This was the first Met game I ever watched, being a young 6 year old, I don't think I was too upset at the outcome, but I remember Keith Miller stumbling all over himself in centerfield, and Bobby Bonilla hitting an absolute bomb into the parking lot in rightfield off of Jeff Innis I believe, but it set a tone for the whole season and the tight games between the Bucs and Mets all season.

I wish I was at this game but I had to listen on the radio at work on the sly because I had a foreman at the time who was a real you-know-what and a type of a guy who was a real YES, SIR that would kiss the higher-ups behind 24/7. If I had been caught with the radio, I woulda been automatically suspended since he didn't give a darn about baseball. Luckily I got to catch the last few innings once I got home. BUMMER!!!! In reality, I shoulda called in sick!!!!

An EXTREMELY rare opening day loss for the Mets during a period when it seemed we won on opening day every single year. As a matter of fact, after 1969, our record on day one has been unbelievable.

Was at this game sitting in Field Level box in right field. Was not the opening day a fan would remember when the Mets lose 12-3. It was the first time in Gooden's career he lost on opening day and the first time ever he was under .500 at any point during a season. Most of the time I try to stay the whole game no matter what the score is. I was not able to stay for the whole game on this day as Passover was starting later in the day and had to get home to prepare for the sedar with the family.

Not one of the Mets' better Opening Day experiences. After two consecutive decades of winning nine of ten season openers, the Mets were defeated soundly by the Pirates in this one. It was also the team's first loss of a season opening game played at home since 1967. The Bucs beat them in that one, too.

I must correct an error I made in my previous entry for this game. The Mets' last defeat in a season opener at home before this one came in 1969 to the Montreal Expos. It was not the one to the Pirates in '67.

That being said, this '90 defeat to the Bucs would be the last time the Mets would start a season with a loss on their home field until 2003, when the Cubs beat them at Shea Stadium. They did lose as the home team to Chicago to begin the 2000 season, but that game was played in Japan.

The first of Viola's 20 wins in 1990 as the Mets rebounded from a rare horrible opening day loss. Also the first appearance of John Franco as a Met. He recorded his first save of many with the team.

After watching this game, I have a hard time naming another Mets left-handed pitcher who’s been as good as Viola since 1990. Maybe Johan in 2008, or Al Leiter in the late 90s. Viola was just so masterful and underappreciated in hindsight. He won his first seven starts this season (holding a 0.87 ERA over that span), and subdued a Pittsburgh lineup that knocked around seven Mets pitchers for 12 runs and 17 hits on opening day. He was also interviewed on Kiner’s Korner after the game and came across as a likeable, every-man type figure.

As Michael alluded to, this was Franco’s first of what is a still a team-record 276 saves. Always seemed like he had to make things exciting though. One of the first pitches he threw with the Mets was a wild pitch, but he managed to work a scoreless inning and a third to nail down the win.

Mets get a win in their first road game of the season, thanks to some excellent pitching and timely hitting from two unlikely sources. Though Cone ended April with a 6.65 ERA, he was fantastic here, only getting denied the win because Kevin Gross was equally as good. Because of the abbreviated spring training, Davey pulled Cone after just 88 pitches. Otherwise, I don't doubt Cone could have gone all 10 innings. Mets pitchers actually didn't allow a hit in between Tim Wallach's leadoff single in the 4th and Wallace Johnson's 2-out single in the 10th. With two outs and Hojo stuck on second after a leadoff double in the 10th, Mike Marshall delivered an RBI single, and then the light-hitting Barry Lyons followed with a 2-run homer to give Franco more than enough cushion to nail down his second save as a Met.

What I remember most about games at Olympic Stadium was that annoying air horn that sounded like a baby cow. Someone played around with that thing every single game the Mets played there it seemed. Even Ralph Kiner and Rusty Staub talked about all the random sound effects that were present inside the stadium. Speaking of the announcers, Fran Healy (as usual) had some hot takes during the game. First, he and Kiner were talking about how leaders should be quiet and lead exclusively by example, with Kiner saying, "Guys look at you like you're crazy if you jump up and down." This thought on leadership seems to be completely the opposite these days. Imagine if guys like Alonso or Scherzer showed no emotion, even after a big home run or strikeout. They'd be accused of lacking passion or being unmotivated. Later on, Healy was talking about the trade the Expos executed the previous year where they sent Randy Johnson (yes, that Randy Johnson) and two others to Seattle to rent Mark Langston for a couple months. While Langston was terrific for Montreal, he left for the Angels in 1990, while Johnson went on to be a Hall of Famer. Healy defended the trade, however, saying how Johnson is bound to struggle because of his height. Oops, Fran.

A historical game in some way: THE FIRST ESPN SUNDAY NIGHT GAME EVER PLAYED!

One of the 6 games that were made up due to the early season players strike. The Mets beat the Cubs on a very overcast and cold day as Viola continued his hot start

The main story of this game was the return to form of Dwight Gooden. Doc battled a shoulder injury in 1989, which limited him to 17 starts, his last on July 1 (though he pitched twice out of the bullpen in September). He then struggled in his fist two starts of 1990, allowing 10 runs over 7.2 combined innings vs. Pittsburgh and Montreal, leading to questions of whether Doc's arm may be done. He quieted those rumors here, going 7 strong without giving up an extra-base hit and striking out 7 during a 117-pitch outing to get his first win of the year. He continued to pitch well the rest of the year en route to 19 wins and a fourth-place finish in the Cy Young vote. 1990 can be considered the last of Doc's vintage seasons.

There really wasn't much offense to speak of for either team, as the Cubs struck out 11 times and the Mets 10 while they combined for just 7 hits. It was a chilly, breezy day, and the game started at 3pm eastern, so those infamous late afternoon Shea Stadium shadows made life miserable on hitters during the later innings, which all likely contributed to the lack of offense.

This game had an Alfred Hitchcock type of ending. The Mets were ahead, 5-1, with two outs and no one on base in the ninth inning and Frank Viola coasting. It looked like an easy victory.

But then, something strange happened. It began to look like some kind of payback for Game 6 of the 1986 World Series! Frank suddenly gave up a home run, a double, a walk and his chance for a complete game. John Franco was brought in and he added to the suspense! He committed a balk to advance the runners and then allowed a two-run double to Spike Owen, the '86 Red Sox' shortstop. It was a one-run game with the tying run at second.

In disgust, I shut off my TV. This was getting too eerie. It just seemed to have "Revenge of '86" written into it. It wasn't until I heard the highlights on the radio post-game show that I found out they actually won.

The losing pitcher, who would have been knocked off the hook had the Expos tied the game, was also with the '86 Red Sox - Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd.

The Mets first ever appearance on the CBS Game of the Week. Strawberry hit an absolute moonshot in the 4th inning in this one. Kevin Elster also homered to try and break out of his brutal early season slump and the Mets held on despite a late Expos rally.

Watching this game back, I distinctly remember the challenge that Jack Buck laid out, where he would give $1,000 to any camera operator who caught the usually stoic Kevin McReynolds smiling on camera. Sure enough, a woman working one of the cameras got the shot, and Buck wrote out a check to her mid-game and said if she could find him at the airport, he'd give it to her. Weird that I remember that all these years later.

I forgot how good Frank Viola was, though. Boy could he pitch. Glad he wound up with the win in this one cause he sure deserved it, especially considering the tough Montreal lineup he had to face that featured two future Hall of Famers in Tim Raines and Larry Walker.

This was a game of "firsts and onlys" for the Mets: Sid's first and only shutout of 1990, Miller's first and only home run of 1990, Strawberry's first and only triple of 1990. Sid was masterful after two rocky starts to begin the year, allowing just 2 hits and 4 baserunners. It marked the Mets' second shutout victory of the year; they would wind up leading the NL with 14. Sid had walked a ton of batters early in the season and had walked two more over the first two innings in this game, but for some reason instead of working counts, the Expos got ultra aggressive and put the first pitch of their at-bats in play five times over the course of six batters between the fourth and fifth innings. That helped Sid get into a groove and he just let the Expos get themselves out over the rest of the game.

Apparently Rex Hudler's pinch-hit strikeout in the 6th was so egregious that Montreal traded him the next day to St. Louis. This was also New York native Rich Thompson's only major league appearance of 1990, as well as the last of his career. He had a solid year out of the pen for the Expos in 1989 and had a funky, submarining delivery that appeared to make him effective vs. right-hand hitting, but Montreal evidently thought otherwise and he'd bounce around the minors for a few more years before calling it quits.

Mike Marshall drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th with a single up the middle. It was the only positive thing he did during his six months in New York.

Further to an earlier post on this game, Mike Marshall did indeed drive in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth, but it came on an infield out. With the bases loaded and one out, Marshall grounded one up the middle that was snagged by Braves SS Jeff Blauser, who threw to 2B Jeff Treadway for the force play, but there was no time to double Marshall at first, and Mark Carreon scored the winning run.

