Ron Darling will always be my favorite. His last 6 starts in ‘89 he averaged giving up 2 runs a game and averaged 7 innings per start. And almost all of those starts were losses because the team couldn’t hit. Not one starter had an ERA over 3.52. Lots of tough luck losses in ‘89. Cone: 14 W El Sid: 14 W Darling: 14 W Ojeda: 13 W Doc: 9 W Viola: 5 W I’m clearly still not over any of it. 😂
This was the end of what should have been a dynasty. After the 86 championship season, the 1987 Sport Magazine Baseball preview had on the cover "Amazing, a Mets dynasty" with Darryl Strawberry pictured. The article predicted a Mets dynasty based on the current stars and the excellent farm system. How wrong they were as the dumb Kevin Mitchell trade not too mention a plethora of other problems ruined what should have been a dynasty.
A HUGE mistake by the Mets trading Dykstra to the Phillies for Juan Samuel that trade would comeback and haunt the Mets for years to come and Dykstra lead the Phillies to the Pennant and finished 2nd behind Barry Bonds in the National League MVP in 1993 that and letting their franchise player Darryl Strawberry walk after contract was up after the 1990 season and the Mets calamity was coming and they would hit rock bottom and struggle through the early-mid 90's.
Yep and both Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter both were in decline and Carter played for the Giants in 1990 and not to mention Rick Aguleria was huge in the Twins who came in the Frank Viola trade at mid-season back in '89 winning the World Series in '91. .
Brian Davis Man I was in 5th grade when they traded Dykstra in Queens, and me and all the other kids HATED that trade. We were in the 5th grade and we knew it was a horrible deal yet somehow Cashen didn't. Juan Fucking Samuel unbelievable.
As a die hard Mets fan (I was 13 in 89) I'LL NEVER FORGIVE THEM FOR THAT TRADE! Awful, Lenny & Roger were 2 of my favorite Mets & especially Dykstra went on to have a amazing career after leaving NY. Samuel was a disaster & left via free agency after 89. Also in July that yr they traded Mookie Wilson & Mazzilli to Toronto for Jeff Musselman, 2 more of my favorite Mets gone. And then they dealt 3 pitchers, 1 of them Rick Aguilera who went on to be 1 of the best relievers in the game for Minnesota for Viola, who was very good in 1990 but left the Mets after 91. Terrible year for the Mets as far as deals go.
Cashen was a great GM but he got senile at the end in 89-90. The Dykstra trade was awful and also not trading Darryl in his walk year when they could have got something for him. Cashen didn't think he was worth $3 mill but his successor Al Dumbass Harazin signed Bonilla for $6 mill in 91. The next two years 92-93 were dubbed the "worst team money can buy." Mets wouldn't be good again until 1998.
Final thought as the very end of this closes, sad going out the way CARTER & HERNANDEZ did here, both continued on for a few more years but they're careers were essentially over. Keith was very near tears there saying "I will always be a NY MET." And now he's been a great broadcaster for them the last 15 years or so, while Gary tragically died from cancer in 2012.
89 might be the weirdest year in Mets history. Almost everything that could have gone wrong, ended up happening, Keith and Gary were shot as players and injured 80% of the year, Gooden got hurt, Jefferies didnt hit at all until the 2nd half of the season, the Juan Samuel experiment blew up in their face, they lost an obscene amount of 1 run games on the road (it might still be a record for all I know), Cone took a huge step back from 88, and they still won 87 games. HoJo had his best year as a Met though and everyone spent the summer just waiting for the Mets to "turn it on" and bypass the Cubs as everyone thought it was inevitable.
Classic stuff with Billy Crystal & Robin Williams visiting the Mets play by play booth,everything between 41:15-52:00 is great, the comedy those 2 do is amazing & also sandwiched in there is a great catch by Strawberry , not known at all for his defense robbing Jeff Reed of a sure Home Run.
89 was the last year the Mets had the old school wood fence in the outfield, too many players complained about banging into that fence & causing injuries. They put padding like every other team already had on it. 1 specifically was Ron Jones of the Phillies who tore up his knee when he crashed into the fence oce in 89 making a catch.
41:15 good fight with Rob Dibble hitting Tim Teufel, after "Tuff" was 4-4 on the day Dibble clearly throwing at him & the fight was on. Mets loved their fights in the 80s, had 2-3 at least every year back then.
48:21 - F-ing Robin Williams probably never been to a game in his life and brings home a foul ball. I've never come close in the games I've attended. Miss Robin though!
1 more thing, showing how times have changed, how about the big deal they made when they said "The first time ever 2 pitchers who both made over 2 million dollars a yr faced off against each other" in Sutcliffe vs Gooden, lol. Now the last scrub on the bench makes 5 million.
Lenny was my fav. He would make a diving catch every night. Good scrappy player batting 270-290 fast and can throw down a nice bunt. I don't know why he did juice. It ruined him.
no, I made these myself from my own recordings I made in the 80s. When I started to trade games as a hobby I found out there are a lot of games that do not exist, so I wanted to share what I have this way.
"Kevin Tampani" lol get ur facts right! 1:57 Kevin Tapani was a pitcher who later would get traded in the Viola trade. Glad the Mets didn't make that Langston trade as Hojo would go on to be a 40/40 player and Fernandez was a solid starter. David West and Tapani would get traded for Viola though. Also Rick Aguilera was dealt in that move as well.
Viola was meh...and the last 20 game winner before Dickey. Overall the Twins benefited from that trade. They also wound up getting Wally Backman in a trade from the Mets. Just to make room for Jefferies.🤦🤦🤦🤦
Way too much editing, I mean he never lets the game breathe. I used to tape games on VHS too & sometimes to save tape I would pause it in between long pitches but so much of it here does make it hard to follow.
