Now that the World Series is over, we can get on with the Hot Stove League. But for those of you who can’t go cold turkey over the winter, and need baseball games to watch, here’s what you can do. You will have the opportunity to watch Classic Mets games on SNY. Also, the MLB Network will air classic games as well, and some will likely include the Mets.
If you have the MLB.TV package, you can access the archive during the Winter. Here, I offer a guide to Mets games from 2009 worth watching. One guarantee is the Mets will win every one of these 15 games.
Here’s the breakdown…
Games for the winter…
1- April 6 Cincinnati - Mets win on opening day 2-1 with Santana on the mound.
2- April 15 at Citi against SD – Mets win their first at Citi Field by a score of 7-2. You don’t really want to watch the home opener when Pelfrey gave up a leadoff home run then later fell off the mound do you? Here’s an idea. Watch the introductions from the Citi Field opener on April 13 then watch the game from the 15th.
3- April 18 at Citi against Milwaukee – The Mets shutout the Brewers 1-0 with Santana going 7 innings, Rodriguez with the save.
4- May 1 at Philadelphia – The Mets win their first meeting of the season against the 2008 defending world champions. Pelfrey gets the win to go 3-0 on the season. Putz and Rodriguez close it out.
5- May 12 at Citi against Atlanta – The Mets trailed 3-2 heading to the ninth. Beltran doubled and eventually stole third. Castillo drove him home with a sac fly to tie the game. The Mets won it in the 10th. Check this one out to see how they did it. (With bases loaded, run was walked in)
6- May 23 at Boston – Another pitcher’s duel involving Mike Pelfrey. Burkett started for the Red Sox. The Mets trailed the Sox 2-1. Then in the ninth, an unlikely hero saved the day. It took about 10 minutes to evaluate the ball hit off the top of the Green Monster by Omir Santos. But hold on to your hat as the Mets needed some stellar defense to pull this one out.
7- June 13 at Yankee Stadium – The Mets defeat the Yankees for the only time during 2009. What, you want to watch Castillo drop the popup again? This game was a solid effort from Mets pitcher Fernando Nieve against Andy Pettitte. It’s always nice to see the Mets beat the Yankees, even if only once this season.
8- June 24 at Citi against St. Louis – Blow out. For those of you who don’t like pressure, this is a nice 11-0 blowout of the Cardinals. Sit back and dream about next year sipping a hot chocolate with the snow falling as the Mets pummel St. Louis.
9- July 1 at Milwaukee - Mets shut out Brewers 1-0 again. I don’t know about you but I love these low scoring defensive games.
10- July 2 at Pittsburgh – K-Rod blows 2 run lead in 9th but Mets come back in 10th. It’s a wild one along the river in Pittsburgh.
11- July 11 at Citi against Cincinnati – Santana and the bullpen shut out the Reds 4-0. For all the Mets went through, you can’t blame Santana who turned in another gem, even with bone chips in his elbow.
12- August 18 at Citi against Atlanta – Trailing 4-0, the Mets sent 13 to bat in the fourth, scored 8 runs on 10 hits. Mets win 9-4.
13- September 12 at Philadelphia – Mets score 4 in first but Pelfrey has bad outing eventually blowing the lead. Trailing 9-5 late, Wright hits a two run homer to pull the Mets within two. In ninth with two out, Pagan legs out hit, Wright hits second 2 run homer of game. K-Rod closes it out.
14- September 27 at Florida - The first complete game shutout of the season from an unlikely source, left hand pitcher Pat Misch. Not as pretty as Santana’s from the end of 2008 but a nice win for the Mets.
15- October 4 at Citi Field vs. Houston. Nelson Figueroa closes out the season with the game of his life, shutting out the Astros 4-0. The win was the 70th of the season in the most disappointing of years.
Spring training is just three short months away.
