Edwin Diaz has been named the 2022 Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year following a historic season for the New York Mets. Diaz, who won the Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year Award in 2018 while with the Seattle Mariners, joins Craig Kimbrel as the only players to win the Reliever of the Year Award in each league. It should come as no surprise that Diaz has...
Prior to being traded over to the New York Mets with Javier Báez from the Chicago Cubs at the 2021 trade deadline, right-hander Trevor Williams had almost entirely been a starter for his professional career. Of the 119 games since his debut in 2016 through his last game with the Cubs in 2021, Williams had started 106 of them between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the aforementioned Cubs. Williams,...
The San Diego Padres had won 188 straight games when leading after eight innings. The New York Mets hadn’t won in three games. Both streaks, one long-term and one short, ended with a swing by Mike Piazza — a game-winning two-run ninth-inning homer to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 walk-off victory. Everything pointed to Trevor Hoffman, who converted on 53 of his 54 save opportunities in...
Those of you who have followed me over the last 15+ years on MMO, are well aware of my disdain for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). I don’t really have anything against any of their individual writers, other than the clowns who held their votes against Mike Piazza. But as a voting body they are totally incompetent and I’m tired of all the shenanigans. Of...
It isn’t much of a surprise Mike Piazza regularly dealt with the occupational hazards that come with the territory of being a major league catcher. As the 1999 postseason ratcheted up, Piazza’s strong but weary body broke down. He was only able to produce one extra-base hit, albeit a dramatic homer in Game 6 of the NLCS. As the Mets embarked on a second consecutive postseason berth,...
By late May, the Mets had led the league in frequent flyer miles. Beginning on May 22 and continuing through the Memorial Day weekend, Bobby Valentine’s group jettisoned to San Diego, then east to St. Louis before u-turning to Los Angeles. The Padres team that welcomed the New Yorkers into Qualcomm Stadium was a lethargic 17-26 and already 10 games off the pace in the NL West. But the...
