Royals (Citi Field: Flushing, NY)
Mets record: 7-8
Mets Current streak: Won 1
Mets Last 10 Games : 7-3
WP - Brooks Raley 1-0
LP - Chris Stratton 0-1
S- Edwin Diaz (3)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Today's Seat on the Korner belongs to Jose Butto, who kept Kasnas City's bats quiet. Butto had his second six-inning outing of the year (Sean Manaea was the only other Mets to have one). He allowed just two hits, struck out nine, and was superb in front of 32,749 revved-up fans on Dwight Gooden's jersey retirement day. After the game manager Carlos Mendoza said to expect to see more of Butto. Maybe even on Kiner's Korner.
Need to Know
With Dwight Gooden's No. 16 retired and Darryl Strawberry's No. 18 set to be taken out of circulation on June 1, the Mets now have nine numbers retired. With these two number retirements, the Mets will have retired nine numbers, plus Jackie Robinson's No. 42, which was retired throughout baseball on April 15, 1997 at a ceremony at Shea Stadium. The other numbers retired are No. 37 for manager Casey Stengel (1965), No. 14 for manager Gil Hodges (1973), No. 41 for pitcher Tom Seaver (1988), No. 31 for catcher Mike Piazza (2016), No. 36 for pitcher Jerry Koosman (2021), No. 17 for first baseman Keith Hernandez (17), and No. 24 for Willie Mays in 2022. After three retired Mets numbers until 2015, the Mets will have hoisted up six numbers since 2016.
Since this was Dwight Gooden's day for his No. 16 to be retired, here are some numbers about No. 16's first three season and how they compare with other Mets pitching greats to start a career. And there have been some good ones: Dwight Gooden (1984-86): 58-19, 2.28 ERA, 99 GS, 35 CG, 744.2,744 K, 222 BB Tom Seaver (1967-69): 57-32, 2.38 ERA, 104 GS, 50 CG, 802.1, 582 K, 208 BB Jerry Koosman (1968-70): 48-28, 2.47 ERA, 95 GS, 38 CG, 716.2, 476 K, 208 BB Jacob deGrom (2015-17): 30-22, 2.74 ERA, 76 GS, 1 CG, 479.1, 492 K, 117 BB If only Gooden could have maintained the dominance and stamina that he had the first three years, when he even surpassed Seaver in a few categories. Gooden and Seaver won NL Rookies of the Year, a Cy Young Award, and a World Series in those first three years. Koosman finished second to Johnny Bench for 1968 NL Rookie of the Year and was on the mound when the Mets won the 1969 World Series. deGrom was 2014 NL Rookie of the Year and helped lead the Mets to the 2015 pennant. These four aces accumulated three Rookie of the Year Awards, seven Cy Youngs, and one Hall of Flame plaque for Seaver. All four won a Cy Young during their careers; Seaver and deGrom are the only Mets to earn more than one.
Now we can close the books on No. 16 in Mets history. Thirty Mets in all wore the number. The fraternity included Daisuke Matsuzaka, Rick Ankiel, Angel Pagan, Paul LoDuca, David Cone, Doug Mientkiewcz, Derek Bell, Hideki Nomo, plus pre-Gooden 16s Lee Mazzilli, John Stearns, Felix Millan, Mike Jorgensen, Danny Napoleon, and the first wearer, Bobby Smith (1962).
The last 16 was Travis Jankowski, a reserve outfielder now with Texas. He hit .167 in his lone season as a Met in '22. Gooden, always proud of his hitting and especially good at it "for a pitcher," batted .197 for his Mets career. Doc batted under. 167 only once in 11 years as a Met, spanning 845 plate appearances and collecting eight career home runs and 67 RBI.
Turning Point
Harrison Bader came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth. The Mets had left runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings against Cole Ragans (six innings) and reliever John Schreiber (scoreless seventh). Bader didn't hit the ball hard, but his swinging bunt could not be handled and Brett Baty scored. Brandon Nimmo then walked--Chris Stratton's fourth free pass of the inning--to make it 2-0. That extra run would come in handy in a 2-1 win.
Three Keys
TRUMPETING THE LAST OUT
Edwin Diaz hadn't pitched in a week and hadn't saved a game at Citi Field since 2022. The trumpets that signalled his entrance sounded the same, but maybe he was a little rusty in the ninth. He came in to protect a 2-1 win and put the Mets three outs away from their third successive series win and creep within a game of .500 after an 0-5 start. Diaz got the first two outs, including a soft grounder to the mound by Bobby Witt Jr., but Vinnie Pasquantino hit the hardest ball by either team. His drive over the wall in right made it a one-run game. The Mets caught a break that Freddy Fermin was due up instead of Salvador Perez, who had to come out of the game after tagging out Starling Marte at the plate. Diaz got Fermin to pop up, Pete Alonso stumbled under it, and the Mets had the win.
PLAY AT THE PLATE
In what was the Mets' best scoring chance until the eighth, the first two Mets reached base in the fourth inning. Starling Marte singled and then Francisco Lindor (still getting encouraging cheers from the Citi Field faithful) singled to right; both players moved up on an error by right fielder Hunter Renfroe. With nobody out and the infield in, Cole Ragans (six shutout innings, five hits, eighth strikeouts) got Pete Alonso to pop up. Tyrone Taylor was due up next and hit a hard liner to left field. M.J. Melendez snagged the ball and made a perfect one-hop throw to Salvador Perez, who made the tag on Marte for a double play to end the inning. The perennial All-Star catcher was injured on the play (the Royals said was a left groin and hip injury). Perez was replaced by Freddy Fermin, who caught Saturday's game while Perez played first base and drove in four runs. Fermin would come up as the tying run in the ninth against Edwin Diaz, with predictable results.
DOCTORED UP
After Dwight Gooden's No. 16 was retired in a pregame ceremony Sunday, the start of the game was delayed about 45 minutes by rain. When the game finally began, Jose Butto provided a vintage Dwight Gooden frame by striking out the side in the first inning. He fanned two more in the second inning and whiffed nine in six innings of shutout ball to lower his ERA to 0.75. As Gary Cohen pointed out on SNY, those K's were mostly garnered on changeups, unlike Doc: "Dwight Gooden only had two pitches and all he needed was two pitches."
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