This was the Mets’ only 1-0 win during the 1990 season. Mark Carreon supplied all the runs the Mets would need with a leadoff home run in the fourth inning. Viola was limited to 5 innings due to back tightness but allowed just a pair of bunt singles to Eric Yelding and faced only one over the minimum. In fact, Mets pitching allowed only 4 base runners all game, helping the team win its fifth in a row.

I dont remember the specifics. But I know this was the game where Cone got into an arguement with the 1st base umpire and let 2 runs score because he wouldnt stop arguing.

Braves LHP Derek Lilliquist picked up his first win of the season in this game and also became the first pitcher in five seasons to hit two home runs in one game.

Both of Lilliquist's homers came off Ron Darling. He homered leading off the third and the fifth innings.

Darren Reed made his ML debut in this game and struck out as a pinch-hitter.

One of the rare games in Mets history in which the Mets hit 4 homers to an opponents zero, and still lose. Both Gooden and Mike Scott were pretty terrible in this one, the difference was the bullpens. Jeff Musselman helped blow this one and the Mets drop one on a very overcast day at Shea,complete with early in the game.

This game was one I did not have a chance to see live on TV. My family was flying back to New York from my sister's college graduation in Michigan. We were flying into La Guardia, so I got to see some of the game as the plane was circling the area for landing. It was a great view from the plane to see Shea Stadium while a game was being played.

While the plane was circling the stadium area for landing I remember the pilot announcing the Knicks winning the 5th game against the Celtics in Boston after they were down 2-0 in the series to win it. It was the first time Patrick Ewing beat the Celtics in a game in Boston Garden since his career started. The crowd on the plane cheered real loud.

Definitely one of the more memorable wins from the 1990 season as in extra innings, John Franco balked in the go-ahead run. He was furious. But the Mets tied it in the bottom of the inning and then Kevin McReynolds hit the walk off homer to win it, with Franco leading the charge to the plate celebration.

To sportsfan8690's point, McCarver and Kiner updated the audience on the Knicks/Celtics score multiple times during the telecast and the crowd cheered when they flashed the final score on the scoreboard. Beating the Celtics during this era was definitely a big deal.

And to echo Michael, Franco was indeed furious, and perhaps rightfully so. The "balk" was incredibly borderline, called by home plate ump Doug Harvey. He even called two balls on Houston starter Jim Deshaies because the pitcher licked his hand. Quite the stickler for the rules!

Deshaies actually had a no-hitter going until the sixth, when the Mets broke through for 3 runs to tie it up. Obviously McReynolds played the hero in this one but can't sleep on Tim Teufel's big day. Hitting just .136 coming into the game, Teufel broke out by going 3-for-4 with the game-tying 3-run homer in the sixth and another game-tying RBI double in the 11th.

The nightcap of the doubleheader this day was almost as exciting as Game 1. After cranking a walk-off homer earlier in the day, Kevin McReynolds played hero again, going deep in the eighth inning to provide the go-ahead run in the Mets' 7-6 win. Interestingly enough, his longball came off southpaw reliever Dan Schatzeder, who the Mets actually acquired from Houston later on during the 1990 season.

Also of note, Gregg Jefferies just missed hitting a home run down the right field line in the third inning, only then to connect for one over the wall in right-center on the very next pitch. Daryl Boston also collected his first hit with New York with a double during the Mets' four-run sixth inning. For Houston, second baseman Ken Oberkfell hit a three-run homer in the fourth -- his only round-tripper of the year and the last of 29 during his 16-year career.

Gary Carter's first appearance at Shea since the Mets let him go and he received a great ovation from the crowd

Surprising that no one else has commented on this one. This was Comic Relief Night at Shea as Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg joined the Channel 9 booth (Crystal and Williams were also in the booth in a game against the Reds in July 1989). In this one, Robin accidently cursed on the air when he was trying to make a joke about Mackey Sasser's baserunning. Funny memory to look back on.

@ Michael: I noticed that too, though I thought it was Billy who made the verbal blunder. In any case, that’s what happens when you try to say “funky chicken” too fast. It was also amusing too see all the concessions workers wearing the Groucho Marx glasses-and-nose masks throughout the game. And sticking with the comedy theme, Tim McCarver had his scorecard blow out of the booth midway through the game and he wouldn’t stop moaning and groaning about until someone actually found it and fetched it for him.

Mike Morgan walked five in his brief outing, odd considering he allowed only 3 walks over his first 5 starts of 1990. Maybe the cold and breezy conditions that night had something to do with it. However, the weather didn’t affect Gooden much, as he struck out a season-high 15. He also hit a 3-run triple in the Mets’ five-run third inning, one of 5 he’d hit in his career. Also of note, it was nice to see future Mets manager Willie Randolph play in this one. Two days later he was traded to Oakland and would go on to play in his last of four World Series.

Frank Viola wins for the seventh time in seven starts at the beginning of the 1990 season. No other Mets pitcher as of today has ever won his first seven starts of the year.

Only one member of the Dodger starting lineup had a hit: Mike Sharperson, who had three of the four Dodger hits that Frank allowed. Pinch-hitter John Shelby had the other Dodger hit.

Here's what happened hours after this game: Mets manager Davey Johnson and Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda went to Radio City Music Hall to appear in the HBO's "Comic Relief" show and both managers tossed soft baseballs to Billy Crystal who proceeded to hit them into the audience and the higher he got into the upper deck of RCMH, the more money they would raise for the homeless. A wonderful gesture and priceless moment in Mets history in my opinion!

As of 2022, Viola's 7 straight wins to begin the season still stands as the Mets record. And somehow he didn't receive a single first-place vote for that year's NL Cy Young Award.

This was Davey Johnson's 1,000th game managing the Mets. He actually only lasted 12 more games before getting replaced with Bud Harrelson. This was also Willie Randolph's last game with the Dodgers as he was traded the next day to the A's for Stan Javier. This was mostly done to allow Juan Samuel, who was overmatched playing CF for LA, to move back to 2B and let Javier and Kirk Gibson platoon in CF with Kal Daniels and Hubie Brooks manning the corner OF spots.

Weird seeing John Wetteland starting a game. He only made two more starts this season before spending the rest of his career as one of baseball's best closers.

Tim McCarver mentioned that, as of 1990, only two pitchers in major league history had the initials FV: Frank Viola and Fernando Valenzuela, who was in the opposing dugout with the Dodgers. Can anyone think of any others? Framber Valdez pitches for the Astros, that's all I can come up with.

The debut of Todd Hundley. One day he's catching AA, the next he's catching Frank Viola! Quite possibly the Mets' best catcher (all-around) and definitely one of the few bright spots during the dark years of the 1990's. Great defensive catcher with an outstanding arm and flashes of power hitting.

After getting swept by the Giants and losing the first game of their series vs. San Diego, the Mets were in desperate need of a win here. And they had the win well in hand until the final two innings when it almost all fell apart. After giving up a leadoff triple to Bip Roberts, Cone was perfect until an 8th-inning leadoff double by Fred Lynn. A 6-1 lead turned into a 6-4 lead by the time Cone exited, and Franco then tightroped his way to the save. It marked Cone's first win of the season, and he wouldn't get his next one until June 9.

Ralph Kiner called the game along with Mets GM Frank Cashen, which I thought was quite the oddity. I was surprised at Cashen's candor, totally forthcoming to give opinions -- both positive and negative -- in regards to his own players. I could see how his comments could have rubbed the players the wrong way. Speaking of Kiner, he had some golden "Kinerisms" during this game. In particular, he talked about Benito Santiago's name, saying, "Santiago in Spanish means San Francisco. No. Santiago in San Diego means Saint James in Spanish someone once told me, I don't know if that's right or wrong." Pure gold.

Sid Fernandez fanned Joe Carter in the first and third innings of this game. These were the 999th and 1,000th strikeouts for Fernandez in his major league career. At Shea Stadium six days later, Sid got Carter again for 1,000 Ks as a Met. What are the chances of a pitcher striking out the same batter to reach a specific mark twice in the same week?

Although Davey Johnson wouldn't be fired until a week after this game, Frank Cashen mentioned in interviews after the official firing that it was after this game against the Padres that he more or less decided it was time for Davey to go. The Mets continued to play amazingly inconsistent baseball on this day, as the offense looked lifeless and the defense was more than generous.

The Mets called a 45-minute players only team meeting before this game, looking to create a spark after losing 5 of their first 6 games during their west coast road trip. Evidently, it worked, as the Mets scored their most runs to date in 1990, including an 8-run 3rd inning that went down as their highest-scoring inning of the year. That 3rd inning included a grand slam by Kevin McReynolds, the first of five the Mets would hit during the season. Boston and Strawberry also homered, though no one was in the outfield seats to catch them. Weird seeing that entire area of the stadium empty -- and even weirder considering I watched this on the same night as the 2022 HR Derby in L.A., where the entire OF bleacher area was mobbed!

Gooden was nursing a sore toe during this start and definitely seemed to aggravate it while covering first base in the bottom of the third. He still gutted his way through 5 innings to get the win. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Mike Morgan, gave up 9 runs, tied for the most he'd ever allow in a game. And it came just 10 days after the Mets knocked him around for 7 runs. But he got his revenge later on, beating the Mets twice in August.

