The Mets are among the teams showing interest in trading for Marlins pitcher Edward Cabrera, a source told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. MMO’s James Villani has more on the report and on Cabrera here.

Cabrera, 27, went 8-7 with a 3.53 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and struck out 150 in a career-high 137 2/3 innings pitched for Miami last year. The Marlins are “listening” to offers from the Mets, Cubs and Yankees, Jackson reported. The Astros and Orioles asked about the right-hander earlier in the offseason.

Sources also told Chris Kirschner and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that the Yankees were in on Cabrera. The right-hander is under team control through 2028 and MLB Trade Rumors projects that he will earn $3.7 million in arbitration this season.

The Mets, according to MLBTR, are willing to deal from their surplus of young infielders in Ronny Mauricio, Mark Vientos and Luisangel Acuña. New York could also look at sending a young pitcher back to Miami in a deal.

Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Latest Mets News

Lenny Dykstra, 62, will face charges after a Pennsylvania state trooper said he found drugs and drug-related equipment during a traffic stop about 25 miles east of Scranton, per Zach Powell of The Athletic. Dykstra was a passenger in a 2015 GMC Sierra truck when it was pulled over for a code violation. Police did not ID the driver of the vehicle or specify more details about the charges or what drugs were involved.

Latest MLB News

Royals manager Matt Quatraro agreed to a three-year contract extension that carries through the 2029 season. The deal also includes a team option for 2030. Quatraro has managed Kansas City for three years, guiding them to back-to-back winning seasons (2024-2025) for the first time since 2013-2015.

Infielder Paul DeJong and the Yankees have agreed to a minor-league deal that includes a spring training invite. The 32-year-old will earn $1 million if he makes the team. DeJong posted a .642 OPS in 57 games with the Nationals last year.

Latest on MMO

There are still lots of great players available in free agency. James Villani provides a list organized by FanGraphs WAR.

James Villani also has a list of the Mets’ 10 non-roster invitees.

On This Date in Mets History

1994: Vince Coleman is traded to the Royals for Kevin McReynolds.

2004: Tug McGraw, who made “Ya Gotta Believe” the rallying cry of the 1973 NL champion Mets, died at 59. The Mets played 2004 with the slogan on their uniform sleeves.

2010: New York signs free agent Jason Bay to a four-year, $66 million contract after he hit a career-high 36 homers for Boston. He hit 26 homers in 288 games with the Mets.

Born on This Date: Jose Iglesias (1990), Eduardo Escobar (1989), Nori Aoki (1982), Charlie Hough (1948).

The post Morning Briefing: Mets Willing to Deal Young Infielders appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Let’s set the scene. The Mets led 5-1 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. The offense had been supplied Darryl Strawberry (four RBIs, including a home run) , and Ray Knight, who drove in a run on an error by Padres’ pitcher, Ed Whitson.

Roger McDowell took the mound for the home half of the eighth inning, and ran into immediate trouble when two runs scored on error by Wally Backman on a ball hit by Steve Garvey. Jesse Orosco replaced McDowell, and surrendered the lead on run-scoring hits by Carmelo Martinez and future Met Garry Templeton. The game remained tied until the 11th inning.

The Mets took the lead on a sacrifice fly by Keith Hernandez off pitcher Rich Gossage, scoring Lenny Dykstra. Now came the intriguing bottom of the 11th inning.

With Doug Sisk pitching, Templeton led off with a double. After a strikeout, Tim Flannery stepped to the plate. A double play is unlikely with just a runner on second base, and one that went this way is very rare. Take a look at the video below.

As Ralph Kiner said, Templeton runs well, making the play all the more unlikely. Templeton absolutely pummeled Mets’ catcher (and current bench coach) John Gibbons, who stayed in the play and fired a strike to Howard Johnson to nab Flannery at third base.

That kind of play gave the feeling that the 1986 Mets were not only a great team, but also destined to win. The Mets proceeded home after that game (Tim McCarver said they had a plane to catch) where they would take two-of-three from the Los Angeles Dodgers and five-of six from the San Francisco Giants and the Padres.

On September 17, 1986 the Mets would achieve the first of  three postseason prizes, clinching the division at home against the Chicago Cubs. As the 2024 team fights for the postseason, we can hope that moments like the one that took place 38 years ago will happen once again.

The post OTD 1986: Unique Double Play Seals Mets Win appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

On Wednesday, it was reported that Justin Verlander will be making his first rehab start of the season as he works his way back to the big league roster. Just like in 2023, Verlander started the season on the shelf. This time, it was due to shoulder inflammation that he was feeling early on in spring training. 

However, Verlander’s return seems to be right around the corner, as Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported that he will be making his first rehab start for the triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys on Sunday. The plan is for the 41-year-old ace to throw 70-75 pitches in Sunday’s start and then to make one more rehab start prior to his return to the major league club.

