Amazing Away Games: Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Keith's SF in SF wins comeback.

May 15, 1984. Mets 7, Giants 6 (11 innings)

In 1984, the New York Mets were no longer just building for the future - they were demanding the present. Coming off seven consecutive losing seasons, the club arrived at Shea Stadium with a bold new identity forged by manager Davey Johnson, the electrifying arrival of 19-year-old phenom Dwight Gooden, and the steadying star power of Keith Hernandez.

What followed was a 90-win campaign that transformed Flushing from a baseball afterthought into an epicenter of New York energy, laying an indelible blueprint for the championship culture that would capture the baseball world two years later.

In 1984, The Magic was Back.

Even by the middle of May, Mets fans could see this wasn't the Mets of Youngblood, Henderson, and Mazzilli anymore. Even though this writer loved those squads, winning wasn't a regular occurrence. The team was 19-13, in first place over a pesky, veteran Cubs team that would eventually overtake the Amazin's.

This Giants team was off to a rough 13-22, placing them in last place in their division, already 7 games out of first. The Giants were stocked with recognizable names. Chili Davis was only in his third year, but he would play 19 seasons with 350 home runs. Al Oliver was in his next to last year out of 18 seasons. "Scoop" Oliver, a famed member of the Pirate "Lumber Company" of the 1970's, would end his career with over 2,700 hits and a career .303 average. He would garner MVP votes in 10 different seasons. Why isn't he in the Hall of Fame? He was certainly better than many there already.

Jack Clark was a long time feared hitter, with 340 career homers and a career .379 OBP. That man knew the strike zone and could take a walk! He was in the league for 12 years before he had his first 100 strikeout season. But then again, big strikeout numbers weren't the norm during this era.

Other names you might know include Bob Brenly, who would manage the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Championship in 2001. Duane Kuiper was a long time Giants broadcaster. Dusty Baker pinch hit in this game. Baker has the 8th most wins as a manager in Major League history, and will probably be elected to Cooperstown in December.

Youngblood started at third for the Giants. The former Met All-Star had signed on as a free agent.

The other "name" you might know is Frank Williams. No, silly, not the jobber wrestler from Columbus, Ohio , who famously said the wrong thing to "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. This Frank Williams was a reliever for three teams, with a fine 3.00 ERA over 333 games.

After the Mets got out in order in the top of the first, it was time for Ron Darling to take the mound for the Mets. After a Davis strikeout, Oliver singled and, predictably, Clark walked. That set the table for cleanup hitter Jeffrey "Penitentiary Face" Leonard. Leonard never smiled and was remembered for rounding the bases with one arm glued to his side. "One Flap Down" circled the bases for a three run homer and the Mets were quickly down 3-0.

Younger fans who never saw Darling pitch know he is a brilliant announcer from Yale, but he was a clutch pitcher in the team Hall of Fame. He is 4th in Mets history with 99 victories and innings pitched with 1,620. He is 7th in team history with 1,148 strikeouts, and 5th in starts (241).

Until Nolan McLean this year, Darling was the only Mets pitcher to win a Gold Glove (1989).

Darling also appeared in the comedy movie "Shallow Hal." You might not know that he had cameos in "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Mr. 3000."

Darling gave up a two-run homer to Clark in the third and the 5-0 score was looking like game over.

The Mets broke through against SF starter Jeff Robinson in the 5th, when Darryl Strawberry doubled and came home on a single by rookie catcher Mike Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, traded away by the Mets in the Gary Carter deal, would hang around in the bigs for a decade. He even played 30 games in the outfield.

Robinson was still around in the 7th, breezing with a 5-1 lead. Strawberry reached leading off the inning on one of two errors on the day by shortstop Johnnie LeMaster. LeMaster somehow stuck around for 12 years with a shotty glove at short and a .222 career average. No reason you couldn't see why he was called "Johnnie Disater" by the Giants faithful. He even came to the plate one game with "BOO" on the back of his jersey. He heard it so much, he hilariously said he thought it was his name.

Mookie Wilson then singled, and Straw came around to score on another RBI hit by Fitzgerald.

Randy Lerch was brought in to relieve for San Francisco. Lerch was a long time Phillie who started 113 games for the team. This was in his later days as a lefty reliever who was brought in to face pinch hitter deluxe, Rusty Staub.

Staub was resigned by the Mets in 1981 and was promised the first base position. When the Mets also reacquired Dave Kingman to provide power, the team moved Staub to the bench.

