1999 New York Mets season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1999 New York Mets
NL Wild Card
New York Mets Insignia.svg
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Shea Stadium (since 1964)
  • New York City (since 1962)
Results
Record97–66 (.595)
Divisional place2nd
Other information
Owner(s)Nelson Doubleday Jr., Fred Wilpon
General manager(s)Steve Phillips
Manager(s)Bobby Valentine
Local televisionWPIX-TV/Fox Sports New York
(Ralph Kiner, Tom Seaver, Fran Healy, Howie Rose, Gary Thorne)
Local radioWFAN
(Bob Murphy, Gary Cohen, Ed Coleman)
WADO (Spanish)
(Juan Alicea, Billy Berroa)
< Previous season     Next season >

The 1999 New York Mets season was the franchise's 38th season and the team's thirty-sixth season at Shea Stadium. They went 97–66 and finished 2nd in the NL East but won the NL Wild Card by beating the Cincinnati Reds in a one-game playoff. The Mets advanced to the National League Championship Series, where they were defeated by the Atlanta Braves in 6 games.

The Mets were managed by Bobby Valentine, who entered his fourth year as skipper. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

Offseason[]

  • November 11, 1998: Bobby Bonilla was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the New York Mets for Mel Rojas.[1]
  • December 1, 1998: Todd Hundley was traded by the New York Mets with Arnold Gooch (minors) to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Roger Cedeño and Charles Johnson.[2]
  • December 1, 1998: Charles Johnson was traded by the New York Mets to the Baltimore Orioles for Armando Benítez.[3]
  • December 1, 1998: Robin Ventura was signed as a Free Agent with the New York Mets.[4]
  • December 16, 1998: Rickey Henderson signed as a Free Agent with the New York Mets.
  • December 18, 1998: Josías Manzanillo was signed as a Free Agent with the New York Mets.[5]

Regular season[]

The Mets' 97 victories were their highest total since they won 100 games in 1988. They were led offensively by catcher Mike Piazza, who compiled a .303 average with 40 home runs and 124 RBI in his first full season with the team. New third baseman Robin Ventura put together a .301 average, 32 home runs, and 120 RBI while second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo hit .304 with 27 home runs and 108 RBI. First baseman John Olerud continued his consistent hitting, hitting .298 with 96 RBI, his third straight year with 90 or more runs driven in. Offseason acquisitions Roger Cedeno and Rickey Henderson recorded the two highest batting averages on the squad at .315 and .313 respectively. Benny Agbayani, a semi-regular outfielder who got more playing time as the year progressed, contributed 14 home runs.

The Mets' pitching staff was again led by Al Leiter with 13 wins. Orel Hershiser matched that total, with Masato Yoshii recording 12 wins and Rick Reed 11. Rookie Octavio Dotel went 8-3 in fourteen starts, and late season acquisition Kenny Rogers won five of six decisions while leading the team in complete games. The rotation was not as strong as keeping runs off the board; the team's four main starters recorded ERAs above 4.00.

The offseason acquisition of Armando Benitez from the Baltimore Orioles ended John Franco's tenure as the team's closer. Franco did manage to record nineteen saves and broke the Major League Baseball record for saves by a left-hander, but Benitez' 1.85 ERA and twenty-two saves ensured the closer role would be his for the foreseeable future.

Mercury Mets[]

As part of the now-infamous Turn Ahead the Clock promotion sponsored by Century 21, the Mets changed their name to the "Mercury Mets" while hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 27, 1999.[6][7]

Opening Day starters[]

  • Edgardo Alfonzo
  • Bobby Bonilla
  • Rickey Henderson
  • Al Leiter
  • Brian McRae
  • John Olerud
  • Rey Ordóñez
  • Mike Piazza
  • Robin Ventura[8]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
NL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 103 59 0.636 — 56–25 47–34
New York Mets 97 66 0.595 6½ 49–32 48–34
Philadelphia Phillies 77 85 0.475 26 41–40 36–45
Montreal Expos 68 94 0.420 35 35–46 33–48
Florida Marlins 64 98 0.395 39 35–45 29–53

Record vs. opponents[]