It is important to note that the Mets would be liable for $17.5 million of Verlander’s 2025 contract if he were to reach 140 innings pitched this season, kicking in a vesting option for the 2025 season.

Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

Latest Mets News

The game between the Mets and Tigers on Wednesday was postponed, for the second day in a row. A single admission doubleheader is planned to start at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, weather permitting.

The Tigers’ probable starters for the doubleheader are Casey Mize and Matt Manning. For the Mets, it will be Adrian Houser and Jose Buttó.

Steve Cohen talked about all things Mets in a sit-down interview with CNBC. For a summary of his comments, click here.

The Mets signed former All-Star Julio Teheran to a major league deal. Click here more information on the signing!

Keith Hernandez sat down with Neil Best of Newsday to talk about his beloved cat Hadji, who is turning 21.5 next week.

Latest MLB News

The Los Angeles Dodgers placed outfielder Jason Heyward on the injured list with lower back tightness and added OF Taylor Trammell to the active roster.

The Milwaukee Brewers placed Trevor Megill on the 7-day concussion list, retroactive to March 31. Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Megill contracted food poisoning, started feeling faint and fell back and hit his head on the ground. 

The Miami Marlins made history! Unfortunately, for them, not the good type. They became the first team in MLB history to start a season 0-7 after making the postseason the season before, per Christina de Nicola of MLB.com.

The Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association signed former Chicago White Sox slugger Yermín Mercedes.

Rangers third baseman Josh Jung is expected to miss 8-10 weeks after undergoing surgery on his fractured wrist, per Evan Grant of Dallas Morning News. He fractured the wrist by being hit by a pitch earlier in the week.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ and Royals’ futures in Kansas City are in jeopardy after voters in Jackson County, Missouri, overpoweringly voted against a sales tax that would have helped finance new stadiums, per Dave Skretta of The AP.

Latest on MMO

Tyler Antonelle previewed the Binghamton Mets’ 2024 season. 

Steve Cohen is unphased by the Mets’ bad start. 

The Mets make an addition following Tylor Megill‘s injury.

On This Date in Mets History

1988: On opening day, Darryl Strawberry, Kevin Elster, Lenny Dykstra, and Kevin McReynolds combine for six home runs in a win against the Montreal Expos. Strawberry put a blast into his second dinger of the day, hitting the top of Olympic Stadium and going an estimated 525 feet.

Birthdays: Ronny Mauricio (23), Cameron Maybin (37), Eric Valent (47), Tom Herr (68), Ron Locke (82)

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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 resilience than the dominance they showed during the regular season. If they didn’t persevere and ultimately prevail, they may not have gone as far as the World Series—much less win it.

For all the confidence and swagger the ’86 Mets retained, not to mention a three-games-to-two lead in the NLCS, Houston Astros ace Mike Scott humbled them to a point of near resignation. The pitcher who dominated New York in Games 1 and 4 and was scheduled to go in the seventh—should it get that far. It was the kind of fear this team had not faced all year.

Game 6 was a must-win in just about every sense without being a must-win in the literal sense.

The specter of facing Scott grew larger as Bob Knepper, the Astros starter this afternoon, briskly set down New York bats over eight innings. The three runs Houston’s offense put up in the first was the total output it had going into the top of the ninth.

Knepper’s attempt to close the Mets out quickly went awry. Lenny Dykstra led off by muscling a triple beyond the reach of center fielder Billy Hatcher. Mookie Wilson singled barely over second baseman Bill Doran’s mitt. Keith Hernandez then delivered a one-out double to force Knepper’s exit.

Reliever Dave Smith allowed two walks before Ray Knight’s game-tying sacrifice fly. The tension level was raised as New Yorkers delayed commutes home to not miss the outcome.

After Roger McDowell remarkably pitched five shutout innings in relief, Wally Backman singled and drove in Darryl Strawberry in the top of the fourteenth. Any World Series plans New York conjured up were spoiled by Hatcher. He towered Orosco’s offering deep down the left-field line and into the screen, substituting as a foul pole.

New York, though, retained as much resilience as its opponent—not letting that back-breaking moment serve as the momentum to carry Houston into tomorrow.

Knight’s opposite-field hit in the top of the sixteenth scored Strawberry. Two insurance runs came across, which turned out to be invaluable security as the Astros once more tried desperately to stave off defeat.

They answered with two runs and put two on with two outs and Kevin Bass coming up. Orosco’s heater receded to batting practice effectiveness. Hernandez approached the left-hander, now on fumes, at the mound. As the story goes, he said something to the effect of “throw another fastball, and I’ll knock you out.”

Orosco ran the count full before getting Bass to swing and miss on a 3-2 breaking ball.

The Mets finally extinguished the Astros’ competitive fire and exhausted their last-gasp try while simultaneously exhausting themselves—but not enough to prevent alcohol, drug, and food fight-fueled rager on the plane ride home.