Staub finish his career with 2,716 hits. If he had started his last 5 Mets years, he could have finished with over 3,000 hits and a ticket to Cooperstown. Rusty could hardly move at that point. Throwing out cliches like slow as molasses, slow as a turtle, or going at a snail's pace would not paint the correct picture. We love Staub, but I'd take Bartolo Colon in a run off.

Fun fact: Rusty was only the second player to hit a home run as both a teenager and over 40 years old, joining Ty Cobb. They were later joined by Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez.

Lerch struck out Staub and retired Wally Backman on a comebacker to end the threat. What else was notable about that strikeout? Trusty Rusty only struck out FOUR times in 1984 in 79 at bats!

Brent Gaff worked around a two-out double by Oliver to send the game to the 8th. Williams gave up a single to Jose Oquendo and walked Hernandez, before his short day was done.

The Giants manager was Hall of Fame legend Frank Robinson. Many don't realize that when Robinson retired, he was fourth all time in home runs behind the forever Big 3 of Ruth, Aaron, and Mays.

Robinson brought in Greg Minton, who was a Giants bullpen ace and closer for 13 years!

Minton didn't have much this day, as he walked George Foster (tough to do!), gave up a single to Strawberry to score the first runs of the inning, gave up another hit to Wilson to load the bases, and then Hubie Brooks slapped a two-run single to give the Mets the lead, 6-5.

Johnson brought in closer Jesse Orosco to start the 8th. Remember, closers going more than one inning was the norm. Hall of Fame relievers Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, and Bruce Sutter regularly pitched more than an inning for a save.

Orosco got into trouble immediately on singles by Youngblood and Brenly. After Baker and "Disaster" were easily retired, Frank Robinson pinch hit Steve Nicosia, a right handed bat, for lefty first baseman Scot Thompson vs the southpaw Orosco, who was always murder on lefty batters.

You might recall Nicosia was the backup catcher to Ed Ott (curse you, Ott, for what you did to Felix!) on the Pittsburgh "Fam-a-lee" 1979 Champions.

Nicosia singled to tie the game at 6.

Mark Davis retired the Mets in the ninth. Davis was also a tough lefty who would later win a surprise Cy Young as a San Diego reliever in 1989. He was certainly tough on Hernandez, who grounded into a double play.

Orosco loaded the bases with no out in the bottom of the ninth and it didn't look so good for the Amazin's. But Brenly popped out to short and Orosco struck out both Joe Pittman and LeMaster (BOOOOO!) to send the game to extras.

Foster started the 10th as the ghost runner at second base.

PLEASE TELL ME IF I GOT YOU FOR A SECOND!

Davis got the Mets in order in the 10th and Orosco came out for his third inning of work! Jesse worked around two walks to send the game to the 11th. If you're counting at home, Orosco had 5 strikeouts and 9 baserunners in three innings. How many pitches? Maybe a billion? Nobody counted, except in their own dugout.

The 11th started as Fitzgerald reached on another error by LeMaster (BOOOOO!). Ron Gardenhire, who entered the game in a double switch, grounded into a force play and was pinch-run for by Ross Jones. Gardenhire was a long time manager who is 46th all time in victories.

Jones went 1-10 in his Mets career with that hit being a game winning double (Yikes, I was there.). He came to the Mets in the Sid Fernandez trade as a throw-in.

Kelvin Chapman doubled to send Jones to third and then Oquendo was walked intentionally to load the bases for Hernandez to set up a double play.

READ THAT AGAIN!!

Robinson walked the ridiculously light hitting Oquendo to go lefty-lefty with Hernandez, possibly the best clutch hitter in baseball. Davis was also pitching his third inning. Any Met fan was thanking Frank for this gift, and Keith did not disappoint, especially in his hometown.

His sacrifice fly to left scored Jones with the go ahead run. All that stood in the way was a save by Doug Sisk.

YOU FORGOT SISK WAS GOOD! That's right, in his first three seasons (this was his third). Sisk had ERAs of 1.04, 2.24, and 2.09. When Sisk came out for the save, any knowledgeable Mets maniac exhaled with the comforting thought of Sisk.

He struck out Youngblood and walked Brenly. Pittman grounded into a force play. Tom O'Malley, a future Met, then pinch hit for the Disastrous one. Pittman tried to steal second to get the tying run into scoring position, but was thrown out by Fitzgerald to end the game!

Do you remember this game? Would an Oquendo-type hitter ever be walked for a Hernandez-type today? Lefty, righty, whatever? What do you think?