Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Going green with the Mets on St. Patrick's Day

Kevin McReynolds and Jeff McKnight were among the Mets in green when I arrived at Dodgertown in 1994.

The Mets have had six Patricks in their 48 years.

Pat Tabler didn't drive in too many runs, much less snakes, in his short stint in 1990. We made the playoffs in both 1999 and 2000, the two years of Pat Mahomes' tenure.

And poor Pat Zachry was supposed to take the place of a Franchise when he arrived as part of the trade for Tom Seaver. I was too distraught to tell if he had any saintly powers.

And, as Chris O'Dorso points out below, Pat Howell, Pat Strange and current Met Pat Misch are also on the list, though I shamefully forgot them.

I caught the Mets on St. Patrick's Day twice, though one was a rain-shortened game in Melbourne.

The other, 1n 1994 at Vero Beach against the Dodgers, was more promising. At least it seemed so at the time.

The Mets were in transition. Dwight Gooden and Kevin McReynolds were still around. Todd Hundley and Bret Saberhagen were there. But so were folks like Mauro Gozzo and Ryan Thompson.

Dallas Green, second from the right, was at the helm.

After the disaster of 1993, when the team finished below the expasnion Marlins, the Mets were looking to rebound.

The team had pulled up to third place with a 55-58 record before the disaster that was the labor battle shut down the season.
Glenn Davis didn't make it north with the Mets, and took Mike Piazza a couple years to get there.

But they sure seemed to turn the corner, and even came back with the proper attire, dumping the big, fat tail that intruded under the team name on the front of the jersey.

And that was a reason to celebrate.

2 comments:

cdorso said...

What, Patrick O'Neal Howell's 75 ABs in 1992 aren't enough for you? And Pat Strange doesn't make the cut? And I know last year sucked, but what about Pat Misch? :)

Mets Guy in Michigan said...

Oh man! Shameful on my part! It seems Jerry isn't the only one dissing poor Pat Misch!