I got my first foul ball at this game. It was hit by Joe Carter.

Hey, Tony! Did Carter hit that foul ball to you in the fourth inning? If he did, then you got your souvenir while Sid Fernandez was recording his 1000th strikeout. El Sid fanned Carter in the top of the fourth for his 37th strikeout of the season, which brought him to the 1,000 mark for his career.

Mr. Roboto, you are a little off about Fernandez. The strikeout of Carter in the 4th inning was actually his 1,000th as a Mets pitcher only. Sid had nine K's with the Dodgers before coming to New York and reached the 1,000 career mark in San Diego six days earlier. Ironically, it was Carter that he struck out for that milestone, too.

Jughead, thanks for your clarification of my earlier entry. I did a little checking and found that you are correct about Fernandez. His 1,000th strikeouts with the Mets and as a major leaguer were both against Carter. I had forgotten that Sid began his career in Los Angeles. Good research.

There is another interesting fact about this game. It was the last win for Davey Johnson as Mets manager.

Davey Johnson's pitiful finale as manager. I'm present in the UD as Gooden popped a HR in the seventh to knot the game 2-2, then watch as the Padres dink and dunk their way to 6 in the top of the 8th, highlighted by a PH triple with the bases loaded by Terry Kennedy, who made Olerud look fast. To add insult to injury, Kevin Elster is drilled mid back by Padre reliever Greg Harris, touching off a mild brawl. Mets got two back in their 8th, but no closer. A sad end to the Johnson era indeed.

This was Bud Harrelson's first game as Mets Manager. Davey Johnson was fired after a 20-22 start.

The Mets lost this game but then won 26 of their next 33 under Buddy. They were in first place as late as Labor Day weekend before fading down the stretch.

Dave Liddell gets a hit and scores a run in his only major-league at-bat in his only major- league game!

This was the game that really started the Mets on their amazing streak. As little used and little known Tom O'Malley hit the game winning homer in extra innings to beat the Expos. The Mets would go on to play some of the best baseball in team history over the next 5 weeks.

I would love to see this game again.

I watched it on TV in my room in Woodbridge, NJ, on a 8" Zenith TV, sorting baseball cards. I'll always remember how excited I got when Tom O'Malley hit his walk-off home run. I started jumping around the room like a little kid (I was 12). It was the last time I would ever do that, at least until the Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS.

In my memory, this game was the last hurrah of the "magic" of the 1984-1990 Mets. There may have been other thrillers later in 1990, but I don't remember them.

Wally Backman's tenth and last major league homer was hit at Shea AGAINST the Mets in this game - a solo shot off winning pitcher David Cone.

David Cone entered this game 1-4 with a 6.27 ERA over his first nine appearances of the 1990 season. Counting this victory, he would go 13-6 with a 2.35 ERA the rest of the year. He also attempted to leg out what would have been his only career triple in the fourth inning but was thrown out at third.

This game to me was a real key game for the Mets to stay with the Pirates in the NL East race in 1990. We won this game to take 3 of 4 from the Pirates and played real well until the end of the season and stayed in the race to the final weekend. If we lost 3 or more in this series, the season would have been over for the Mets as they would have been 10+ games back and no wild card to be won in 1990. I was at this game sitting in Field Box right at home plate.

Hey sportsfan8690, I'm quite jealous, looks like you picked a great day to go to a game, considering both the weather and the final outcome. Also, I wonder if you remember taking part in the wave between innings they were filming for a movie.

The Pirates featured two pitchers with ties to the Mets -- one a former player (Walt Terrell) and one a future player (Rick Reed). Neither were very good here, both giving up home runs: Strawberry hit his fourth in three games off Terrell, and Magadan hit his first of the year vs. Reed. For his efforts, Strawberry won his fourth of six career Player of the Week awards.

The series was also notable for how poor the teams were defensively, as the Pirates committed 11 errors in the four-game series and the Mets 6. Pittsburgh featured two Gold Glovers this year (Bonds & Van Slyke) and I got the impression they were pretty solid defensively, but I looked it up and they actually committed the third most errors in the NL in 1990. Their bad defense doomed them in the 5th inning, as Jeff King booted a 1-out grounder by Elster, and then Don Slaught airmailed a throw to centerfield when Ojeda laid down a sac bunt a batter later. Both those runners scored on Jefferies' single later in the inning, and the rout was on from there.

I did not get to see this game as it was a busy day for me and the family. This day was my high school graduation. My family and all my friends did a dinner and a party at the house to celebrate the graduation. I saw the highlights of the game later that night.

I do remember quite a few people at the party were Mets fans and we were talking about how the team was playing better under Bud Harrelson and showing more life and emotion than they were in the beginning of the season under Davey Johnson.

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.

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).

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.

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.

The Mets' Father's Day win in 1990 started a season-long 11-game win streak that saw the team go from 7 games out in the NL East to tied for first. Mark Carreon was the star of the game, connecting for his only career lead-off home run, as well as notching his first of three career 2-homer games (he achieved the other two with San Francisco). He was actually quite good in the lead-off spot this season, hitting .309 with a .387 OBP and phenomenal .987 OPS. It was also nice to get a win over the powerhouse Pirates without Darryl Strawberry in the lineup. He got a day of rest while Mike Marshall started in his place -- Marshall's only start in RF for the Mets all year.

The key moment in the game came in the 7th. Pittsburgh loaded the bases with no one out but Gooden, clearly tiring, still induced a double play from Andy Van Slyke, then got Bonilla to bounce out to first to end the inning allowing just one run. Franco handled things from there, locking up one of his 7 two-inning saves of the year.

Another thing of note from this game is that Dallas Green was part of the broadcast team on WWOR. Green managed the Yankees in 1989 and would be hired as a scout for the Mets in 1991, eventually taking over as manager in 1993. I got the impression Tim McCarver really looked up to him the way he spoke to him, which makes sense since Green managed McCarver in Philadelphia from 1979-80.

The Mets were the hottest team in baseball at this point, winners of 10 of their last 13. This win was also the second of a season-long 11-game winning streak. Cone spent most of the first two months of 1990 with an ERA over 6.00 but got it back down to 4.95 with this shutout. Pitching on 9 days rest he was absolutely brilliant, perfect until a fourth inning walk to Ozzie Smith and had a no-hitter intact until Milt Thompson doubled in the fifth. Tim McCarver obviously supplied the jinx as just the batter before he ribbed Kiner and told him in so many words, "I'll say what you're too afraid to say: David Cone has a no-hitter going!" A couple minutes later, that no-no was no-mo.

The Mets started a 3-game sweep of the Phillies with this win, in which Viola became the NL's first 10-game winner. After a rare dud his last time out at Pittsburgh, Viola was much more vintage here, allowing just a first-inning run and fanning 8. His biggest out came in the fourth inning facing Lenny Dykstra, who was leading the league in batting average at the time, with 2 outs and the bases loaded. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Lenny lined one just foul outside the first base line, which almost certainly would have made it a 5-4 game. On the next pitch, he lined out to right to end the threat, and the Phils did very little fighting after that.

This was Ken Howell's shortest start of his career, and he made just 4 more appearances in 1990 before his major league career was over. After scoring all 5 runs off him, the Mets offense went to sleep, managing just 2 hits against the Phils' bullpen over the remaining 6.1 innings.

Couple other things I noticed during this game: 1. After flying out in the 6th, Charlie Hayes jogged back to the dugout by crossing over the pitching mound and even kicking the rosin bag. No one seemed to notice or care, but isn't this bad baseball etiquette? I bet if someone more fiery than Viola were pitching, like Cone, Hayes would have gotten plunked his next AB. 2. It annoyed me to see Jefferies throw a mini temper tantrum by slamming his batting gloves and helmet to the ground in the dugout after flying out in the 7th. He had gone 3-for-3 in his first three ABs and the Mets were coasting to an easy win, and yet this guy's gotta make a scene like he just stranded the bases loaded in a tie game. Chill out bro! 3. I know I have my criticisms of McCarver and Kiner, but they are like listening to a symphony compared to the Phillies broadcast team. Harry Kalas was so dry and boring and Richie Ashburn, despite a Hall of Fame playing career, contributed absolutely nothing to the booth. I got the sense neither one was interested in being there and would have been perfectly content to not say a word and just let the game play out in silence.

The one that started it all for me. I was eight years old, and my dad finagled two box seats by the first base dugout for this gem, a three-hit shutout by Dwight Gooden over Pat Combs. I was too young to appreciate Gooden's overwhelming power pitching, and actually at one point was whining, "Why won't the Phillies score runs?" Or so I'm told.

Darryl Strawberry hit a monstrous home run to right field that I never actually saw leave the yard, my vision blocked by all those standing adults.

Lenny Dykstra played in this one for the Phillies and received a warm ovation from the Shea crowd. Except from me, who didn't understand why Dykstra's '89 Topps card showed him with the Mets, and now he wasn't. I booed the "traitor", only to be quietly informed of the Juan Samuel trade and the way baseball worked.

