Top Mets Games of the Year: #5-1

We've come to the very best of the year that was. A couple days ago we took a look at the 10th through 6th best games of 2011. Now, we'll look back on a handful of games that were even better: the top five Mets games of 2011.

#5: Game #56: Mets 9, Pirates 8

Thursday, June 2. Citi Field, Flushing, NY

With two bad losses and Terry Collins' message of "Things have got to change" still ringing in their ears, the Mets capped a 4-game set with the Pirates on this Thursday afternoon. After falling behind 7-0 in the middle of the 3rd, it looked to be business as usual. Then, after two quick outs in the bottom of the 3rd, the team woke up. Oh, did they wake up.

Carlos Beltran blasted a 3-run homer to get New York on the board, then hit a double that started a rally in the 6th inning that led to a 4-spot and a tie game. The 8th inning brought us one of the more confusing sequences in recent memory (see "Straight Outta the Twilight Zone" in the game summary), which was capped by a Ruben Tejada sac fly (one of his first clutch moments of the year) and a bases loaded walk by, who else, Carlos Beltran. Francisco Rodriguez walked his tightrope in the 9th but ended up with the save. The comeback win broke the team out of its Wilpongate malaise and helped to spark one exciting month of June.


#4: Game #59: Mets 6, Braves 4

Sunday, June 5. Citi Field, Flushing, NY

Just three days after the Pittsburgh comeback, the Mets played host to the Atlanta Braves on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Jose Reyes was already red-hot at this point, but it was with the national spotlight on him that he caught fire.

Like clockwork, Reyes led off the game with a single and came home on Carlos Beltran's double. He drew a walk and scored on a wild pitch in the 2nd. In the 4th he drove home a run by stretching a routine single into a double. It was in the midst of Jose's latest showing that ESPN's Bobby Valentine finally spoke out, calling Wilpon's Bluff on the whole "Keep Reyes or Keep Wright" farce. The former Met manager's prediction eventually came true, as Reyes finished out his record-setting year in the orange and blue, and while it's not yet set in stone, it appears likely that New York will be Jose's home for next year and beyond.

The rest of the game was not nearly as eventful, but quite satisfying for Met fans from Long Island to Long Beach. R.A. Dickey was masterful and the bullpen survived the 9th inning, giving the team a primetime victory that surely surprised a few people. And at 220+ pageviews, the summary from this game registered as Midwestern Met's most widely read post of the year.

#3: Game #84: Mets 3, Yankees 2 (10)

Sunday, July 3. Citi Field, Flushing, NY

It was the day Jose Reyes was named the NL's starting shortstop in the All-Star Game, but nobody was smiling after Jose's injury the day before. The strain of Reyes' left hamstring abruptly ended his other-worldly run at the plate and landed him on the DL for the first time on the year. Add that deflating development to a 2-1 deficit in the bottom of the 9th, and it appeared the Mets were on their way to a sweep at the hands of Mariano Rivera their intra-city rivals. Then Jason Bay caught lightning in a bottle.

It started out innocently enough: Bay took a close 3-2 cutter and drew a two-out walk. Then Lucas Duda came through with a single that sent Bay to third. Ronny Paulino fell behind early, but fought back to ground a base hit into right to tie the game. Duda may have been thrown out at home on the next at-bat, but it didn't matter: the Mets had come back against the greatest closer in baseball history. It was on to extras.

K-Rod got out of trouble in the top of the 10th and Scott Hairston drew a leadoff walk in the bottom half. Angel Pagan sac-bunted him over to second, and Justin Turner was hit by a pitch. After Carlos Beltran struck out, Daniel Murphy hit a weak grounder to short that Ramiro Pena couldn't handle. Up came Jason Bay, the man who started it all in the 9th. If Bay doesn't do anything else in his New York career, he'll be remembered for this: Jason laced a single into right center, and just like that the Mets were winners.

Aside from coming back from the dead against the Yankees, what makes this game one of the best of the year was the way the Mets were able to show resiliency in the face of adversity. Their superstar had been bitten by the injury bug, and yet they refused to go quietly into the good night. It was a common theme for the Mets in 2011, as is demonstrated by these next two games.

#2: Game #104: Mets 8, Reds 2

Wednesday, July 27. Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, OH

I confess, I'm more than a little partial to this one. First, I was at this game, and second, it was the best time I've ever had at a baseball game. Luckily, it also happened to be one of the more compelling games of the entire season. And one of the greatest.

Hours before, Carlos Beltran was dealt to the Giants. To Reds fans in the stands, this appeared to be New York's throwing in of the towel. After all, they had just traded away one of their best players for, at least on the surface, peanuts. Little did anyone know, those peanuts were San Fran's top pitching prospect. And what's more, Beltran's replacement on the field that night helped the Mets do absolutely everything right on that Wednesday night.

