September 21, 2001: The New York Mets host the Atlanta Braves in the 1st professional sporting event in New York City since the 9/11 attacks.
A crowd of 41,235 files into Shea Stadium to watch this matchup, and the nastiness of the teams’ rivalry over the last 3 years is put away. Bruce Chen started with the Mets, while Jason Marquis, a Staten Island native, started for the Braves.
Each team scored in the 4th inning. For the Braves, Chipper Jones, always giving the Mets trouble, singled, and Ken Caminiti doubled him home. For the Mets, Mike Piazza doubled; Robin Ventura singled, but Piazza, being slow, couldn't score; and Tsuyoshi Shinjo hit a sacrifice fly to bring Piazza home.
The Braves took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 8th, Julio Franco drew a walk against John Franco. (They were not related: Julio is Dominican, while John is Italian and from Brooklyn.) Chipper singled him over. Met manager Bobby Valentine brought in Armando Benitez, who had succeeded Franco as the Mets' closer. Brian Jordan doubled Julio home.
But with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Steve Karsay walked Edgardo Alfonzo. Desi Relaford was sent in to pinch-run. And Mike Piazza hit a home run to center field, electrifying the Flushing Meadow amphitheater. The Mets won, 3-2.
Ever since, Met fans have acted like this was the moment when New York was saved, as if that one Piazza home run meant more to the City than everything the Yankees did the rest of the way. Fugeddaboutit: The Mets went into the game 5 1/2 games behind the Braves for the National League Eastern Division lead, and 11 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the only Wild Card spot then available in the NL; they went 8-7 the rest of the way, and finished 6 games behind the Braves (the Philadelphia Phillies finished 2 back), and were still 11 games behind the Cards.
*
September 21, 2001 was a Friday. This was also the day the film Glitter premiered. It was supposed to be Mariah Carey's big entry into movies. Instead, this movie was so bad (How bad was it?), it was nicknamed "Flashdunce." It took 4 years for her personal and professional lives to recover.
These other Major League Baseball games were played, all of them the games that were regularly scheduled for this day, with the games of September 11 to 16 tacked on at the end of the regular season:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 7-6 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The Yankees scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th, but the O's scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th to win it, when Jerry Hairston Jr. singled home Brian Roberts and Brady Anderson. This beat Mariano Rivera, in relief of Mike Mussina. Cal Ripken in his last 2 weeks as an active player, went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius and Alfonso Soriano hit home runs. Derek Jeter went 0-for-5.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Montreal Expos, 11-9 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Todd Helton singled Juan Pierre home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Florida Marlins, 1-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Brian Hunter singled Marlon Anderson home with the winning and only run in the bottom of the 9th. Omar Daal pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, striking out 10. Ricky Bottalico pitched a perfect 8th. José Mesa pitched a shaky 9th, but ended up as the winning pitcher.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 12-4 at Enron Field (now Daikin Park) in Houston. Sammy Sosa did not play, but ended up with 64 home runs that season.
* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-4 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-5 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-7 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Anaheim Angels, 9-8 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with a home run and an RBI.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 2-0 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Jason Schmidt pitched 6 innings of 7-hit shutout ball, and 3 relievers each pitched a perfect inning. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with a walk for the Padres. Tony Gwynn, in his last 2 weeks as an active player, appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Miguel Batista pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and Eric Knott and Troy Brohawn combined to finish the 5-hit shutout.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-4.
And in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, lost to South Brunswick, 39-32 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.
No comments:
Post a Comment