Everyone's gotta start somewhere.

I remember this one well. In his second at-bat, Von Hayes was way late on a Gooden fastball and struck a screaming liner into the loge off the third baseline. I caught it. The first and only foul ball I've ever caught (or even had the chance to catch). That Gooden went on to pitch the complete game shutout just made it that much more special.

What great stories, thanks Bryan and Mark! That home run you mentioned Strawberry hit was a 425-foot moonshot that hit the scoreboard, and also extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He ended up hitting safely in 18 straight, which held up as the longest streak of his career.

Remember this one well...sitting in upper deck near foul pole in right (very high seats) on a hot, sunny day.

Two outs, bases loaded and Tim Teufel whacks two- strike pitch to right-center for game-winning two-run single off Roger McDowell.

I also remember Bobby O didn't have it that day, getting pulled in the fifth.

Jefferies played well that day, with two-run homer and RBI in ninth.

I think this was a Sunday afternoon game if i'm not mistaken. The Mets were the hottest team in baseball and Timmy Teuful won it off our old friend McDowell with a 2 run single. Probably the most exciting win of the 1990 season.

After some lengthy research this morning, mostly involving a picture of the Shea Stadium scoreboard with my name on it, I determined that this game was actually the first one I ever attended.

I barely remember it; I was approaching my fifth birthday, but it sounds like I wound up at a great one.

Hey alleydally, it might have been hot but at least it was sunglasses day at Shea so hopefully you were able to see the action without the sun getting in your eyes!

This game was crazy exciting, with lots of runners on base and double switches and managerial strategy getting involved. Credit the Mets bullpen for throwing 4.1 innings of hitless relief after Ojeda got the hook. Jefferies’ ninth-inning RBI single off McDowell must have felt extra nice for him, as the previous year McDowell got him to ground out to end a game, then talked some trash and ignited a bench-clearing brawl.

Mike Marshall got booed mercilessly during his pinch-hitting appearance. Despite playing awfully, he apparently demanded a trade. He could have gotten himself back into the fans’ good graces when he came up with 2 on and 1 out in the 6th facing the left-handed Dennis Cook, but he struck out swinging and the boos kept on coming. What a bum.

The FIRST time the Mets ever threw out Vince Coleman trying to steal happened in this game. Mackey Sasser got him.

If you want to know how rare that Coleman caught stealing was, he stole 64 bases during his career against the Mets and was caught just 3 times.

Keith Miller deserves plenty of credit in this win. Spot starting at 2B for Gregg Jefferies (stomach flu), he saved the game with a spectacular catch running into the RF foul-line fence on a pop up by Coleman with the bases loaded in the 9th inning. He then scored the go-ahead run on Hojo’s 2-out double in the 11th. Also, Kevin Elster’s home run was of the inside-the-park variety, the last for the Mets until Tim Bogar in 1993.

This was the Mets’ third longest game of the year at 4 hours and 19 minutes, and was their 8th win in a row, a streak that would reach 11 before they lost to Cincinnati on June 30.

The Mets win their 11th game in a row, tying a team record. Strawberry homers again, and is joined by Mackey Sasser. The entire Mets lineup was red hot at this point in the season, as along with Strawberry....guys like Jefferies, Sasser, McReynolds, Boston and Magadan were all in the middle of hot streaks. The Mets averaged over 7 runs a game from about early June till mid July. Arguably the most dominant stretch of baseball in team history.

Those 11 straight wins Michael mentioned are still tied for the club record; it's been matched only once more since then, in 2015. It was a solid win all the way around, as they did it without Boston or McReynolds in the lineup, and Ojeda pretty much silenced a Cincinnati lineup that seemed to feature .300 hitters from top to bottom. His 8.1 innings pitched, 126 pitches and 8 strikeouts were all season highs. He wore down late in the game, though, allowing five of the last eight batters he faced to reach base. Harrelson seemed intent to get Ojeda the complete game but eventually had to pull the plug in the ninth.

With Franco unavailable due to pitching an inning and two thirds the previous game, Buddy went with Jeff Innis for the save instead, a daring move considering the Reds countered with the lefty-hitting Ken Griffey Sr. and Paul O'Neill as his first two batters. With one out and one on, Griffey one-handed a pitch to the wall in RF but Strawberry caught it with his back up against the fence. O'Neill then singled, and Keith Miller booted the ball to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd. With Billy Hatcher batting next, Innis uncorked a wild pitch that scored Mariano Duncan. Edging ever closer to disaster, Innis then induced Hatcher to hit a nubber in front of the plate that Sasser pounced on and threw to first for the final out. After a sigh of relief, Innis could celebrate notching his first big league save.

Strawberry's homer extended his hitting streak to a career-best 18 games, which would get snapped the next game. I was surprised to learn that Moises Alou actually holds the record for longest hitting streak in Mets history. He hit safely in 30 straight games in 2007. I can't believe he stayed healthy long enough to achieve such a feat.

I listened to this game on the radio, a sad loss that ended an 11 game winning streak. The 1990 Mets started 20-22, which ended the Davey Johnson era. Before the streak, the Mets with Harrelson as manager won 10 out of 17, improving to 30-29 overall. After the last win of the streak, they were 21-7 under Harrelson and 41-29 overall, tied for first.

Then came this game. Cone pitched 7 innings and left the game with a 4-3 lead, but bullpen aces Jeff Musselman and Wally Whitehurst quickly helped turned a 4-3 Mets lead into a 6-4 deficit. I still sadly remember Joe Oliver's double to break the 4-4 tie and put the Reds up for good.

It was especially sad because Randy Myers had been my favorite Mets pitcher in 1988 and 1989. In this one, he pitched two scoreless innings for the save as a member of the Reds.

Oh, the horror.

Popped this one in the player today. A fun game to watch. What started out as a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at Shea turned into a long rain delay. At this point in the season the Mets were playing simply incredible and were almost unbeatable. The future world champion Reds helped and committed 3 errors, including a throwing error in the 9th to allow the winning run to score.

Michael is right, this was a fun game to watch. Ron Darling was pitching a gem until an hour and a half rain delay struck in the bottom of the sixth. During the delay, WWOR showed a Kiner's Korner interview with home plate umpire Eric Gregg (RIP), which I thought was highly entertaining and unique. When play resumed, the Reds left in starting pitcher Danny Jackson, who induced a double-play ball from Darryl Strawberry but an error by Mariano Duncan loaded the bases with one out. Flame-thrower Rob Dibble relieved and Kevin McReynolds greeted him with an RBI sac fly, giving the Mets a 2-1 lead.

It didn't last though. John Franco, looking for a two-inning save, allowed a run in the ninth, largely thanks to the rain that fell earlier. Joe Oliver hit a liner to left that scored Duncan from first as the ball was kicked around by McReynolds because he kept losing his footing in the outfield. He looked like he was running through a pond with all the water splashing up from his feet. But the Mets responded in the bottom of the frame, as Mackey Sasser blooped a lead-off double down the left field line and Kevin Elster followed with a sac bunt attempt that Ken Griffey Sr., playing a rare game at 1B, threw away looking to get Sasser at third, giving the Mets a wild walk-off win.

I was at this game. Xavier Hernandez came on in relief for Houston and Strawberry hit a bomb off the right field scoreboard. Two batters later Daryl Boston hit a bomb off the scoreboard that went even farther than Strawberry's. I think that was the longest home run I've ever seen hit at Shea.

Probably the most impressive win of the season. As Frank Viola pitched a complete game shutout and Straw and Darryl Boston both hit absolute bombs. 2 of the furthest homers hit at Shea. The Mets were the hottest team in baseball at the time and this game was the pinnacle of that type of play.

This game was over pretty much right when it started, as the two teams were quickly headed in very opposite directions. The 12-0 win was the Mets' most lopsided shutout win since beating the Cardinals 13-0 in 1976. Their biggest shutout win in franchise history currently stands at 17-0, which they did against the Phillies in late September of 2016.

Strawberry almost hit a third home run in the 6th inning but it died just short of the warning track. This was Straw's last of 22 multi-homer games he had with the Mets, still the franchise record. David Wright is second with 21. Although it's worth mentioning Pete Alonso already has 14 (as of this writing), so a new champ may not be far off. This was also Viola's last of 4 shutouts he pitched for the Mets. I also found it interesting that Mark Portugal, despite playing only one full season in the NL East (with the Phillies in 1998), gave up more home runs (18) to the Mets than any other team during his 15-year career.

I remember watching this one on TV as a kid in between running in and out of the house also watching the neighborhood fireworks. The Mets were on one of their best hot streaks in team history and Strawberry hit another homer as he was probably the hottest hitter in baseball at that point.

To get a feel for how hot Strawberry was, his first-inning homer was his 5th in six games and his third in his last four at-bats! Hojo also homered in the pivotal 8th inning, one of only two longballs reliever Larry Andersen gave up over 73.2 innings all year. Andersen was traded to Boston later in the season for Jeff Bagwell in one of Houston's best trades in franchise history.

