Saturday Seasons: 1999 Piazza’s Power, Ventura’s “Grand Slam Single,” and the Season That Revived New York Baseball

Following a second consecutive 88-74 record without a playoff berth, the Mets hierarchy felt some drastic changes needed to be made if they were to get back to October baseball for the first time in 11 years.

Carlos Baerga and Todd Hundley departed via free agency and Mel Rojas was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a second stint of Bobby Bonilla. The Mets used free agency to add gold glove winning third baseman Robin Ventura, future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson and former NL Cy Young Award winner Orel Hershiser.

With the addition of Ventura, Edgardo Alfonzo moved from third base to second base. With Rey Ordonez at shortstop and John Olerud at first, the Mets had what many considered to be an all time infield.

The Mets went 14-9 in April and on May 3rd, they won their sixth straight game to get to a season high eight games over .500 (17-9) but things took a turn for the worse when they dropped 15 of their next 25 games.

Going into June, the Mets had dropped six in a row at Shea. Two more losses in the first edition of the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium completed a season worst, eight game losing streak that dropped the reeling Mets under .500.

The turning point of the season came in the finale of the three game series against the Yankees.

A few hours after losing their second straight at Yankee Stadium and eighth in a row, General Manager Steve Phillips decided to shake things up by firing pitching coach Bob Apodaca, hitting coach Tom Robson and bullpen coach Randy Niemann. Dave Wallace was brought in to be the new pitching coach, Mickey Brantley became the new hitting coach and original Met Al Jackson took over as the bullpen coach.

The three coaches that were fired were all personal friends of Manager Bobby Valentine. Phillips and Valentine had a contentious relationship so it was believed the GM made these moves as a precursor for dismissing the manager.

The Sunday night finale was a portent of things to come as Mike Piazza smacked his first career home run off Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens and the Mets pounded the reigning AL Cy Young winner by scoring seven runs on eight hits in 2.2 IP en route to a 7-2 win that got the team going in the right direction.

Three days later, the Mets hosted the Toronto Blue Jays and were trailing 3-0 heading to the bottom of the ninth.

Blue Jays pitcher David Wells was one out away from a complete game shutout but Ventura’s two run single knocked the left hander out of the game. Billy Koch relieved Wells and gave up an RBI double to Brian McRae to tie the game at three and send it into extra innings.

In the bottom of the 12th, Piazza was called for catcher’s interference. Home plate umpire Randy Marsh ruled Piazza had stepped out early on a pitch out (a catcher's balk that is scored as interference so Piazza gets charged with an error) but Valentine came out to argue the call and was ejected.

Ventura, who was out of the game, and Hershiser were in the clubhouse and they persuaded Valentine to go back out to the dugout in a disguise. Valentine put on a hat and applied a fake mustache made of eye-black stickers and was back in the dugout in the 14th inning, but the TV cameras caught him in the act. The Mets won the game in the bottom of the 14th on a walk off single by Ordonez but Valentine was handed a $5000 fine and a two game suspension.

A 10-2 win over the first place Atlanta Braves completed a stretch of 15 wins in 18 games to put the Mets in second place in the NL East, just two games back.

On July 9th, the Mets beat Clemens for a second time in the opener of the second installment of the "Subway Series" as Piazza and Olerud homered in a 5-2 win but the next day provided one of the memorable games of the season.

In a wild game where the lead changed hands four times, including three times in the final two innings, the Mets pulled out a 9-8 win.

The Yankees had a 6-4 lead in the 7th but Mike Piazza’s mammoth, three run homer off Ramiro Mendoza that cleared the left field bullpen gave the Mets a 7-6 lead.

In the 8th, Jorge Posada hit a two run home run, his second of the game off Dennis Cook, gave the Yankees an 8-7 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees went with Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera to preserve the lead and things were not looking promising for the Mets, but the best was yet to come.

With one out, Henderson walked. Alfonzo doubled to put runners on second and third with one out but with the infield in, Rivera retired on a ground out to first.

Piazza was intentionally walked to load the bases and Valentine sent up Matt Franco to pinch-hit for Melvin Mora.

