Results tagged “mikepiazza”

Well, who doesn't have an opinion about baseball legend Ted Williams' frozen head? Former Mets catcher Mike Piazza told the Daily News last night, "It's crazy....I just cannot believe the greatest hitter of all time, that his head is in a frozen cryogenic state."

He may not be on a team this season, but Mike Piazza, the greatest offensive catcher in the history of baseball, announced his retirement today. Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 amateur draft, Piazza spent time with the Dodgers, Marlins, Padres, A's and eight seasons with the New York Mets. The 39-year-old Piazza retired with a .308 career average, 427 home runs and 1,335 RBIs.

We've heard all the names from baseball's Mitchell Report, now let's look at some facts. Roger Clemens, who vehemently denies the accusations against him, is the biggest name revealed in the report. His lawyer says, "Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive. There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today."

For the first time ever, the MLB First-Year Player Draft was televised. ESPN2 covered the first round and while they gave it the same treatment that the NFL and NBA drafts get, it is hard to get excited about a bunch of players from high school and college that you have never seen in your life. When all was said and done, 1,453 players were picked and can now all say they were drafted.

If you were a 17-year old looking to meet Mike Piazza, your childhood idol and favorite baseball player, what would you do? If you're Ryan Leli, you make some fake press credentials, sneak into Shea Stadium, participate in some Q&A with Piazza, and then pose for pictures. That's what Leli, from Head of the Harbor, did last August when Piazza was visiting with the San Diego Padres. Padres officials became suspicious of Leli when he asked Piazza to pose for a photo with him. The would-be reporter was only arrested when he attempted to gain press access to Shea a second time (!).

, showing that they truly believe in protecting Piazza, even now that's he's a Padre.

-Yankees 7, White Sox 6: Randy Johnson threw six no-hit innings, and the Yankees didn't blow a six-run lead to take the second game from Chicago. Bobby Abreu hit a homer, and, besides Kyle Farnsworth's allowing four runs, Johnny Damon's leaving the game with a groin injury was the Yankees' only bad news. Boston lost again to Kansas City, so the Yanks are up by three over the Red Sox. If they can carry that cushion into the five-game series at Fenway Park later this month, they'll be in good shape.

-Mets 3 Padres 2: It was the perfect homecoming for Mike Piazza and Mets’ fans. After giving a huge ovation to the former face of the franchise, the Shea faithful got to watch the new face of the franchise, David Wright, collect two RBI’s and propel New York to victory. As if there was any doubt left that a new era has arrived at Shea, Billy Wagner came in and preserved the one-run victory.

- And Mike Piazza returns to Shea Stadium tonight

Well, it could have been worse for Victor Zambrano in yesterday's 7-4 Mets loss to the Padres, but Zambrano was only in the game for 4 innings. During those innings, Zambrano pitched poorly again and allowed 5 runs. Josh Barfield started the scoring action in the 1st inning with a solo home run and Brian Giles finished Zambrano in the 4th inning with a grand slam. The Mets made the game more interesting in the 6th inning by scoring four runs, but they were unable to finish the comeback.

Sunday, Mike Piazza agreed to a $2 million contract to return to the state where he began his Major League career, signing a one-year contract with the San Diego Padres. Staying in the National League, the 37-year old, joins the defending NL West champs and, according to his agent, was told that he could "catch as much as he wanted to." How much might that be? Reportedly about 90-100 games behind the plate as well as some action at 1st base and being the DH during interleague play.

- You Can't Make It Up is sleepless due to Food Network on Demand

Major League Baseball announced the 60-man US World Baseball Classic roster yesterday with several players on the Mets and Yankees named as possible team members. The US list includes Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Al Leiter, and Alex Rodriguez. The Mets have Paul Lo Duca, Billy Wagner and David Wright on the US players listed. While the 60-person list is a list of players that can play in the tournament, the eventual roster must be trimmed to 30 players the day before tournament play.

If the ceremonies at the end of the season and the trade for Paul Lo Duca didn't make it clear enough, it's now official. The Mets will not be re-signing Mike Piazza (at least until May 1st) as they declined to offer salary arbitration, effectively ending his eight-year stint with the team. The 37 year-old Hall of Fame bound catcher hit only .251 with 19 home runs and 62 RBI last season. The .251 average was his worst since entering the Majors in 1992. In all likelihood, Piazza is now on his way to an American League team to be a designated hitter.

Despite the fact that the Mets finished their 2005 season on Sunday afternoon with an 11-3 loss, one couldn't quite say that it was a season of disappointment. Finishing with an 83-79 record, their best record since the 2000 season, the Mets managed a 3rd place tie in the NL East.

With their homestand over, the Mets now play 17 of the next 20 games away from Shea Stadium. With a 23-35 record on the road this season, the Mets (40-25 at home) are potentially in a make or break point of the season. After six games out west against Arizona and San Francisco, the Mets play 13 games in a row against playoff contenders, Philadelphia, Florida, Atlanta and St. Louis. The way the Mets have performed on the road this season, Gothamist will be surprised if they come out of those games with 7 wins.