Gooden won his fifth straight start, a streak he would extend to seven. He went 8 innings despite dealing with a blister on his pitching hand, which seemed to start to affect him by the 6th inning when he allowed three runs on four hits, including a home run to Franklin Stubbs, and a sac fly but was helped out of the inning when Sasser threw out Biggio trying to steal. Houston tied it up in the 7th, but the Mets rallied in the 8th for the win. Interestingly in that 8th inning, with runners on the corners and 1 out, Buddy pinch hit for Gooden with Mike Marshall, and Houston countered by taking out lefty Juan Agosto and inserting the righty Andersen. Even with lefty Tom O'Malley on the bench, Buddy stuck with Marshall, who delivered his last Met RBI with a sac fly. Next up was Hojo, who hit his 2-run shot to put the icing on the cake.

A couple last notes on McCarver and Kiner, who were in a particularly upbeat and jovial mood tonight. McCarver was already talking no-hitter in the third, and as soon as he mentioned it Rich Gedman doubled off Gooden. The jinx effect is real, my friends. Also, here's a convo the two had during the 2nd inning after McCarver said Bill Doran has a "broken big left toe": McCarver, correcting himself, "You don't have a big left toe." Kiner, "Yeah you do, you have a left big toe and a left little toe." McCarver, "But that would imply you only have two toes on your left foot." Kiner, "Yeah but a lot of people run around life with two left feet." The two giggle for a while before moving on. Even the antagonistic McCarver knew when it was best just to drop a subject with Kiner.

The big blow in this game was Darryl Strawberry's 3-run homer in the top of the 7th, which put the Mets ahead 8-7. John Franco gave up a homer to Ron Gant in the bottom of the 9th to make it 9- 8. This was a really exciting win.

The all-star break could not have come at a worse time after this game. With this win...I believe the Mets completed a stretch of 27-5 baseball, quite possibly the best any Mets team has played for a period of about a month in team history.

You're pretty close, Michael. Since losing three in a row and then winning vs. Montreal on June 5, the Mets went 26-5 between that win and this win. That took them from 4th place in the NL East and 8.5 games out of first to 2nd place and just a half game back. Despite getting so close to first, they actually wouldn't overtake the Pirates until July 27. Unfortunately, they pretty much played .500 ball after the All-Star break and saw this hot stretch go to waste.

Outdueling an unusually effective Marty Clary, Viola picked up win #13 here, tying him with Oakland's Bob Welch for most during the first half of 1990. Only Tom Seaver tallied more first-half wins in a season than Viola in Mets history, notching 14 twice. Of note, Viola needed just 3 pitches to retire the Braves in the fifth inning of this game. And despite starting the Mets' last game before the break, Viola still pitched in the All-Star Game, though he didn't start it (that honor went to Cincinnati's Jack Armstrong). Viola, as well as John Franco, each tossed a scoreless inning, though the NL still lost 2-0, getting 2-hit.

Speaking of Franco, he did something here he only did 15 times as a member of the Mets -- get an at-bat. He bounced out to short in the 9th, then tightroped his way around a pair of walks to record his 17th save. In 14 seasons with the Mets, Franco went 0-for-15 at the plate with 9 strikeouts.

As a final note, it was absolutely awesome to hear Bob Murphy on the WWOR telecast. He had such a great delivery and cadence calling a ball game, I forgot how enjoyable it was to listen to him. Too bad there weren't any home runs in the game, I would have loved to hear one of his signature "there it goes" calls.

The Mets open the 2nd half of the season just as they ended the first half, with a convincing win. They hit 4 homers and beat up the Reds pitching staff to keep pace with the 1st place Pirates, a positon that the teams would switch on and off until early-mid September.

Jeff Innis was interviewed pre game before the Mets-Astros game and did a completely spot on impersonation of Frank Cashen. Apparently Jeff could do a few guys on the team too, but his Cashen was incredibly accurate.

As for the game, Gooden got his 10th win, and HoJo and Elster both homered for an easy win at the Astrodome.

El Sid stikes out seven in a row to claim the Met record by a lefty, and second to Tom Seaver's ten-in-a-row for all Met pitchers.

The Braves scored three runs in this game, one on a passed ball, one on a wild pitch, and one on a sac fly.

The 3-2 victory gave Atlanta one win in this four game series at Shea, and the Braves dropped their fourth series in a row. The next time the Atlanta Braves lost four straight series was in May of 2004!!

A game played in and out of rain all afternoon and the Mets offense could do little to nothing off Glavine and the Braves all day. A minor blip at the time as the Mets were playing fantastic baseball.

Dickie Thon's only career grand slam wiped out a Met lead and did the Mets in on this occasion.

Sort of forgotton now but after Roger McDowell was traded from the Mets, he tended to pitch his worst against his former team. This game was just one example of him getting hit around, as the Mets came back from a 4-0 hole, scoring 7 times in the final 3 innings. Mackey Sasser hit 2 homers as he continued the best season of his career.

The world famous Bob Murphy call of "they win the damn thing" was at the end of this game. The Mets took a 10-3 lead into the 9th and watched the lead shrink to 10-9 before Franco got the last out of the game on a line drive to Mario Diaz.

This game was unbelievable. The Phillies kept getting hit after hit in the bottom of the 9th inning. They had 5 runs in and the bases were loaded with no one out. Then John Franco came in and got the next batter to ground into a double play. The next hitter was Tommy Herr, who lined out to Mario Diaz to end the game.

The Mets had a seven-run lead entering the bottom of the ninth, but just barely held on to win. The Phillies started the inning with seven singles and a walk before an out was made. John Franco had to come in and shut the door.

Bob Murphy's "win the damn thing" quote on radio right after the final out is well-known. But just prior to the Phils' comeback effort, another set of words (since forgotten) was said on television. Fran Healy made a comment that he would walk back to New York if the Mets lost this game. As the ninth inning wore on, it looked as if Fran was going to have a very long, tiring trip home. Thankfully, for Mets' fans and, especially, for Healy, he didn't have to make that 100+ mile journey on foot!

How many of us are going to come to this page and post a memory today? Let me be the first (or fifth or tenth).

As soon as Werth hit his flyball last night (July 7th) for the final out, the irony of the opponent, score and near comeback flashed my mind back to 1990 and, I must admit, I uttered the famous quote to myself. I was lucky enough to be in my car listening to Murph at the end of this game. After I parked, the comeback mounted, so I waited until the end to get out, which, thankfully allowed me to hear the famous lines, live and in person.

With all due respect to Mike Vacarro, who I know has posted on this site occasionally (see Jon Matlack's one hitter in 1974), here is the exact quote copied from his column in today's NY Post:

"Here's the pitch on the way. Line drive - caught! The game is over! The Mets win it! A line drive to Mario Diaz and the Mets win the ballgame! They win the damn thing by a score of 10-9!"

[full disclosure: when it flashed through my head last night, I thought Backman was the second baseman, how could I forget the immortal Mario Diaz??]

This game was eerily similar to that of 7/7/08, which the Mets also won, 10-9, in Philly.

I watched both games, and I started thinking about this game when the score of the 2008 game was 10-3, and looked up the box score on here when it was 10-5.

Amazing how Mets history can repeat itself!

This was the first game I ever went to as a kid. I was seven years old and went with my family. I was a Mets fan back then and had a blast. Then two years later I found out about the Astros and became an Astros fan. I think I made the right choice. In fact, I know I did.

Facing a Cardinals starting lineup that combined to hit a paltry 26 home runs in all of 1990, Doc Gooden cruised through 7 shutout innings to win for the 8th time in his last 9 starts.

Mackey Sasser also hit the only grand slam of his career in the 5th to turn this into a rout.

One of the rare Mets games at Olympic Stadium post 1986 that was played under the sun and it looked fantastic on tv. The Mets would have a neat and tidy win to remain in 1st place at the time, with a monster homer from Strawberry over the center field fence.

At the time,a huge win with a 9th inning comeback for the Mets, especially off of Lee Smith.They scored 3 times in the 9th, including a go ahead sac fly by Alex Trevino, who had been reaquired before the game.

The Mets stayed in 1st place by a game over Pittsburgh, and the 2 teams would continue to go back and forth until the Pirates took control in mid September.

Here was the turning point of the 1990 season. The Mets had been red hot the past couple of months, going 40-15. Also, they had two 9th- inning comebacks on the road this past week.

The turning point came in the sixth inning. The Cardinals have 1st and 3rd, one out, and Todd Zeile at the plate. The Mets are hoping for a double play, and Todd Zeile chops one right back to Gooden. But Gooden chooses instead to throw to 3rd and try to catch Willie McGee off base. He got back safely. Now the bases are loaded with one out, and the next batter Terry Pendleton promptly clears the bases with a 3-run double. Even the Mets radio announcers did not understand why Gooden did that.

From this game on, the Mets would be a mediocre 30-30 and would miss the playoffs once again.

Terry Pendleton was a huge nemesis to the Mets on several occasions.