With the count 0-2, Rivera just missed low as Franco took the pitch for ball one. Franco lined the next pitch into right field for a single that scored Henderson with the tying run and Alfonzo with the winning run that sent the sellout crowd into a frenzy.

The Mets went 18-9 in July and 18-10 in August that included a 17-1 win in Houston where Alfonzo became the first Met to have six hits in a game. Alfonzo’s historic day included three home runs, five runs batted in and six runs scored.

The Mets were 80-53 as they entered September, but their focus was winning the division, not settling for the wild card spot. On September 1st, the Mets were 3½ games back of the first place Braves and three ahead of the Reds for the wild card.

After winning 12 of their next 17 games, the Mets found themselves one game back with 12 to play and a three game, showdown series in Atlanta on tap.

Unfortunately, the Mets were swept in Atlanta to fall four back and then proceeded to lose three in a row in Philadelphia to extend an untimely losing streak to six straight games. Thanks to this skid, the Braves clinched the division and the Mets found themselves trailing the Reds by a game for the wild card.

A loss to the Braves to open the final home stand of the season extended the losing streak to seven in a row, but the Reds had taken over first place in the NL Central and now the Mets were battling the Astros for a playoff spot.

The Mets snapped the losing streak as Leiter outpitched Greg Maddux (8 runs, 7 earned in 3 IP) in a huge, 9-2 win. Olerud hit a grand slam to key a 7-run fourth inning. The Astros beat the Reds to pull into a flatfooted tie for first in the NL Central and the Mets were a game a half back of both teams with four to play.

On September 30th, the Braves handed the Mets a major setback with an excruciating 4-3 loss in 11 innings at Shea. The Astros and Reds both had the day off, so with three games to play, the Mets trailed both by two games.

The Mets had a three game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Shea to finish the season while the Reds were in Milwaukee and the Astros hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the opener, the Mets had a 2-0 lead behind seven scoreless innings from Kenny Rogers, but the Pirates tied the game with two runs in the eighth and had the bases loaded with two out. John Franco fell behind 3-0 but he rallied to get Adrian Brown on a called strike three (that may have been a ball) and the game got to extra innings.

With the season on the line, Mets reliever Pat Mahomes (yes, Patrick’s father) tossed two scoreless innings and Ventura’s two out, walk off RBI single gave the Mets a 3-2 win. Both the Astros and Reds (in 10 innings) lost as the Mets moved to within a game of both.

On the penultimate day of the regular season, Rick Reed pitched the best game of his Mets career as he blanked the Pirates on three hits with 12 strikeouts in a 7-0 whitewashing. The Astros beat the Dodgers, but there was good news in Milwaukee. The Reds lost to the Brewers so heading into the final day, the Mets were tied with Cincinnati.

Over 50,000 fans packed Shea Stadium for an exciting regular season finale that began at 1:40 pm, eastern time. The Reds game against the Brewers was scheduled to start at 3:05 pm, central time, 4:05 eastern time.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first, but the Mets tied the game in the fourth on an RBI double by Darryl Hamilton.

With the game tied at one in the bottom of the ninth, Piazza was at the plate with the bases loaded and one out. The large crowd was on its feet but Piazza never had to swing the bat. On the first pitch to the Mets catcher, former Met and Pirates pitcher Brad Clontz uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Melvin Mora to score the winning run.

The Mets’ season was not going to end. The Astros won to clinch the division, but the start of the Reds game in Milwaukee was being delayed by rain. The Mets decided to make their way to Cincinnati. If the Reds won, there would be a one game playoff at Riverfront Stadium. If the Reds lost, the Mets would head to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks in the National League Division Series.

The game in Milwaukee did not start until 9:50 pm eastern time. The Reds put up a five spot in the third inning and went on to a 7-1 win to force a one game playoff for the NL Wild Card spot.

The Mets had Leiter lined up to pitch game #163 (the one game playoff counted as a regular season game) while the Reds went with Steve Parris.

The Mets wasted no time maintaining the momentum they generated over the weekend as they scored two runs in the top of the first.