1999 National League Records
  • v
  • t

Source: NL Standings Head-to-Head
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona — 4–5 7–2 1–8 6–7 8–1 5–4 7–6 5–4 6–3 7–2 8–1 5–2 11–2 9–3 4–4 7–8
Atlanta 5–4 — 2–5 8–1 5–4 9–4 6–1 5–4 5–2 9–4 9–3 8–5 6–3 5–4 4–5 8–1 9–9
Chicago 2–7 5–2 — 5–8 4–5 6–3 3–9 2–7 6–6 2–5 3–6 2–7 7–6 6–3 1–7 7–5 6–9
Cincinnati 8–1 1–8 8–5 — 7–2 6–1 9–4 4–3 6–6 4–3 5–5 6–3 7–6 6–3 4–5 8–4 7-8
Colorado 7–6 4–5 5–4 2–7 — 5–4 2–6 8–5 6–3 6–3 4–5 5–4 2–7 4–9 4–9 4–5 4–8
Florida 1–8 4–9 3–6 1–6 4–5 — 2–7 7–2 5–4 8–4 3–10 2–11 3–4 3–6 4–5 3–4 11–7
Houston 4–5 1–6 9–3 4–9 6–2 7-2 — 6–3 8���5 7–2 4–5 6–1 5–7 8–1 5–4 5–7 12–3
Los Angeles 6–7 4–5 7–2 3–4 5–8 2–7 3–6 — 7–2 5–4 4–4 6–3 3–6 3–9 8–5 3–6 8–7
Milwaukee 4–5 2–5 6–6 6–6 3–6 4–5 5–8 2–7 — 5–4 2–5 5–4 8–4 3–5 4–5 7–6 8–6
Montreal 3–6 4–9 5–2 3–4 3–6 4–8 2–7 4–5 4–5 — 5–8 6–6 3–6 5–3 4–5 5–4 8–10
New York 2–7 3–9 6–3 5–5 5–4 10–3 5–4 4–4 5–2 8–5 — 6–6 7–2 7–2 7–2 5–2 12–6
Philadelphia 1-8 5–8 7–2 3–6 4–5 11–2 1–6 3–6 4–5 6–6 6–6 — 3–4 6–3 2–6 4–5 11–7
Pittsburgh 2–5 3–6 6–7 6–7 7–2 4–3 7–5 6–3 4–8 6–3 2–7 4–3 — 3–6 4–5 7–5 7–8
San Diego 2–11 4–5 3–6 3–6 9–4 6–3 1–8 9–3 5–3 3–5 2–7 3–6 6–3 — 5–7 2–7 11–4
San Francisco 3–9 5–4 7–1 5–4 9–4 5–4 4–5 5–8 5–4 5–4 2–7 6–2 5–4 7–5 — 6–3 7–8
St. Louis 4–4 1–8 5–7 4–8 5–4 4–3 7–5 6–3 6–7 4–5 2–5 5–4 5–7 7–2 3–6 — 7–8


Notable transactions[]

  • July 31, 1999: Brian McRae was traded by the New York Mets with Thomas Johnson (minors) and Rigo Beltrán to the Colorado Rockies for Darryl Hamilton and Chuck McElroy.[9]
  • July 31, 1999: Jason Isringhausen was traded by the New York Mets with Greg McMichael to the Oakland Athletics for Billy Taylor.[10]

Roster[]

1999 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager
  •  2 Bobby Valentine

Coaches

Player stats[]

Batting[]

Starters by position[]

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Mike Piazza 141 534 162 .303 40 124
1B John Olerud 162 581 173 .298 19 96
2B Edgardo Alfonzo 158 628 191 .304 27 108
3B Robin Ventura 161 588 177 .301 32 120
SS Rey Ordóñez 154 520 134 .258 1 60
LF Rickey Henderson 121 438 138 .315 12 42
CF Brian McRae 96 298 66 .221 8 36
RF Roger Cedeño 155 453 142 .313 4 36

[11]

Other batters[]

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Benny Agbayani 101 276 79 .286 14 42
Darryl Hamilton 55 168 57 .339 5 21
Todd Pratt 71 140 41 .293 3 21
Matt Franco 122 132 31 .235 4 21
Bobby Bonilla 60 119 19 .160 4 18
Luiz Lopez 68 104 22 .212 2 13
Shawon Dunston 42 93 32 .344 0 16
Jermaine Allensworth 40 73 16 .219 3 9
Mike Kinkade 28 46 9 .196 2 6
Melvin Mora 66 31 5 .161 0 1
Jay Payton 13 8 2 .250 0 1
Terrence Long 3 3 0 .000 0 0
Jorge Toca 4 3 1 .333 0 0
Vance Wilson 1 0 0 --- 0 0
Shane Halter 7 0 0 --- 0 0

[11]

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

Player G GS IP W L ERA SO
Al Leiter 32 32 213.0 13 12 4.23 162
Orel Hershiser 32 32 179.0 13 12 4.58 89
Masato Yoshii 31 29 174.0 12 8 4.40 105
Rick Reed 26 26 149.1 11 5 4.58 104
Octavio Dotel 19 14 85.1 8 3 5.38 85
Kenny Rogers 12 12 76.0 5 1 4.03 58

[12]

Other pitchers[]

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bobby Jones 12 59.1 3 3 5.61 31
Allen Watson 14 39.2 2 2 4.08 32
Jason Isringhausen 13 39.1 1 3 6.41 31

Relief pitchers[]

