During the final nine days of 2013, I’m going to revisit nine memorable baseball moments from the year.
I’m an all-star, thanks to MasterCard
The New York Mets hosted Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game for the second time in franchise history in 2013. For a week in July, Major League Baseball threw a big party in New York City.
Dozens of giant apple sculptures appeared throughout Manhattan, challenging baseball fans to find them. (I managed to find and photograph about a third of them.)
Advertising for the game appeared everywhere. And the Jacob Javits Convention Center hosted a multi-day All-Star Fan Fest.
Outside of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., I don’t think you could have found a more impressive collection of artifacts from the game’s history. In addition to a traveling exhibit from the Hall of Fame, much of the memorabilia Warren Spahn had collected over the course of his life was on display before hitting the auction block, as were other items in a more general auction. And that was just the beginning.
During the final nine days of 2013, I’m going to revisit nine memorable baseball moments from the year.
This one was an awfully long “moment.”
On June 5, it rained. On June 6, it rained some more. I took a chance and bought a ticket for the June 7 game, hoping I’d get to see a doubleheader with Matt Harvey pitching one of the games against the Miami Marlins.
Matt Harvey pitches against the Miami Marlins on June 8, 2013 at Citi Field (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
The Mets disappointed me by deciding to go with a single game on June 7 and a doubleheader in September. As it turned out, that was a really fortunate decision.
I got to see Harvey match up against Jose Fernandez, but considering the overall quality of both team’s lineups, it’s tough to say how much credit to give them for it being a 1-1 tie when they left the game.
Actually, considering the Mets and Marlins bullpens both pitched five scoreless innings, I’d say the “credit” mostly belonged to the talent levels of the two teams’ hitters.
Then when inning 13 came around, both teams turned to the starters who would have pitched except for the rainout.
Shaun Marcum pitches in relief against the Miami Marlins on June 8, 2013 (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
For the Mets, it was Shaun Marcum, who entered the game with an 0-6 record and had generally been terrible, though on occasion he did pitch almost well enough to win… if he played for a team that scored runs.
For the Marlins, it was Kevin Slowey. And for seven more innings, they matched zeros.
Naturally, in inning 20, Marcum finally allowed a run. And mercifully, Rick Ankiel, Omar Quintanilla and Daniel Murphy were unable to extend the game further in the bottom half of the inning.
It took 6 hours and 25 minutes to play, 561 pitches were thrown, 41 players were used, and of an official crowd of 20,338 fans, only a few hundred remained to see the end.
I was one of them.
You can follow Paul’s Random Baseball Stuff on Facebook or Google+, see my photos on Flickr and Instagram, and follow @PaulsRandomStuf on Twitter, where I talk about about a variety of things in addition to baseball.
I wish you a blessed Christmas. During the final nine days of 2013, I’m going to revisit nine memorable baseball moments from the year.
Today’s game didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but I noticed it when I was flipping through my scorecards.
Jose Fernandez makes his major league debut against the Mets (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
On Sunday, April 7, 20-year-old Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez made his major league debut against the New York Mets, who started journeyman Aaron Laffey.
I was only at the game because SNY distributed free tickets to people who signed up for them, but I was curious about the guy the Marlins thought could jump from Single-A to the majors.
Although Fernandez had a great first outing – five innings, three hits, one walk and one run, eight strikeouts – it was tough to tell whether his success was based on skill or a Mets’ lineup that included Collin Cowgill, Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, Mike Baxter, Ruben Tejada and Anthony Recker. And from the upper deck Promenade, it’s impossible to gauge pitches.
Fernandez went on to become an All-Star, then the National League Rookie of the Year and the third place finisher in the National League Cy Young voting. (Laffey would make one more start and two relief appearances before the Mets placed him on waivers.)
Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision and both were out of the game after five innings. Marlon Byrd, who came into the game in a fifth inning double switch, got the game-winning walk-off hit against Steve Cishek.
At this point, I’d been to three games and the Mets won them all. I wouldn’t see another Mets’ victory until the last day of the season.
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On April Fool’s Day, I was sitting in Section 413 to watch the Mets beat the San Diego Padres by 11-2. Collin Cowgill, who had started off as a symbol of the disappointing off-season, put the game out of reach with his seventh inning grand slam and became a hero. He even earned a highlight baseball card from Topps, though it came out months after Cowgill’s time in New York had come to an end.
If Citi Field had had Collin Cowgill t-shirts on Opening Day, I would have bought one. Fortunately, they did not – otherwise, it would probably be hanging unworn next to my Omir Santos one.
You can follow Paul’s Random Baseball Stuff on Facebook or Google+, see my photos on Flickr and Instagram, and follow @PaulsRandomStuf on Twitter, where I talk about about a variety of things in addition to baseball.
During the final nine days of 2013, I’m going to revisit nine memorable baseball moments from the year. Some stand out for personal reasons, but I’m starting off with a game that is historically significant.
The front of my scorecard from the Houston Astros first game as an American League team (click to enlarge)
On Easter Sunday, the Houston Astros defeated the Texas Rangers 8-2 to open the 2013 Major League Baseball Season.
I remember a lot of baseball fans wondering why the Astros and Rangers would be picked for the first Sunday Night Baseball game of the year, but it was the first game the Astros played in the American League after spending their first 50 games in the National League.
I was excited to watch a real baseball game with 25-man rosters and no player with a uniform number higher than #64 — even if it was played using the DH rule. But I also wanted to see the New York Mets’ expansion partners make history.
Funny thing: I don’t recall many details of the game. My scorecard notes remind me that Bud Norris threw the first pitch of the season for a strike, that Jose Altuve was the first Astro to get a hit as an American League player, and that Rick Ankiel – who would later become a Met – hit the first Astro American League home run.
The back of my scorecard from the Houston Astros first game as an American League team (click to enlarge)
Everyone knew the Astros were going to be terrible – and they were, though they were not historically bad — a 51-111 finish did not even put them within striking distance of the 1962 New York Mets’ modern record for futility. But for one night, they had the best record in baseball.
Despite its milestone status, it never really sunk in the the Astros are now part of the “other” league. Blame interleague play and about 25 years of thinking of the Astros as a National League team for that, I guess.
I probably need to see the Astros play the Mets or another National League team and use the designated hitter rule before it really hits me.
You can follow Paul’s Random Baseball Stuff on Facebook or Google+, see my photos on Flickr and Instagram, and follow @PaulsRandomStuf on Twitter, where I talk about about a variety of things in addition to baseball.
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