Henderson led off with a single and then Alfonzo slammed a two run home run.

The Mets added single runs in the 3rd, 5th and 6th to back the strong pitching of Leiter who pitched his best game in a Met uniform. The veteran left hander blanked the Reds on two hits in a 5-0 win that sent the Mets to Arizona for the NLDS with a 97-66 record.

Game one was tied at four in the 9th when the Mets loaded the bases against future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. Diamondbacks pitcher Bobby Chouinard relieved Johnson and got Henderson to ground into a force out at home. When it seemed like Arizona would get out of the inning, Alfonzo snapped the tie with a grand slam home run and the Mets took game one, 8-4.

After losing game two, the Mets used a six run, sixth inning rally to blow game three wide open in a 9-2 win at Shea.

Over 56,000 fans packed Shea for game four to see if the Mets could polish off the Diamondbacks and move on to the NLCS.

Leiter gave the Mets seven strong innings and pitched into the eighth but Arizona put two men on with two out. Manager Bobby Valentine went to Armando Benitez for a four out save, but Jay Bell doubled in two runs to give the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead.

The inning was not over. Luis Gonzalez was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second and then Matt Williams lined a single to left. Mets left fielder Melvin Mora fired a strike to catcher Todd Pratt to nail Bell at the plate and keep it a one run deficit.

In the bottom of the eighth, Alfonzo walked and Olerud hit a fly ball to right but it was dropped by Diamondbacks right fielder Tony Womack, putting runners on second and third with nobody out.

Roger Cedeno’s sacrifice fly tied the game and the Mets eventually loaded the bases with two out, but Ordonez struck out to keep the game tied.

After both teams failed to score in the ninth, John Franco relieved Benitez and pitched a 1-2-3 to of the tenth to set up the walk off heroics.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Pratt faced Diamondbacks reliever Matt Mantei and lifted a deep fly ball to center field. Diamondbacks center fielder Steve Finley leaped to try and make a spectacular catch but the ball cleared the wall for a walk off and series winning home run. (Pratt was in the lineup because Mike Piazza had an allergic reaction to a cortisone shot that caused his thumb to swell and prevent him from playing). As Pratt rounded the bases, the entire team bolted out of the dugout to greet him at home plate.

The Mets were playing the NL East champion Atlanta Braves in the NLCS and lost the first three games. At that time, no team had rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to win but the Mets would not go down easy.

In game four at Shea, the Mets were trailing 2-1 but Olerud’s two out, two run single gave them a 3-2 lead. Benitez retired the side in order in the ninth and the Mets were able to force what became a memorable game five.

The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the first on a two run home run by Olerud but the Braves tied the game in the 4th on an RBI double by Chipper Jones and an RBI single by Brian Jordan off Masato Yoshii.

The game remained tied at two for the next ten innings until the top of the 15th when the Braves took a 3-2 lead on a two out, RBI triple by Keith Lockhart off Octavio Dotel, the Mets ninth pitcher of the game.

With rain coming down, the Mets were down to their final three outs but they would refuse to lose.

Braves reliever Kevin McGlinchy was in his second inning of work with a chance to close out the series but he could not finish the job.

Shawon Dunston led off and after a 12-pitch at bat, he singled and stole second. Pinch-hitter Matt Franco walked and Alfonzo sacrificed the runners to second and third. Olerud was intentionally walked to load the bases and Cedeno pinch-ran for Franco. McGlinchy walked Pratt on four pitches to force in the tying run and then faced Robin Ventura with the game on the line.

On a 2-1 pitch, Ventura drove the pitch over the right center field wall to end the game because even if it didn’t clear the wall it was deep enough for a game winning single. The ball cleared the wall for a grand slam but Pratt ran out and lifted Ventura in his arms before he was able to touch all the bases, so it went in the books as a “grand slam single.”

The Mets became the first team to force a sixth game after being down three games to none but they lost game six in 11 innings when Kenny Rogers walked Andruw Jones with the bases loaded.

The 1999 season was full of great memories but it was a prelude to the 2000 season when the Mets would do something for the first time in franchise history and that was make the playoffs for two consecutive seasons.