Little did they know how much more October drama was still to come.

The post OTD 1986: The 16-Inning Epic in Houston appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

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 hate the other that much more.

June 21, 1964

Jim Bunning this day was perfect. The Mets this year? Not nearly. The Hall-of-Fame right-hander pitched his second no-hitter, became the first National Leaguer to toss a perfect game in the 20th century, and had what would be the only perfecto in the history of Shea Stadium (just two months old at the time). New York, which came into this Father’s Day doubleheader 20-45, was primed to be dominated by a pitcher of Bunning’s caliber. The dad of seven needed a mere 90 pitches to go the distance. He struck out 10 Mets batters, including six of the last nine and the last two in the ninth: George Altman and John Stephenson.

April 5, 1983

With 16, no pitcher has more Opening Day starts than Tom Seaver. He and long-time Phils ace Steve Carlton matched up on five occasions, none more memorable than when “The Franchise” returned home. At age 38, by baseball standards, he was an old Tom Seaver. But when he took the mound against Carlton and his Phillies—a glorious sun-drenched afternoon—a packed Shea Stadium got to witness something resembling the Tom Seaver of old. He shut out Philadelphia for six innings in a vintage performance despite a no-decision. The Mets’ failed to support their legend but broke through with a spurt of late offense in the seventh. That pair of runs was held up by Doug Sisk for yet another Opening Day win. Sisk got the win, but Seaver got the glory.

September 22, 1988

The Phillies delayed the Mets’ plan to clinch at Veterans Stadium in 1986 and ruined New York’s hopes of catching the St. Louis Cardinals with late-season victories, but Ron Darling would have none of it in ’88. Bob Ojeda‘s devastating off-field injury cast a pall over the inevitable celebration, but it was nonetheless a festive night. Darling made sure to be around until the finish, pitching a six-hit complete game in which he walked only one. He ended the 3-1 win (and simultaneously started the party at Shea) with a strikeout of Lance Parrish. Mookie Wilson went 3-for-4 while Gary Carter and Kevin McReynolds added two hits each.

Fight Nights – September 1989 and August 1990

The home finales for Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter were soon overshadowed by the tension between former teammates. Roger McDowell (traded earlier that year along with Lenny Dykstra) closed out the game by getting Gregg Jeffries to hit a grounder to back the mound. McDowell tossed to first for the out, Jeffries ran to first then turned and charged toward McDowell and wrestled the reliever to the ground. It was less than a year later before there’d be another bout with the same teams on the same canvas. This time the main combatants were Pat Combs and Dwight Gooden. With Doc at the plate, Combs’ first pitch of the fifth inning drilled him in the knee, perhaps in response to Gooden plunking two Phils earlier in the game. Doc wasted little time deliberating. He charged Combs immediately and initiated a conflict that went on for about 20 minutes.

July 25, 1990

The Mets built a 9-0 lead through six-and-a-half innings. The Phillies proceeded to tear that lead down. Almost. Two runs in the seventh, one run in the eighth, and six more in the ninth (after New York managed to score once in the top half) put the Mets on the doorstep of completely squandering its advantage. After several Met relievers failed to keep Phillie bats in check, John Franco entered. He initiated a key double play, but the tying run was still on third. Tommy Herr lined to Mario Diaz at shortstop. Exhale. In the immortal words of the legendary broadcaster and usually reserved Bob Murphy, the Mets “won the damn thing,” 10-9.

October 6, 1991

August/September 2007

Jimmy Rollins declared the Phillies the “team to beat” in the NL East, and the Mets couldn’t. New York’s difficulty in defeating Philadelphia proved to be devastating when the division race was said and done. The Phils swept the Mets in a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park in late August, coming back to win three times behind walk-off hiys by Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. A three-game sweep at Shea just a few weeks later was the springboard for Philly’s late-season surge and the Mets’ late-season collapse. Over the final 17 games, New York went 5-12 while Philadelphia went 13-4. And that’s how a seven-game lead becomes “home for October.”

May 1, 2011

This was a night in which Mets and Phillies fans could finally cheer together. As Daniel Murphy batted during a tied game in the ninth, “U-S-A!” chants were heard around Citizens Bank Park after news broke that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, had been killed. The players and those in the respective dugouts were confused initially until word got around to them. New York won 2-1 in 14 innings behind Ronny Paulino‘s five hits and the game-winning RBI double in his first start as a Met. But it was of little consequence. As Terry Collins said afterward: “a good win for us, and obviously a huge win for America tonight.”

August 24, 2015

David Wright stepped up to the plate in the top of the second, preparing to take his first swing in 133 days. The result was not just a home run, but a moonshot. Wright’s thunderous return kickstarted a home run derby for New York. Rallying from an early 7-2 deficit, the Mets, playing their best baseball of the season, proceeded to fulfill Citizens Bank Park’s reputation. Wilmer Flores (twice), Yoenis Céspedes, Juan Lagares, Travis d’Arnaud, Daniel Murphy, and Michael Cuddyer each went deep as the Mets established single-game team records with eight homers and 15 extra-base hits.

