Dec
10
Shea Memories – April 23, 1992
December 10, 2007 | Comments Off
I didn’t make it out to Shea Stadium in 1991, though I didn’t completely miss out on baseball that season (as I ‘ll get to in a future post). 1991 happened to be the first year since I started watching baseball that the Mets failed to post a winning record, but the 1992 Mets were destined to get the franchise back on the winning track. The additions of Eddie Murray, Bobby Bonilla, and Bret Saberhagen made this the best team money could buy.
Or not.
Well, in April the season still had hope. They had gotten off to a slow start, but the season had not become a disaster at that point. And on April 23, I got to see one of the great new additions in person, as Brett Saberhagen made the start that day against the Cards. Sabes had been clobbered in his first three starts as a Met, but today he would show Mets fans what he was capable of. He was simply brilliant, allowing only 5 hits over nine innings, and striking out 7 in a shutout performance.
Unfortunately, he was matched by Donavan Osborne, thus continuing the trend of me witnessing home games in which the Mets were baffled by historical non-entities. Now that I look at the boxscore and see the Mets lineup, I can see why. What, with such forces as Dave Gallagher, Dick Schofield, and Junior Naboa starting that day, I fail to see how the Mets just did not dominate the division in 1992.
The game snoozed along into extra innings. Really, nothing happened. About the only noteworthy thing was the embarassment my friend Anthony caused me. You see, sitting behind him was a handicapped individual confined to a wheelchair. Somehow my friend failed to catch on to the fact that there was someone who couldn’t stand located immediately behind him. This wouldn’t have been a huge problem had not Anthony decided to stand after every remotely good play. Normally enthusiasm wouldn’t be a bad thing in a fan, but I realized that the person behind us was getting a little upset about not being able to see anything. I occasionally glanced over as if to say, "Sorry for my bonehead friend." I tried nudging Anthony to get him to stop standing, but that didn’t seem to work.
Getting back to the game, in the 11th the Cards loaded the bases with none out, but Innis induced Todd Zeile to hit into a forceout at the plate. Pedro Guerrero k’d, and then Brian Jordan grounded out to end the threat.
Finally, in the 13th, the Mets got something going, loading the bases with one out. Up came Darly Boston, and this would be the Coors Light Turning Point of the Game:
He was hit by a pitch, scoring the one and only run of the game. That’s right, 13 innings of scoreless baseball broken up by a hit batsman. Well, beggers can’t be choosers, and the Mets sent us home happy.
And it would be three years before I’d go home happy from Shea again.