In appreciation of the 2008 season being the last season for the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. I will be taking all of us back on a trip down memory road, to relive some of the great moments to take place at Shea.

Part one of my series brings right back to the beginning, on April 17, 1964. It was on that day that the Mets would take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first ever opening day at Shea.

Jack Fisher took the mound for the Mets that day, and the first batter he faced was Ducky Schofield (father of Dick Schofield, who would play with the Mets in the early 1990's). Though Schofield popped out for the ballpark's first out, the Pirates would eventually go on to record the first win at the ballpark defeating the Mets 4-3. Bob Friend got the win for Pittsburgh, while Ed Bauta took the loss for the Mets.

In the bottom of the first Tim Harkness took his place in Mets and Shea Stadium history as the first Mets batter to come to the plate at Shea. In his first at bat he grounded out to Schofield at shortstop. The man who made the put out at first was none other than future Met Donn Clendenon. Clendenon of course would become one of the leaders of the 1969 Miracle Mets, with that special season culminating in him being named the 1969 World Series MVP. Harkness would record the first ever Mets hit at Shea in the bottom of the third inning.

That day a few future Hall of Famers (all Pittsburgh players of course) took their place in Shea history. Willie Stargell recorded the ballpark's first hit and home run, all on one swing in the second inning. In addition to Stargell etching his name in Shea history, Roberto Clemente would be the ballpark's first strike out victim as Fisher would sit him down in the first. In the sixth inning Bill Mazeroski (one of the greatest defensive second basemen of all time mind you), would be the third Hall of Famer to be linked to opening day at Shea, as he made the first error in the ballpark's history.

It would be almost a week before Ron Hunt would hit the first Mets home run at Shea, but never the less, a new era in the great history of not just baseball in New York, but the City of New York was born. Though the Mets lost that first game, it would only be four years before Shea hosted a championship sports season, and five years before the Mets would win their first World Series. Shea Stadium, had arrived and a new era had begun.
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According to Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com, the Mets are interested in acquiring Pirates LHP Damaso Marte, ‘but not at the current price.’

In his last 140 relief appearances for the Pirates, spanning two seasons, Marte, 32, has a 3.13 ERA while left-handed batters hit .154 against him.

I guess it couldn't hurt, but it's not worth their asking price of Fernando Martinez. Read More...

July 30, 2004... A day that most Mets fans recognize as the day our "illustrious" General Manager Jim Duquette orchestrated one of the worst trades in Mets History. The Mets had a record of 49-53, and were in fourth place in the NL East, sitting 7 games behind the division leading Atlanta Braves. At this year's trading deadline, the Mets thought that they were still contenders in what was an already disappointing season. It was announced that day, that the Mets had traded highly touted prospect Scott Kazmir and minor leaguer Jose Diaz to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the injury prone and ineffective Victor Zambrano. And the rest is history... Zambrano continued to be mediocre at best, and couldn't stay healthy enough to pitch very many games, while Kazmir went on to flourish into a top pitcher for the Devil Rays.

It was a day that I myself hate reliving, but even I had to chuckle when today I had discovered that Jim Duquette, now the Assistant General Manager of the Baltimore Orioles, has once again acquired Victor Zambrano from the Pittsburgh Pirates for CASH...

Will September 9, 2007 be remembered as the day Orioles fans wish they had their cash back? Probably not, but they will regret ever hiring Jim Duquette as their Assistant General Manager. What the hell does this guy see in Victor Zambrano? Zambrano wasn't good enough to pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates who are arguably the worst team in baseball. Last season, Zambrano had an ERA of 6.57 for the Mets, which is absolutely horrendous. But Zambrano wanted to prove he was even worse than that... This season, his ERA with the Blue Jays was 10.97.

Certainly, Zambrano must have pitched better in the minors this season right??? WRONG... Zambrano started the season with a 4.50 ERA in single A ball, and followed that up with a 6.00 ERA in double A. not to be outdone, Zambrano continued his mediocrity with a 7.46 ERA in triple A, before finally being released by the Blue Jays. He then had a brief stint in the Pirates minor league organization before Jim Duquette came calling for his favorite player of all time.

The only winner here is the Pirates, who at least got some compensation for their Victor Zambrano experiment. But hey, good luck to you Victor, I'm sure your luck will change with the Orioles. As for you Jim Duquette... get ready to find a new job.
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The Mets completed the 3 game sweep of the Nationals at RFK stadium by beating the Nationals by a score of 8-2. The Mets outscored the Nationals 21-8 during the series.

The Mets' bats continue to produce as this was the 8th straight game in which the Mets had scored at least 5 runs, and their 5th straight game of scoring at least 6 runs.

The Mets went 5-1 on the 6 game road trip to Pittsburgh and Washington, which helped them extend their lead over the Phillies and Braves to 4.5 and 5.5 games respectively.

Last week, I had said that the Mets would need to win at least 6 of the 9 games against the "second rate teams" (the Marlins, Pirates, and Nationals). The Mets accomplished that goal, and have now opened up a bit of a lead in the NL East.

However, the road from here is difficult, over the course of the next 4 series, the Mets will face the Padres, Dodgers, Phillies, and Braves; all of whom are contenders looking to make a playoff run.

LAST NOTE: Congratulations Global New York Mets for this the 100th post on the Blog, may there be hundreds more Read More...

As the old saying goes, to make the playoffs, all you have to do is play .500 ball against your division rivals, and beat up on the second division teams. The Mets will need to use this lesson the next week and a half.

After a disappointing series loss to the division rival Atlanta Braves, the Mets will spend the next three series facing three of the worst teams in the National League with a series at Shea against the Marlins, before traveling to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates and to Washington to face the Nationals.

It is incredibly important that the Mets (for lack of a better word) "beat up" on these pathetic teams, in order to get back to winning and opening up their minuscule 3 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. This is especially important with the Phillies and Braves playing each other this weekend.

The Mets have to win at least 6 of the 9 games in this set of bad teams, in order to maintain a safe lead in the NL East for the immediate future. This should be easily doable for the Mets despite their heartbreaking loss to the Marlins in the opener of the series. With the return of Carlos Beltran, the Mets lineup is finally back to full strength, and should have a series of bad starting pitchers to face over the next 8 games.

The Mets still have 7 games remaining with the Phillies, and 6 games remaining with the Braves, so every win from here on out (including those against the second rate teams) will be crucial. Read More...