September 22, 2016

You know it’s a big home run when Gary Cohen invokes the double “outta here.” The Mets desperately needed every win they could get to keep pace in the Wild Card standings. They took the lead, fell behind, tied it, took the lead, and eventually trailed as the bottom of the ninth began. José Reyes, acquired in July, evoked memories of 2006 when tied the game at six with a three-run homer. But as was the theme of this night, the Phillies jumped ahead in the eleventh. Up came Asdrúbal Cabrera with two on and one out and the Mets down by 8-6. Cue Gare’s tremendous call and the awesome bat flip.

April & May 2022

Where do we begin? There’s been enough this year to last Mets fans the next five. Try picking a favorite. The Tylor Megill–Drew Smith–Joely Rodríguez–Seth Lugo-Edwin Díaz no-hitter on April 29? The ninth-inning comeback from down 7-1 on May 5? The sweep in late May capped by the heroics of Nick Plummer and Eduardo Escobar?

Why even choose? Let’s just enjoy it and hope there’s more to come.

The post Mets and Phillies: The Best of Enemies appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

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, 14 pitchers, three blown saves, two rain delays, two ejections, the aforementioned cycle, a formal protest, and a game-tying home run by relief pitcher. 

It finally ended after a total elapsed time of 8 hours and 15 minutes. Ron Darling put a period on perhaps the wackiest baseball chapter ever written with a strikeout, but the festivities weren’t done. The stadium still proceeded with the scheduled postgame fireworks. Residents nearby reportedly made panicked calls to police—some fearing this was the onset of nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

Things were wacky from the very start—and the conditions they played in were equally outrageous. Two hours and five minutes worth of stoppage due to precipitation (including a 90 minute hold to the start) plus a bad drainage system created standing water in the outfield. Base hits hydroplaned as they skidded through the grass. The game was halted for a second time in the third inning. Davey Johnson removed starter Dwight Gooden with a reliever but was disallowed a double-switch and thus challenged the ruling.

Despite being deprived of its ace, New York held a 7-4 lead in the bottom of the eighth. Jesse Orosco, nursing a sore shoulder, couldn’t shut the door, a theme that would afflict pitchers on both sides. Atlanta scored four times in its half of the eighth, including a three-run double by Dale Murphy. The Mets responded with a Lenny Dykstra RBI single off Bruce Sutter. Extra innings allowed Hernandez to complete his cycle in the 12th, but it took until the top of the 13th for New York to break the 8-8 tie, when Howard Johnson smashed a two-run homer. The Braves were one strike from defeat before Terry Harper answered. With a runner on, his drive to left field dinged the foul pole. Ten apiece.

Scoring took a break in the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th (when Darryl Strawberry and Johnson were tossed for arguing balls and strikes). The Mets broke through in the top of the 18th by way of Dykstra’s sacrifice fly. Tom Gorman was asked to hold the one-run advantage. He easily retired Gerald Perry and Harper on groundouts. Up came the pitcher’s spot. But Braves manager Eddie Haas had used up his pinch-hitting options.

The last hope was reliever Rick Camp—and it was a faint hope. Camp’s batting record was terrible, even by pitchers’ standards. He had a meager .060 average, with 83 strikeouts in 167 career at-bats. Gary Carter motioned the outfielders in from behind the plate. The game already entered the bizarre, but asking Camp to stave off defeat—much less hit a home run—was seemingly beyond comprehension. 

Gorman got two quick strikes. Then Camp connected. As the ball goes in the air, Ray Knight throws his hands up in astonishment. Then as it goes over the fence, Danny Heep puts his hands over his head. Mets players, fans, announcers, teammates, and probably Camp himself—were in shock.

Unbelievably, it was tied at 11. And we still weren’t done with the craziness.

Camp assumed his normal role on the mound in the top of the 19th. What he had taken from the Mets, he gave away (and then some). Knight atoned for the 11 men he left on base by doubling in Carter (who caught all 305 pitches from Mets hurlers). The Mets tacked on and Darling came in to protect a 16-11 lead, only to watch the Braves put together one more rally. Harper’s two-out single drove in two and brought the tying run to the plate—Atlanta’s newest power threat, Rick Camp. 

But all dramatics, like those who stuck around, had been exhausted. Camp fanned on four pitches to the relief of Darling’s teammates. 

“Usually when you come into a game, especially to finish up a game,” Darling said on MLB Network in 2020, “you might get some chatter from the infield. You might get a ‘go get ’em, kid’ from the catcher or the first baseman. I got none of that. I was looking around the field and everyone was like ‘just please end this game.’