I certainly felt like Gooden's bizarre throw to third was the turning point of the game, and it's hard to argue against it being the turning point of the season. Even so, the Mets didn't go down without a fight, as Teufel and Hojo hit back-to-back homers in the ninth to tighten it up. Magadan walked after that and I thought the comeback was inevitable, especially with the Cardinals giving overworked closer Lee Smith the day off. But Jefferies just got under one and popped up to short, and Strawberry hit a screaming liner to right that was caught for the last out.

Gooden had won 8 straight decisions prior to taking the L here. Also, I found it amazing Mackey Sasser raised his average to .353 for the year by going 3-for-3 (and was later pinch-hit for with the weak hitting Alex Trevino in another head scratcher). Unfortunately, it was all downhill from here for Mackey. He hit .200 over the rest of 1990 and .240 the rest of his career. Real shame he couldn't keep it up.

A rare mid-series afternoon game at Shea. A funny moment in the mid innings when Von Hayes fell flat on his face while trying to score on a single, making it easy for the Mets to throw him out at the plate. Though it was nothing compared to the next night's famous brawl with Gooden. In this game, David Cone and Don Carmen almost came to blows early in the game on some close pitches before umpires quickly got involved. Seems that it set the tempers in place for the next night's all out fight between the teams.

Gotta be the wackiest game I've ever been to. During an era where there was a lot of bad blood between the Mets and Phils, things seemed to reach a head tonight. Gooden started, and was pretty wild. He had hit 2 or 3 Phils and was trailing 3-1 when he stepped to the plate leading off the 5th vs Pat Combs. And Combs plunks Doc in the leg with his first pitch. And Doc goes after him, and pops him one in the face before Darren Daulton caught him from behind, and rained some punches on the back of his head. And chaos ensued. Then-Phillie Dennis Cook got body slammed by Umpire Country Joe West. Mackey Sasser landed someone on the ground--don't know who--but Mackey was beating him mercilessly. And just when it looked like order might be restored, Darryl decides to take on John Kruk, and all hell broke loose again. All told, this was about 15 minutes of solid beatings, and 7 ejections--Gooden, Strawberry, Teufel, Combs, Daulton, Cook and if memory serves, the Philly bullpen coach got tossed. Left shorthanded, the Mets then came back in the 6th. HoJo hit a 2-run HR, and then Kelvin Torve, in his lone appearance wearing #24, belted a 2-run double off the wall for a 5-3 lead. The Phils were relentless this game, though, and cut the lead to 5-4 before Franco closed it out. Philly, I believe, had 16 hits this game to the Mets 7--Dykstra alone had 5 hits. But all for naught as the Mets won an unforgettable affair.

My grandfather and I were sitting next to this kid and his father. The kid had binoculars. The Mets were trailing 3-1. The kid said, "The Mets need a home run and a miracle." Then Gooden got hit with a pitch and charged the mound. The place went bedlam. The kid was going crazy looking into the binoculars, giving the play-by-play. "Strawberry got punched in the face!" The noise was insane.

I wondered what my grandfather must've thought. He was buying hotdogs for us when it happened. When he came out, he said he thought someone had hit a grand slam. There was a special kind of noise in Shea Stadium in those Strawberry, Gooden, Hernandez, Carter years.

I went to an off-Broadway called "Quiet On The Set" with my brother and mom; I had 2 disappointments that night: 1) Cady McClain, who I had a huge crush on,she played Dixie on All My Children, was SICK and didn't appear in the play. 2) I wish that I had brought my radio because that was the night of the brawl. After the play ends, my sister and her then-hubby pick us up in front of the theatre and he's telling me about the brawl. He drives me and my mom home and I rush into the house to put on the Ch. 7 news and the brawl was the top story of the night instead of Saddam Hussein, who had just invaded Kuwait. Outside of the '73 NLCS & '86 brawls; this one was the most violent brawl ever. Still remember Country Joe West slamming then-Phillie Dennis Cook to the ground on the highlights.

That's crazy some of you actually went to this game. Just to clean up some of what Mets2Moon wrote, the Mets actually had 8 hits (not 7) and Dykstra only had 4 hits (not 5), and I believe Strawberry was going after Daulton and not Kruk as retribution for the sucker punches Daulton landed on Gooden at the start of the fracas. Other than that, great synopsis, and I'm super jealous as you probably went to the most exciting and newsworthy game of the season.

The last time Gooden faced Philly he fired a complete game 2-hitter on June 23; the Phils matched that hit total in this game after their first two at-bats when Dykstra and Daulton led off the game with singles. And talk about the fight all you want, but I question what Gooden was doing batting during the 5th inning in the first place. He was 98 pitches into arguably a clunker of a start, and with the Mets down 2, I don't know why he was left in to bat. Maybe Buddy wanted the brawl to take place to fire up his troops? Cause Doc knew the beaning was coming, as he was practically charging the mound before the pitch even hit him. And for as violent and elongated as the fight was, I can't find any evidence anyone was suspended. Gooden made his next start and all his remaining starts over the rest of the season, and if anyone was going to be suspended, it would have been him. 1990 was just a different time, evidently.

If Buddy used this as a spark, it worked. The Mets batted around in the 6th, with the big hits being Hojo's game-tying 2-run homer, and Torve's go-ahead 2-run double, which marked his first hit as a Met. Franco netted yet another 2-inning save, though in typical fashion he made things interesting, allowing a run in the 8th and then starting the 9th allowing back-to-back singles by Von Hayes and Dale Murphy. But in a head-scratcher, the Phils pinch-hit for Kruk with the scrubby Sil Campusano, who struck out. Herr and Charlie Hayes followed with groundouts and that was that.

No memories of this game at all, but posting here to implore Dave VW to share all his VHS tape collection with "This is Where You Find Baseball" or "Phenia Films" on YouTube. Please do so for the sake of the UltimateMets.com community and all Mets fans in general.

Since I feel obliged to write something about this game here, John Franco got a two inning save, but gave up 5 hits and a run. Shockingly, he didn't walk one batter. One of his best outings as a Met.

A game played in and out of rainstorms all night, including a lenghty rain delay. Ron Darling put the Mets in an early hole that they could never dig out from.

A very anticipated matchup between Gooden and young phenom Ramon Martinez turned out to be for not. Both pitchers had nothing and gave up 7 runs each. The Mets did hold on for an exciting 9-8 win in the first game of the doubleheader

With the Dodgers threatening in the 9th, having runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Juan Samuel hit a slow grounder to SS, a ball that was probably hit too slow to get anyone. But the ball hit the runner going to 3rd, giving the Mets a huge break. John Franco got the final out on a harmless fly ball, and the Mets had an important win in the race for the East.

Kevin McReynolds hit the game winning homer in the top of the 9th to win a huge game in the middle of the pennant race, his 2nd of the night.

John Franco gets the save in relief of Doc, who got the first 26 outs.

This game showed that the Mets were back to their old mental errors. In the bottom of the 3rd, when Mike Sharperson stole second, Todd Hundley failed to look Jose Gonzalez back to third base when he threw to second, and he stole home.

In the 7th, with the bases loaded, Kevin McReynolds hits a blooper that is just fair in right field. It looks like 2 runs will score easily. But Gregg Jeffries was tagging from second, and can only get to third. He should have at least played halfway with 1 out. The Mets cannot score again that inning, or for the rest of the game.

They lose 3 out of 4, their worst series in LA since 1981.

David Cone, approximately 43 minutes into the game, drew a walk at the plate after an amazing 15 pitches. During this at bat, Cone hit 9 foul balls. The announcers, Jerry Coleman and Rick Monday, remarked how they had never seen anything like it.

Wonderful afternoon game at Shea - a gorgeous afternoon with near-perfect weather, rookie sensation 21 y/o Todd Hundley was catching and hit a double, Gary Carter was playing one of his first games AGAINST the Mets in years, and Darryl Strawberry hit a monstrous grand slam deep into the right field mezzanine. All this, and the fun of watching the beer guy tripping four aisles up from my family, sending his entire freshly-filled tray of beer flying - then cascading - down the aisles. . .

A childhood memory not to be easily forgotten.

Everything you said about this game is correct Howard, except this game was a night game, not an afternoon one. I only know because I happen to have the game on tape and was recently watching it.

Funny with a name like Howard you don't also mention that Howard Johnson also smashed a tape-measure 3-run shot in this blowout win! Strawberry's grand slam was the last of 5 the Mets hit in 1990 and the last of 4 he hit during his Mets career. Jefferies also homered and had it get caught by Alejandro Pena in the bullpen. I miss the times when Met relief pitchers would do that. Of interesting note, Giants starter Mike LaCoss gave up just 5 home runs in 77.2 innings in 1990 -- 4 of those were hit by the Mets.

Sid was phenomenal here, tying a season high with 12 Ks. Loved seeing the SSSSSSSSSSSSID strikeout tally signs across the upper deck facade. But geez, here's another example of Buddy sticking with his starter for too long. Already having thrown 110 pitches entering the 8th, Sid stayed out there and gave up a walk, double, another walk, and single before finally getting relieved at 126 pitches. What's the point of this with one month left in the season and your team up 7-0? I get back in this era no one really paid attention to pitch counts, but Sid's body language was screaming that he was out of gas the entire inning. I really think Buddy gets a lot of undeserved credit for the 1990 turnaround when it was really just a case of a good team that got off to a slow start. And Buddy's shortcomings would be sorely exposed the following season.