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Armando Benítez 77 78.0 4 3 22 1.85 128
Turk Wendell 80 85.2 5 4 3 3.05 77
Pat Mahomes 39 63.2 8 0 0 3.68 51
Dennis Cook 71 63.0 10 5 3 3.86 68
John Franco 46 40.2 0 2 19 2.88 41
Rigo Beltran 21 31 1 1 0 3.48 35
Greg McMichael 19 18.2 1 1 0 4.82 18
Billy Taylor 18 13.1 0 1 0 8.10 14
Chuck McElroy 15 13.1 0 0 0 3.38 7
Jeff Tam 9 11.1 0 0 0 3.18 8
Matt Franco 2 1.1 0 0 0 13.50 2
Dan Murray 1 2 0 0 0 13.50 1
Glendon Rusch 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

[12]

NLDS[]

Main article: 1999 National League Division Series

New York wins series, 3-1

Game Score Date
1 New York 8, Arizona 4 October 5
2 Arizona 7, New York 1 October 6
3 New York 9, Arizona 2 October 8
4 New York 4, Arizona 3 (10 innings) October 9

NLCS[]

Main article: 1999 National League Championship Series

Game 1[]

October 12: Turner Field, Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 2
Atlanta 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 X 4 8 2
WP: Greg Maddux (1-0)   LP: Masato Yoshii (0-1)   Sv: John Rocker (1)
Home runs:
NYM: None
ATL: Eddie Pérez (1)

Game 2[]

October 13: Turner Field, Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 5 1
Atlanta 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 X 4 9 1
WP: Kevin Millwood (1-0)   LP: Kenny Rogers (0-1)   Sv: John Smoltz (1)
Home runs:
NYM: Melvin Mora (1)
ATL: Brian Jordan (1); Eddie Pérez (2)

Game 3[]

October 15: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Atlanta 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 1
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 2
WP: Tom Glavine (1-0)   LP: Al Leiter (0-1)   Sv: John Rocker (2)
Home runs:
ATL: None
NYM: None

Game 4[]

October 16: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Atlanta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 3 0
New York 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 X 3 5 0
WP: Turk Wendell (1-0)   LP: Mike Remlinger (0-1)   Sv: Armando Benítez (1)
Home runs:
ATL: Brian Jordan (2); Ryan Klesko (1)
NYM: John Olerud (1)

Game 5[]

October 17: Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

  • In the bottom of the 15th inning, the Mets managed to load the bases against Braves relief pitcher Kevin McGlinchy. Mets catcher Todd Pratt drew a bases loaded walk, tying the score at 3-3.
  • The next batter was Mets third baseman Robin Ventura. Ventura crushed the 2-1 pitch over the wall in right-center for a grand slam, winning the game for the Mets and driving the Mets players and fans into a frenzied celebration. Ventura, however, never reached second base as Todd Pratt, the runner who was on first, picked him up in celebration. Subsequently, Ventura was mobbed by his teammates, never finishing his trot around the bases. Because he failed to touch all four bases, the hit was officially scored a single. Roger Cedeño, the runner on third at the time, was ruled the only runner to have crossed home plate before the on-field celebration began and the Mets were awarded a 4-3 victory. Thus, Ventura was only credited with a single and one RBI. This play is now referred to as the grand slam single.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 R H E
Atlanta 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 13 2
New York 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 11 1
WP: Octavio Dotel (1-0)   LP: Kevin McGlinchy (0-1)
Home runs:
ATL: None
NYM: John Olerud (2)

Game 6[]

October 19: Turner Field, Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 1 0 1 0 9 15 2
Atlanta 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 10 10 1
WP: Russ Springer (1-0)   LP: Kenny Rogers (0-2)
Home runs:
NYM: Mike Piazza (1)
ATL: None

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Norfolk Tides International League John Gibbons
AA Binghamton Mets Eastern League Doug Davis
A St. Lucie Mets Florida State League Howie Freiling
A Capital City Bombers South Atlantic League Dave Engle
A-Short Season Pittsfield Mets New York–Penn League Tony Tijerina
Rookie Kingsport Mets Appalachian League Guy Conti
Rookie GCL Mets Gulf Coast League John Stephenson

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Mets[13]

References[]

  1. ^ Bobby Bonilla Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  2. ^ Todd Hundley Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  3. ^ Charles Johnson Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/v/venturo01.shtml[bare URL]
  5. ^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/manzajo01.shtml[bare URL]
  6. ^ Todd Fitzpatrick (August 16, 1999). "Turn Ahead? Turn around". The Sporting News. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
  7. ^ "Orel Hershiser modelling the Mercury Mets jersey". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  8. ^ "Apr 5, 1999, Mets at Marlins Play by Play and Box Score". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  9. ^ Brian McRae Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  10. ^ Jason Isringhausen Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  11. ^ a b 1999 New York Mets Statistics and Roster Baseball-Reference.com
  12. ^ a b https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/1999.shtml[bare URL]
  13. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links[]

Retrieved from ""