The post OTD 1985: An Independence Day Epic in Atlanta appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

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, but he didn’t need to. Doc lasted five innings to claim the first of 18 victories.

New York’s talented, and still young, right fielder started his best major league season in style. Strawberry led off the top of the second against Dennis Martinez for his third Opening Day home run in five years. This one was a pedestrian 400-foot hit compared to what would come later.

In the seventh inning with the Mets now ahead by three, Darryl sent Randy St. Claire‘s pitch out of the yard — almost literally. The mammoth blast hit the top of the stadium and might have cleared customs if not for the roof.

”It was the longest home run I ever saw,” said Mets manager Davey Johnson, who played alongside Hank Aaron and Sadaharu Oh.

“I didn’t see where the ball hit,” Strawberry said. “So, I stopped running. I thought it was a ground-rule double. But the guys in the dugout couldn’t believe where it went.”

Before anybody could catch their breath, McReynolds went out to left field for his second of the afternoon. The last of the Mets’ six homers finished the scoring — mercifully so for Montreal pitchers.

Strawberry and McReynolds carried the offense the same way they would do for the duration of the season. The pair combined to go 8-for-9 at the plate. Strawberry complimented his moonshots with two singles and a walk while McReynolds added two singles including an RBI hit to break a 1-1 tie in the top of the third.

The barrage was a welcome sight for Gooden. Over five innings he allowed 11 hits, the most he had surrendered in 125 big-league starts. Montreal went on top in the bottom of the first with an RBI hit from former Met Hubie Brooks. After New York countered to take the lead on the strength of Strawberry and McReynolds, Elster added to the advantage with a fourth-inning home run.

The Expos rallied to tie Gooden in the fifth, but it would be of little consequence as New York’s lineup remained red hot.

Dykstra came up with two on and two out in the sixth and delivered a tie-breaking three-run homer. The Mets were up 7-4 and ahead for good.

New York would go on to win 12 of 18 against Montreal in ’88 en route to 100 victories in all and their second NL East title in three seasons.

The post OTD 1988: Mets Blast Off in Montreal appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

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 Mets all they could handle during the six-game series, culminating in an epic sixth game that frayed the nerves of Mets fans everywhere.

Game One in the Astrodome had gone to the Astros by the score of 1-0, when Mike Scott threw a complete game, five-hit, fourteen strikeout shutout to out duel Dwight Gooden. The Mets bounced back to win Game Two by a 5-1 score, behind the pitching of Bob Ojeda. Ojeda went the distance, allowing 10 hits and striking out five.

Back at Shea Stadium for game three, the Astros roughed up Ron Darling for four runs in the first two innings. The Mets were stymied by Bob Knepper through five innings, but rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning, highlighted by a Darryl Strawberry three-run home run. After the Astros took a 5-4 lead in the seventh, the Mets were down to their last two outs when Lenny Dykstra stepped to the plate in the ninth with Wally Backman on second base.

Dykstra swatted a two-run home run to right field, and the Mets had a walk-off win, with a two-games-to-one series advantage. The good feelings were thwarted the next night, when Mike Scott again beat the Mets. This time it was 3-1, with Scott once again pitching a complete game, allowing only three hits. The series was tied a two games apiece, and the Mets were destined to have to try to win the pennant in Houston.

Game Five was a nail-biter, when Gooden took on Nolan Ryan. The game was tied 1-1 (the Mets’ run came on a Strawberry home run) going into the 12th inning. Gary Carter singled in Wally Backman to end the game, and send the Mets to Houston up three games to two in the series, needing one win in two games to claim the franchise’s third pennant. The problem? Mike Scott was set to pitch game seven.

The Mets knew they had to win game six to avoid seeing Scott in an elimination game. Game Six could not have started worse for New York, as the Astros scored three runs off Ojeda in the bottom of the first inning. Going into the top of the ninth, the Mets were being shutout and had just two singles off Bob Knepper. Len Dykstra started a rally with a pinch-hit triple. A single by Mookie Wilson, double by Keith Hernandez, and sacrifice fly by Ray Knight tied the game.

To extra innings the game went. The tension was palpable, and become more intense with each passing inning. The Mets broke through in the 14th inning, on a Dykstra single that scored Strawberry. Needing three outs to go to the World Series, Jesse Orosco took the mound for the bottom of the inning. He struck out Bill Doran, then faced Billy Hatcher.

The game was tied. A World Series vision that was becoming clear had been instantly extinguished. Now, the Mets had to remain composed and try to find a way to win the game. They got out of the 14th, and seemingly put the game away in the 16th when Knight and Dykstra drove in runs, and another scored on a wild pitch. The Mets led 7-4. This time it had to hold, right?

It wasn’t that easy. The Astros refused to go quietly. After recording the first out, a tiring Orosco allowed the Astros to rally. RBI singles by Hatcher and Glenn Davis had the winning run on base when Kevin Bass stepped to the plate with two outs. Orosco snapped off a wicked 3-2 curve ball to strike Bass out swinging, and the celebration was on.

