Michael Wilson
February 10, 2001
This was the game where Dave Magadan had a bid day and took over the starting 1B job from Mike Marshall. Greg Maddux started for the Cubs and the next edition of Sports Illustrated had a Gatorade ad with Maddux sitting in the Cubs dugout drinking Gatorade and the caption read "If only the Mets went down so easy." I still have the ad.

Ed K
September 15, 2004
One of the many Met games over the years that were slugfests in Wrigley including some the Mets won and some they lost. This one is not remembered as much as the 19-1 game in 1964 or the 23-10 game in 1987 but it certainly had its moments. The Mets scored in seven of the nine innings, something I believe they have only done one or two other times (e.g. the 23-10 game).

Steve
October 1, 2006
I remember working as an intern at CNBC in Fort Lee New Jersey when this game was played. They had a set of televisions above the studio where I was a stage manager/camera operator, and I can recall that every time I looked up to track the Mets' progress it seemed Dave Magadan was on base. And I looked up so often it really got the director ticked off so he pulled me from the floor. I do not work in TV today.

Dave VW
August 6, 2022
That's a funny story, Steve. And correcting Michael, Greg Maddux started the previous game. It was Mike Bielecki who started this game for Chicago, and he lasted only an inning and a third and gave up 8 runs, tied for the most he allowed in a game his entire career. With the wind blowing out at 25mph, it was evident from the start this was going to be a wild day. Sure enough, Hojo hit a popup to 3B to lead off the game, but the wind blew it all the way over to SS, and Cubs infielders Curt Wilkerson and Domingo Ramos collided and let the ball drop, giving Johnson second base. Magadan smacked a laser beam of a home run next, and the hits just kept on coming from there. McReynolds also blasted a pair of homers, the second of which was a bomb that landed amongst some trees beyond Waveland Avenue.

For Magadan, it was a career day. He collected career-best totals of 6 RBI and 9 total bases, and also tied the Mets record for times on base in a game with 6. Tom O'Malley, who didn't enter the game until the third inning spelling the injured Mike Marshall, also tied a team record with 3 doubles. As a team, the Mets had 12 extra-base hits, which set the franchise record at the time. The record now stands at 15, set in 2015. The 19 runs scored is still tied for fourth-most in team history.

As Michael alluded to, this was the beginning of the end for Marshall. His back injury allowed Magadan to solidify his hold on the 1B job, and Marshall only received one more start at 1B for the remainder of his time with the Mets before getting traded to Boston in July. Addition by subtraction, if you ask me.

Meanwhile, the Cubs pitching was just dreadful. In fact, Kevin Blankenship was so bad he never appeared in another Major League game again. Their best "pitcher" was outfielder Doug Dascenzo, who tossed a scoreless ninth inning. Funny, he actually made 4 appearances as a pitcher during his career and never gave up a run in any of them.