Tag: MLB

Mets Shock Brewers

Posted on by metbaseball

My game story, “October 3, 2024: Mets shock Brewers, win NL Wild Card Series on Pete Alonso’s home run,” was just published on the SABR website. Before that four-bagger, Alonso’s biggest homer in his five-year career were his four walk-offs, one hit in each of his first four seasons. Last season was the first in which he did not hit a game-ending home run.

The first was on September 3, 2020 against the Yankees on a day that the Mets honored Tom Seaver. It was hit in the bottom of the 10th with the game tied 7-7 and two runners on base. It was the season’s last Subway Series game and enabled the Mets to even the six-game series. Alonso blasted the ball into the left-field stands in a heavy rain.

After the game, Luis Rojas said this about Alonso’s homer: “We’re always expecting something special from his at-bats. . . . It was an emotional day for us, a special day honoring and paying tribute to the greatest Met of all-time.”1 Seaver had passed away the previous Monday from dementia and the coronavirus.

Alonso’s second walk-off homer ended the second game of a twin bill on August 12, 2021 against the Nationals in the bottom of the seventh. No runners were on base. The Mets had won the first game, 5-4.

Anthony Bieber wrote, “Alonso’s 25th home run was a high drive to left that seemed to take an hour and a half to come down. When it did, [it fell] just over the reach of the leaping Andrew Stevenson.”2

The hit enabled the Mets to sweep the twin bill.

The third game-ending blast occurred on May 19, 2022 in Queens. In the bottom of the 10th with the Mets down 6-5, Alonso led off against new reliever Giovanny Gallegos and lofted the second pitch into deep left field, scoring Francisco Lindor, who had started the inning on second base.

He swatted his fourth four-bag game-ender against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 17, 2023 in CitiField in the bottom of the 10th with Jeff McNeil on first and the Mets behind 7-5. Despite playing while sick, launched his game-winner into “leftfield’s second deck.”

David Lennon wrote, “when Pete Fairbanks threw him a 98-mph four-seamer, Alonso treated it like batting practice, muscling the game-winner for what the Mets hope is a season-turning victory.”3

After the game, Alonso shared his in-game philosophy:

“There’s never a doubt in our minds,” Alonso said, his nose red and eyes watery. “We keep fighting, we keep doing the best we can, every single day, every pitch, every out. And that’s all we can do. Do the best we can, and see how it plays out.”4

Notes

  1. Jerry Beach, “Alonso homer in 10th lifts Mets over Yankees,” The Post Standard, September 4, 2020: B1. ↩︎
  2. Anthony Rieber, “Walk-off’s the walk, talk’s talk,” Newsday, August 13, 2021: A45.
    ↩︎
  3. David Lennon, “Kids may be better than alright,” Newsday, May 8, 2023: A59. ↩︎
  4. Lennon. ↩︎

2024 Mets Newcomers: Five Players Make Their MLB Debuts

Posted on by metbaseball

In 2024, five players with the New York Mets made their major-league debuts.1 The first was Dedniel Nunez, who debuted on April 9, 2024. At age 28, he was the oldest of the five. He had been in the minor leagues since 2017, all but one season with the Mets. He appeared in 25 games and pitched 35 innings with a 2.31 ERA and a 2-0 record. In his last five appearances (6.1 innings) he gave up just four hits, three walks, and one earned run, while striking out 12. A “strained flexor tendon in his right arm” ended his season after his August 24 outing, according to Anthony DiComo on mlb.com.

The second was Tyler Jay, who debuted on April 11, 2024. At age 30, he was the oldest of the five. In three games (4.2 innings), he had a 4.70 ERA with neither a win nor a loss. His July 1 Mets appearance was his last. He pitched twice more in 2024, both times with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Christian Scott was third on May 4. The 25-year-old pitched 47.1 innings over nine games with an 0-3 record and a 4.56 ERA. On September 18, Anthony DiComo wrote that “Scott, one of the Mets’ most promising pitching prospects of the past decade, will undergo season-ending elbow surgery next week and miss the entire 2025 campaign as well.” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza tried to be upbeat about the loss, saying this about Scott: “He took the baseball from us and gave us a chance.” Unfortunately, he won’t get another season to pitch for the Mets until 2026.

Fourth was Paul Orze, age 27, appeared in his first Mets game on July 8. In two appearances, he pitched just 1.2 innings. He notched one loss and had a 21.60 ERA. He should get another chance in 2025 as he pitched well with the Syracuse Mets. In 61.2 innings over 43 games he was 6-1 with a 2.92 ERA.

The last one was Luisangel Acuna. The youngest at age 22, his Mets career on September 14. In 39 at-bats he hit .308. After just four games in the majors, Joe Pantomo’s article about Acuna in amny.com was headlined “Mets’ Luisangel Acuna already ‘looks like he belongs in the big leagues.’” After the game, Mendoza said about Acuna 3 for 4 performance, “It’s a good sign. It tells us a lot.” The Mets manager added, “He’s calm, poised — he just looks like he belongs in the big leagues.”

Pete Alonso also praised Acuna, per the amny.com article, saying, “He’s jelled super quick. He’s been a compete pro so far and he’s been outstanding.”

  1. In 2024, 255 baseball players made their major-league debut. ↩︎

MLB No-Hitter Facts

Posted on by metbaseball

As of June 21, 2024, 284 no-hitters have been thrown in Major League Baseball, per Stathead, using this criteria: “From 1901 to 2024, in the regular season, requiring Hit Allowed = 0 and Runs Allowed =0.”

The first no-hitter was on June 30, 1901. Cleveland (Blues) played the Milwaukee Brewers before a crowd of 4,500. While the Brewers were hitless, Cleveland’s baserunners crossed the plate seven times during an afternoon in which the team got 18 hits but, surprisingly, just one walk.

In the Brewers’ lineup were four players whose first name was either Bill or Billy. Even more interesting is that the home plate umpire was the game’s only umpire.

The 1901 season was not a good one for the Brewers. Their game against the Blues was their 56th of the season and they were in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, one in which they had been shut out in their previous two games, their June 30th loss worsening their record to 19-36-1.

It was a no-hitter that, for many years, wasn’t.

SABR devoted an article to the game, explaining why. In it is stated, “This is the story of that confounding game and the baseball community’s century-long journey in finally recognizing Dowling’s gem as a no-hitter.”

One reason it’s “confounding,” according to its author, Gary Belleville,” is that “At the start of the twenty-first century, baseball’s consensus was that Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan had thrown the American League’s inaugural no-hitter, in 1902, and Bob Rhoads had tossed the first one for the Cleveland Indians franchise in 1908,” not Pete Dowling, who was on the mound for Cleveland on June 30, 1901.

After that game, Cleveland pitchers threw 12 more no-hitters, tying them for fourth place in most no-hitters thrown. One was thrown again on June 30, but 47 years later in 1948. Bob Lemon beat the Tigers 2-0, the Indians scoring both their runs in the top of the first on Lou Boudreau’s double.

After the game, Lemon’s batting average was .347. He finished the season with a .286 batting average, the second highest of his career, which was the same as Whitey Lockman’s and higher than Dom DiMaggio’s.

In Lemon’s SABR bio, Jon Barnes wrote that Lemon “was one of the best hitting pitchers ever in the majors.” He also pitched well enough to earn a spot in baseball’s Hall of Fame.