Maybe the Mets needed Snake Plissken on their side Thursday night, because their lineup sure wasn’t getting it done. Twenty-two year old Zach Duke stifled the Mets for seven innings allowing only two hits and one walk while striking out five in the Pirates’ 5-0 victory.

In the 5-1 Mets victory, Beltran was 1-2 with 2 walks and a stolen base. His lone hit came on a bunt that he beat to 1st base. Tom Glavine picked up the win for the Mets. Glavine went 7 innings for the win, and the 271st of his career. Glavine is making the slow crawl towards 300 and now ranks 30th in career victories.

Luckily for Zambrano and the Mets, who would have dropped below .500 with a loss, they were able to tie the game in the 7th inning and again in the 9th to force extra innings. The tying run in the 9th came on a solo home run from Mike Cameron who was the subject of many of the trade rumors before Sunday.

Kris Benson threw a season-high 125 pitches for his 7th win of the season. He allowed only 4 hits and 1 walk in 8 innings of work. Benson was aided by #6 hitter Mike Piazza, who was 3-3 with 3 RBI including a two-run a 425-foot home run into the Pepsi Picnic Area in left field.

Tuesday's win wasn't as uneventful as the Mets' season promises to be. Mike Piazza was finally dropped in the order, and David Wright, who has been the best hitter in Queens this season, moved into his fifth spot. Willie Randolph still thinks that Jose Reyes and his .280s OBP should be hitting leadoff, but Gothamist has to assume he's not one of our readers, or he would have changed that by now. The Mets would have been better off with Kris Benson, Tuesday's starting pitcher, batting first. Benson's arm has been better than his bat, but it is the tepid Mets' lineup that will keep them from gaining any ground in the mediocre NL East. That and their magnetic attraction to even records.

The excitement in the All-Star game came long after most fans had turned off their televisions. Gothamist can’t blame them as the American League jumped out to a 7-0 lead after six innings before some shaky relief pitching allowed the National League to claw back into the game. In the end, seven runs was too big a deficit to overcome and the AL hung on for a 7-5 victory.

Mike Piazza's eleventh-inning RBI single gave the Mets a 3-2 win at Washington, and the Mets took a four-game series from the front-running Nationals. Despite Willie Randolph's best efforts to ruin the Mets' production with his increasingly-crazy lineups, his team has gotten enough runs to win of late.

It's Yankee against Yankee in the last stages of Major League Baseball All-Star voting! Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui are vying for the final position on the American League's All Star team. Jeter and Matsui are up against Scott Podsednik of the Chicago White Sox, Torii Hunter from the Minnesota Twins, and Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays; MLB.com says Jeter is leading Podsednik after one day of voting. You can vote right here as many times as you want, as long as you make sure to type in the correct validation key.

Yesterday's loss came after a thrilling victory on Saturday night which saw an inside the park home run by Marlon Anderson and a game winning three-run homer by Cliff Floyd. The series against the Angels was a litmus test for the Mets as they could test themselves against one of the better teams in the American League.

The offense was supplied by Jose Reyes's speed, and RBIs by Carlos Beltran and Mike Piazza. Reyes had three singles and three (!!!) stolen bases, Beltran had his first hit since returning to the line-up Tuesday, and Piazza continues to look better after some dismal times earlier this season.

The Mets' disappointing losses have suddenly become much more. After a sloppy series against the Yankees, the Mets played even worse in a three-game sweep against Atlanta, capped by 3-0 loss against the Braves Wednesday. They didn’t even score a run in the last two games, though they faced two starters who were working on only three days’ rest. They even lost to Kyle Davies, who was making his second major league start. Woe is the Mets’ lineup, and woe will be their summer if they can’t at least compete with their National League East foes.

Offensively, it seems like Mike Piazza and Kaz Matsui are finally coming around. Then again, they couldn't really get much worse, could they? Piazza was 4-4 in yesterday's game including a double that was close to being a home run. Matsui was 2-5 with 4 runners left on base, but won the game for the Mets on Tuesday.

Doug Mientkiewicz’s sixth home run broke a 4-4 tie in the 8th. Mike DeJean, just one day removed from allowing the winning run in Sunday's 5-4 loss in Milwaukee, won in relief of Aaron Heilman. Mike Piazza had a three-run home run and Kaz Matsui a solo shot for the Mets, who have won four of five on this road trip and six of seven overall. Heilman survived two rain delays totaling an hour and 35 minutes to last five and a third innings. Dae-Sung Koo relieved him and promptly blew the 4-0 lead, allowing two inherited runners to score along with two of his own.

While he didn't make his season debut yesterday, it certainly seems like Mike Piazza has been missing all season. Entering yesterday's game Piazza was hitting below the Mendoza Line, but that all changed with a 4-5 performance. One of Piazza's hits was a 3-run home run in the 8th inning, which gave the Mets a healthy cushion they would later need.