Mets and Phillies: The Best of Enemies
Sharing the eastern seaboard and the same division naturally causes a rift between fans and players alike, who over the years have exchanged words and occasionally fists. Many famous faces have seen it from both sides: Tug McGraw, Lenny Dykstra, and Zack Wheeler just to same a few. Proximity breeds hatred. And many, if not all, of these memorable games, give added reason for one side to only hate the other more.
June 21, 1964
Jim Bunning that day was perfect. The Mets that year? Not nearly. The Hall-of-Fame right-hander pitched his second no-hitter, became the first National Leaguer to toss a perfect game in the 20th century, and had the only perfecto in the history of Shea Stadium (just two months old at the time). New York, which came into this Father’s Day doubleheader 20-45, was primed to be domination by a pitcher of Bunning’s caliber. The dad of seven needed just 90 pitches to go the distance. He struck out 10 Mets, including six of the last nine and the final two in the ninth: George Altman and John Stephenson.
April 5, 1983
With 16, no pitcher has more Opening Day starts than Tom Seaver. He and long-time Phils ace Steve Carlton matched up on five occasions, none more memorable than when “The Franchise” returned home. At age 38, by baseball standards, he was an old Tom Seaver. But when he took the mound against Carlton and his Phillies—a glorious sun-drenched afternoon—a packed Shea Stadium got to witness something resembling the Tom Seaver of old. He shut out Philadelphia for six innings in a vintage performance despite a no-decision. The Mets’ failed to support their legend but broke through with a spurt of late offense in the seventh. That pair of runs was held up by Doug Sisk for yet another Opening Day win. Sisk got the win, but Seaver got the glory.
September 22, 1988
The Phillies delayed the Mets’ plan to clinch at Veterans Stadium in 1986 and ruined New York’s hopes of catching the St. Louis Cardinals with late-season victories, but Ron Darling would have none of it in ’88. Bob Ojeda‘s devastating off-field injury cast a pall over the inevitable celebration, but it was nonetheless a festive night. Darling made sure to be around until the finish, pitching a six-hit complete game in which he walked only one. He ended the 3-1 win (and simultaneously started the party at Shea) with a strikeout of Lance Parrish. Mookie Wilson went 3-for-4 while Gary Carter and Kevin McReynolds added two hits apiece.
Fight Nights – September 1989 and August 1990
The home finales for Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter were soon overshadowed by the tension between former teammates. Roger McDowell (traded earlier that year along with Lenny Dykstra) closed out the game by getting Gregg Jeffries to hit a grounder to back the mound. McDowell tossed to first for the out, Jeffries ran to first then turned and charged toward McDowell and wrestled the reliever to the ground. It was less than a year later before there’d be another bout with the same teams on the same canvas. This time the main combatants were Pat Combs and Dwight Gooden. With Doc at the plate, Combs’ first pitch of the fifth inning drilled him in the knee, perhaps in response to Gooden hitting two Phils earlier in the game. Doc wasted no time deliberating. He charged Combs immediately and initiated a conflict that lasted for about 20 minutes.
July 25, 1990
The Mets built a 9-0 lead through six-and-a-half innings. The Phillies proceeded to tear that lead down. Almost. Two runs in the seventh, one run in the eighth, and six more in the ninth (after New York managed to score once in the top half) put New York on the doorstep of nearly squandering its advantage. After several Met relievers failed to keep Phillie bats in check, John Franco entered. He initiated a key double play, but the tying run was on third. Tommy Herr lined to Mario Diaz at shortstop. Exhale. In the immortal words of the legendary broadcaster and usually reserved Bob Murphy, the Mets “won the damn thing,” 10-9.
October 6, 1991
The final day of a forgettable season would be a reasonable excuse to play out the string. But not for David Cone, the defending NL strikeout leader and on the verge of retaining the crown. He not only stayed the king of Ks, but inserted a new entry into the record books at Veterans Stadium. Cone fanned the side in the first, second, and fourth. By the end of eight innings, the count reached 17. The Mets were comfortably ahead, so Cone could empty the tank for the ninth, as only two more strikeouts were needed to tie the team and NL single-game records. Leadoff batter Kim Batiste went down swinging. And so did the next, Mickey Morandini, for number 19. Twenty was there to be had, but a ground-rule double and a game-ending groundout kept Cone from equaling the all-time high.
March 31, 1998
The saying goes that the season is a marathon, not a sprint. But it took one game into the ’98 season for the Mets to feel like they had already done a marathon. At least they could celebrate when it ended. In a 1-0 victory that took 14 innings and more than four hours to complete, backup catcher Alberto Castillo delivered a pinch-hit game-winning single and ended the seemingly endless string of goose eggs. Mets manager Bobby Valentine used 19 players—the last of which was Castillo, who came up with two outs and the bases loaded. Facing Ricky Bottalico and a full count, Castillo laced a single the opposite way to bring this Opening Day-turned-night to a close. At the time, it was the longest opener in National League history by innings.
August/September 2007
Jimmy Rollins declared the Phillies the “team to beat” in the NL East, and the Mets couldn’t. New York’s difficulty in beating Philadelphia proved to be devastating when the division race was said and done. The Phils swept the Mets in a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park in late August, coming back to win three times with Chase Utley and Ryan Howard getting two walk-off hits. A three-game sweep at Shea just a few weeks later was the springboard for their late-season surge and the Mets’ late-season collapse. Over the final 17 games of the regular season, New York went 5-12 while Philadelphia went 13-4. That’s how a seven-game lead becomes “home for October.”
May 1, 2011
This was a night in which Mets and Phillies fans could cheer together. As Daniel Murphy batted in a tied game in the ninth, “U-S-A!” chants were heard around Citizens Bank Park after news broke that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, had been killed. The players and those in the respective dugouts were confused initially until word got around to them. New York won 2-1 in 14 innings behind Ronny Paulino‘s five hits and the game-winning RBI double in his first start as a Met. But it was of little consequence. As Terry Collins said afterward: “a good win for us, and obviously a huge win for America tonight.”
August 24, 2015
David Wright stepped up to the plate in the top of the second, preparing to take his first swing in 133 days. The result was not just a home run, but a moonshot. Wright’s thunderous return kickstarted a home run derby for New York. Rallying from an early 7-2 deficit, the Mets, playing their best baseball of the season, proceeded to fulfill Citizens Bank Park’s reputation. Wilmer Flores (twice), Yoenis Céspedes, Juan Lagares, Travis d’Arnaud, Daniel Murphy, and Michael Cuddyer each went deep as the Mets established single-game team records with eight homers and 15 extra-base hits.
September 22, 2016
You know it’s a big home run when Gary Cohen invokes the double “outta here.” The Mets desperately needed every win they could get t keep pace in the Wild Card standings. They took the lead, fell behind, tied it, took the lead, and eventually were trailing as the bottom of the ninth began. Jose Reyes, acquired in July, evoked memories of 2006 when tied the game at six with a three-run homer. But as was the theme of this night, the Phillies jumped ahead in the eleventh. Up came Asdrubal Cabrera with two on and one out and the Mets down by 8-6. Cue Gare’s tremendous call and the awesome bat flip.
April & May 2022
Where do we begin? There’s been enough this year to last Mets fans the next five. Try picking a favorite. The Tylor Megill–Drew Smith-Joely Rodríguez-Seth Lugo-Edwin Díaz no-hitter on April 29? The ninth-inning comeback from down 7-1 on May 5? The sweep in late May capped by the heroics of Nick Plummer and Eduardo Escobar?
Why even choose? Let’s just enjoy it and hope there’s more to come.
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