You Gotta Take It Where You Can Get It, I Guess
July 29th, 2012 by slangon
So the Mets lost again last night. No big surprise there. It’s been almost 3 weeks since the All-Star game and the team has managed to win 2 games. Depressing. Rather than just be all doom and gloom, I’ve decided that I’m going to just look at the silver lining.
For instance during last night’s pathetic loss, one Met managed to to shine.
Ike Davis accounted for all the Mets offense by hitting 3 homers during the game. Unfortunately for him and the team, they were all of the solo variety. By doing so, he became the ninth Met player to have accomplished that feat.
Carlos Beltran was the last Met before Ike to hit 3 dingers in a game, which he did May 12, 2011 against the Rockies. They managed to win this game, which is something you’d expect when one guy hits 3 homers.
The last Met to launch 3 over the wall during one 9-inning span before Beltran was Jose Reyes. He pulled off this feat on August 15, 2006. To make it sweeter, he did it against the Phillies in their own ball park. Again, outside of Jose’s contribution, the offense didn’t offer much else and they lost 4-11.
Prior to Jose, Edgardo Alfonzo did the 3 homer thing against Houston on August 30, 1999. The Mets wiped the Astros up with a biscuit that day, 17-1. Fonzie was 6 for 6 that day with 16 total bases.
It was a while between Fozie’s 3 homer day and the one before that. Gary Carter did it on September 3, 1985 against the Padres. The Mets won, 8-3.
If it was a while between Carter and Alfonzo, it wasn’t long between Carter and the previous tri-homer game. Darryl Strawberry did it about a month earlier in the 1985 season, on August 5 against the Cubs. Again, the Mets won 7-2.
Before Straw, it was Claudell Washington who accomplished the feat against the Dodgers on June 22, 1980. New York won the game by a score of 9 to 6.
Dave Kingman hit three homers in a single game for the Mets on June 4, 1976, again against the Dodgers. They really poured it on, defeating L.A. 11-0.
Finally (or firstly, I guess), Jim Hickman was the first Metropolitan to ever hit 3 home runs in one game. He did this against the Cardinals on September 3, 1965. New York won, 6-3.
Oddly enough, ever time a Met player has hit three homers in one game, it has always been on the road.
Nobody has ever hit 4 homers in a game wearing a Mets uniform, although out of the 16 players who’ve done this in baseball history, 5 have been a member of the Mets. Can anyone name them without looking it up? I knew 3 off the top of my head, but the other 2, even though in hind sight should’ve been obvious, eluded me.
Leave a Reply