Angel Pagan got things going fast with a 2-run 1st-inning double. In the 5th, new 3-hole hitter Daniel Murphy highlighted a 4-5 night (with his family in the stands, no less) with an RBI double. In the 6th, new right fielder Lucas Duda made an early case for a permanent spot in the lineup, blasting a laser of a solo homer into the right field stands. David Wright's 3-run longball in the 7th capped the scoring night for the Mets, and Mike Pelfrey rode that momentum all the way home for the complete-game victory.

Once again, the Mets showed the baseball world that they would not fold in the face of adversity. Even with one of the franchise's all-time greats on his way out, Terry Collins and his boys were going to keep playing, and keep winning.

So what could possibly top any of these games and take the cake as the Mets' best of 2011? Try the one right after the team's worst of 2011.

#1: Game #114: Mets 9, Padres 8

Monday, August 8. Citi Field, Flushing, NY

The day before, Jose Reyes was placed on the DL for the second time, and the team's other .300 hitter, Daniel Murphy, was knocked out for the year with an MCL injury. There was supposed to be no coming back from this. The experts called it, the fans called it, I called it, much of the baseball universe called it. The season was over. Done. Pack it up, wait till next year.

Except, it wasn't. Baseball has the longest season of any sport: 162 glorious games. The Reyes and Murphy injuries happened in Game #113. The Mets still had 49 more games to play in 2011. With 49 more games, there were still plenty of chances to give the fans a thrill. Oh boy, they didn't make 'em wait long.

Down 8-4 after the Padres broke it open with 4 in the 8th, New York got 2 back after a Mike Baxter double and Ronny Paulino sac fly. But still being down 2 runs and about to face one of the best closers in baseball in Heath Bell, the odds were still stacked against the team making a comeback.

But Jason Pridie led off the 9th with a single. After Angel Pagan struck out, Justin Turner came through in the clutch again with a single, sending Pridie to third. David Wright, not particularly known for his clutch hitting, swung at the first pitch he saw and grounded it through the hole into center, scoring Pridie. Up came Lucas Duda, looking to do something big. After a rare wild pitch from Bell advanced Turner and Wright to second and third, it was the best chance Duda could have asked for. Lucas punched a ground ball past a diving Orlando Hudson at second and into right center. Turner easily raced home, and Wright slid in for the game-winner, getting up to join the frenzy mobbing Duda between first and second. Against all odds, the Mets had come back and won the ballgame.

The reason this particular game tops the other 161 is that, more than any game the whole season, Mets fans needed this win. After what had happened the previous afternoon, they had to have this win. It didn't look like it was ever going to come, but with everything going against them, in the face of their biggest adversity of an adversity-filled year, the New York Mets refused to quit. And they gave their fans that win. And on the back of this win on the night of August 8, Mets fans got through the rest of the 2011 season with their faith in their team as strong as ever.


And that does it for Midwestern Met's top ten New York Mets games of 2011. Here's to the many more great wins coming in 2012.

MM

Top Mets Games of the Year: #10-6

Even if you finish 77-85, when you play 162 games in a season, you're gonna have some pretty thrilling wins. 2011 was no exception. The New York Mets' season was filled with thrilling come-from-behind victories and equally thrilling lopsided triumphs. What I've done is come up with the ten best games Met wins from the season that was, my own "Top Ten List," per say. But there's no Letterman funniness in this list, only fond memories.

Instead of cramming all the goodness together in one post, we're gonna spread it out over the next couple days. Tonight, we'll be covering top games 10-6, then after tomorrow's reflection on the bottom five games of the year (sad, but we have to do it), we'll finish off the weekend with the top five games of 2011.

Let's let the good times roll:

#10: Game #93: Mets 11, Phillies 2

Saturday, July 16. Citi Field, Flushing, NY

A couple weeks after Jose Reyes began his first DL stint, Carlos Beltran came down with the flu and had to miss this Saturday afternoon contest against the Mets' hated rivals. With David Wright still out of commission, New York's batting order for the day consisted of: Pagan-Turner-Hairston-Murphy-Bay-Paulino-Evans-Tejada-Niese. On the mound for the Phillies? Former World Series MVP Cole Hamels.

Who didn't think they would put up an 11-spot?

Scott Hairston led the charge from the 3-hole, finishing the afternoon 3-5 with a home run, 2 doubles, and 5 RBIs. Daniel Murphy, not to be outdone, also went 3-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs, the solo shot coming in the 5th, the same inning Hamels was knocked out of the game. On the other side of the hill, Jon Niese turned in a superb pitching effort, limiting Philadelphia to one earned run (2 total) in 7 innings. New York would lose the series, dropping games the previous day and next day, but I'd say embarrassing your archrivals on national TV with the ultimate makeshift lineup makes up for that.


