Me again, wow I should check my email more often. Even more about my favorite game via this long excerpt from an amazin’ article in Hardball Times
When Pete Rose, appearing in one of the last games of his career, laces a pinch-hit single, young phenom Eric Davis pinch runs for him, stealing second and third. After he steals third, all hell breaks loose.
He bumps Mets third baseman Ray Knight. Unhappy, Knight decks Davis. The benches empty. When the smoke clears, Davis and Reds reliever Mario Soto are ejected for the home team, while the visiting Mets also have two men thumbed: Knight and Mitchell.
Problem: Both of them are position players still in the game. The Mets have only one position player on the bench: backup catcher Hearn. And the team has holes at third and right. Good thing Johnson didn’t use Hearn as a pinch hitter a little bit ago.
Solution: Well, let’s get creative. First, Carter has some experience at the infield, so put him at third. Sure, his experience is at first, but Hernandez wasn’t the one ejected. (Carter did have a whole big one inning at third 11 years earlier, but that doesn’t help much).
So Carter at third, and Hearn at the backstop. Who replaces Mitchell in the outfield?
Read the whole thing. Good good stuff.
Yes I’m late on the anniversary. Busy week. All I have is Media Goon. Cerrone has like 12 guys now and a cable network feeding him video. (winks at his friend Matt). We try our best around here.
I remember watching that game. Davey was incredibly pissed at the umpires for what he felt was uneven treatment of the two teams, so he stalled the game by getting in the maximum number of warmup pitches every time he switched McDowell and Orosco.
People often forget that the ’86 Mets didn’t have a true go-to closer. Rather, they had McDowell and Orosco both ready to close out games, and Johnson would use them as the situation warranted. It was a fantastic system, as it didn’t burn either of them out. (How many closers on winning teams get overused these days?)
I don’t believe the one inning closer was prevalent back then…I think Eckersley started that a few years later. Guys like Gossage would sometimes pitch 3 innings if needed.