Amazing Away Games: Olympic Stadium, Montreal. Six Home Runs on Opening Day!

April 4, 1988. Mets 10, Expos 6

The 1988 Mets were certainly aware of the shadow they were playing under. Two years removed from the chaotic, magical, and entirely unrepeatable 1986 World Championship.

The 1980s Mets were a cultural phenomenon, with names like Hernandez, Strawberry, Carter, Gooden, and Darling all over your televisions and newspapers.

They expected to dismantle the competition, and that's what they did in 1988, winning 100 games. They won their division by 15 games. You want MVPs? The dynamic Strawberry finished second and the quiet, blue collar Kevin McReynolds finished third.

You want Cy Young? New addition to the rotation David Cone finished third in the voting behind 23 game winner and then household name Orel Hershiser and another 23 game winner, not even a household name in his own household, Danny Jackson. Cone went 20-3 with a microscopic 2.22 ERA.

Just the other day, David Stearns said he would need 10 to 12 starting pitchers for next year. The 1988 Mets mainly used 5 (two more pitchers shared an extra 4 starts all year). That's consistent and that's healthy.

On Opening Day in Montreal, the Mets basically had the same lineup from 1986, except for McReynolds in left and young Kevin Elster now the full time shortstop after Rafael Santana's trade across town.

Old Mets friend Hubie Brooks, a star shortstop with the Expos, was now a right fielder. Hall of Famer Tim Raines was still in his prime. Familiar names Tim Wallach, Andres Galarraga, and Dennis Martinez dotted their Opening Day squad.

Who was the first Montreal pinch hitter to leave the bench this day? This is for you Yankee fans...your old friend Graig Nettles was still chugging along at 43 years old! Since the Yankees retire numbers at will....is Homer Bush's number retired yet?...I see no reason why they don't retire Nettles's number 9. It's already in Monument Park for Roger Maris (2 good years), so they wouldn't even have to remove it from an active player. Nettles played 10 years with them, led the league in homers in 1976, made 5 All-Star teams, won 2 Gold Gloves, and in their World Championship years in 77 and 78, Nettles finished 5th and 6th in MVP voting.

Met fans might recall Nettles tried to end the Mayor's Trophy Game in 1978 when he threw away an easy grounder by Ron Hodges in extra innings. At least that's what Sparky Lyle wrote in his book "The Bronx Zoo." But the Mets still couldn't score thanks to diving plays by second baseman Brian Doyle. (Personal note: I asked Nettles that question at the opening of his bar/restaurant near Queens College in the early 90's. He said he absolutely tried to end the game). Cool side note: The Yankees won the game in the 13th on a squeeze bunt by future Mets announcer Fran Healy! (See Mark Rosenman's great piece on Fran last week).

In our game, the Mets got two baserunners on in the top of the first, but only three Mets came to the plate! Lenny Dykstra walked and was picked off. After Tim Teufel singled, Keith Hernandez grounded into a double play.

Montreal scored off Doc Gooden in the first on a triple by Mitch Webster (no relation) and a single by Brooks.

In Darryl Strawberry's first at bat of the year, he homered off Martinez, but it was his second off Randy St. Claire in the 7th that has become mythical. The ball hit the circular shaped roof in deep right field and bounced back in play. No baseball had been hit so far before or since in Montreal or maybe anywhere and the umpires were stunned. They had no choice but to rule a homer. How far did it go? 500 ft? 600 ft?

The Mets hit 6 home runs that day, the team record at the time. The present record is 8 in Philadelphia in 2015.

The other homers were by Dykstra and the two new additions, Elster, and two by McReynolds.

In the bottom of the fifth, Gooden held a 4-2 lead before the Expos tied it up on a Tom Foley groundout (not former Met Tim Foli) and a single by catcher Jeff Reed.

The Mets took the lead for good in the top of the sixth, on a hit by Carter and Dave Magadan, pinch hitting for Doc, walked. Dykstra's homer brought in all three runs.

Cone, who would go on to win 20 games in 28 starts and 7 relief appearances, started the sixth. He would pitch 2.1 innings, giving up a pair of runs, including a homer by Brooks. Randy Myers pitched the last 1.2 hitless innings.

Was anyone else thinking of Gooden, Myers, 1988, and the playoff loss to the Dodgers? We will all think that Davey Johnson could have brought in Myers to face the lefty Mike Scioscia in that turning point in Mets history.

Hernandez's childhood buddy Bob McClure also made an appearance in the game. McClure started the 9th and got his Little League teammate to foul out. After Strawberry singled, McClure was removed for righty Jeff Parrett to face McReynolds. Straw was caught stealing, but McReynolds homered for his second of the day to make Expos Manager Buck Rodgers's day even more difficult.

The Expo second baseman who made the penultimate out was Casey Candaele. He holds a fascinating baseball record! His mother, Helen Callaghan, played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940's. Candaele and his mother represent the only mother/son combination to play professional baseball! (His aunt Marge Callaghan also played).

Casey's brother Kelly created a documentary about the women's league for PBS which eventually led to the Penny Marshall-directed movie "A League of Their Own. "

Whoever said "There's no crying in baseball" wasn't watching the Mets this last April.