
· Angel Pagan .284
Rob Johnson became the 6th position player in Mets' history to pitch in a game as he took the mound in the bottom of the 8th in the 14-5 blowout loss in Toronto.
Here is the list of the six position players who have pitched for the Mets and their seven appearances:
Date Mets P Opp. IP H R ER
· 9/26/92 Bill Pecota at PIT 1 1 1 1 1 HR (Van Slyke)
· 7/2/99 Matt Franco vs ATL 1/3 2 1 1 1 HR (G.Williams)
· 8/6/99 Matt Franco vs LA 1 1 1 1
· 8/22/00 Derek Bell at SD 1 3 5 4
· 5/17/01 Desi Relaford vs SD 1 0 0 0
· 7/26/04 Todd Zeile at MTL 1 4 5 5
· 5/18/12 Rob Johnson at TOR 1 0 0 0
Last week, the Brewers' Yovani Gallardo allowed six walks while striking out six in six innings in his 3-1 loss to the Mets. The last time an opposing pitcher allowed as many as six walks to go along with six K's vs. the Mets was Jonathan Sanchez of the Giants, who walked six and fanned six in five innings back on May 5th, 2011 at Citi Field.
Only five times in club history has a Mets starter or their opponent walked as many as eight batters while striking out eight in one game and all of those five instances involved pretty good pitchers (three are in the Hall of Fame) and all but one of them still managed to get a win:
Date Pitcher Dec. IP H R ER BB K
· 8/18/62 Bob Gibson W 9 3 0 0 8 9
· 4/30/70 Nolan Ryan W 9 3 1 1 8 8
· 5/14/75 Jerry Koosman W 9 5 1 1 8 8
· 4/18/86 Steve Carlton L 6 2/3 5 5 5 8 10
· 8/25/87 Fernando Valenzuela W 9 4 1 1 8 13
The Mets road trip continues with a three-game series against the Pirates before New York returns home for a long homestand which begins with a four-game set vs. the Padres. The Pirates and Mets split their four-game series last season at PNC Park. Pittsburgh holds a slim 17-18 edge at PNC against the Mets since it opened in 2001.
Last Friday night the Pirates Josh Harrison's singled off Justin Verlander with one out in the ninth inning for the Pirates' first and only hit of the game in their loss to the Tigers. Pittsburgh has not been no-hit since August 14, 1971, when Bob Gibson blanked them at Three Rivers Stadium. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only major-league teams that have currently gone longer without being victims of a no-hitter are the Reds (since Rick Wise no-hit them in June 1971) and the Cubs (since Sandy Koufax's perfect game in 1965).
The Padres come to Citi Field this Memorial Day weekend for a four-game series. The Mets and San Diego split their four-game set last season in Flushing. The two clubs are an even 5 and 5 at Citi Field beginning with the Padres victory in the first-ever regular season game there on April 13th, 2009.
Just three Mets and three Padres who appeared in that Citi Field opener three years ago are still active with New York and San Diego; Daniel, Murphy, David Wright and the injured Mike Pelfrey for the Mets while Chase Headley, Nick Hundley and Everth Cabrera are still with the Padres.
Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:
Runs: Miguel Batista. The 41-year-old earned his first win of 2012 for the Mets last Monday by throwing seven scoreless innings against the Brewers. According to Elias, the only other Mets pitchers to record a win as a starter at age 41 or older are Tom Glavine (13 times in 2007) and Warren Spahn (4 in 1965).
Hits: Jeremy Hefner. Called on in relief of an injured Miguel Batista this past Saturday, rookie provides rest for battered bullpen by being first Mets reliever since Raul Valdes in 2010 to go five innings.
Errors: HR's Allowed. Mets pitchers have given up 45 home runs, the second-most in the National League.