The Mets were headed to the World Series. What seemed like destiny became an arduous battle, one that drained the team so much that several players admitted to having a a hangover effect when they played Games One and Two of the World Series at Shea.

Mets fans who witnessed Game Six of the 1986 NLCS will never forget it. With a great season hanging in the balance, the Mets showed why they were the class of baseball, coming from behind and then hanging on to punch their ticket to a championship.

I’ll never forget the tension that mounted inning by inning. For a few hours, it seemed like the inevitable was not going to happen. When the game was over, the players were not the only ones feeling a hangover effect over the next few days.

Little did we know that another Mets’ thriller was set to play out in ten days.

The post OTD 1986: Mets Outlast Astros, Win NLCS appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

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 with a first-hand account of that memorable ’86 season, Davis provides background on project’s origin, challenges he faced during the process, and what he hopes viewers can take away from the film.

****

BW: Now that we’re a couple of days into the film being released to the public, how has the reception been thus far?

ND: The reception has been great. It’s kind of everything you hope for. People really seem to like it and get it and understand what we were going for. And I think for some people, for a lot of fans of a certain age or older, it’s taking them back to a time and place that they are really enjoying going back to. And for those younger, it’s taking them to that same time and place and they’re interested and entertained by what they see. 

BW: There are those who might say something to the effect of, “haven’t the ’86 Mets been overdone?” What was your approach when taking on this project and this subject matter?

ND: There are all kinds of things that haven’t been reported before. But more importantly, telling the story in this form has not been done before. Nobody had done a long-form documentary about the time and the team and the place. So the advantage of the form is to take you back and be able to give you new emotions and feelings. 

That’s what television film documentaries can do. Here’s a fact that you may not have known before, but here’s a feeling, and here’s a character you didn’t get to know before. We now feel and see Dwight Gooden in a way that I don’t think we’ve seen and felt before. I don’t think people know what Keith Hernandez was dealing with in terms of his father. 

A film can make you feel in a different way than a magazine piece can. Then on top of that, you’ve got him sitting there with his cat. And so this gives you a new feeling that yes, I’ve seen this game before. There’s nothing new here, but you haven’t seen Keith describe his at-bat against Bruce Hurst in the 6th inning of Game 7 with Hadji right there. He’s never addressed the cat in the film until the moment when he talks about the base hit. That’s a cinematic gift that we were given.

BW: With the depictions of Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, separate narratives as far as their upbringing and downfall are concerned, society has now better acknowledged the struggles people try to overcome when it comes to addiction. So with nuance and understanding, their stories are told much differently.

ND: Yes. Very much so. I think most of society tends to look at drug addiction as a disease now. And it was not seen as widely that way back then was a moral failing. We definitely are looking at those guys’ stories in different ways now, probably more sympathetically. I also think that they are opening up about their struggles in a way that I think they’re less defensive about it than they’ve ever been. 

They’re definitely two different guys. When Strawberry came up to the majors, we knew he came from a broken home. We all knew that his father had walked out, and we didn’t know the extent. We didn’t know the violence. We knew he was troubled, and we saw it on his face.

Gooden was a totally different story. He comes from a solid middle class background, and he’s angelic with the press. He comes out of the gate, storming out of the gate wins Rookie of the Year and then the Cy Young with this off-the-charts season. Even when whispers were going around, when it was revealed he failed a drug test and had to go into rehab, it caught you totally by surprise. So the fact that, as he reveals in the documentary, he came from such trauma. There was a lot of violence that he witnessed. It’s completely revealing and makes you understand. Just knowing this guy comes from a solid middle class background, we don’t have to worry about this guy. That’s not true.

BW: A general perception is that the ’86 Mets are glorified and their reckless and raucous behavior is either glossed over or not held in contempt. How did you go about telling the whole story regarding off-field behavior?

ND: It was never my intention to glorify them. It was my intention to tell the story cinematically and move audiences, thrill them and have them get caught up in the fun and also get caught up in the sadness and get caught up in the darkness. The one thing that no one’s pointed out is that we were complicit. The theme song that we chose was Tom Waits’ “Clap Hands.” It’s very dark song. The first line is: Sane, sane. We’re all insane. We’re applauding them, we’re caught up in the badness. So it’s actually a fairly dark perspective on the story. We talk about how there’s a lot of things that were being swept under the rug. 

I’m not trying to condemn anybody. I’m not trying to judge anybody. But I hope that emotionally, people go on a journey that takes you back to this time and you feel the emotions and you ride this rollercoaster with these guys. It’s a pretty dark tale that we told; it’s not perfect. I think that it’s cautionary.

BW: Was there a reluctance amongst players or anyone associated with the team to delve into everything that was involved in this story or has the passage of time and the general understanding of what went on allowed them to open up?

