List Of New York Mets Opening Day Starting Pitchers
The New York Mets are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Flushing, Queens, in New York City. They play in the National League East division. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season. The New York Mets have used 20 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 50 seasons. The 20 starters have a combined Opening Day record of 26 wins, 12 losses (25–11) and 12 no decisions. No decisions are only awarded to the starting pitcher if the game is won or lost after the starting pitcher has left the game.
Tom Seaver holds the Mets' record for most Opening Day starts with 11, and has an Opening Day record of 6–0. He also has the most starts in Shea Stadium, the Mets' home ballpark from 1964 through 2008. Dwight Gooden holds the Mets' record for most Opening Day wins with seven Opening Day wins against one Opening Day loss. Al Jackson and Roger Craig share the worst winning percentage as the Opening Day starting pitcher with a record of 0–2.
From 1968 through 1983, Mets' Opening Day starting pitchers went 16 consecutive years without a loss. During this period, Tom Seaver won six starts with five no decisions, Craig Swan won two starts, and Jerry Koosman, Pat Zachry and Randy Jones won one start apiece. Furthermore, in the 31-year period from 1968 through 1998, Mets' Opening Day starting pitchers only lost two games. During that period, they won 19 games with 10 no decisions. The only losses during this period were by Mike Torrez in 1984 and by Dwight Gooden in 1990.
Overall, Mets Opening Day starting pitchers have a record of 0–1 at the Polo Grounds, a 13–5 record with four no decisions at Shea Stadium and a 1–0 record at Citi Field. In addition, although the Mets were nominally the home team in 2000, the game was played in Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. Mike Hampton started the game in Tokyo and lost, making the Mets' Opening Day starting pitchers' combined home record 14–7, and their away record 12–5. The Mets went on to play in the World Series in 1969, 1973, 1986 and 2000, and won the 1969 and 1986 World Series championship games. Tom Seaver (1969 and 1973), Dwight Gooden (1986) and Mike Hampton (2000) were the Opening Day starting pitchers when the Mets played in the World Series, and they had a combined Opening Day record of 2–1.
Read more about List Of New York Mets Opening Day Starting Pitchers: Key, Pitchers, References
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, york, opening, day, starting and/or pitchers:
“Shea—they call him Scholar Jack—
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal-passers—all.”
—Joseph I. C. Clarke (1846–1925)
“Lastly, his tomb
Shall list and founder in the troughs of grass
And none shall speak his name.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“So much missing, no sense of self, no core, no trust. Only a deep hollow we need to fill.”
—Sister Michele, Indian nun. As quoted in the New York Times Magazine, p. 35 (January 16, 1994)
“She tried to found a salon, and only succeeded in opening a restaurant.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“After that came commencement day—that great day for which all other days were made. And it went. And that night I felt of myself all over, and to my astonishment, I found ‘twas the same old Rud. Not a single cubit added to my stature; not a hair’s breadth to my girth. If anything, on the contrary, I felt more lank and gaunt than common, much as if a load were off my stomach.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“But even at the starting post, all sleek and new,
I saw the wildness in her and I thought
A vision of terror that it must live through
Had shattered her soul.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Little pitchers have big ears.”
—Unknown (20th century)