One other thing that irked me: the WWOR telecast routinely relayed incorrect pitch counts all season. When Sid was taken out, they said he ended with 119 pitches. That's 6 off! Whoever was in charge of keeping track of this obviously flunked his first grade math class.

One of the best games I've attended. Mets trailed 3-1 in the last of the 9th, with 2 out and 0 on vs Giants closer Bedrosian when Jefferies singled. Magadan followed with a double to score Jefferies. Bedrosian intentionally walked Strawberry, a move which would later be the subject of controversy, as it was the winning run. McReynolds banged a single up the middle, scoring Magadan to tie the game, and sending Straw to 3d. The miracle comeback is capped off when Ho-Jo lofted a fly ball down the right field line which dropped in, barely fair and barely out of RF Mike Kingery's reach, Straw scores, and pandemonium erupts at Shea!

Sadly, in retrospect a day of false starts so typical of the late 80's Mets. I remember the game started out with the aquisition of Charlie O'Brien and Tommy Herr; real ballplayers. Then there was the 2 out no-one out 3 run rally reprise of 86, which ended as HoJo's flair fell just out of Mike Kingery's reach. The place was estatic. To cap matters off , I'm listening to Howie Rose's old post game show when Houston comes back from two down with two out in the ninth to beat the Pirates! These had to be signs from the baseball gods that the World Series was in the future! Sadly, Zane Smith, Doug Drabek et al argued to the contrary. I wonder if the gods of baseball Karma were somehow extracting payback for Game 6? Fifty years hence, will we speak of "The Curse of Buckner?"

As I saw this comeback unfold, it brought back memories of that famous sixth game of the World Series four years earlier. The Mets had two outs, nobody on base and they were down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. With Giants' starter Don Robinson still on the mound, Magadan smacks a hard single and scores on a double by Jefferies. Starter Don Robinson still on the mound, Magadan smacks a hard single and scores on a double by Jefferies. Reliever Steve Bedrosian comes in to pitch and walks Strawberry intentionally. McReynolds gets a clutch single to drive home Jefferies and the game is tied. Hojo then comes up up and hits this fly ball down the right field line that falls in and Strawberry scores the winning run. The miracle victory was reminiscent of of the one that shocked the Red Sox in 1986, only with a hit instead of an error to end it.

One ironic fact here is that Kevin Mitchell caught a fly ball for the first out of the ninth. It was Mitchell who singled and scored tying run on a wild pitch in the '86 rally. This time, he saw the Mets pull off the same kind of thing from the other side.

This was Tommy Herr's and Charlie O'Brien's first game as Mets, and I remember how I couldn't believe the hated Cardinal, Tommy Herr, from the 1980s was a member of the New York Mets.

I was at this game and, lo and behold, Tommy Herr hit a home run, but I still never liked him, and it was one of very few highlights that he provided Mets fans.

The first glimpse of O'Brien that game refreshed my memory of how a real defensive catcher is supposed to play, as opposed to the hitting catcher I was used to, Mackey Sasser. I won't even go into Sasser's throws (or attempts) back to the pitcher.

My first ever game attended...wow...what a memory. Darryl homered, my favorite Met of all time. Julio Valera's MLB debut. I don't remember how long he was in the majors but I'll always remember his name. He made his in person Shea debut the same day as me ;) 10-year-old me and my Dad enjoyed every moment. Dad I love you. Rest peacefully.

I was 8 years old when I went to this game. It was Kid Cuisine binder day. I think I remember the Kid Cuisine mascots were there too; BJ & The Chef or something. I still have the binder somewhere in my basement.

In addition to the binder, you wound up going to a pretty good game too, Anthony. The two teams combined for 30 hits, each left 11 runners on base, and there was all kinds of excitement on the basepaths. Brett Butler got picked off twice, the Giants failed a suicide squeeze, and Mackey Sasser put the Mets up to stay with a clutch 2-out, 2-run, pinch-hit single off lefty reliever Mark Thurmond (who was pitching in his last of 314 career big-league games) in the 5th.

Also, watching this game back I couldn’t understand why Bud Harrelson didn’t pinch hit for Wally Whitehurst with the bases loaded and 2 out in the 6th. The pitcher popped out to end the inning, then promptly allowed the first three batters to reach base in the 7th before getting the hook. Glad that bad decision didn’t wind up costing the Mets the game.

Certainly the high point of the 2nd half of the season for the Mets. Their 7th win in a row on a Labor Day afternoon,. The Mets were in first place by half a game over Pittsburgh. Sadly this would be the last day that was the case. The offense completely went to sleep over the next 5 games,scoring 3 runs combined and falling into 2nd place. A position they would stay in for the rest of the year.

The Mets came into this doubleheader with a 77-56 record, just half a game behind the first place Pirates. Long-time nemesis Zane Smith pitched game one for Pittsburgh. Keith Miller led off the game with a single, then Smith retired the next eight batters before walking Miller with two outs in the third. From that point forward, Smith retired the final 19 Mets to come to the plate. The Pirates scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on a bases loaded single by Barry Bonds (after Bobby Bonilla was intentionally walked with one out and runners at second and third). Frank Viola pitched well for 8 innings, but it went down the drain.

Zane Smith gave up a single to the leadoff batter in the game, then got 27 outs without giving up another hit!! That has only happened three other times since September, 1990. Thanks to Jayson Stark of espn.com and retrosheet.org for that info.

The Mets lost the second game of the doubleheader and lost again the next night to the Pirates. They wound up scoring just two runs and collecting just 11 hits in the three games, and the first collapse of the Buddy Harrelson era was underway.

Zane was insane after getting acquired by Pittsburgh in 1990, going 6-2 with a 1.30 ERA over 11 appearances, with this performance likely his best. He needed only 92 pitches to go the distance; in comparison, Viola reached that pitch count in the 6th inning. I'm not so sure I would say Viola "pitched well" here; more like he bent but didn't break, as he allowed a baserunner every inning, walked 5 and needed to dance out of trouble seemingly the entire game. Still, this was a matchup of arguably the two best left-handers in the NL in 1990, as Smith (2.55) and Viola (2.67) finished the year second and third, respectively, in ERA among lefty starters (John Tudor of the Cardinals finished first at 2.40). Pittsburgh acquired Smith from Montreal that year in exchange for Scott Ruskin, Willie Greene and a player to be named later, who turned out to be none other than Moises Alou!

As for the Mets, this was their second straight 1-0 loss, and their first time being 1-hit since Sept. 29, 1987, by Philadelphia southpaw Don Carman. They'd again get 1-hit a couple weeks later by Montreal's Chris Nabholz, another lefty! They were just dreadful against left-hand pitching during this era. In 1990, they collectively hit just .233 vs. LHP, the worst in all of baseball.

In regards to the game itself, the pivotal play came after Gary Redus led off the bottom of the 9th with a single off John Franco. Jay Bell was looking to sacrifice but his bunt barely got beyond home plate. Charlie O'Brien quickly picked it up and fired to second, where Redus was a dead duck, but the throw bounced and skipped past Hojo covering the base, and everyone was safe. Van Slyke then got down his own sac bunt, moving runners to 2nd and 3rd, and Bob explained what happened from there in his post. Franco had fell behind Bonds 2-0 but then evened the count before Bonds hit his walk-off single, which was really just a routine flyball to left but since everyone was playing in, McReynolds just let it sail over his head. It marked Franco's first loss of his Mets career. After a brilliant start during his first season in New York, Franco faltered in September, losing 3 games, blowing 3 saves and allowing 10 runs in 10.2 innings.

Big-time playoff feel to this game, with pretty much a full house on hand to watch the Pirates pull off a DH sweep of the Mets and increase their NL East lead to 2.5 games. It just so happened Pittsburgh swept all five of their doubleheaders during the 1990 season. Meanwhile, the Mets just couldn't score runs during this stretch, and were outscored 16-3 during this five-game losing streak.

This marked Ojeda's final of 109 career starts for the Mets. He pitched three more times in relief, then was traded to the Dodgers during the offseason along with Greg Hansell for Hubie Brooks. Brooks was supposed to be the RF replacement for the departed Darryl Strawberry, but that didn't turn out well at all.

Jeff King had his first career two-homer game in this one, and I recollect him being a particular nuisance against the Mets, though he was just a career .272 hitter with 8 dingers vs. New York.

One last piece of trivia: Lee Mazzilli's son, LJ, was born the next day. LJ was drafted by the Mets in the 4th round in 2013 but never really panned out. He played in the Mets' system until 2018 when he was traded to the Yankees. As of 2022, he's still playing on the independent circuit for the Long Island Ducks.