#9: Game #28: Mets 2, Phillies 1 (14)

Sunday, May 1. Citizens' Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA

This Sunday Night affair started off innocently enough. Chris Young pitched masterfully against Cliff Lee, getting in line for the win after 7 shutout innings. The Phillies tied it in the 8th, but the real fireworks started in the 9th inning. Out of nowhere, a chant started building in the crowd. As Dr. Seuss once wrote, "It started out low, then it started to grow."

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

As the news of the death of Osama bin Laden spread through the crowd at Citizens' Bank Park, the action on the field seemed less important, and these two bitter rivals looked less like enemies. While people will remember where they were when they first heard the news, what gets forgotten is that the game being played was a real dandy. Ronny Paulino capped a 5-7 night with the game-winning single in the top of the 14th, and as it was in 2001 in the aftermath of 9/11, the Mets won the game blended together with the bigger story.

#8: Game #97: Mets 6, Cardinals 5 (10)

Wednesday, July 20. Citi Field, Flushing, NY

This game has special significance to me because it was on my 20th birthday during a wonderful vacation in South Haven, MI. What better way to end that day than with a game like this? A real present.

ESPN was in the booth, and Gary, Ron, and Keith were on the Pepsi Porch for this Wednesday Night affair. R.A. Dickey didn't have his best outing, falling behind 4-0 in the 3rd, but the team got back into it that next half inning. New father Josh Thole doubled in Lucas Duda, and Dickey himself bounced a grounder into left to score Thole. In the 5th, with Jose Reyes on base, Carlos Beltran sent one towards the SNY crew in right with his 15th home run (and last with the Mets). The Cardinals re-took the lead in the 8th, but Thole, still sky high with excitement, laced a 2-out single to tie the game. After Jason Isringhausen tore through the heart of the St. Louis order, Angel Pagan blasted the first pitch he saw in the 10th, sending it literally a couple feet from Gary, Ron, and Keith, giving the Mets their first and only walk-off home run of 2011, and receiving one of many whipped cream pies in the face Willie Harris would dole out through the summer.


#7: Game #156: Mets 8, Cardinals 6

Thursday, September 22. Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO

By this point, things were pretty bleak for Terry and his team. Long out of the playoff picture and falling fast in the standings, New York was down 6-1 in the 8th inning, appearing to be all but swept away by the Wild Card-charging Cardinals. St. Louis ended up making the playoffs after Wednesday night's 24-esque finish, but if they hadn't, they would have looked at this game as the back-breaker.

Ruben Tejada singled in the 8th, then went to second on an error, third on a wild pitch, and came home on a passed ball. In the 9th, Willie Harris walked. Then Nick Evans reached on an error. Josh Thole flew out. Jason Pridie walked. Justin Turner walked, forcing in a run. 6-3. Jose Reyes singled, one run scored. 6-4. Ruben Tejada, "Mr. Bases Loaded," doubled home 2 runs. 6-6. The man who started the whole rally, Willie Harris, singled home 2 more runs. 8-6, Mets win.

New York was supposed to fold up and go home, being down so many runs with so few outs left. But Terry Collins helped to instill a never-say-die attitude in his young Mets this season, and this Thursday afternoon in St. Louis was the last, and one of the finest, examples of that winning attitude.

#6: Game #79: Mets 14, Tigers 3

Tuesday, June 28. Comerica Park, Detroit, MI

This was one of many attempts the Mets would make at getting back over the .500 mark in June. Against one of the top teams of the American League, I doubt many people gave the Amazin's a realistic shot of doing it on this Tuesday night. And even if they did manage to squeeze it out, there's no way anyone saw them winning like this.

Riding a title wave of runs all the way from Texas, New York got started early. Doubles from Daniel Murphy and Angel Pagan brought home the first 2 runs in the 1st. After two quick outs in the 4th, the Mets really blew it up. After already plating 3 runs and loading the bases, Jason Bay stepped up hoping to end the team's 299-game grand slam drought. With a towering shot down the left field line, Bay made sure it wasn't 300 games. In the 5th is when things got really freaky: after waiting almost 2 years between grand slams, New York had to wait just 2 outs, as Carlos Beltran lifted the second grand salami of the night into the Detroit night.

There weren't too many times when Mets fans could feel on top of the world this season, but this game in Detroit was one of them. The next night the team scored 16 more runs (all without a home run), making it a team-record 52 runs in 4 games and catapulting the team back into the win column.


And that's it for now. Tomorrow we'll get the bottom five out of the way; check back on Sunday for the top five games Mets games of the year.

MM