My Top 10 Shea Stadium Memories

Floyd wins it in 10^th with Homer after Anderson ties it with Inside-the Park Shot

Before my buddy Ian and I ever made it to Shea that day, we had purchased tickets to meet Pedro Martinez. After waiting several hours, we were informed Pedro was going to be a no-show, forcing us to change our plans for the rest of the day in hopes of making up for our wasted morning. We decided to purchase some cheap seats in the upper deck for that night’s game against the Angels, which we were just happy to be at regardless of outcome. The game itself was pretty dull, a 2-1 game with the Mets trailing heading into the bottom of the ninth. The Angels had their dominating closer on the hill, Frankie Rodriguez (who this season saved a Major League record 60 games), ready to finish the Mets off. A pinch-hitter extraordinaire that season, Marlon Anderson had other ideas. With nobody on and one out, Anderson laced a ball into right center field. Steve Finley, who Mets fans will always remember as the center fielder who failed to reel in Todd Pratt’s NLDS winning home run in 1999, dove trying to catch the ball, but ended up not only missing the ball but kicking it away from himself. Realizing the ball had kicked away, Anderson just kept on running, all the way home for what would be a game-tying, inside the park home run in the bottom of the ninth. I couldn’t dream up a more exciting way to tie the game, but that only got the action started. In the top of the tenth, the Angels went ahead 3-2, thanks to a Darren Erstad single, set the stage for a memorable bottom of the inning. Having already pitched K-Rod, the Angels were forced to turn over their closing duties to Brendan Donnelly. Jose Reyes led off the inning with a single. Mike Cameron followed with a walk. Donnelly then seemed to compose himself, striking out Carlos Beltran and Mike Piazza, leaving it up to Cliff Floyd. Floyd worked Donnelly into a 9 pitch at-bat, at one point sending a ball deep down the right field hooking just foul, but carrying home-run distance. After that foul ball I admit losing all hope, figuring that whenever a player hits a home run ball foul, he almost never actually ends up hitting a home run. Wouldn’t you know it, on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Floyd launched a moonshot over the right center field wall, winning the game 5-3 with two outs, bottom of the tenth 3-run homer. An unforgettable ending to an otherwise forgettable day at Shea.

7. May 23, 2006 & August 22, 2006

Belted: A pair of Walk-off Beltran Blasts

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