On a 5-game losing streak coming into the game, the Mets were in one of the biggest offensive slumps that I've ever seen. Scoring a combined 3 runs in their last 5 games. Even a bad team would have been overdo to break out, but with the offense the 1990 Mets had, they were long overdue.

Although held scoreless for the first 3 innings of this one, they finally broke through and ended up with a 12-2 victory. Jefferies and McReynolds both went deep. At the time, this was probably the most needed win of the year, coming in the middle of the pennant race.

Overdue for sure, as they collected 12 hits and also walked 11 times (every Mets starter walked at least once). The flyball McReynolds hit in the fourth really opened the flood gates, as Dale Murphy overran the ball and it dropped in for an RBI double. That was actually the Mets’ first hit of the game, and it was on from there.

However, I can’t help but wonder why Gooden had to pitch a complete game here. Shows you how much the game has changed in terms of starting pitchers. Cruising 11-2 in the 8th, Harrelson let Gooden hit despite being at 97 pitches. With the pennant on the line, would it not have been best to have given Doc the rest of the night off and save some bullets? What if he got plunked and broke a finger, or pulled a hammy running to first? This happened 32 years ago but I was still yelling at Bud to get Gooden out of the game!

Finally, here's a gem from Ralph Kiner that was said during the telecast: “Statistics are a lot like a girl in a bikini. It shows a lot but it doesn’t show everything.”

I remember watching this game on Channel 9 and as Strawberry came up to bat in the 9th with the score tied 8-8 and I told my mom that he's ending it with a home run. On the next pitch, he took Lee Smith downtown. Good Night. The next day I went to my friend's beauty salon and I bragged that I called Strawberry's home run; her husband said to me that he called it as well. Talk about kharma!!!

Recently watched this one on the old tape and I can honestly say that I'm not sure I've ever seen Strawberry hit a ball harder than this homer off Lee Smith. It was out of the ballpark in the blink of an eye. Incredible power and one of the last great moments that we'd get from Straw, as he was in the final weeks of his Mets career.

During this period of his career, Strawberry made it feel like he could hit a home run anytime he was up. This one couldn't have come at a better time, as St. Louis kept battling back and the Mets were set to open a huge series vs. Pittsburgh the next night with the NL East on the line. Despite giving up the walk-off homer, Lee Smith was one of that season's best closers, and in fact gave up only 3 longballs all year across 83 innings.

John Franco was actually trying to set the Mets' single-season saves record here, too. He would notch his 32nd save two nights later to top Jesse Orosco's 31 saves from 1984.

Also, hat tip to Charlie O'Brien, who had four productive plate appearances, including a two-run double, and also threw out both runners who tried to steal against him. One of his few bright spots while playing in Flushing.

This game marked David Cone's 5th complete game of the year.

Looking back this is a sad game in many ways. It was truly the last "big" game that those "80's" Mets would play in front of their home crowd and win. Cone was fantastic and went the distance as the Mets tried to keep pace with the Pirates, but it wasn't enough, as Pittsburgh would play fantastic the next few weeks and the Mets would play only average.

With one out in the top of the ninth inning and Cone on pitch 128 for the night, Sid Bream drilled a long fly ball to right that Darryl Strawberry caught at the wall. Another couple of inches and this game would have been tied. Cone then got Mike LaValliere to fly out for the final out, giving the Mets their 10th straight win at home, which at the time was one away from tying the franchise record. They won again, 6-3, the next day to tie the record.

The Mets lowered the lead of Pittsburgh to just a game and a half after this must win. Strawberry hit a huge 3 run homer in the 4th and Gooden won one of his last real pressure packed games with the team before their demise in the coming years.

Unfortunately, soon after, the Mets would suffer a season killing 5 game losing streak.

This was my first-ever MLB game I attended. To my not-so-much joy, my favorite player, Kevin McReynolds, was ejected after arguing balls and strikes. But we won.

During the pre-game warmups, I called out to one of the Phillies players and he tossed me a baseball. Both Dave Cone and John Franco signed this ball the same day as they were out signing for the fans. Years later, I added both Doc Gooden and Frank Viola (who got his 19th win that day).

For a brief period of time during this game the Mets actually went back into first, as the Pirates lost to the Expos and the Mets held the edge due to percentage points. But they dropped back to a half game out once this loss became official. Cone didn't have it here, no big shocker since he was working on 3 days rest after having thrown 131 pitches against the Pirates his previous start. John Kruk struck two triples in this game, a feat he would accomplish again in a game against the Reds the following year. Something about Jose de Jesus the Mets just couldn't figure out in 1990. The Brooklyn native was 3-0 with a 1.07 ERA against the Mets that year.

The Mets season ended this night! If they won it they would have been tied for first, but Johnny Franco blew it!

Strawberry's last homer at Shea (at least as a member of the Mets). A 3-run shot in the 8th inning to tie the game at 3, a game the Mets needed to win in the worst way. Truly one of Straw's finest moments. Sadly it's completely forgotten now, as John Franco came on in the 9th and gave it right back as the Mets watched the Pirates pull further and further away with the division. One of the most frustrating games in team history.

I was at this dreadful double-header. In this game, it felt like the Mets were down 12-0, even though it was only 2-0. Chris Nabholz dominated with a 1-hitter.

The Mets could do nothing against left-handers at this point, and that is why they didn't win the division this year.

Not realized at the time, but this was the last home game for Strawberry as a Met. He missed the remaining home games.

Strawberry's last homer as a Met, hit off Greg Maddux, was in this game. A solo shot. The Mets got a much needed win to attempt to keep pace with the Pirates. But Pittsburgh was just playing too well at this point in the season.

Strawberry would only appear in a few more games for the rest of the year, as a back issue kept him from playing (though, at the time, he was questioned if it was more his pending free agency that was keeping him out). A weird ending to a fantastic Mets career. It's disappointing that Straw never got a proper send off, as his season just ended so abruptly.

Just watched this one recently, truly one of the most frustrating losses of that entire era. A day that the Mets truly needed to win, with Pittsburgh not letting up at all, and they could only muster 3 runs (all on solo homers), with the wind blowing out. The Mets left so many baserunners on base over the last 3 innings, they could have started a football team. It ended with Strawberry flying out softly to left field with runners on in the 9th, ending a devastating day for their division hopes.

I just found a reference to this game in my old second grade journal, which I largely used to chronicle how the Mets had done the night before. At the age of 7, I wrote that David Cone (13-10) had gotten the win, and Dennis "Marteenis" (10-11) had taken the loss. A good memory from my first full season following the team.

As it turned out, this game would be Straw's last appearance as a Met, as he did not play in any of the 6 remaining games against the Cubs or Pirates.

As he did earlier in this week, Cubs lefty Paul Assenmacher essentially put an end to the Mets season on this day. He ended up going the last 4 innings, closing out the win for the Cubs and handing the Mets a lose that put the nail in the coffin. With this loss, the Mets no longer controlled their own destiny, as now they needed the Pirates to lose the next day to have any shot at all of going into the last series of the year in Pittsburgh with a chance. And with the way the Pirates were playing at the time, it just wasn't going to happen.

Although the race with the Pirates was all but over anyway, still a terrible ending to the Mets home season as Franco blew a late lead. Sadly as solid as John was during most of his first year as a Met, he left the fans with a horrible taste in their mouths with blowing some very winnable games down the stretch. He wouldn't really get to redeem himself in a pennant race until the late 90's.

Sad game in many ways for me. Frank Viola wins his 20th game in a meaningless game(we had already been eliminated from playoff contention by the Pirates). This was also Darryl Strawberry's last game as a Met and the continuation of his horrific downward spiral. I hate to think of what he could have been.

As David M. said in February of 2002, Frank Viola won his 20th in the last game of another disappointing season. Frank pitched seven innings to get the win.

Jerry Reuss started and got a no decision for the Pirates. Doug Bair came in to pitch the last two innings. It was the final major league game for both of these 41-year-old pitchers. Reuss wound up pitching in four decades (1969-1990) and finished his career with 220 wins but never won more than 18 in a season.

Mets LF Chris Jelic homered in the eighth inning off Bair. It turned out to be Jelic's first, last, and only major league hit, and it came in his final major league at bat. He finished his career with just 11 at bats, and all of them came in the final week of the 1990 season. Jelic, who came to the Mets with David Cone prior to the 1987 season, was released in November 1990 and never made it back to the majors.

Despite the win, a sad ending to a wonderful era in Mets history. Straw would be gone and the decision to replace his power with Vince Coleman's speed proved to be fatal. A note about the 1990 season, a lot of people tend to forget how good this pitching staff was on paper. Going into spring training, we had Darling and Ojeda fighting for the last spot as a starter, that's how deep the staff was. Too bad the offense couldn't hit left-handed pitching, that proved to be our downfall in 1990.

Truly a sad day in Mets history. The best and most exciting era in team history would be over after this game for most part. Sadly this 1990 Mets team is largely forgotten today, as most people remember the 80's versions. But this was a VERY good and underrated Mets team. Their run differential was BY FAR the best in the National League. Unfortunately their utter and complete inability to hit lefties down the stretch is what really killed them.