Tag: Lenny Dykstra

OTD 1986: The 16-Inning Epic in Houston

  Game 6 of the 1986 World Series resonates strongly with Mets fans. Even with its dramatic ending and what it meant for its fortunes, that may not even be the best postseason game the franchise ever played. It may not even be the best Game 6 of that remarkable October of ’86 if you ask some. The contest that put the Mets into the Fall Classic that year speaks more to the team’s...

Mets and Phillies: The Best of Enemies

Sharing the eastern seaboard and the same division understandably creates a rift between fans and players alike, who over the years have exchanged words and sometimes fists. Many notable faces have seen it from both sides: Tug McGraw, Lenny Dykstra, and Zack Wheeler just to same a few. Proximity breeds hatred. And many, if not all, of these memorable games, give added reason for one side to only...

OTD 1985: An Independence Day Epic in Atlanta

“I saw things I had never seen before,” Keith Hernandez said later. Hernandez had hit for the cycle and it registered as pretty ordinary on the scale of events that took place at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. What began on Independence Day evening and lasted until 3:55 a.m. on July 5 became a regular-season saga unlike any other. There were 29 runs, 46 hits, 37 left on base, 43 players,...

OTD 1988: Mets Blast Off in Montreal

Talk about a flying start. Mets bats slugged what was an Opening Day record six home runs against the Expos, the most prodigious coming from Darryl Strawberry — challenging the confines of Olympic Stadium. Strawberry went deep twice. So did fellow outfielder Kevin McReynolds. Kevin Elster and Lenny Dykstra supplied the rest of the power in a 10-6 win. Dwight Gooden didn’t pitch his best,...

OTD 1986: Mets Outlast Astros, Win NLCS

The 1986 Mets dominated the National League. They won 108 games during the regular season, and seemed destined to steamroll any opponent that stood between them and a championship. The Houston Astros had other ideas. The Mets and Astros clashed in the 1986 NLCS, after Houston won the National League’s western division with a 96-66 record. The Astros, behind the pitching of Mike Scott, gave...

MMO Exclusive: “Once Upon a Time in Queens” Director Nick Davis

The 1986 Mets weren’t just an all-time team. They were a representation of the city in which they played — loaded with compelling characters who collectively formed a rollicking, raucous group that brought home a World Series title. For Nick Davis, it was an epic story that needed to be told. He did so in a four-part documentary which premiered on ESPN this week. A lifelong Mets fan...

Viewer’s Guide to “Once Upon a Time in Queens”

Rarely, if ever, has a team better represented its time and place than the 1986 New York Mets. That is at the heart of a four-part ESPN 30 for 30 documentary produced and directed by Nick Davis and executive produced by Jimmy Kimmel and Sal Iacono, which premiered Tuesday and is available to stream on ESPN+. But there’s so much more in the story of the Big Apple’s most fascinating...

Mets Are One Run Shy Again

I watched tonight’s match-up between St Louis and the Mets in tandem with the first part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary, Once Upon a Time in Queens. I took in every game of the 1986 season – either in a bar, on my couch – or someone else’s – many at Shea. The Mets were like a drug for me in the mid to late eighties. And if the game were crucial, you could be certain, I would go to...

OTD in 1985: A Wild, Rain-soaked 19-inning Epic in Atlanta

  Who needed fireworks at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium when the Mets and Braves provided a better show than any pyrotechnic display could? What unfolded through the evening of Independence Day and continued until 3:55 a.m. on July 5 transcended franchise history and became a regular-season game unlike any other. There were a combined 29 runs, 46 hits, 37 men left on base, 43 players used,...

OTD in 1986: Tenth-Inning Homers by Strawberry, Knight Help Mets Beat Astros

“Losing,” Ray Knight said following his walk-off home run against Houston, “is a word we don’t think of.” It was rarely needed in 1986. And whenever these Mets were on the precipice of defeat, it was a mistake to count them out.  Such was the case on July 3 at Shea Stadium, even when Phil Garner muscled a home run off Jesse Orosco to give the Astros a two-run tenth-inning lead and put New York’s...

MMO Exclusive Interview: Former Mets Outfielder, Lenny Dykstra

It’s fair to say former 1986 Mets World Series champion and perennial Philadelphia Phillies All-Star center fielder Lenny Dykstra has had a colorful past with drugs, steroids and various amounts of financial and legal trouble. Dykstra spent four and a half seasons with the Mets helping them win the 1986 World Series championship while platooning in center field with fan favorite Mookie Wilson....

MMO Exclusive Interview: Two-Time MVP, Dale Murphy

Before the Atlanta Braves became a perennial playoff team, in which the organization won 14-consecutive division championships from 1991-2005 (the lone exception coming in 1994 due to the players’ strike), the club dealt with many lean and frustrating seasons. From 1966 (the first season the Braves moved to Atlanta) through the 1990 season, the Braves only made the postseason twice;...

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