ND: It was a little of both. I think everybody has a slightly different feeling. And I think some of the guys who we did end up interviewing were sort of like, “not this again” and “you’re just dragging up all the bad stuff.” And then when we got into the interviews, and they saw that we were trying to tell the complete story, that’s when they started to really open up. Also, a lot of these guys are at points in their lives where they’re happy to talk about this thing that was really meaningful to them 35 years ago and get into how they felt and things they have learned since.

BW: Was there a challenge in getting cooperation from Major League Baseball and the Mets?

ND: Yes, there was. And I have to give full credit to Nick Trotta at MLB because the way this came about is because of my previous film on Ted Williams for PBS and I worked with him on that.

So based on his experience with me in the previous film, he felt I could be trusted with this subject matter. This is not an exposé, but we’re not going to whitewash it. We’re going to tell the complete story. And I think the Mets felt it was fine too. Thirty-five years later, it was fine to have this story be told in full.

[Former PR Director] Jay Horwitz is another guy I have to thank. Jay is such a legend and such a wonderful guy. When Jay tells them, “hey, you should do this,” they come on board. Not all of them. Some of them said no. But it really was a long, complicated process.

BW: What was the most challenging topic to depict — either from a production standpoint or the weight of the subject?

ND: The two trickiest were women and race. We did a lot of work on it. I’m not saying we came out of the right way, but we had a lot of material. In terms of women, balancing it out without being judgmental or applying our current standards to the standards of 1986. But at the same time, we don’t want to just be like, well, boys will be boys. 

So finding that balance where you’re depicting it. You’re depicting the fun they were having, but also the not great attitude they were sort of inhabiting. That was tricky.

Talking about the race issue was equally complicated and challenging. And the way George Foster left that team after four and a half years was a really important issue. When we handed in our first rough cut, it totaled 6 hours and 25 minutes. We had to get down to 3 hours and 21 minutes.  The suggestion from certain executives was to just drop the Foster issue. There are certain things you just don’t have time for and reasonable people can disagree. I can imagine another filmmaker would do it differently since he’s not part of the World Series team. But in the interest of just telling the story as actually happened, that was not something I ever entertained. 

BW: Was there something you, in fact, had to cut from the final version that you wish you could have included if you had more time?

ND: Well, there’s a lot of little things. There’s little baseball things that I wish we’d had time for. The fact is, Ron Darling pitched the game of his life against the Cardinals in October 1985 with nine shutout innings. I wish I’d been able to include that.

I wish, frankly, I’d been able to get into the rain out (in Game 7 of the World Series) and how it affected the rotation on the Red Sox. And then just some terrific off-the-field stories that we just didn’t have time for. There is one that I really do regret that we couldn’t get in because it demonstrated, I think, Ray Knight’s importance to the team — stopping a fight on the bus between Strawberry and Gary Carter. But his leadership was depicted in other ways. 

BW: How significantly did the pandemic affect the making of the film?

ND: It really scrambled our production plan. And look, this was a dream to work on. While the world is essentially in a war, it was amazing to have something you love that you were working on every day. But it was difficult. Typically, in a documentary like this, you would film all your interviews and then start editing, and we didn’t have that luxury. 

We had to start editing well before we were finished with interviews. We had so many of them and an almost six-and-a-half hour rough cut, but  we hadn’t gotten to interviewing the beat reporters. I wanted to interview at least one who covered the Mets. But also we still hadn’t gotten Darling and (Roger) McDowell, and we were running out of money. And you can only interview one person a day during COVID. I did wish we had included some of the beat writers or somebody who actually covered the team at the time, but I don’t miss it when I watched the film.

BW: Lenny Dykstra is, to no surprise, outrageous and intriguing. What was that interview like?

ND: That was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. I was in my office conducting it with him over Zoom. It lasted about four hours and he was incredible. He was very available. He was incredibly open. He’s off the wall, but I actually think that he’s crazy like a fox. 

I think there’s something kind of brilliant about him. He was obviously a baseball savant. So when you’re speaking to somebody like that, you see the intelligence at work, even if he seems a little inarticulate. After the life he’s had, you can certainly say what you will about it. But it was an incredible experience. The first five or seven minutes were the funniest things I had ever heard. 

He was so profane. Some of what he said was completely unusable and unprintable, but so funny. I had to mute my microphone at times because I was laughing. And yet by the end of the interview, he’s really opened up about what it meant to him to be part of that team and to win a World Series in New York City and be feted at Peter Lugers Steakhouse after hitting the home run in Game 3 (of the NLCS) against Houston. Taking him back in time and reliving those experiences with him was great for him.

BW: In the open of Part 4, fans (through submitted videos) give their “where were you” story about Game 6 of the World Series. What’s yours?

ND: As a Met fan, I make it a rule not to adjust my life for them because there have been too many times when I have canceled plans and then done something so that I could watch a game and then it ended up that they lose. I had auditioned for a play in college and I got the part playing an anchor man in a production of “The Skin of Our Teeth.”

I brought my roommate’s small Sony Watchman onto the set and sat there, off to the side, during the entire play. I didn’t have very many lines. Every once in a while, they would bring the light up on me and I would say whatever my lines were. But I was watching the game while on stage and I covered the watchman with something. Unfortunately, as the play was ending I was part of some dancing or whatever.

So I missed part of the 10th inning but got back to the Watchman when it was 5-4 and I watched with a crowd of other Mets fans surrounding me during Mookie’s at-bat.

You can stream the four part documentary on ESPN+ and follow Nick on Twitter @NickDavisProds.

The post MMO Exclusive: “Once Upon a Time in Queens” Director Nick Davis appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

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 baseball team — a group of characters that were brawling, belligerent, and the league-leaders in bravado. In the end, they won — 108 times over the course of a dominant regular season and eight more times in a taught, tension-filled postseason.

The World Series victory was the culmination of a nine-year climb from nadir. The Mets’ darkest moment, trading Tom Seaver to Cincinnati in June 1977, just about coincides with a city-wide blackout the next month. That’s where the parallels between New York and New York’s National League club begin and truly come to fruition in the mid-80s.

For those who’ve yet to watch, here’s a brief — and certainly not complete — summary of the highlights with additional content to serve as a complement to the film:

• Major points of reference were footage from a documentary film crew that followed the team that year, the season’s team-produced highlight video “A Year to Remember“, and Jeff Pearlman’s 2004 book The Bad Guys Won. Pearlman is one of the many great interview subjects, as is Greg Prince — a true Mets savant.
• Part 1 delves into the Mets’ origin and timeline leading up to the Seaver trade, as well as the building of the team starting in 1980 under new ownership.
• As far as the newness of content is concerned, there is definitely stuff you likely have never seen or heard before — a mic’d up Gary Carter in spring training, for instance.
• Backstories are provided for the main characters: Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, and Carter (who’s represented in interviews by his widow, Sandy). Hernandez’s relationship with his father and brother (accompanied by home video footage) is very poignant. He comes off as the central figure, especially so in the years preceding ’86 establishing himself as the team leader. Then too are the masterminds behind the club’s development: bow-tied general manager Frank Cashen and self-assured manager Davey Johnson.
• The supporting cast, no less crucial to the team’s makeup, is featured, too: Mookie Wilson, Kevin Mitchell, Bob Ojeda, Wally Backman, Ron Darling, and Ray Knight. The Mets succeeded primarily because of the contributions from nearly everyone on the roster.
• Then there’s Lenny Dykstra. If you dare engage in a drinking game predicated on him saying the something profane, you’d probably be drunk during Part 2.
• If you’ve checked social media lately, you probably were hinted to the real scene-stealer: Hadji (aka Keith’s cat).
• Here’s some ear candy: Bob Murphy and Gary Thorne’s radio calls are frequent. As is the voice of Ralph Kiner. Part 1’s end credits pay special tribute to the Hall of Famer.
• Part 2 ends with a montage of the madness that unfolded in Cincinnati on July 22. Here is the full broadcast (Reds announcers), but jump to the 2:56:05 mark to begin with the melée instigated by Knight and Eric Davis.
• A recurring theme weaved into the story is the lifestyle and social scene of New York City in the 1980s. The Mets indulged in it. Greed and grittiness were at the core of the city’s personality. So too were those elements a central part of the NL team which played there.
• That leads to an inescapable detail of this team: off-the-field behavior. The film offers context when it comes to drug use, drinking, misogyny, and other assorted debauchery — neither excusing them nor shying away.
• Camcorder footage is used for such events as the NL East clincher on September 17 and Game 3 of the NLCS at Shea Stadium, specifically Backman’s drag bunt to start the ninth and Dykstra’s homer to end it.
• NLCS Game 6 in Houston, an epic of baseball lore, can be seen and heard in all its glory (with Murphy and Thorne’s radio voices over video).
• Spoiler alert: the Mets rally from two down in the 10th of Game 6 in the World Series. What is new is the 57-second tracking shot following Mookie Wilson from the field to the clubhouse after his winning grounder. It’s the best segment of the entire four hours.
• The ’86 Mets distinguish themselves partly because they never won again. There are many factors as to why, some of which had been emerging before and during the championship season — notably, the downfalls of Strawberry and Gooden — and some took place immediately after the World Series — parting ways with Ray Knight and Kevin Mitchell. But when you watch and listen to what took place away from the playing field, it feels like sort of a miracle that they were able to win once.

As you can imagine, plenty more was covered. Be sure to check out our conversation with Nick Davis, which will be happening on Friday.

The post Viewer’s Guide to “Once Upon a Time in Queens” appeared first on Metsmerized Online.